Page 90 of Wicked Tides
The next morning, the clouds had thinned, but the ground was newly wet from a downpour that had moved across the island in the night. I was wearing my coat and hat that day as I trudged along toward the inn. A couple of days by myself had not mended me completely, but I had known from a young age that the only cure for my insanity and anger would be death. In life, I only needed to endure.
Outside the inn, a few of my men were lounging against the wall on rickety wooden. By the way they greeted me, they were well rested, too, and in better spirits.
I moved past them and entered the tavern where more of my men were sitting around quietly eating smoked sausage and toasted bread. I paused at the door until I saw Gus and Mullins at a table in the far corner. I made my way toward them, pouring myself a mug of water as soon as I arrived.
“Morning,”I said lazily.
“You look refreshed, cap’n,” Mullins commented.
“Where are the girls?”
“Upstairs with our boy, Billy, and Thelasa.”
“And how are they doing?”
“They’re not as talkative, that’s for sure.”
I sipped on my water and slowly pivoted to face the room, catching a figure on the opposite side dressed in a deep blue dress and a tightly cinched corset. I paused, my cup midway to my mouth as I watched her speak with one of the tavern hands. When she turned, my breath caught.
Seeing Dahlia dressed like a lady, her long, black tresses braided over her shoulder, was not something I imagined ever seeing. Especially after the previous night when I’d seen her at her most vulnerable. At her most broken. She looked proper and held herself like she was not a demon of the sea but a well-mannered woman of the land.
“Ahh, right,” Gus said. “She and Thelasa got to talking early this morning. Thelasa thought it was inappropriate for her to be in tattered men’s clothes and put her in one of her old dresses. The men rightly don’t know what to think.”
“She looks so human that way,” Mullins said with a shiver. “I don’t like it much. But Thelasa insisted.”
“And she knows what she is?”
Gus nodded once. “Said something about seeing her throw herself at the men when they threatened Sakari and now she’s wearing one of her dresses. I swear, the people on these little islands aren’t always right in the head.”
“Thelasa’s seen a lot more than she puts on. If she wanted to give Dahlia a dress, then what are we to say about it?”
Dahlia’s eyes made their way toward me and our gazes locked. My heart skipped a beat. It truly was unnerving how she could make herself look like a woman when all of us had seen how she could rip into a man. We knew the teeth behind those lips and the malice behind those storm-gray eyes. To one who did not know the beast beneath theskin, she was beautiful. Even with the scar on her cheek, she was a head-turner.
“Captain,” Gus said. “We should probably talk.”
“About?”
“Well, about Brom. There’ve been whispers about. Some of the men don’t much like the way things are going.”
“Who?”
He shrugged. “Just whispers. But maybe we should have a chat with Uther. He and Brom were good mates.”
I nodded solemnly. “I’ll talk to him.”
But then my eyes fixed on Dahlia again and I felt a need to speak with her first.
“Cap’n?” Mullins said.
I set my mug down and started toward her. “We’re leaving today. Make sure everyone is ready.”
Dahlia kept her gaze on me as we both converged at the bar. Images from the previous night crept back into my head. The sounds of her pained ecstasy. The memory of her bare skin and heavy breaths. Of my cock surging inside her.
Fuck.
“It’s unsettling how easily you slip into the role of innocent beauty,” I said to her.
“Only simple men cannot see through me. Are you simple, Vidar?”
