Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 106107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Even when Maren filled me in on her life after leaving Limonos, all the horrors she went through with Prince Aerik, how her husband, Ramsay, the captain of the Nightwind, captured her and tortured her in a similar way, even though it seemed she would completely understand, I just couldn’t tell her the truth.
Part of me hoped she was wrong about the name, that perhaps she had some other magic Vampyre priest pirate on board.
Part of me hoped she was right.
I thought I used the last of my strength to grab the rope as the crew hauled me aboard, aided by Nill’s help, but it turns out the last of my strength converted into rage when I laid eyes on Priest.
My Priest.
My Aragon.
He hasn’t changed a bit. The years have been so cruel to me; I’ve lost all my precious fat, my hair has thinned, and I know the shine in my eyes is gone. But he, he looks as dangerous as ever, just as handsome, just as wild. His long black hair, his beard, the piercing glacial blue of his eyes…even his clothes look the same, white shirt, black pants, though he now has a holster around his waist and a short sword.
And the rosary.
The rosary I left in the cottage.
It’s now around his wrist.
He’s here and he’s human and he’s whole.
Why did the monster have to come for me? Why did he have to change?
Larimar, Maren says to me sharply, bringing my attention back to the matter at hand. Do you know this man?
I swallow thickly and answer out loud, in Spanish, so he understands. “He is no man. He is a monster.”
“You speak Spanish?” Maren asks me, even more incredulously.
“She does,” Priest says, his voice low and measured, though I can see the anxious way he’s touching his wrist, the sparks in his eyes. “So, until she learns English, I suggest we all speak her language. I assume most people on this ship speak Spanish as well?”
The men around us murmur. Must be nice to be immortal and have all the time in the world to learn as many languages as you want.
But what language we speak is the least of my concerns.
“What did you say to my sister before?” I say to Priest, goading him. “You said it in English.”
“I asked him to give you legs,” she says. “He refused,” she adds bitterly.
I raise my chin. “Is that so? On what grounds?”
He doesn’t answer, his jaw clenching.
A tall, lithe man with shaggy red hair steps forward from beside him and looks at the rest of the crew. “Perhaps it is for the best if we give Aragon and Larimar some time alone.”
“I’m not going to be alone with him,” I practically spit. “I have nothing to say to him.”
“So sorry, but how is it that you know each other?” the man with his hair pulled back says, scratching at his facial hair. From the way he hovers protectively behind Maren, I’m going to assume this is her Vampyre husband.
“Why don’t you tell them, Priest?” I sneer. “Why don’t you tell them what you did?”
“They know what I did,” he says quietly. “They just didn’t know it was you.”
“So they all knew you pulled me out of the ocean? That you kidnapped me, held me captive in the back room of your church where you would torture me and drain me of my precious blood?”
“Sounds familiar,” the man remarks gruffly.
I turn my head to look at him. “Who are you?”
“Thane,” he says. “Your brother-in-law. Pleasure to make your acquaintance, my lady.”
I scowl at him. He’s no different than any of these men. From the way they all stare at me, with that hunger in their eyes, these Vampyres are dying for a taste of me, just as Priest was.
I look back to Maren. “Did he then tell you that he lowered my defenses? Made me believe he cared about me?” I trail off, looking away, hating that I have an audience for this, that they have to see my shame. “Or perhaps he didn’t even try. I fell for him anyway, soul, heart…body.”
“Larimar,” Priest says, his voice hoarse.
I ignore him, adjusting myself in Thane’s grip. “And then one day, one day I thought I was his equal, and he let his monster come out. He tried to kill me. I only escaped by pure luck. I hit the ocean, and thanks to the way he bound his spell, the magic reversed, and I turned back into a Syren. I swam away while his church burned.”
Maren rubs her lips together, thinking it over as she looks at Priest. “The stone wouldn’t let me see who the Syren was. Had I known it was Larimar…”
“What?” Priest asks. “Would you have still brought me on board? Still let me join your crew?”