Page 150 of Losing Wendy

Peter sighs, then a cruel smile overtakes his face. “What’s in it for me?”

CHAPTER 53

My heart stops. It’s less about Peter’s words than it is the casualness with which he says them. Like I’m a piece of valued property he’s been hanging onto for when the right customer comes along. I know it’s only part of the game—Peter has to stall the captain while he comes up with a plan—but it’s unsettling how convincing he is in this role.

“I asked what’s in it for me,” Peter repeats.

Captain Astor chuckles, sliding the blunt edge of the knife against my throat. “What’s in it for you is that I don’t spill your girl’s blood and force you to drink it.”

Peter’s wings flick with the delight of a challenge. A game. “You plan to spill it either way, don’t you? If you’re going to do it, I’d rather it be done with.”

My heart stops in my chest. “Peter.”

“Ah, so it seems the little martyr didn’t mean all her selfless words, did she?” says the captain with a tsk. “So eager to sacrifice yourself for others, as long as you know the others will never let that happen. This is what happens when children are made to feel as if they’re the most important thing in the world.”

Fear barrels through me, and I search Peter’s face for some sign he’s bluffing. Buying time, that’s what he’s doing.

My Mate crosses his arms. “Again, I’m going to need more persuasive terms if I’m going to let you run off with my Darling little possession.”

Bluffing. He’s bluffing.

“Why do I get the feeling you already have something in mind?”

Peter’s smile has my faith faltering. Greed flickers in his stunning blue eyes. For a moment, I wonder if he’ll ask the captain for an unconditional favor.

When he doesn’t, it hits me that it’s because he doesn’t think the captain is stupid enough to take it. The realization is like a needle to my lungs.

Peter considers the captain for a moment, then says, “Never cause any harm to me or the Lost Boys again, and you can have her.”

Something aches in my chest. It’s exactly what I wanted, exactly what I asked for. So why does it hurt so to hear it from Peter’s lips?

The captain’s bristle scrapes against my cheek as he cocks his head to the side. “I’m afraid that’s a bit too absolute for my tastes.”

Peter waits, the muscles in his crossed arms still tensed.

“How about this?” says the captain, his voice sultry. Calculating. “I’ll never harm you or the Lost Boys again, so long as you stay within the confines of Neverland.”

Peter’s eyes flash with an emotion I don’t recognize. “If you’re putting limitations on my end, I’ll ask the same of you.”

I wait for Peter to make sure the captain doesn’t touch me, doesn’t harm me, but he doesn’t. Instead, he says, “You get her for a month.”

The captain laughs, and it’s dry with the salt air that breezes past my ear. “Five years.”

My heart stops in my chest.

Peter just grins. “Are we really going to waste time like this?” My heart starts back up as Peter offers his hand. “Six months with Wendy.”

The captain pauses. “A year.”

A year. So much could happen in a year. My mind whirls back to my first season out in society. The last year I maintained my innocence, unaware that I should have been savoring it. There had been an entire year of balls and courtships before the parlor became a place of incense-ridden nightmares.

Peter just shakes his head. “You’ll grow tired of her before then,” he says. As if he knows from experience. As if the length of time I’ve been in Neverland has felt never-ending. “Trust me. Six is a mercy.”

His words are barbs in my ribcage, ones I’ll be trying to reason away for the next six months. Reminding myself he’s only saying these things to barter down my imprisonment.

But barbs hurt, whether Peter meant for them to sting or not.

Keeping his dagger to my throat, the captain extends his left hand, his Mating Mark as lifeless as ever as it slithers to converge at his wrist, breaking off into gray fringes at the beginning of his forearm.

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