Silently he cursed his own weakness. He was Drake Morrass. He’d faced down dragons and demons. He’d made a pact with a goddess and escaped the Drurr slave pits. He sat at the table with some of the most powerful folk in the known world, and they considered him a peer. He fucked empresses, murdered kings, and drank toasts with death himself. He’d set plans in motion that changed the course of history. Ambition had always ruled his actions, not fear.
“Cap’n,” said one of his crew as he sat down in the mess with a mug of rum.
Drake swept his gaze over the man, barely acknowledging him, and prayed to Rin that the pirate wouldn’t notice how unmanned Drake felt. He needed to do something. Sitting still was serving no purpose but worsening his mood. He needed action and he needed to be in control, of himself and of others. Drake stood and tapped Rag on the head, hoping the beasty would respond as it always did and not simply attack. “Down. Go hunt,” he said, and the centipede uncoiled itself, latched onto the bench, and scuttled away. With a shudder, Drake smoothed down his royal blue jacket and left the mess with a purposeful stride.
Drake hadn’t known where he was going until he got there but, standing outside Beck’s cabin, he knew why he was there. He wanted to fuck. He wanted to prove to himself he was still a man, and he wanted to do to Beck exactly what he’d wanted to do since the moment they’d met. Drake reached into a pocket and pulled out a set of keys. He had his own key to every lock on the ship, barring the crew’s own chests. He paused. For a moment he wasn’t sure if it was fear or common sense that stopped him from unlocking the door. In the end he decided he didn’t care. He put the key back in his pocket and knocked. And waited.
Drake waited so long he almost thought Beck was elsewhere, or that perhaps she hadn’t heard. Eventually he heard the key in the lock, and a moment later the door opened. Beck stood on the other side, her blue eyes cold and hard and her golden hair loose around her shoulders.
“What do you want, Drake?” she said, then looked up into his eyes. “Oh. I see.”
Drake wasn’t sure which of them made the first move. One moment they were standing either side of the doorway, and the next he was inside, lifting Beck up and pushing her against the wall as she grabbed hold of his hair and pulled his mouth down onto hers.
Beck tore open Drake’s shirt while he fumbled at the leather jerkin that held her brace of pistols. The damned thing wouldn’t budge, it was laced so tight. He pulled away from Beck, turned her around, and pushed her down face first onto the table.
“Hurry up,” she hissed, grinding her arse against his groin. It did nothing to improve his concentration, and he fumbled at the laces.
“Fuck it,” Drake growled as he pulled the knife from his boot and slit the laces, pulling Beck upright so her jerkin simply fell away. He spun her around and ripped open her shirt, sending buttons flying. She was staring at him with a feral hunger. Then she was pressed up against him, and Drake picked the Arbiter up and dumped her on the cot, sparing only a moment to whip his belt away.
Beck pulled off her own belt and dropped her britches, climbing onto her hands and knees. Drake took the hint and climbed onto the cot behind her. They made a night of it and no mistake, and Drake was as sore as all the Hells time they’d finished with each other. It turned out the Arbiter wasn’t exactly the type to cuddle afterwards, and no sooner had they finished than she threw his clothes at him and locked the door behind him. Drake didn’t care; he’d got what he’d come for. After months of watching and waiting, he finally knew how Beck felt and how she tasted, and it was just as good as he’d imagined.
Drake pulled on his trousers and buttoned them up, but his shirt was torn so he left it open. Climbing onto the deck of the Fortune, he welcomed the cool breeze on his skin and felt his spirits starting to lift again. He was Drake Morrass, and his accolades spoke for themselves. Now he could add seducing an Arbiter to the list.
He’d survived Tanner Black and even turned the old bastard to his side. He’d escaped Ash and the trap the Five Kingdoms had set, and with only one ship lost. It was no small loss, he knew that, but it could have been much worse. Still, someone had told the Five Kingdoms where and when Drake and Tanner were to meet, and that meant they had a traitor in their ranks.
Drake paced the deck of his ship and looked out at the lights floating nearby. The Phoenix, Hearth Fire, Ocean Deep, and The Black Death. Aboard one of those ships was a turncoat working against him and the isles, and he would need to find them sooner rather than later.
“Cap’n,” Princess said, and Drake realised his first mate had dragged a stool onto the deck and was busy whittling away at a block of wood.
“What are you carving, Princess?”
“Not a clue,” Princess said with a smile. “Just sort of work at it and see what comes out. Usually just tends to look like driftwood, but it calms me all the same. Were you worried, Cap’n? When Tanner had you. Couldn’t see it all, but it looked a bit rough for a moment there.”
Drake forced out a laugh. “Not at all, Princess,” he said, the lie coming more easily. “Oracle told me when I’d die, and it’s a fair way off yet. It was all part of the plan.”
“Figured as much,” Princess said happily, and went back to his whittling.
Drake had been helpless on Ash, completely at the mercy of Tanner, and so, even as he’d convinced the bastard to follow him, he’d had to concede to his demands. Drake spat over the side of his ship.
In order to keep Tanner’s support, as soon as Drake crowned himself king he would marry Elaina Black.
Epilogue
The crew weren’t happy, but then they didn’t need to be. On board Starry Dawn Elaina’s orders were law, and she’d ordered them here and she’d ordered them to leave every prize they spotted. The crew didn’t need to know they were actually her father’s orders. She still seethed at being sent away.
Elaina knew she should hate her father, that she had every reason to, but she didn’t. Couldn’t. He was her father, and she loved him fiercely no matter what atrocities he committed. Blu she could hate, and did so without remorse. Her brother was a devious, boot-licking coward of a bully, and it only made her hate him more that their father had chosen to take him along to Ash and leave Elaina behind. Not just leave her behind, but send her away.
A hundred other ships floated in the crystal blue waters of Rainbow Bay, their masts making the place look cluttered, like a watery pit full of wooden spikes. Elaina spotted merchant ships, fishing vessels, navy boats, and even the odd pirate ship, but there were more slavers than any of those.
Slavers were filthy vessels, with crews as filthy as the cargo and the conditions aboard. They were slow, ugly, disease-ridden, and completely unprofitable for piracy. Elaina hated them.
The city might boast a thousand different pleasures, and at least twice that many distractions, but Elaina wanted none of them. Chade was too clean these days. It had been more enticing back when it was a mess governed by criminals.
Today she was entertaining herself by running along the railings of the ship, keeping balance with feline grace and agility. Occasionally she would stop, leap up into the rigging, and scramble to the top before descending with reckless speed. She longed to go for a swim, but Rainbow Bay was renowned for its shark population, and though it wouldn’t be the first time Elaina had battled a shark, it was not an experience worth reliving.