Page 13 of Ship of Shadows
Driscoll jumped in front of me, his tall shadow stretching out in the moonlight. “Okay, no offense, but that sounds like a really stupid plan.”
I planted my hands on my hips. “You’re the one that just told me that whole story about Liliath not giving up on her court, that she fought for her people. What do you think I’m trying to do right now?”
His eyes widened. “That’s what you got from my story? I didn’t mean you should seek out the pirate lord, who’s currently in prison, about to be executed for his crimes.”
I shoved past him. “Sorry to disappoint you, but that’s exactly what I’m doing.”
Driscoll continued to follow me. “But you said he’s evil.”
“I said I think he’s evil, and either way, now that I know he’s evil, I can be on guard.”
“Liliath is going to murder me,” Driscoll muttered, then he adopted a nasally, high-pitched tone. “Just go to the water court as my ambassador. Stay out of the way, don’t cause any trouble, and, please, keep your mouth shut.”
“Was that supposed to be Queen Liliath?” I said over my shoulder.
He huffed loudly. “This is none of my business, this is none of my business, this is none of my business.”
“You’re right,” I called. “It’s not any of your business. You can go back to your room, pretend this conversation never happened, and Liliath won’t have to know that your little speech inspired me to go visit my sworn enemy.”
He groaned. “Oh, this is a disaster.”
I sighed and stopped, turning to face him.
He slipped on a rock but caught himself and straightened. “Are you changing your mind?” he asked. “Why don’t we go back to the castle and stay up all night gossiping.” He waggled his eyebrows. “I know there’s gotta be some good drama about the servants. I saw the way one of the maids was staring daggers at your lady-in-waiting. Let me guess: ex-best friends, one of them slept with the other one’s boyfriend.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You’re the one who was just fawning over the pirate lord, and now you’re acting like it’s insane for me to go visit him.”
“Excuse you.” He scoffed. “I do not fawn. He’s objectively hot, yes, but he’s also objectively a murderer. Probably a sociopath too. So while I might have some forbidden fantasy about him tying me up and spanking me, I wouldn’t act on it.”
I stared at him for a moment, mouth open.
His eyes darted to the side. “I was kidding about the spanking. Kind of.”
I shook my head. “Well, lucky for me, I’m not planning on letting him tie me up.” Just the thought of that exhilarated me far more than I’d ever admit. “He will be behind bars, like all of our prisoners are, and I’ll simply be questioning him. Is that good enough for you?”
Driscoll chewed on his bottom lip. “I suppose.”
“Queen Liliath won’t even know this conversation took place. She can’t blame you for something she doesn’t know happened.”
Driscoll raised his hands. “Okay, okay fine. Well, I’m going back to my room and getting some sleep so I don’t have eye bags tomorrow.” He shuddered like eye bags might very well be the worst thing to happen to him.
“Great.”
He gave a strained smile. “Fantastic.”
I spun on my heel and walked toward the prison cells. Time to have a little chat with the pirate lord.
Chapter Seven
Imarched up to the prison guard, who sat on a rickety wooden chair outside the open entrance to the prison that led underneath our castle. The gleaming white walls of my home rose high into the sky, its peaks seemingly touching the stars.
When the guard saw me, she stood at attention.
“Your Majesty.” She bowed. “I swear I wasn’t sleeping. Maybe I drifted off a little, but just for a moment, and then I?—”
I held up my hand. “It’s okay, Kalaris. Really, I’m not here to reprimand you.” I cleared my throat. Here went nothing. “I just need to see one of the prisoners.”
Kalaris stiffened at that, tugging at the golden rope tied around her white chiffon. “Oh?” she asked.
