Page 37 of A Princess, Stolen
“That’s unfair.”
“No. It’s a precautionary measure.”
“You won’t gouge out my eyes so I cannot dra…so I cannot describe you to the police?” I quickly corrected myself and a deep shock ran through my limbs.
He clicked his tongue angrily. “I may seem uncompromising to you, but I’m not cruel.”
I didn’t reply as I awkwardly tried to find a comfortable position.
“Don’t complain, you brought this on yourself.” He nodded his chin at my bound hands. “And don’t be alarmed, but I’mcoming in now to search for the spot in the wall you claim you used to cut the rope. If you show me, it’ll go faster.”
I didn’t want him to find Mom’s ring, so I said nothing and watched him for a while as he felt around the wall, at least, as much as I could.
He was thorough and didn’t miss an inch. “So, do you want to tell me what you did to Pan?” He was at the wall behind me; I would have had to be an owl to see him.
“I only told him about my mom,” I said.
“Pan said you deliberately coaxed things out of him that he hadn’t told anyone before. He said you were a witch.”
“So, he did talk to you about me.”
“I didn’t deny it. I simply stated that men like him don’t talk much. Pan is an honest man. Always says what he thinks.”
“Indeed.”
“And did you deliberately coax something out of him?”
“No, but sometimes I sense what other people feel.”
“Oh?” Nathan appeared in my field of vision and turned his attention to the wall next to me so that I could watch him, but basically, he was watching me. He kept glancing over at me. There was something glowing in his eyes, but I couldn’t read it, it was too subtle or maybe he was hiding it well. “And, what do I feel?” he finally asked.
I recalled his anger when I confronted him withTucekilemeur. Dangerous territory, so I said, “Back in Baton Rouge, you seemed angry without me knowing why. But you were also generous. You gave me the ribbon and wanted to comfort me. You were sad because of Lea.”
He stared at me unimpressed. “That’s long over. That doesn’t convince me.”
“You don’t hate me,” I replied softly. “You’re not indifferent to me.” Obviously, I had learned that from Pan, but it was also in his eyes. He may have wanted to despise me but he couldn’t.
He waved me off almost too casually. “Far from it. I couldn’t be more indifferent to you.” He returned to his work, radiating anger like a heater. Was I wrong or did he merely feel exposed? Or was I simply wishing that he cared about me? That was crazy! When we first met at sea, he behaved like a bastard. He scared me and enjoyed it. He ripped my dress.
I quickly glanced down at myself and found the spot. A ruffle was torn, the tulle and silk falling apart because a piece was missing. “You take a lot of things without asking.”
He didn’t turn toward me. “What does that have to do with my feelings? Besides, I told you back then that I stole my food from farmers, didn’t I?”
“You kissed me without asking. You abducted me to get my dad’s money.”
“Should we have asked you politely, princess? Besides, you had a choice.”
“Excuse me?”
“Excuse me?” he mimicked woodenly. “Here we say, what or huh… Excuse me? Who talks like that?” He laughed and shook his head in amusement. “You didn’t have to come any closer back then…” he said, responding to what I said previously.
Now, for the first time, he admitted that he was the boy from Louisiana. “You said you still had something for me.”
“Whether you’re a girl or a dock whore, you’re all the same—always wanting presents, always curious. That’s why you came closer.” Now he was kneeling on the floor, feeling along the bottom few inches of the white wall.
I felt myself blushing because he was comparing me to a prostitute, to a dock whore. I didn’t want to know what experiences he had had with women like that. “Should I have let you shoot my father?" I asked, unable to hide my indignation even though I was veering off the topic.
He still had his back to me, his hands flat on the wall. “There was a choice. There still is. Yours or your father’s life. Don’t tell me you didn’t realize that…”
