Page 22 of A Captain So Callous and Cruel

“And the conditions were clear. I tell you a truth, and now I request the same of you. A real truth. Something nobody else knows about you.”

“There are a lot of those.”

“Then this should be easy, and hopefully, you won’t cheat me this time.”

“Cheat you?”

“You never completed your last truth.”

“I hardly recall what I told you.”

His amusement relaxes me. I feel the trembles abate as I force a soft smile. “You told me you were cursed.”

His eyes dim. “Ah.”

“Cursed in life?” I wonder aloud. “In love? Aboard this ship? There are a number of ways a person can feel cursed.”

His smile turns bitter, he takes another gulp from his glass. “I’m afraid it’s an actual curse, Red.”

My brows come together. “What sort of curse?”

“Is that a second truth you want?”

“I hardly think it’s the end of the first.”

Pointing his glass at me again, he says. “It counts as the second truth. Take it or leave it.”

Frowning, I relent. “Fine.”

“It’s a very sensitive truth, Red,” he says as he walks about the room again.

“Are you going to kill me for knowing?”

I wait for him to nod, to tell me that he will do just that, but he shakes his head softly. “No.”

“My last admission?” he whispers. “Aside from the fact I find you utterly fascinating?”

“What is it?” I push.

“I love my son,” he tells me gravely. “I love him dearly.”

Of all the things I expected him to say, this stuns me.

He edges closer to me, his eyes drinking me in. I look back, too, shocked by his admission, by the anguish that momentarily flickers through him. I can’t deny he’s evil. I couldn’t possibly forgive such a man. And yet…I realize that nothing is ever truly black and white, is it? Yes, he’s capable of repulsive acts, but there’s the smallest part of him that still feels. He’ll never change. I’m certain of it, but it still doesn’t erase this fact.

Swallowing my nerves, I ask a question that has been burning on my brain since learning of his son. “And his mother?”

For a moment, a pained look passes across his features. “We don’t speak of her. A father is all he truly needs in this life. To teach him the ways of the sea, and how to be a man.” He looks away for a moment, his voice dropping as he mumbles, “I love him more than she could have.”

“Does he know that?”

He frowns, and I get the impression he hadn’t wished for me to hear that last bit. “It’s better he doesn’t. Love is for soft hearts, Red.”

“Love can strengthen hearts, Captain.”

Now he won’t look me directly in the eye. He looks at my features, his fingers gently combing through the strands of my hair. Under his touch, I see random strands of them shine brighter.

That buzz beneath my skin continues to grow. Right before I shift, anyone close to me will see it. The glow of my skin, the shine in my hair, the dazzling allure.

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