Page 50 of The Pirate Queen of Ruin
Nargol leans against the railing and stares off into the sea. She doesn’t turn around when I approach her, but there is a shift in her body, a gesture of openness.
“Captain,” she smiles, the blunt ends of her tusks touching her scarred top lip. “What can I do ya for?”
“Have you seen Delphini?” I follow her gaze across the water and see her focus is on the party happening on the opposite side of the pier. When the wind picks up just right, I can hear the beat of the music.
“Not since after dinner,” she frowns at that, “she seemed really shaken yesterday. Maybe she’s trying to find a quiet place to meditate.”
I nod. This isn’t right. It’s hard to not know where someone is in this crew. The pocket dimension is only so big, and with her seasickness, it isn’t like she would be hiding outside of it.
“She’s not in her room,” I explain.
“Sure, she’s around somewhere, probably doing one of her fancy face masks.”
Nargol grunts but doesn’t take her eyes off the party. My duty to my human and my duty to my crewmates are split as I look at my gunner. Her green skin is hidden under the cover of darkness, but I know she craves the sun. The days when we are in the open water and without a human in sight.
There are ways to hide in plain sight.
“You know, I could talk to-”
“Captain,” she cuts my suggestion off. “No disrespect to your relationship with the city’s mayor, but not even in the pain of death would I allow that blood traitor to give me anything. No good orc would. He’s cursed.”
“You deserve happiness,” I counter. “Why are you letting something from a world that casts you out guide you now?”
“I could say the same damn thing to you.”
It is my turn to grunt, changing the subject once more. “Fine, you’re getting a week off soon. You’re too pale.”
She cracks a smile but doesn’t say anything contrary as I take my leave. I sweep the lower decks, but there isn’t any sign that Delphini is even on the ship. There is a rushing sound in my ears when I go back to my quarters. I pass by her open door and move faster until I am running. There is nothing here that would indicate she entered my quarters without asking. My room is dark, the lamp light so low it might as well not have been lit.
“Love,” I growl into the emptiness, but they don’t respond.
I go back to her room. Every instinct I have tells me that Delphini has left the ship. She’s not here resting; she’s not tucked away somewhere else to train on her own. I flip the laptop open again and pull out my phone.
Her social media is easy enough to find and pull up. A time capsule of before she was murdered, the last update she has is the morning of it. She’s wearing a pink tennis dress with a matching pink sweater over the top. Her sunglasses are pulled down enough to see her coyly wink at the camera. There is a green drink next to her and she’s glowing under the sunlight.
It’s simple, but I can’t stop watching her. It’s like she fucking winked at me, like she is teasing me. Rationally, I know she isn’t, which is why I click the link on her page and begin my deep dive into the person Delphini was before she joined the crew.
There is so much and yet so little information. I should have done better.
It’s overwhelming to see so much surface-level information about my human. She is clearly successful at whatever she was doing for her family’s business. Every charity or gala they have sponsored she was there, dressed impeccably and smiling with ease. She isn’t listed on their website, but she wouldn’t be if they have disowned her. Her parents have basically no social media presence. It takes me five minutes of scrolling to find an old picture of Delphini sitting with an older woman. She is not as dark as Delphini, her skin more olive-toned, but they have the same eye shape and the same smile. Both of them are holding glasses of wine with a skyline that strikes me to my core.
I know that skyline. The familiar wash of blue ocean dotted with cliffs. My vision blurs as I see it in my mind’s eyes, smelling the salty air as I watch my island disappear beneath the sea. Love swallowing up the whole land mass as I wait a safe distance away on a ship I stole.
A shiver racks through my body as I read the Greek written in the caption.My light is leaving me after a summer of sun and wine.This must be herYiayia. It only takes a few more clicks before I have the name of the product. Some pomegranate-infused clay face mask claiming to heal sun-damaged skin.
The laptop unlocks right where Delphini left off. There is an open browser with a list of organisations, most of them crossed off, along with a schedule of events at the Harbour Crest Yacht Club. Tonight, they are closed for a private event. Two weeks from now they are hosting a regatta. A few weeks after that there is a charity auction and banquet being held. I ignore those future events; they don’t have any bearing on where she could be right now. Flipping through a few more tabs I see the dress code for a high-end club pulled up.
There are also reviews, pictures, surrounding bars and clubs, anything Delphini could find pulled up.
She is hunting.
I don’t know which of the men she is after. Miles is the only name I know, but she said there were four of them. Maybe she doesn’t know the other three? I grit my teeth. This is too dangerous. She is going to end up getting herself killed going in blind to a situation like this.
Delphini isn’t ready to kill for Love yet. She hasn’t been able to focus her power enough to even summon them on the practice jelly yet. If they find her and she can’t do it right, it will fuck everything up. It will kill her. There will be no choice but for Love to take her as retribution. A promise is a promise, her essence would belong to them.
I will have failed both of them if she doesn’t succeed.
My fingers dig into my pocket, the pearls easily crushed in my palm at the thought of her gone. Rage swells in my gut.
