The Pirate and the Amber Cat 8

Chapter 8

Suili inquires about her ransom.

If you are just joining this story, you may want to start at the beginning.

The next day was bright and hot, devoid of even a wispy cloud in the wide skies. The Lita Nysse rolled lazily on the cobalt waters a day and a half from the coast, a choice distance to pick passing vessels.

Suili spent the morning and afternoon on deck where a faint breeze stirred pirates and woman alike. She sat on a crate, her back against a barrel, watching the blue waters swell slowly to the side of the hull. Among the flap of slack sails she heard the men talking, but made no effort to understand their conversation. She did know, however, that their progress was slow for lack of wind, and she wondered how it would affect their rendezvous with Juriz.

The wind picked up early that evening, but to Suili's dismay it also brought a storm. It was a warm, humid rain with only occasional bouts of wind and thunder, but even so she cringed with every crash. She sat at the bench in the bedchamber, pulling the ecru lace pelisse around her shoulders nervously, listening to the rain slap at the closed shutters by the armoire.

"Are you cold?" Cortleno asked.

She looked to where he sat at the table, packing a pipe. "No." Her eyes flicked to a shutter that moved under the wind's force.

"How long have you been in the valley?"

She made an effort not to bite her tongue as a peal of thunder ripped over the ship. "About six years."

His face registered surprise. "And you still wince at the rain?"

"It's not the rain," she said stiffly, watching him tap the pipe on the table.

"Suili, if I were of a mind to harm you, that pout would not prevent me," he said with an easy smile. "Come sit over here. I'm not going to attack you."

She considered keeping her seat only momentarily; the noise of the storm had eaten her lagging courage for what she was beginning to think was needless resistance. He hadn't even bothered to tie her hands to the bedpost last night. Still, she had never sat across a table from a bare-chested man.

He attempted lighting the pipe as she took the chair across the table. "You had to come by ship from Luxil. You didn't have any storms on the voyage?"

"Yes, but I didn't like them then, either."

The pipe refused to draw and he emptied the tobacco onto a pewter dish and began packing it again.

"You're doing it wrong," she observed. When he looked at her quizzically, she continued. "You have to pack it like standing grain. It can't draw when the leaves are flat."

He followed her instruction and repacked the pipe, aware of her rapt attention. "You certainly have a varied education."

"Why do you have a pipe if you don't know how to light one?"

His eyes took on a darker shade of blue. "It's the first I've cared to keep." The pipe stayed lit this time when he drew on it. "Do you coach your husband on the finer points of smoking, too?"

She watched a thin puff of smoke float up. "My father had pipes."

"When is your wedding?"

She could not hide the pout that pulled at her lips. "In about a week."

A pleased smile crossed his face. "Then Shaenen will be anxious for your return."

"What are you demanding for me?"

His smile dropped to be replaced by a threatening look. "I don't think you'll enjoy the answer, Suili. I advise you to curb your curiosity on the matter." He retrieved a bottle from a nearby cupboard and poured two ivory cups full, pushing one to her. "It's only wine."

Her eyes rested momentarily on the cup, and then returned to him. "Juriz is an honest, upright man. He's the youngest ever to sit on King Gade's council. You can't sully him."

He shook his head with a grin. The spirit she brought to the ship surprised him, for a gentlewoman. He wondered how long it would last. The glass incident had also shown an unexpected side to her. "You know little about your future husband if you believe that, Suili. Perhaps it's best you keep that image intact."

A mixture of pride and inquisitiveness made her persist. "And you know him better than I? What's your grudge with Juriz? Did he turn you in at some time?" Her eyes went to one of the scars that crossed over his shoulder. She had seen other evidence of floggings that night when he discarded his shirt in pursuit of coolness and she found herself making an effort to ignore looking at him for long.

At the same time she envied his lack of qualms about undressing. Even the simple pelisse seemed too much to wear over the night slip, but out of modesty she left it on. She had ventured to change into the pale lilac slip when darkness fell. It was sleeveless and cool, but she had donned the lace pelisse when she heard Cortleno enter the office earlier. Even so his eyes seemed to see through the lace. "Did one of his ships escape your attack?"

