Page 75 of Astrid at Sea

I didn’t like it, not one bit, but I had no choice.

These pirates gave me no choice.

This wouldn’t be over until the third and final pirate was granted the same fate as the other two. Then, I needed to find a way to help Viktor and the crew overpower the remaining pirates escorting them.

With that in mind, I slipped the dagger into the neck of my dress, between my breasts, where it would be hidden from him and anyone else. I flinched when the blade nicked the side of my breast, drawing out a small trickle of blood, but thankfully, my dress was dark, so it didn’t give me away.

And that’s when the idea sprang to mind.

It was a terrible, disgusting idea which nearly made me sick, but I pushed myself forward. I fisted the right sleeve of my dress and yanked hard, ripping it halfway and leaving the material to dangle. I did the same to the material around my waist, tugging hard until it tore at the seams and the white of my underskirt showed from underneath it. I ruffled my skirt all over, making it creased and in all sorts of disarray. To make things even more believable, I poked myself in the eyes until they watered, making it look like I had been crying for ages.

Genuinely crying now, and not just because I had poked my eyes repeatedly, I staggered up to the top deck and toward the plank.

The first thing the pirate did was laugh at the state of me. That made me feel so much better about what I planned to do to him.

“What are you doing out of the bedrooms?” He laughed, walking over to the plank.

“Frode,” I started, but my voice broke off with a genuine sob.

“Frode sure did a number on you, didn’t he?” He laughed and made his way onto the ship to join me. “I’m surprised he let you out of the bedroom this soon after. A beautiful thing like you, I certainly wouldn’t let you up after only one round.”

It took everything I possessed to keep the anger at bay.

The pirate stopped once he was standing in front of me. “Where’s Sven?” he asked, his lips turned up at the corners in a large, sleazy grin that sent fearful, disgusting shivers down my spine. It was the same look Frode gave me before he closed the door.

Sven must be the name of the second pirate I killed.

“In the bedroom,” I sniffled and dropped my gaze, unable to look him in the eye for several reasons. “With Frode.”

He chuckled at my answer. “Well, it wouldn’t be the first time Frode has shared his women with us.” I wanted to scoff at the notion that I was now Frode’s woman, but it wasn’t worth it. “Why are you here?”

“Frode said to get you,” I whispered, tears still streaming down my face.

“Well, I’m not going to say no to that,” the pirate laughed and threw his arm over my shoulder. He guided us across the deck and down the stairs to the second floor, the both of us taking each step simultaneously. “What do you say that we stop by my room before we join Frode and Sven?” He chuckled, sliding his fingers down the slope of my neck. I wanted to gag at his touch but forced it down. I couldn’t be sick and ruin it all now. Not when there was so much at stake.

“Won’t they mind?” I asked, trying not to cringe back at his touch.

“He has Sven there to keep him company,” he laughed. “And as long as we don’t take too long, they won’t even notice. It can be our little secret.”

I nodded, but we both knew my opinion didn’t matter. This man planned to do to me whatever he wanted, and he thought I could do nothing about it.

This wasn’t exactly what I had planned. Admittedly, this was better than what I had planned: killing him as soon as he saw the other two bodies.

I tried to act normal as we walked down the hallway. My breath hitched in my throat as we stopped outside the room opposite Frode’s bedroom. Thankfully, I moved Sven’s body out of the way before closing the door. However, my paranoia thought of all the clues that could have remained. Like the possible blood spots, maybe a bloody footprint or a fingerprint–anything that would give me away if the pirate glanced over his shoulder toward Frode’s room.

His tunic was off as soon as he entered the bedroom, not even waiting to close the door behind us.

“Take your dress off,” he instructed me, but I refused to listen.

I leapt forward and plunged the blade I had been hiding in my dress the whole time into the middle of his upper back, between his shoulder blades.

Unfortunately, it appeared that stabbing someone in the back didn’t have the same effect as stabbing them in the neck. When I realised my mistake, the pirate turned around with the dagger sticking out between his shoulder blades and lunged at me.

“I should have known!” The pirate growled as he knocked me to the ground, immediately clasping his hands around my wrists and forcing my arms above my head. His legs were on either side of me, straddling me. When he leaned forward to press his forehead against mine, forcing all of his weight on me, I screamed.

I screamed and screamed, writhing and struggling underneath him, desperate to get him off me, but it was no use. He was too strong and too heavy for me.

The most damage I seemed to be doing was to his eardrums with all my screaming, and even though my voice had gone hoarse and ached painfully, I continued screaming.

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