Page 7 of Escaping Pirates (Legends of Neverland #4)
I raised and lowered one shoulder. “You wouldn’t deliver it if I wrote anything of that nature. I merely want to let him know I’m alive and thinking of him. He may have already heard the ship never arrived at port.”
“You’re right.” He drummed his yellowed nails on his desk. “How interesting that you would write to your fiancé rather than your family.”
“Why is that surprising? I love him.”
“Then where’s your engagement ring?”
My mouth grew unnaturally dry. “He couldn’t afford one yet. He’s saving up.”
“How very romantic.” The smirk on his face unsettled me far more than any shouting would have. “Young love really is something to be cherished.”
It was as though thousands of needles were being pressed against my arms and legs. He knew. He must know. But what was I supposed to do?
For the rest of the morning, I couldn’t prevent myself from throwing nervous looks at the captain’s quarters anytime I was in the vicinity.
Captain Harsh gave no indication that he was displeased with me; had I succeeded?
With each passing hour, my nervousness faded and my confidence grew.
I was going to be free. Within the hour after the midday meal, a smudge grew on the horizon that broke up the perpetual blue.
Land.
While Sugar and Blossom talked eagerly about what their father would bring them, I was searching my past memories, thinking of every name I could that was even remotely connected to Ebora.
Haven Harbor’s crown prince had gotten engaged to a woman from Ebora the previous year, but I’d never met her, or the prince, for that matter.
Father used to have some contacts in Ebora, but most had abandoned the land when the government was overthrown.
I didn’t care who helped me. As soon as I could, I would be off the ship and screaming for rescue.
Even if the government was corrupt, the citizens wouldn’t stand to see an innocent girl being dragged back to a pirate ship.
Someone would intervene, and just about anywhere had to be better than here.
Sugar and Blossom droned on and on, and though my eyelids grew heavy, I couldn’t sleep. How long until we came into port? We had to be getting close. If only Sugar and Blossom’s room faced the direction we were heading.
In the middle of tea time, Steele came for me. “The captain wants to see you.”
I instantly snapped up, nerves on edge as I followed him to the captain’s quarters.
“Sit,” Harsh ordered the moment I stepped over the threshold, pointing me into a chair. I lowered myself gingerly. The captain’s quarters had a wide window that showed…land.
It was still at least a mile away, too far to swim but tantalizingly close. I would be able to find a way back home very, very soon.
Harsh waited until his crewman had shut the door before he fluttered the list I’d made for Sugar and Blossom the day before, an unreadable expression on his face.
“You didn’t make a single spelling or grammatical error on the list you wrote for my daughters,” Captain Harsh said, carefully replacing the list on his desk.
“And I nearly believed your letter, but something didn’t sit right, so I looked at it again. ”
He slapped the letter back down, and my heart sank like a ship during a storm. He had bolded each of my capital letters.
My coded message of HELD HOSTAGE BY PIRATES had been written at the bottom in the captain’s own handwriting. I braced myself for the blow.
“Very clever. Very clever indeed,” he crooned, adjusting the paper’s position on his desk. “Now, what to do about it?”
I had been wrong. The worst case scenario wasn’t the letter not getting sent; it was my attempt being found out, and it was the worst case scenario now.
“I’m beginning to think that you don’t appreciate my hospitability,” he said with a leer. “So eager to leave. Am I not an adequate host?”
I remained silent. If I could just make it a little while longer, we would dock and I would find a way to escape, no matter the cost.
“What punishment do you think is suitable for a person who is so ungrateful? Marooning is out; I think that would be too much of a reward for you, and walking the plank doesn’t show me that you’ve learned your lesson.”
I stared at my poorly coded message and refused to let any tears fall. I’d never hated anyone as much as I hated Captain Harsh.
“Flogging or keelhauling would be entertaining for my crew to watch, but I wouldn’t subject a lady to anything so brutal as that. I’m still a gentleman, after all. Do you have no input at all?”
I wished I had the gumption to meet his gaze with a blazing one of my own, but fear gnawed at my heart. Whatever he had planned, I needed to stay out of my cell until we made land.
“I could work in the kitchens,” I suggested quietly. “I’m a good cook. Or I can wash dishes.”
His beard twitched. “That’s a start, but I think it’s best to keep you away from the kitchens. I’ll let you in on a little secret I’ve discovered over the years: well-fed prisoners are more likely to revolt. I can’t have any insurrection aboard my ship, don’t you agree?”
“But I’m already barely fed as it is,” I protested, heart sinking faster than an anchor.
“And we’ll keep it that way for now. Just think,” he guffawed. “I’m helping you maintain a trim figure for your fiancé to enjoy . Aren’t I benevolent?”
If only I were a soldier or some hulking man, I would’ve punched him right through the cabin wall. But as I wasn’t, I merely lowered my eyes and whispered, “Yes, sir.”
I vowed that once I escaped, I would do everything in my power to make him suffer as I had suffered.
“You can start with scrubbing the foredeck, then work your way back until my girls need you. That will be all.”