"No, nothing so petty as that," he admitted. He suddenly stood up and went to the trunk by the end of the bed. "Do you play Bull and Lion?"

She frowned as he brought a two-colored marble board to the table. "The game?"

"You've heard of it, surely. It is Lux," he added, setting a cloth pouch on the table and turning up the candle lamp. "Do you play?"

She nodded. "But not well."

"Juriz doesn't let you win."

"We seldom play." She watched with growing interest as he took out the playing pieces. She had played the game since childhood, but her father's game consisted of quartz pieces, unlike the figures Cortleno presented. "He travels a lot."

"He leaves you alone too much."

"He'll be home more after we're married," she said in defense.

"I'll bet he will."

Her pout returned with irritation. Her fingers toyed with one of the miniature animals carved of stone. It was a bird of bight blue and white sodalite. Game pieces amounted on the board in various stones as he set up the sides. She identified the turtle of black and white obsidian, a malachite frog, a horse of gray veined howlite, and the bull and lion of lead-colored hematite, among others.

"You begin."

Suili made her first more. "You could at least tell me your demands."

"You wouldn't believe me."

She watched him make his move and then played her champagne quartz jackal. "I've never seen game pieces like these before."

"Most are onyx. I suppose yours are carnelian." Cortleno made his move and took her coral bird off the board.

"Yes." She studied the board for a long moment, listening to the rain falling on the sea. It was a gentler sound now. "Why did you make me take the carnelian out of my hair?"

"I don't like carnelian," he said without hesitation, watching her eyes linger on several of the game pieces. He finished his wine. "Besides, it looks wrong on you."

She moved the green frog. "Our mines produce the best carnelian on the continent."

"It's an ugly rock."

"It brings high prices," she countered, tasting the wine. Her gaze settled on the board where she had three pieces of various jaspers in strong positions. "You're trapped. You can't make a move without weakening your guard."

He shook his head, refilling his cup. "How much was your dowry?"

She frowned at the odd question. Her scowl increased as his jet owl slipped past her trap. "I had no dowry."

His attention left the game, studying her. "You came all the way from Luxil with no dowry?" He leaned forward, estimating the honesty in her face. "It was an arranged marriage?"

She returned his stare. "Yes."

"Arranged marriages are not common in Ullira, and even the Lux are discontinuing the practice." He moved a piece absently, an intense frown covering his face. "What did your father owe the Shaenen family that he would sell you in—?"

"I was not sold, Captain. And I don't see how an arranged marriage is any of your business," she added coolly. Her eyes swept over the board.

"As long as you're aboard my ship it is very much my business," he said, watching her make a move.

She sighed shallowly, recalling her decision at cooperation. She was anxious to create a common ground between them that she could possibly use to her advantage, but not at the expense of her privacy. "My father came from Ullira, and since Shaenens customarily marry Lux, Uncle Methden thought it appropriate. He and my father were at academy together, and they promised a betrothal then."

"Juriz isn't Methden's son."

"No. He had no children, but he took Juriz, his nephew, as heir when Juriz's father died. Juriz was only a boy then, and the agreement with my father was settled." She made a careless move and regretted it immediately as Cortleno advanced on her bull.

He sat back, observing her slow consideration of the game. The broken glass lamp incident came to mind again. He had expected a bit less aggression from the wife of a gentleman, especially one as young as she. In a way her resourcefulness amused him; had amused Lucas, too, when he had heard of the encounter. He wondered if Juriz Shaenen was prepared for her.

"Is your husband fond of you?"

Her eyes shot from the board to him. "The marriage has been arranged. Juriz's affection is no more a concern than is mine."

"You may say that easily enough now, Suili," he said, noting her agitation, "but it does have a bearing. Don't tell me you wouldn't rather marry a man you loved."

She laughed nervously, waiting for him to play. "Love isn't a prerequisite for marriage, Captain. Marriages based on a passing fancy or likable face or smile do not guarantee a wise choice."

"Oh, you're right," he admitted. "Much better to write it in ink, before the children are born, and seal it in wax. Tell me, if the sun melts the wax on a hot day, does the marriage dissolve?"

