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)
I told Ramsay that if I were to be a pirate at his side, especially a pirate bride one day, then we would need to change some things.
I just don’t know whether the crew is on board for those changes.
Ramsay eyes me and then looks to his brother with a shrug. “I figured we try it her way this time. Attack on the ship, plunder the loot, but instead of slaughtering everyone we let some of them go and take only who we need.”
“To be bloodletters,” I finish.
“Bloodletters?” Cruz asks and I realize all of the crew are listening.
“Aye,” Ramsay explains. “They’ll be bloodletting for us. Give them a choice. It’s only fair. Ask them if they want to die or become a bloodletter. If they agree to being a bloodletter we keep them on board but only for our voyage. We let them go on the other side.”
“Don’t you think that’s a wee bit cruel, cap’n?” Crazy Eyes says. “I think they’d all rather die than be kept in the hold.”
“I’ve fixed up the hold,” I tell them. “Sedge and I have spent the last few days disposing of the bones and washing it down. We’ve put in hay for bedding, blankets, and we have plenty of food and water now from Panama City. We can keep them in there for the voyage, only taking blood when you need it. It worked when I gave you my blood, straight in the bottle, it can work with them.”
“That goes against our nature,” Lothar says darkly to which Matisse nods. “I don’t want to drink human blood from a bottle. That’s what wine and rum are for. I want it direct from the source.” His teeth sharpen before my eyes and he bares his fangs at me.
I bare my fangs right back, hissing at him, then I put on a demure smile. “Your nature can be unnecessarily savage.”
“Says the woman who eats hearts for breakfast,” Ramsay says under his breath.
I smack him against the chest as I give him a dirty look. “Come now. You’re supposed to be on my side.”
“I’m forever on your side, luv. But let’s take one thing at a time, shall we? We’ll go and get the bloodletters and put them in the hold. Maybe their blood will go into bottles, maybe we’ll all end up drinking from the source, but I agree that perhaps we can rein in our ruthlessness…some.”
Thane sighs, running a hand over his face. Even though I know he’s a broken man inside, it’s nice to see his grumpy self is back. “Alright. Captain’s orders everyone. We attack, we pillage, we take…bloodletters. Leave the rest to tell a tale that no one will believe.” He clears his throat. “Hammocks up, chests down!”
“Aye, aye!” the crew shouts, running about.
Cruz brings out his violin and starts playing a lively tune.
“Set fighting sail!” yells Thane.
“As you say, quartermaster,” replies Crazy Eyes as he runs to the aft.
“Batten down your hatches!”
“Aye!” Remi and Horse retort in unison, disappearing below.
“Hoist the colors!” Ramsay bellows, raising his pistol in the air. “And be quick about it!”
“Aye, Captain!” the crew cheers and we watch as the red flag with the jolly roger gets hauled up the mast, flapping gloriously in the breeze.
“Hoist the colors!”
CHAPTER 46
Maren
“Are we there yet?” Ramsay asks me, holding his hand out for the bottle of wine.
I take another swig of it, the beautiful Madeira grapes tasting lovely, and hand it to him. “You’re the captain. You tell me.”
He chuckles before taking a sip. “It’s your kingdom, Maren, not mine.”
We’re sitting side by side up on the crow’s nest, our legs dangling over the edge of the platform. The sun is low in the sky and bathing us in streams of gold, the sea breeze blowing salt and the perfume of the nearby land in our faces. It already smells like home.
We were supposed to be heading across the Pacific already, but I asked Ramsay if we could have a little detour to the Sea of Cortez. Growing up, the sea had a different name but now that I’ve seen the charts, I realize that the Kingdom of Limonos is at the bottom of that sea, not too far from the village of Loreto, under the Viceroyalty of New Spain.
Ramsay agreed—it doesn’t take much to convince him to do anything, especially when I use my feminine wiles—and so the Nightwind set sail toward the gulf. We’ve been cruising up along the coast, the dry rocky landscape with its craggy coral-hued mountains and prickly desert plants looking so achingly familiar. The water too, with its many shades of blue and green, calls to me, beckoning me to come in.
But I’ve been waiting until I know for sure. The gulf is large, feeling like it stretches on forever, and even though I roughly know the spot, I don’t want to go in the water until I’m certain. I know that the Nightwind has places to go, indeed now that we have bloodletters on board, so we don’t have a lot of time to explore the sea looking for my lost kingdom.