Daughter of the Pirate King (Daughter of the Pirate King, #1)(10)

He comes into the cell with me. “Give it to me.”
“What?”
“The key.”
“You have the key in your hand.”
“It doesn’t fit.”
“You can hardly blame me if you broke it.”
I don’t expect him to buy any of what I say. I’m learning that I enjoy toying
with him. I like the surprise and … not respect, but something close to it, that shows on his face when he learns something new about me. But I can’t let him
discover too much about my true nature. That’d be dangerous.
For him.
Because I won’t fail. I can only imagine what my father would do to me if I
did. But I’m not afraid. I’m doing this not only for my father but also because I want to. Because I’m a good pirate and the hunt is thrilling. Because I want to
reach the siren island as much as any other pirate. Perhaps even more so. I’m determined to do whatever it takes to get the map. If Riden becomes too
difficult, I will remove him from my path by any means necessary.
“I’ll give you one more chance to hand it over, princess.”
It’s brighter down here. Several lanterns are lit outside the cells. I can see Riden’s face perfectly. In the getup he’s wearing, I can see a lot of him perfectly.
“I don’t have anything,” I say again.
He steps toward me slowly, keeping his eyes on mine as he does so. I back up
until I hit the wall, but he continues to advance. His face is too close. I can see flecks of gold in his eyes. They’re lovely eyes. I’d like to study them longer.
But suddenly his hands are on my hips.
I think I might stop breathing, but I’m unsure. I’m startled, certainly; am I supposed to slap his hands away or stand still?
He moves his hands up my stomach, never taking his eyes off me. Now I know I’m breathing because I think I might have just gasped. I’m pretty sure I
should slap his hands away.
But I don’t. Once he reaches my ribs, he moves his hands to my arms, running them up to my shoulder.
“I don’t know what you’re wearing,” he says. “But I like it.”
“Custom-made,” I say.
“And then stolen by you?”
I shrug. “What are you doing?”
“What does it look like I’m doing?”
“You’re touching me.”
“I’m trying to get my key back.”
“Sounds like an excuse to touch me.”
He smiles and leans forward so his mouth is at my ear. “I don’t see you stopping me.”
“If I had, I wouldn’t be able to do this.”
His eyes shoot up in alarm, but he doesn’t have enough time to guess what I’m about to do until I’ve already done it.
Yes, I knee him. Right between the legs.
He takes some time to recover. Enough for me to exit the cell and lock him in.
He stares at me levelly. “That was low.”
“I thought it was rather brilliant, actually. Besides, you said you wouldn’t touch me. I can see your word does not mean much to you.” I throw at him the
same words he used on me.
“And you said if we brought your blasted luggage on board, you wouldn’t put
up a fight.”
“I didn’t put up a fight. I got out of my cage fight-free.”
“Lass, let me out of the cage.”
“I think you’re more suited for it than I am.”
He bangs a fist against one of the bars. “Let me out. You know you won’t get
far. All I have to do is yell, and over half the crew will be upon you.”
“And I can’t wait to see the looks on their faces when they find their first mate trapped in the brig.”
“Alosa,” he says, a hint of warning in his voice.
“Answer something for me, and I will spare you the embarrassment of your
crew finding you.”
“What?” He’s clearly agitated. I suppose I would be, too, if I had been duped
by a pretty face.
“When we first met, and I was bargaining for the lives of my crew, you whispered something to the captain. Something that made him stop killing my men. What was it?”
Riden appears perplexed, but he answers. “I told him that if he wished to keep
the support of his crew, he would be wise to stop encouraging you to kill them
off.”
“Did you care for them? The men who I killed?”
“No.”
Hmm, perhaps I was wrong about how much he cares for the members of this
crew. “Then why bother?”
“I answered your question. Now let me out.”
I sigh. “Fine.” Though I wonder why he doesn’t want to talk about it. Perhaps
I’ve hit on something there. If it wasn’t to do with the men I killed, then wouldn’t it have to do with his brother?
The cage sings as it unlocks, and I hand the key to Riden. “You and the captain are brothers.”
“I’m aware of that.”
“What exactly happened to your father?”
Riden locks me in soundly. Then he pockets the key without taking his eyes
off of it. He turns to leave.
“I killed him.”

Chapter 4
THE FLOOR IS DISGUSTING,  but somehow I manage to sleep. When I wake, a face is inches from my head.
I shriek and roll away. Even though I realize now that he’s on the other side
of my cell, my heart still races.
“No need for that,” the pirate says. “Just needed a lock of your hair is all.”
My hand flies to my head. Indeed several strands have been cut. “What are you doing? I’ll kill you for that.”