Page 24 of Pearls of Salt and Sacrifice

“What will be fun is hanging you from the yardarm and watching you twitch in the breeze,” Reva said, filling her words with anger to hide the pain that burned beneath the surface. “Whatever you’re trying to do here, Rency, kidnapping two royals and starting a war with not one but three kingdoms is not going to be good for your health.”

Rency held her gaze, his cocky smile growing wider. “Ah, but when have I ever cared about my health, darling girl?”

The sea prince wrenched against his captors again, mumbling around the gag in his mouth. The sailors struggled to hold him down.

“What’s that? I can’t understand you,” Rency said, his tone and smile so amiable it made Reva want to punch him in the face. Repeatedly.

“Rency, take that gag out his mouth at once,” Reva barked.

The pirate captain shrugged and snapped his fingers. “If you wish to listen to him bellow and whine, be my guest. This is getting tiresome, though. I need a nap.”

“You need a spanking,” Reva said as she strode forward and knelt in front of Prince Jareth.

She worked her fingers around the knotted kerchief the pirates had used to gag him. Jareth stared at her hard, an indiscernible glint in his eyes. She slowed her movements and held his gaze. What was he thinking?

When the gag slid free, Jareth worked his jaw side to side and licked his lips. “Thank you, Your Highness,” he said. “That rag tasted incredibly foul.”

One of the sailors snickered, but he choked into silence when Reva shot him a withering glare.

“Now,” Reva said, still kneeling in front of Jareth. “What did you wish to say, Your Highness?”

“I wanted to say that I don’t think Felix is the one we need to worry about.” Jareth leaned a fraction closer to her.

“Of course he is!” Rency threw his arms wide, as if he were an actor on a stage making some sort of grand gesture. “He’s a nincompoop.”

“I’ve been watching the cove,” Jareth said, ignoring the pirate captain and focusing on Reva. “There’s something in the water.”

Something? Why was he being so vague? Unless…unless he didn’t know what was in the cove? What sort of creature would be a mystery to a prince of the sea?

“Of course there are things in the water. It’s an ocean,” Rency said with a wounded sniff. “But, I agree. We’ve sat here long enough. Why isn’t this bucket of boards and rusty nails moving?” He stomped his foot against the deck like a petulant child. A sound echoed from the bowels of the ship that could only be described as a belch.

Reva’s eyebrows lifted.

“None of that,” Rency snarled, stomping his boot yet again. “Move! Or I’ll take you apart, one board at a time and sell you for kindling!”

The Andromeda lurched, rocking Reva forward. Gasping, she caught herself, bracing one hand against the vibrating deck of the ship and the other against Jareth’s arm. Her fingers curled around firm muscle. The sailor’s holding Jareth in place regained their footing then tightened their grips on his arms.

“Easy,” Jareth whispered. “We’ll get out of this, Princess.” He’d spoken the words impossibly low, for her ears alone.

She let her hand linger on his arm as she searched his eyes for some sign of deceit—she wasn’t feeling terribly trusting at the moment—but she couldn’t guess what he was thinking. With a frustrated exhale, she let her fingers slide from his arm and rose, turning to face their kidnapper.

“Can you at least release Prince Jareth and Isla? We’re not foolish enough to dive overboard in the middle of the cove.”

Rency ran his fingers over the railing of the ship and gave it a pat before looking up to acknowledge Reva. “You’re too clever, yes, but that one—” He pointed to Jareth. “—is a fish out of water. And while I am loath to admit that these idiots of mine possess even an ounce of common sense…I would rather not sound the alarm until we’re further out to sea.”

Reva flexed her fingers and curled them into fists. The motion sent tingles of pain through the cut on her arm. “Take care, Rency,” she said in a voice as cold as the sea itself. “I’ll not stand for my citizens being clapped in irons in the belly of your blasted ship.”

“And what do you intend to do to stop me?” He lifted her dagger and used the tip of the blade to pick his rotten teeth.

Her mouth worked soundlessly. She’d never be able to use her weapon again.

Clenching her fists tighter, she darted to the left, ducked around the snatching arm of a pirate, and leaped neatly onto the railing Rency had been stroking only moments before. Arms held out to the side to maintain her balance, she stared out into the darkness of the night.

“I’ll jump,” she warned, praying to every star in the night sky that she wouldn’t get dizzy and actually tumble headfirst into the pitch-black water. “Unless you release Isla and Prince Jareth, I’ll jump.”

Silence coiled around her as the Andromeda continued to forge a path away from Black Rock. Then Rency cursed.

“You are the most annoying princess I have ever met. Why can’t you be one of those useless, frilly sorts who vomit at the sight of a ship?”

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