Page 49 of Veiled in Stars and Silver
“I've seen naked women before, Wendy.”
I turned to shoot him a deadly glare. “Gentleman,” I reminded him.
“Yes. Yes.” He sighed and lifted his hand over his eyes.
After I slipped out of my gown, I drew my knives out of my undergarments and then peeled off their wetness. Before I thought twice about what I was doing, I raced for the bed, gripped the blanket, and slid under, pulling it up to my chin, facing away from him. But the thin cover did little to heat me, and I trembled, quaking the entire mattress.
James sank down, and his arm came around me, urging me against him. The lantern would go out soon, but for now, I enjoyed the small amount of light. Right before my spine hit his chest, he paused. His finger traced over my back. Damn. My scars from Uncle Reuben's lash.
“I should have finished gutting the bastard,” he seethed. My heart burned at the dark emotion in his voice.
He tugged me tight against him. The warmth of his body rolled into me, and his brace brushed over my abdomen. His other arm dug beneath me until I was locked in his embrace.
Remembering the stone settled against my chest, I lifted the chain, but James nudged me with his shoulder. “Leave it on. Always leave it on, evenhere.”
My face contorted. “Surely he can't control us from Neverland… Or in a world with so many...”
“It has always been uncertain the extent of Peter's power in this world. It's better to leave it on.”
I nodded, releasing the chain and settling into James's arms. I shut my eyes, a slight ache moved through my limbs as I heated. The comfort of his arms was like coming home to a roaring fire and a cup of hot cocoa on a winter day. A calmness settled me. Why had I been so nervous? This felt better than anything I could remember.
“You aren't ruthless,” James muttered.
I opened my eyes. “I'm sorry?”
“You feed the children in the street. You buy from the poor even when you know their product is a sham. And overpay every time. You are not ruthless. You, Wendy Darling, are kind.”
I twisted to give him a side-long glance. “Have you been following me?”
He lifted his head and displayed a roguish grin. “You had my dagger.” His smile faded, and his arms tightened around me. “You've lost everything. And after tonight, discovering what kind of man your uncle is... You fight for what you have left. Like me.”
“The people of Neverland are your family.”
A solemnity came over his expression. “Yes.”
Just like I'd do anything for my brothers, he'd do anything for them. I thought of the jeweled dagger I'd left on the floor with the other knives and turned away from him, a frown on my lips.
“What were you trying to escape?” I asked.
He became still. “What?”
“When you came to Neverland. What were you escaping?”
His head dropped onto the bed behind me. “My family.”
That wasn't what I was expecting. “You mean your wife and child?”
“I loved my wife. We weren’t well off, but we got by. Then we had a child, and what little money we had seemed to shrink into nothing. I was frightened. The responsibility was too much. I-I convinced myself they would be better off without me. My wife could say I was dead and remarry someone more capable. So I left. I received an offer to come to Neverland, and I came.” Pain laced his voice.
I lay there, unsure of what to say. Abandoning family. What a horrible thing to do.
“I regretted it almost instantly, and I wanted to return to them,” he muttered. “But once you are there, there’s no going back. Not if Pan doesn’t want you to. It was him that decided I should become the dread pirate captain. Because a child leaving their family behind is one thing, but only the worst sort of man abandons his wife and child.”
My disgust melted away, and a heaviness moved through me, for the pain in his words, for the man who could never return to find his family. For the way he’d obviously tortured himself over it for so long. “Everyone has doubts about new changes, especially big ones. A life of enslavement is not a just exchange for a moment of doubt.”
“I don’t know, love. Sometimes it seems the only reward for making such a choice.”
“You said you wanted to go back.”
