Page 44 of A Princess, Stolen (A Kiss of Revenge, Blood, and Love #1)

“In case the plan to kill you failed. Which it did!”

I only stared at him.

“Naturally, we discreetly searched for the ointment. Pan and I combed the Agamemnon, but the ointment has disappeared from the face of the earth.”

“He probably threw it overboard,” I said, sitting on the bed.

“That could be, yes. But anyone could have disposed of it that way.” He looked at me for a moment. “I’m only concerned about your safety, Willa. I don’t want to give the guilty party a second chance to hurt you.”

“Oh? What about Isaac? He wants to hurt me too,” I said bitterly. “It was only because of him that I wanted to…” I fell silent.

Nathan stared down at me from above. “You allied yourself with Sparta because of Isaac?”

“Should I have waited for him to come on board?” To kill me?

“I told you I wanted to prevent that.”

“I didn’t want to rely on that.” I didn’t look at him when I replied.

He sighed. “We have to solve one problem at a time. We currently have a killer on board.”

“And you locked him up. It couldn’t have been anyone else. Only Sparta knew the plan.” I suddenly felt so cold again. And I was exhausted. I just wanted to sleep and forget my fear. At least, for a few hours.

Nathan, however, wouldn’t let up. “The Agamemnon is small and the walls are thin. Maybe someone overheard.”

I shook my head. “He was quite tall, about the same height as you, so all men who are shorter are out.”

“You want it to be Sparta, don’t you?”

“And you want it not to be him.”

He was silent.

“But it was him,” I said stubbornly.

“And if not?”

“There is no if not ,” I replied defiantly.

He peered down at me sternly. “I don’t care what you think, but Pan is going to guard you,” he said firmly.

“And if it was Pan?” I asked defiantly but was unsure for a split second.

Nathan shook his head. “It couldn’t have been Pan.

He was the only one who heard you calling for help.

On my orders, he and Troy were supposed to stay close to you.

They usually took turns…and Pan came to me and swore he heard you scream.

He was a hundred percent certain, so we searched the entire boat for you…

but you had disappeared into thin air. So, you must have fallen overboard.

Then, someone discovered the trawling net. ”

“Pan…” I muttered. He hadn’t said a word about hearing me scream.

“Without him, you wouldn’t be sitting here.”

I swallowed. I hadn’t even thanked him. “Pan said you didn’t know about the net and that’s why you cut your hands because you didn’t have a knife with you.”

“He must have misunderstood because he wasn’t there when we discovered the net. I didn’t have time to grab a knife. It was a matter of seconds.”

I looked at him, imagining how he had ripped open the strong net with his bare hands to save me.

I thought about Mom and the many memories that had resurfaced.

So many questions were pounding in my head.

Why did Mom believe Dad loved her too much?

Why had she hidden the blue pills from him?

Had she hidden them there in the first place or was it me and I just didn’t remember?

Was Dad a bad person?

“Do you want to talk about it?” I suddenly heard Nathan ask.

I glanced up, confused. “About what?”

“About what happened down there in the water. About you and your mom.”

Suddenly, I had a lump in my throat and felt my eyes moistening. “How…”

“You were talking in your sleep, Willa.”

I stared at my hands. I didn’t want to say these things and yet I wanted him to know everything. “I…my memories are coming back,” I finally forced myself to say.

“Your lost three days?” he asked gently.

The words squeezed my chest like an iron fist. He hadn’t forgotten! He still remembered my words in the Palace of Shards. Oh damn! He made it impossible for me not to cry. A tear rolled down my face and I wiped it away impatiently.

“I’m the little bird, you said. Again and again. Is that part of your memory?” He crouched in front of the bed so that we were at the same level.

“That was what Mom said,” I whispered.

“And who is Mr. Sparkles?”

I pressed my lips together briefly. “My…my stuffed bunny…from childhood.”

“I suppose the name said it all.” He winked at me and wiped another tear from my cheek, and this gentle gesture caused more to flow. More and more.

I was so confused. “It’s…it’s the Atlantic,” I stammered. “The closer I get to it, the more memories I find. As if it wants to tell me something.”

“Or your mom,” Nathan said. “Like the other day in your trance?”

I nodded. “I think my mom wanted to leave my dad.” It made me deeply sad.

Was that why I had pushed everything into the furthest corner of my soul?

But it couldn’t have been just that. I looked at Nathan and he looked back.

My heart suddenly beat faster. I suddenly felt infinitely vulnerable.

I was confused and I was afraid of Isaac and Sparta.

Afraid about the names on Nathan's back because part of me suspected that they were connected to Dad. I thought about the images in my memories uncertain why I was stuck on Mr. Sparkles, and thinking about my bunny made me cry even harder. He was only a stuffed bunny! And after Mom drowned, I put him on my shelf and punished him as if Mom’s death was his fault.

Now I would have liked to have him with me and hold him close.

“Willa… Will, look at me.”

I automatically pressed my fingers to my eyes and shook my head. I didn’t want him to see me cry.

“Hey, come on. Please.”

He sounded insistent and loving, so I put my hands down, blinked, and saw his blurry figure in front of me.

He was standing. “I have something for you,” he said roughly now and held something in front of my face. I blinked again and my vision cleared. He cleared his throat. “It’s not much. Nor does it sparkle like your Mr. Sparkles…but maybe it will help you anyway…” There was a smile in his voice.

My heart suddenly fluttered like it did at Rosewood Manor. The bracelet hadn’t been lost to the sea. He still had it.

“Would you like it, Will?” he asked quietly. “Do you want it back?”

I swallowed and nodded.

Hesitantly, he sat next to me on the bed. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t save the ring. It slipped out of my fingers.”

“It doesn’t matter,” I whispered, and in those seconds, it was true.

Nathan looked at me. “You said the other day that there was nothing strange about you except your tic, but that was a flat-out lie.” He shook his head. “Everything about you is strange, ghost girl.”

“I know.” Who would cry over a stuffed rabbit when they were held hostage on a cutter?

“You scare me,” he whispered.

I blinked. “Why?”

“I want to be closer to you than is good for me. Closer than is good for the plan. I want to tell you things that I haven’t told anyone.” His eyes darkened.

A hot-cold shiver ran down my spine. “About what?”

“About my mom and dad. About my family and Coldville. About my trip along the Mississippi. About so many things.”

I looked into his idiosyncratic face, which was now overshadowed by gentleness. He smelled of mint and the sea. A little of salt. Of great sadness and a heavy but good heart.

He carefully pushed the sleeve of my sweater up a little.

“The ribbon is a little shorter than before because I had to rip it open and mend it, but I’m sure it will still fit.

” He carefully wrapped it around my wrist and tied it.

I felt his fingers as I had back then. They were shaking a little and they were still rough and calloused, torn and crusted with blood…

but the touch…it was infinitely gentle. Another shiver ran lightly over my skin like a shadow. Hot-cold-hot.

When he was finished, he didn’t let go of me. His hands were around my wrist and he gazed at me like I was a gift he had been given without asking for it. “How do you do it?” he asked, sounding completely confused.

“Do what?”

“I swear if there was medicine for this, I would take it.” He shook his head. “Even though you are the hostage, I feel like I am your prisoner. I can’t do anything about it, it’s like I’m under a spell.”