The Pirate and the Amber Cat 6

Chapter 6

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Suili awoke the next morning to her arms being moved without her will. An aching pain consumed them, her hands cold and numb. She tried to pull them away as she opened her eyes slowly, but Cortleno sat on the bed to finish untying her bond.

"Fool woman," he muttered, tossing off the worn material and rubbing her wrists.

"Don't, don't touch them." She gritted her teeth against the straining throb echoing up her shoulders.

He bent her stiff fingers as she suppressed curses. "Keep moving them."

She took her hands away. They were heavy and tingling as circulation returned.

He stood and opened the window by her washstand and then the other three.

At the sight of the clear blue sky outside, her hands stilled. She inhaled the new air that glazed warmly over the room. Beneath her the ship swayed gently, making her catch her breath.

She went to the window and looked out, forgetting her aching arms for the moment. The azure waters dipped and rippled beneath the wooden hull and seagulls called through the air. She turned and looked to Cortleno.

"We sailed this morning," he said before she could speak.

"What about the ransom?" she asked. "Have you heard from Juriz?"

"No. We're only going a few days up the coast." He went to a chair where a brass main gauche leaned and strapped the sword to his belt. He opened the door as Brons knocked.

In silence the boy put a bowl of rice and pineapple on the table and left.

"When are we going back?" Suili rubbed her arms as the blood coursed faster through them.

"We aren't. Your husband is to meet us farther up the coast."

He stood near her and looked out her window for a moment, and then took one of her hands, which she clenched. He pried open her fingers and inspected her palm, but found not even a scratch from her attack with the glass.

"You're clever, Suili. You planned that little incident last night all day yesterday." He dropped her hand and his eyes were unreadable. "I can promise you this: if you get past me, you'll have to contend with the crew on your own, and they'll have no mercy on you or respect for your chastity. Keep that in mind next time."

She blanketed the fear his words stirred in her, and didn't turn around as he left the room. Had she escaped last night she could have lost herself in town, she rationalized. At sea it was different; there was no place to go, nowhere to hide. To escape from the room would only put her in the midst of the crew, and she did not want that.

She sullenly ate breakfast. By the time she had finished her spirits were lifted, and she knew it was because of the breeze that rode in through the windows. She exchanged her dress for another from the armoire. She smoothed the rich teal folds, also of gauze, wondering about her abduction from another angle.

How did he know to take her? She had many servants, and some of her maids she considered companions rather than attendants. He would have had to watch the house, or had it watched for him.

She frowned, the familiar resentment rising inside her. All her household, many she had known since coming to Ullira, massacred for a cutthroat's whim. But he had not laid a hand on her, not as he might have, even after she tried to kill him.

She wasn't a terrible threat anyway, she thought with a sigh. The small cut at his throat looked more like a barber's mistake than a desperate attack.

She didn't know why she had failed last night. Her aim had been true. She had been quiet. He awoke too easily, she consoled herself, sitting at the upholstered bench and gazing out the window. There had been no hesitation, no moral consideration when she crept up to him in the dark. She had overestimated the brandy with him. He was not drunk or even near drunk.

She would remember that for the future.

Perhaps Juriz was on his way to meet the ship now.

She had been honest when she told Cortleno she did not know when Juriz would be home. It would be soon, she knew, for the wedding was in just over a week. Twelve days. Juriz would most likely be home to oversee household matters and greet the guests. Invitations had been sent long ago. Even King Gade was to attend the ceremony.

Suili blanched at the thought of the scene her home would present to the guests. No one had survived the attack of Cortleno's men. The lawn would be strewn with bodies left for days in the unclouded sun. The same sight would greet Juriz.

Her shoulders sagged at the imagery, a movement that caused her to moan aloud when a fleeting pain shot through them. Juriz would pay the ransom, she told herself in relief. Whatever Cortleno demanded for her safe return, Juriz would give without complaint.

She leaned against the wall, watching the water out the window cap with white in the distance. Even so it might mean spending up to a week on the Nysse, depending on how far up the coast Cortleno took them.

"Do you want to come up on deck for a while?"

She startled at Cortleno's voice. She looked to him in the doorway to the office. "I can?"

"If you like, and behave yourself," he added. His eyes traveled over the dress she wore, pausing where the sun stretched warm on her tan skin. "Bring your wrap."

This time Suili did take Cortleno's hand when he offered it as they climbed the half flight of stairs to the main deck. She was met by both overt glances and oblique curiosity as she stepped quickly through the crew to the starboard rail with Cortleno's escort.

"Keep out of the way," Cortleno was saying as the crewmen turned back to their own interests. "And stay in my sight."

Suili nodded, feeling strangely forlorn when he left. Some of the crew's attentions returned to her and under their observation she looked back out over the sea. A flat piece of land was slowly fading smaller on the horizon.

The light breeze swayed her vivid skirts, making her pull the periwinkle shawl closer. Its crystal beaded fringe waved in the sea air, catching glints in the sun.

After an uneasy day of hibernation in the bedroom, standing at the rail seemed a privilege. Their house in the Paraimo Valley was very open and the confinement of the locked cabin was unbearable.

With a timid scrutiny of the crew Suili located Cortleno speaking with two other men. He had said she need only stay in sight, not specifically at the rail. She followed the rail to the rear of the ship where the quarterdeck rose over the cabin and let her eyes fall over the main deck.

It was not an Othalian-manned ship, not exclusively. The man mending a sail was either Dembian or Oquin; she could never tell the dark-skinned northern Mortanian mountain peoples apart. Another man sitting on a stack of thick coiled rope idly whittling was Luresian, she determined by his accent. He was laughing and cursing with the man Suili remembered from the raid. The second man's lanky build was not hidden by a shirt now, and he wore part of a Tiil flag around his dark, limp hair. His eyes darted to her, and Suili immediately looked away, disliking his smirk. Her guess was that he was the first mate Cortleno referred to as Lucas.

She watched two Hemtitti men angling a net over the side of the ship for a moment. They reminded her of the native maid Venia, and the girl's terrified face flashed through Suili's mind. Her eyes sought the waves again, her fingernails sinking deep into the faded gold paint on the rail.

She steeled her thoughts anew. Cortleno's way was the greediest and most cowardly method of choking money from a rich man.

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PG13. #romance #cleanromance #teenromance #YA #fantasy #pirateromance #pirates #ambercat #ChancelJordan