Page 15 of Veiled in Stars and Silver
Fear lanced through me. “But?”
“But if for some reason they are chained to the rock, then we are short on time.”
“So, we go to Marooners’ Rock and rescue my brothers.”
“Not yet.”
My eyes narrowed. “I thought you said we are short on time.”
“We are.” He bent and picked up his arm brace and examined the broken strap. “Brimstone and gall, Wendy. I only have two of these.” He held it out to me. “If you’ll unscrew the hook.”
I set my bloody knife on the desk and took the brace from him. It secured his hook with straps and braces that wrapped around both shoulders for stability. I had cut the one strap that held everything together. “Then what are we doing?”
He headed over to his wardrobe and threw one side open. I unscrewed the hook, watching his every move. Did I believe what he said? Peter had warned me Hook would say anything to trick me. But if there even was a chance that my brothers might be alive, I had to explore it. At least if he did only have two braces, I could easily de-hook him again.
He pulled off his shirt with one hand, revealing skin covered in inked illustrations. The intricate swirls trailed up his back, though they were oddly formed, with no predictable pattern. The mirror on the wardrobe door showed the tattoos continuing onto his chest and abdomen. In the left corner over his breast, two names were scrawled in flowing ink. Arabella and Clare.
My lip curled in disgust. What was the point of tattooing two lovers on his chest?
He lifted out another brace, which he fitted over his left arm, and pulled tight on the straps. Then he stuffed a cloth into his still bleeding shoulder, tucking it under the leather to hold it in place.
“Hook?” I clenched the curved weapon between my palms, my jaw clenching at his unresponsiveness.
He pulled on a fresh white linen shirt, working the left sleeve over the contraption that fitted the hook to his arm. “I am going to get dressed and then I’m going after your brothers.” He noticed the blood on his pants and threw me a dirty look, but didn’t change them. He grabbed an intricately sewn blue overcoat with golden threads and put it on, leaving it untied.
“And what about me?” I asked. “Do you think I’m just going to wait here without you? Because that’s not happening.” I wasn’t even sure if he was telling me the truth. But if there was the slimmest chance that he was, then I had to try.
“Right now? You’re going to attach my hook.” He held out his arm with the missing hand and raised an eyebrow expectantly. I grit my teeth, then aligned the metal and twisted. He watched me, a small sardonic smile on his lips. I took a breath as I spun his hook. Therewas an intimacy to what I was doing, and I couldn’t help worry that I was sharpening the claws of the beast.
When it clicked in place, I gazed up at him. “And now?”
“And now…” He moved so suddenly, I didn’t have time to react. Before I knew what was happening, he had a rope around me, binding my arms to my sides. He tied the length off behind me, and I heard the clink as he pulled my throwing knives from their sheaths and dropped them to the floor one by one.
He spun me to face him, his expression cruel and dangerous. “I’m throwing you the hell off my ship.”
Chapter 5
Wendy
It was all a lie.
He’d told me what I wanted to hear, getting me to lower my guard. My brothers—alive? At Marooners’ Rock?Just sit here, Wendy, and watch me cast this fake spell to find them.I was such a naïve fool.
I jerked against my bonds as my captor forced me from his quarters and out onto the main deck. The ship’s mast rose like a massive monolith in front of me, the stark white sails rolled up tight.
“Drop canvas and weigh anchor,” Hook announced to his men. “We’re moving.”
Pirates lounging about stirred and moved to comply. Smee, Hook’s first mate, a short, round man with rosy cheeks and a grin on his face, approached.
“Say, captain. What have we got here?”
“An assassin sent by Pan to kill me,” Hook said as if it were any other afternoon aboard the Jolly Roger. “We are throwing her overboard. Get the weights.”
“Aye, captain.”
He kept a tight hold on me, dragging me over to the opening in the rail.
“She looks familiar, captain,” said another pirate with only one leg, eyeing me.
