Page 16 of The Lost Child

He had a point. My father had many prisoners on the island, not just this man. What made this one so special, then?

He’d only been a boy. That’s the difference.Another thought occurred to me; if Canavar was innocent, there could be others here in a similar situation.

In a way, it felt as though my entire world was imploding around me. I knew our company were blood-thirsty pirates, but I’d never really thought about what that meant. I figured the spite was towards the crown and nobles. It was fine to war with them and other pirates. I’d never thought about all the other people who got caught in our crossfire.

Taking over for my father didn’t seem like such a grand goal after all.

“Hey. I’d like your attention onme,if you don’t mind, and not that filthy beast.”

Jagger’s finger stroked under my chin and guided my face back to him. His tone and eyes were laughing, but there was a small kernel of jealousy lurking underneath.

Like a riptide.

“Do you need any relief?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows at me.

My eyes narrowed. “Not particularly.”

He put his arms behind his head. “How about I get some relief then for a change?”

It wasn’t anything he hadn’t asked for before, and it wasn’t anything I hadn’t done in the past. But for some reason, today I had no interest.

“I’m not in the mood.”

He scowled, but gave me a good-natured grin. “Raincheck for later then. Maybe before dinner?”

I rubbed my eyes. “Fine,” I grumbled, just to get him off my back. Besides, I had much bigger tasks I needed to complete besides keeping his dick happy.

Gerrick might know more about drakens, but he likely already told everything he knew. He was a good pirate, but shit at remembering details. He had said that their homeland was an island, though. That meant sea witches, maybe.

I could have hit myself with how stupid I was. Sea witches! They probably knew all about drakens if any lived near their island.

The only problem was I’d never seen a sea witch around here. Then again, if the rumors about my own parentage was true, I wouldn’t blame them. My father would probably try to capture and rape them if they came near.

Jagger grumbled, but settled down next to me in silence. I tried to quell my irritation. In less than a week, my life had turned upside down. My father didn’t view me as a successor but was more than happy to use me to do his dirty work. There had been a little boy abused and beaten below me for nine years until he’d turned into a monster: the perfect weapon.

I hugged my knees, my leather boots squeaking in protest.

So now what was my purpose? Would I spend the rest of my days being a pirate? What did Father mean when he said he didn’t need a successor? Surely everyone died at some point. Father had to have a plan. He was always buried in his plans and schemes; and never once had he let me in on them. Not until he’d shown me Canavar.

I had to realize that my only value was in fighting for him or being married off. The latter made my skin crawl, but perhaps it was time to start being reasonable. A woman couldn’t fight among pirates forever. Eventually they’d take me by surprise when my father wasn’t around, and that would be it. I had a few pirates I liked better than others (Jagger, for one) but I wasn’t stupid enough to believe we were friends. I didn’t want to test whether or not he’d keep my secrets if it really came down to it.

Was it possible there could be a life for me out there that didn’t involve pirates?

Not likely. Besides my father, I had no one. And even that suddenly seemed conditional.

What was the point? Father had spent his time beating me as a child to make me strong enough to survive and thrive here. Or, that’s what I had thought.

I batted away the hand that Jagger had been sneaking up towards my breast. I wasn’t inanymood today. I knew using him to help control my power would only lead to him wanting to dip his wick more often. I had fond feelings for him, but I also had new feelings.

Feelings that revolved around Canavar.

“Jagger, I have to go.”

His normally bright face darkened for a moment, a smirk curling itself along the edge of his mouth. “Sure. Yeah. I’ll look you up later. Maybe stop going down to visit that monster.”

A cold, tingling sensation spread up from the base of my spine.

“What do you mean?” I tried to sound indifferent; flippant, even.

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