Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 144411 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144411 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
“Ramsay,” I whisper, and it takes him a moment to raise his head and look up.
“Oh, bloody hell,” he says. “It’s the Royal Navy.”
CHAPTER 41
Maren
“The Royal Navy?” I repeat as he pulls himself out of me. “Are you certain? How can you tell from down here?”
“Well I ain’t certain,” he says, giving me a furtive look as he tucks his cock back in his breeches. “But when you see ships of the line like that and moving at that speed, I’d wager that’s what they are. At any rate, I have to return to the Nightwind.”
“I’ll take you,” I tell him, “You won’t be able to swim as fast as those ships, but I can.”
He gives me a wry smile. “Are you sure you don’t have dolphins we can ride?”
I manage to laugh at that. He doesn’t know what bastards dolphins actually are. “I’m faster than a dolphin.” I hold out my hand for him. “Come on. I’ll show you.”
“You’ve already shown me a great deal, luv,” he says. “I’m not sure how much more I can take.”
“Really? Here I was thinking you were able to handle me.”
“Oh, I can handle you,” he says gruffly, his brows coming together.
“We’ll see,” I say and I start swimming, my tail moving as fast as it will go and I’m holding on tight to his hand, yanking him along through the water.
“Christ!” he swears, his words drowned in the water as I speed him along. I haven’t swam like this in a decade but it’s like second nature. I reach top speeds fast and it comes so easily to me that I’m actually smiling as I go, delighting in the feeling of being so lithe and nimble. While I love being above the water on two legs, I’ll never have the balance or the coordination in my legs to be especially graceful. But here in the deep, with the body I was born with, I take great joy in movement. It is the one thing I’ll be grateful for in this new life underwater.
But I push those thoughts out of my head before I have time to dwell on them. Right now, the crew of the Nightwind are potentially in trouble, and whether it’s the Royal Navy or a galleon fleet that are heading in their direction, the pirate ship will be a sitting duck.
It’s when we get closer to them that the navy ships start to slow and we see the looming shape of the Nightwind further down. It has turned broadside, ready to fire against their attackers and taking the defensive position.
“What are they doing?” Ramsay exclaims, his voice becoming clear as I slow down. “The Nightwind needs to outrun them! They’ll never survive an attack like this.”
I glance back at him, terror dawning on me. “You’re not there. You’re the wind in the sails, Ramsay. You’re not on the ship.”
His eyes widen and I start swimming again pulling him with me until we’re breaking through the surface at the aft of the Nightwind, out of the way of the battle. The Nightwind has taken its first shots at the nearest navy ship, splinters of the boat falling into the water, but then it’s seconds later and the navy is firing back, a BOOM BOOM filling the air, smoke rising.
“I need to get up there,” Ramsay yells over the noise as he stares up at the sides of the Nightwind, gasping for breath as we tread water. “We need to get the ship moving.”
I gulp, unsure of what I’m supposed to do.
“I’ll come back for you,” he tells me, pulling me to him and holding my face in his hands. “I promise I’ll come back for you.”
I nod and he kisses me hard. “I’ll be here,” I tell him, trying to sound brave.
But what if you can’t find me? What if I can’t find you?
The ocean is too large, too deep, and now too dark.
His expression crumbles for a moment as he looks at me, perhaps wondering the same things that I am. “I love you, don’t forget that.”
I swallow the tears in my throat. “I love you.” I nod up at the ship. “Go protect your crew. I’ll help in any way that I can.”
He nods curtly and then starts swimming for the ship. He brings two marlinespikes out from his holster and starts stabbing them in to the sides of the wood, climbing up the ship that way, until he reaches an open gun port and crawls in.
I watch, not sure what to do. The Nightwind and the closest navy ship are still firing at each other, the navy ship taking on far more damage. The constant boom of the roundshots deafen my ears and the smoke gets thicker.
But as the smoke parts I notice that on the deck of that navy ship is a silhouette that looks verily familiar.