Page 74 of Astrid at Sea

Upon impact with his face, the bottle shattered in my hands. Instead of jumping back to escape the millions of glass shards that covered my lap, his naked body and the space between us, I plunged the sharp, broken bottom of the bottle into his jugular.

Blood oozed from the wound, and his eyes rolled to the back of his head–definitely not in the way he planned–as he fell forward on top of me. Not the least bit concerned about the life that was quickly draining out of him due to all the blood loss, I stepped back and allowed him to drop to the floor at my feet.

Frode opened his mouth to scream–or say his last words, I wasn’t sure–but only a strangled gasp came out. And just like when I screamed for help, no one was around to hear it.

Frode’s pathetic gasps and pleas for help fizzled out into chesty coughs and then nothing.

Silence.

Since my hands were already stained with blood and no amount of washing them would ever get it out, I pressed hard onthe neck of the bottle to lodge it deeper in his jugular, forcing out more blood.

Frode was dead, and I had killed him. He had asked for it when he decided to drag me here to violate me.

Despite the feeling of numbness that washed over me, I knew that I couldn’t stay at the scene of the crime for long.

The two pirates we left behind would get suspicious if Frode didn’t return soon. With his excitement, he wouldn’t have lasted more than a few minutes.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Before I headed up, I headed down.

I ransacked the bottom deck as best as possible, hoping to find something I could use against the two other pirates. A sword, perhaps. Or, at the very least, a spear. There was that dagger Frode kept hidden under a dirty pile of clothes, but it didn’t look like it could inflict as much damage as I wanted.

Something longer and sharper would do the job well, but there appeared to be nothing of the sort down here. The barrels I had spied earlier were filled with food and treasure but no weapons.

It appeared that Frode’s dagger and the element of surprise would be my only weapons.

I thought I would be sick when I returned to Frode’s room. I had to pinch my nose to escape the metallic smell of blood. The only good thing about it was that the strong smell of blood reminded me that Frode was dead.

Pushing through my fear about being in a room with a dead body, I knelt on the ground beside him to place my ear to his chest, listening for his heartbeat. I stayed there like that for several moments, and when I couldn’t hear a thing, I exhaled in relief and reached for the blanket from the bed to pull it overhim. He didn’t deserve such mercy, even in death, for how he and his men captured us and what he had tried to do to me. Regardless, I couldn’t stand to look at his cold, lifeless body for a moment longer.

I never thought I’d be the person to rejoice over someone’s death, especially not when it was at my own hands, but a lot of things had changed since The Serpent sailed away from Jorvik many, many weeks ago. And one of those changes wasme.

Reaching over Frode’s still, lifeless body, I pulled a face and stuck my hand under the pile of dirty clothes. After some rifling, my fingers curled around the cold handle of the dagger he used earlier to cut my ties.

I moved to the other side of the room and pressed myself against the wall, leaving it slightly ajar. I knew the chances of the two pirates hearing me all the way from the beach were slim, but I had to try something.

Sending off a silent prayer in my mind, I opened my mouth and screamed as loud as my lungs would allow me.

“No, please!” I screamed as loud as I possibly could, pushing past the way my throat burned from the strain. “Please! Someone help me! No! Please don’t do this to me! Please!”

I screamed as loud as I could for as long as I could. When it didn’t work immediately, I pushed past my dry throat and screamed some more. I knew the plan worked when I felt the soft quiver of the top deck above my head–somebody had heard my screams and ran onto the ship.

As soon as I realised my plan was working, I changed things. As the footsteps approached, my screams grew quieter and became moans.

I could hear a single pair of footsteps get closer, and when I heard them on the last step before coming down the hallway of the second deck, I clutched the dagger tighter between my fingers.

When I moaned again, calling out,“Oh, yes! Yes! Just like that!”I heard a single chuckle, confirming that only one pirate had ventured onto the ship to check on Frode and me. It was better this way because I couldn’t take on both pirates simultaneously, but it also meant I would need to devise another plan to lure the remaining pirate onto the ship. But one problem at a time.

Still moaning and whimpering quietly, I clutched the handle of the dagger tighter in my hands. I could barely hear over the sound of my heart thumping loudly in my chest, so I had to strain my ears to hear the pirate knock on the door. Of course, the only response was another moan. He probably thought the only thing happening behind the door was sex, but boy, was he in for a surprise.

I knew these despicable men wouldn’t be able to resist taking a peek, and I was only proved right when he pushed the door open to enter the room. He didn’t even have the chance to glance around and figure out Frode was dead on the floor before I jumped at and aimed for the jugular, just as I had done for his precious Captain.

This pirate was easier to kill than Frode. I had the element of surprise on my side, and he didn’t even have the chance to turn his head and see me before I slashed his neck with the sharp end of the dagger, going as deep as I could to inflict as much damage as I could.

The man’s lifeless body dropped like a heavy sack of potatoes, the light gone from his eyes before he even hit the ground.

There were two people’s blood on my hands now, and at the very least, I looked to add one more person to the list.

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