Page 76 of Astrid at Sea

My voice was the only weapon I had left, and it seemed to really bother him, so much so that he slammed the palm of his hand against my mouth. I was quick enough to close it, so while it hurt immensely, making my mouth throb, my teeth were safe.

Choking on a broken tooth while this pirate had his wicked way with me was not the last moment I wanted to remember before he killed me. If I had my way, I was going to die in bed with Viktor by my side, the both of us old and grey, taking my last breath in his arms. Hopefully, I would go before him because I couldn’t fathom life without him. Not even a few minutes.

“Soon, you’ll be screaming in pleasure,” the pirate spat at me, gripping the bottom of my dress and pulling it up. He struggled to push it up past my hips with the way he straddled me. “Soon you’ll be–” His hand stilled, and his words were cut off before he was thrown off me.

I gasped and sat up, watching with wide eyes as the pirate was slammed against the wall, his head knocked against it several times until he was knocked out.

Viktor let go of him, and the body dropped to the floor, but he wasn’t done. He pulled the dagger out of his back and turned him over onto his front before slamming the blade into his chest.

The body spasmed as blood splattered Viktor, but that was the least of either of our worries right now.

“Astrid,” Viktor whispered, and before he could say anything else, I threw myself into his arms.

Viktor lifted me into the air and forced my legs to wrap around his waist so the pool of blood he was standing in wouldn’t taint my feet.

“Viktor,” I whimpered into the crook of his neck, finding myself at a loss for words.

It felt like I couldn’t breathe because of how much I loved this man.

“Everything will be okay now, Astrid,” he whispered, rubbing a soothing hand down my back as he carried me out of the room. “I’ve got you. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“I’ve done terrible things,” I cried into his shoulder, unable to look him in the eye.

“I’m sorry, my siren. I’m so sorry,” Viktor apologised profusely as he held me tighter. “None of this is your fault. Please don’t blame yourself. I’m so sorry you had to go through all this alone. I should have been there for you.”

“You need to see what I’ve done,” I forced the words out of my mouth despite the horrid, bitter taste they left behind.

If Viktor started looking at me differently for what I had done, I don’t know what I would do. But I needed him to understand what I had done. To see the extent of it.

“Whatever is behind that door, it doesn’t change anything.” He brushed his lips against my forehead. “I love you, and I will never stop loving you. Nothing will ever change that.”

I gulped and nodded but struggled to believe him.

How could I when I had done some horrible things? Even if all of these men deserved this.

When Viktor pushed open the door and spied the first body by the door and the foot of the second body peeking out from the blanket that I had carelessly thrown over him so I wouldn’t have to look at him anymore, he didn’t judge me. He didn’t yell at me. He didn’t look disgusted or ask what I had done. He didn’t say he didn’t love me any more or couldn’t look at me the same. He just held me tighter and peppered kisses all over my face.

When the first tear rolled down his face and onto mine, I didn’t know where his tears began and where mine ended as they blended into one and dropped into the pool of blood that we were standing in.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Viktor didn’t let me down on my feet until we were back on the sandy shore of the beach where I had seen him last, but even then, he didn’t let me out of his arms. They were wrapped tightly around me as he held me, and I welcomed his touch. It felt like Heaven compared to the three different pairs of hands on me before–all of whom were now dead.

Viktor’s touch was the only one I ever wanted, and it served those men right for what they tried to do to me.

Regardless, I wondered if I would ever forget the faces of the three men whom I had killed. I guess two, since technically, Viktor had been the one to intervene and murder the last one, but that didn’t help the guilty thoughts racing through my mind right now.

“I know what you’re thinking, my siren,” Viktor whispered, squeezing me tighter. “It’s not your fault. None of this is your fault, so please, stop blaming yourself.”

“It’s not your fault either, Viktor,” I denied with a sniffle, lifting my head from his chest to look at him. I clasped my hands on either side of his face and brought it down until his forehead rested against mine, forcing him to look at me. “I can’t believewhat I’ve done, but I had to do it to survive. It’ll take me a while to process it all, but it’s not either of our fault, okay?”

“Okay,” he whispered and nodded, laughing softly when his nose bumped against mine. “We’ll talk about this later, but right now, I need to get back to the others before the pirates realise I’m missing.”

“Get back? Where?” I guess I was still shaken up by everything because I sounded panicked. Fearing that he would disappear, I clung desperately to my husband.

“I snuck away to look for you. I needed to make sure you were okay,” he murmured. “If I’m gone too long, the other pirates will notice. I prefer to avoid that and keep the element of surprise.”

“We need to free everyone.”

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