Mara had choked on those words being thrown in her face. While she believed that where others were concerned … “He’s a different beast!” Most assuredly!
Those whispered words had caused him to glance at her with a sneer that had chilled her all the way to her soul. Snatching at his black robe that had been cast to the floor with careless abandon, he’d thrown it over his head, and left them to speak in private.
But not before he’d given her a look so cold and malevolent that it had rattled her all the way to the marrow of her bones.
“What were you thinking?” She’d scowled at Vine.
“That an enemy leashed is better than one who wanders, unwatched.”
“Meaning?”
“We have no one to protect us. You are bound to him. Forever. Since you can’t leave and I have nowhere else to go, I was trying to woo said beast and tame him.”
Marcelina had gaped in horror at the very thought. “Are you mad? There are some beasts beyond taming. And I’d plant him firmly at the top of said list.”
“You don’t know him.”
“Neither do you.”
Vine shrugged and stepped back. “Maybe, but he’s the best chance we have at survival. You know it as well as I do.”
She’d rolled her eyes at Vine’s naiveté. How could her sister be so stupid?
So blind?
And against all her protestations and rationale, Vine had pursued Dón-Dueli until he’d convinced them both that he was harmless and in love with her sister. Like Vine herself, Marcelina had bought into those lies.
Though he’d never been overly affectionate toward Vine, he hadn’t been cruel to her. Which for him was a miracle, as he was a bastard animal to everyone else.
Everyone.
Even fiercely trained, massive warriors had scuttled away like terrified rodents at his approach.
But to her and Vine, at least, he’d practiced restraint. So long as Marcelina had lived in his home, he’d treated her with deference and had gutted anyone who showed her anything less than their best behavior. His protection over Vine had been even more extreme. To the point that some of his savagery still haunted her.
Honestly, Mara didn’t know what had finally happened to tear his marriage apart. Or why her sister had chosen to kill him. Vine had never explained herself. While Vine had been high-strung and at times overemotional, she hadn’t normally been that extreme, reckless, or cruel.
Of course, Du tended to bring out the very worst in all beings.
And since their return to the mortal realm, Du had been even more distant and hollow than while married to her sister.
Colder. Meaner.
Until Cameron.
In all the centuries Marcelina had known him, she’d never seen him so …
Kind. And for the first time, it made her wonder what he’d been like with his sister. Could he have been someone’s beloved older brother, who watched after and cared for her?
If that were true, then maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t the tyrannical animal she’d always thought.…
Was he?
*???*???*
“I don’t want to be here!”
Devyl let out a tired sigh at the strident tone that left his ears figuratively bleeding. “Neither do I, Miss Jack. Believe me. But until we recover your brother and secure him, I can’t allow you near the…” He paused as if biting back an obscenity. “… creature we just took custody of.”
“Is she one of the evil beasts who captured him?”
The intensity of her tone caused him to look up from his book to see she’d stopped pacing in front of his desk to glare at him. He had to force himself not to smile at the cheeky way she postured with clenched fists as if ready to take on the world. He’d always admired courage in anyone, but especially one so tiny.
“Supposing the answer was aye, what do you plan to do?” Bleed on the bitch would be the most apropos answer, as she was hardly prepared to deal with a creature of such powers and venom.
“Depends on if the answer is aye or nay.”
He laughed in spite of himself. And the sound of it shocked him thoroughly, as it was a real, unexpected laugh. Not the feigned kind he normally practiced whenever it was socially expected of him.
What the hell?
Sobering to his usual gruff demeanor, he cleared his throat. “No need in you being ruffled, lass. Calm yourself and rest. Tomorrow’s a bitter day.”
“Meaning?”
He turned the page in his book, and tried not to think about the Sight he’d been born with that too often fed him coming details he’d rather not know. “’Tis nothing. We are a ship without marque, sailing through pirate waters and bearing the red jack as our only color. Trouble is forever finding us, even when we try to avoid it.”
Cameron hesitated at his words. A letter of marque was what some captains carried that authorized them to prey on ships and cargos from enemy nations. Essentially legal pirating. Most pirate crews carried such letters, many of them forged. Along with flags from multiple nations, just in case.
The fact he didn’t bother with a forgery or fake colors said he was a man of honor.…
Or completely insane.
“May I ask you something, Captain?”
He let out a sigh that said he was put upon by her question. “If you must, Miss Jack.”
“How is it you came to be captain here?”
He whispered something that sounded like a curse beneath his breath before he answered. “Lady Marcelina made it so.”
“Why?”
“No doubt so that she, much like your incessant inquisition, could forever torment me.”
That caused one corner of her mouth to quirk up as she struggled not to smile. “I torment you?”
He glanced up. “Conversation in general annoys me.”
“You sound like me brother. He used to threaten to sew me lips shut if I didn’t shush around him.”
Grunting at that, he returned to reading.
“So where do you intend to sleep, Captain Bane?”
With a deep growl, he slammed his book shut and set it on his desk. “Apparently, in my bed, as you seem to have no interest in using it for yourself. Am thinking one of us should get some use out of it in these wee hours. Aren’t you the least bit tired?”
For some reason she couldn’t even begin to fathom, an image of him in said bunk went through her mind. Followed by a thought so scandalous that it caused her entire face to heat up.
He stood slowly. “Careful where your thoughts lead you, lass.” As he headed for the door, she stopped him.
“Can you hear my thoughts?”
“I can read your expressions, and they lay bare everything in your mind.”
Heavens, he was astute and frightening. And still she dropped her gaze to his lips. She’d never kissed a man before. Had never wanted to.
Until now.
She didn’t even know why. Bane was completely unacceptable to her. He was a beast and a terror. A man who liked to intimidate and frighten others.
And yet …
“What made you marry a Deruvian if you hate them so?”