Page 25 of Kept to Kill
He beckoned her as he turned and climbed up the ladder to the next level, and she followed. Where was he taking her now, she questioned wearily? Perhaps he’d realized he shouldn’t have gone to the trouble of saving her and he was going to rectify his mistake by flinging her over the side of the boat. If the gentle rocking was anything to go by, they’d left the port while she’d been in the brig, so they’d be in the deeps now.
He led her down a corridor to a closed door that he knocked on three times before opening. She followed him into a spacious cabin that housed a large table and chairs as well as two sets of narrow beds. The other Brothers sat around the table enjoying an afternoon meal, it looked like. How lovely for them while she’d been cooling her heels in a cell and being assaulted by the crew.
‘I told you to keep her stowed below,’ Quin said to Mal, sitting back and looking at her. Whatever he saw as his eyes reached her face made his eyes narrow. ‘What happened?’ he asked her.
She matched his expression.Stowed below.As if she was a piece of cargo. To him she guessed she was. Instead of answering, she sat at the table with Bastian and Quin. She’d have taken some of the food for herself, but actually, now that she thought about it, her interlude with the sailors and their subsequent deaths had made her lose her appetite.
She stared at Quin for a few moments. ‘Two sailors took me from the brig to kill me,’ she said matter-of-factly, and Quin’s countenance darkened.
‘Why?’
‘They said something about a reward for my head in Kitore.’
‘Did you kill them?’ he asked, his voice low.
‘No, I— they … Mal did.’
Quin and Mal shared a look and suddenly Lily was no longer in the mood to sit at this table and speak to anyone. She stood up abruptly and went to one of the bunks, lay down facing away from them, and closed her eyes. She didn’t want to sleep either, but it was better than having all their eyes on her. Perhaps she should request to go back to the brig, but that idea held even less appeal. It wasn’t safe. What if there were others who would do what Tall and Short had? She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself, hoping that they’d let her stay, because, stupidly, she felt much safer here with them.
* * *
Lily’sback was to them. Quin watched as she curled up in the bunk and he frowned.
‘Did you leave them where they fell?’
Mal gave him a single nod and he stood.
‘Watch her,’ he said to Bastian, not sparing him a look as he followed Mal out of their cabin and down to the brig. When he saw the large iron cage, he felt uncomfortable that he’d had her put down here alone. He tried to push the feeling away, but it was there, ruminating in the back of his mind.
Something he’d seen in her face was bothering him. A lingering fear that she shouldn’t have, not with the power she possessed.
He followed Mal to the hold and through several rooms before he stopped and looked down. Two men lay in a heap on the floor. He hefted the first one up and turned him over, his brow furrowing when he saw the cock protruding from the crewman’s breeches.
‘Why is his …?’ He looked at his Brother, wondering at first if Mal had decided to desecrate the bodies somehow. Quin had watched him do worse over the years, that was certain. But Mal simply gave him a meaningful look and bent down to turn the other one over. Quin’s lip curled as he imagined what they’d tried to do to her, but surely she wasn’t afraid of that. Perhaps she’d never seen a cock before. He’d heard that innocent maids were sometimes terrified the first time they saw one, but even so …
‘Why didn’t she simply kill them?’ he wondered aloud.
Mal didn’t answer him, of course, just helped him drag the bodies over behind some boxes so they wouldn’t be found. Sailors were a close-knit bunch and Quin didn’t fancy having to watch his back every moment they were on the ship in case someone tried to put a knife in it. He’d send a message to the captain after they disembarked to let him know where his men were. Until then, Quin hoped he just assumed they’d missed the boat.
He went back to the cabin, Mal melting away into the shadows as he always did in a new place. His Brother liked to get the lie of the land before he settled in. He’d turn up later for food. Much like a feline, Quin mused as he opened the door and stepped inside their cabin.
The girl was still in the bed, but she was turned towards Bastian and her eyes were open.
‘Are you going to tell us the rest?’ he questioned.
‘The rest?’ She feigned confusion.
‘Of what happened with the sailors.’
‘It’s as I said. They took me from the cell, made me go with them to a darker spot. So they could hide my body better, they said. I suppose there’s a lot of blood when you cut off someone’s head,’ she muttered.
‘Then what happened?’ Quin pressed, not sure why he cared but finding that he absolutely did.
She wouldn’t meet his eyes. ‘They had me get on my knees and …’
Quin made an impatient sound.
‘… one of them said something I didn’t really understand and then he unlaced his breeches and …’ She trailed off, not looking at either of them.