A roll of thunder sounded, but it was fainter with distance.

She didn't answer, awaiting his move.

"Don't tell me you never wished you had chosen your husband."

"Never."

"So you don't need that kind of marriage." His eyes arrested hers when she looked up from the game. He couldn't quite read what they held. "You're content to let your imagination create your leisure. You'll go to your husband's bed out of duty, and take a lover in quiet. Or have you already chosen one?"

"I have not," she said pointedly. "And I have no intentions of doing so."

"I hardly think a woman in your position consciously decides to solicit a lover," he said off-handedly.

This verbal invasion was enough. She turned the bull on its side. "You win, Captain." She started to stand up, but he grabbed her wrist.

"Sit down and play."

"I don't care to discuss my marriage bed with you!" she bit out, an anger in her emerald eyes he hadn't before seen.

"Sit down," he repeated. "We'll talk of something else."

She sat slowly as he released her, touching her wrist where his fingers had irritated bruises from her attack with the glass.

The room was suddenly overbearingly warm and he felt it, too. He opened the window over the table. The wind had abated to a mere breeze and the rain was now a mist.

"Is Juriz eager for the marriage?"

"You said we could talk of something else," she reminded, wishing for the lace fan, but refusing to find it.

"We are. Now we're talking about your ransom." He watched her turtle take his jackal. "This is not idle curiosity, Suili. How is it between you and your husband?"

"Tell me my ransom first," she requested.

He considered this, and then decided against it. "If I put a price on your life, would be pay it?"

"Of course he would."

They played in silence for a moment. Suili was losing and she knew it. Her ransom was more than a simple curiosity to her, too, and she resolved to answer none of his questions until he told her. His hematite lion was directly across from her bull and she knew it was only a matter of a few moves before he won.

"Does he have a mistress?"

She scowled at the question. "I doubt I'd know if he did." Well, it wasn't exactly an answer, she reasoned. The board was disappointing from her view.

"If you win, I'll tell you the ransom," he said, pouring himself more wine and topping off her cup.

She shook her head, eyes frowning over the board. "You know I can't win."

"You can."

She searched the board carefully for a long moment. "I don't see how." She moved a jade fish, and he took her bull. "I couldn't have won."

He nodded, turning the board so she saw it from his angle. "The jasper camel."

"Oh," she said slowly, looking at the obvious move. "I didn't see that."

Lucas knocked and called from the outside door, and Cortleno dismissed himself.

Suili felt a heavy relief when he was gone. She didn't like the course of the conversation during the game. It brought too many uncomfortable feelings back to mind, feelings she had spent years carefully burying. She was lost in those memories when Cortleno stepped in briefly to say he was locking both doors.

Suili bagged the game pieces and turned down the lamp light, her efforts to drive the thoughts from her mind failing. She removed the pelisse and smoothed the lilac slip, appreciating its coolness. She fingered the dark green embroidery at the neckline. It was of Lux silk, but the style was unfamiliar. Of course, the fashions would be different than when she had left her homeland. A latent twinge of homesickness welled in her.

There had been too few letters from her mother the past six years. Much had happened since she had left. Iyene had been engaged to a port merchant's son, a match of Iyene's choosing. How different it was for her younger sister.

Cortleno should have stolen Iyene, Suili thought sourly as she turned the lamp lower and crawled into bed. She sunk deep into the mattress, admitting that it was indeed a fine bed, particularly for a pirate.

Iyene had always been adventurous, and hopelessly romantic, even for her young age. When they were children Iyene would watch the servant-carried litters of the wealthiest women borne through the streets of their home town of Jayle-len, gold fillets holding the womens' plaited hair, jewels hung from ears and throats. Iyene had a story for each one of them. Wild and outlandish stories for their sheltered family life, Suili recalled. She smiled at the memory. Being captive on a pirate ship would have thrilled Iyene.

No, she thought again, chiding herself. She would not wish this on her sister Iyene.

She looked out the window at the two moons hanging in the deep violet night sky. Like great white opals they watched over the dark waters as the Lita Nysse headed north.

She sighed, wishing Cortleno had never mentioned her dowry.

All Chapters

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