Page 29 of Ruthless Scoundrel
I take my fish to the sea and close my eyes. “It’s just wet socks,” I whisper as I throw the bloody entrails. “You’re just throwing socks into the laundry.”
When the fish is empty inside, I bring it back to the fire Jasper started with just a few rocks and some coconut husk.
Jasper holds out another short stick. “Spear it through the stomach into the head, wedge some rocks together, and lean it over the fire. You don’t want it too close because you’ll burn the outside before the inside is cooked.”
I move a few of the rocks together and pin my fish stick between them. It holds, and within a minute the meat begins to sizzle. Saliva pools in my mouth as I watch my fish get more and more done.
“Now, if you want to have a proper meal, you’d rub some Illyan sea spice on it,” Jasper says, producing a small pouch from somewhere on his belt. He holds it out to me. “It’s not poison, I promise.”
“I believe that you want me alive and well for your sale,” I say, taking it. I rub some of the reddened salt on the inside of the fish, then turn it over.
Silence envelopes us as I stare at the sea. I want to be home right now. I want to know if Alyse is okay. I want to know if my rebellion acted without me. I want to know—
“I really don’t wish to do this to you,” Jasper says, cutting through my thoughts.
I cross my arms, refusing to look at him. “Wish in one hand and shit in the other, see which fills up faster.”
He laughs coldly. “Do you always do that?”
“Do what?”
“Hide yourself behind sarcasm.”
I glare at him. “I’m not hiding.”
His dark eyes bore into mine. “Yes, you are.”
His stare is so intense, I feel myself unraveling beneath it. I want to tell him that he can go fuck himself. I want to beg him to take me home. I want to know why he really needs me.
I turn back to the sea. “What would a scoundrel know?”
“Quite a lot, actually,” Jasper says, taking his second fish from the flames.
Fire burns in my chest. “Oh, yes, I’m sure you’ve had itsohard.”
“Says a princess.” He takes a bite of his fish.
“A princess who was raised like cattle for slaughter!” My eyes burn and I swallow hard.
“What do you mean by that?” he asks.
“Nothing. Forget I spoke.”
The silence stretches on as my mind whirls. I shouldn’t tell him anything. It’s not as if he’ll care, anyway. He wants to sell me for his boat and his mansion full of women.
“The dark cloud called you ‘vessel,’” he says between bites.
The air freezes in my lungs.
“Why did it say that?”
“Why do you care?” I snap. “I’m just a bounty.”
He sighs and we fall quiet again.
I trace the half-moon scars on my wrists where the black powder burned my skin. The memory of my mother’s magic crawling up my body makes me shiver, and I hug my knees to my chest.
The rebellion can’t win without me. The queen was badly hurt by the invaders who broke into the palace months ago, but even as injured as she was, she wasn’t near death. It was powerful magi who’d attacked her. They’d escaped with their lives, but still lost to her. There is no one equipped to kill her but me.
