Pirate Princess (43 page)

“I’m dead,” I said again, “I have to be dead.”

Finn kissed me and my heart broke out of its box. He looked into my eyes and said, “Stop saying you’re dead. You’re alive and I intend to keep you that way.”

“Why aren’t there more guards here?” I asked, still sure that I was hallucinating.

“I killed them all,” he said stone faced.

A guard crested the cliff and Finn said, “Almost all of them apparently.” He set me down and drew his sword.

The guard was older and had a few scars on his face. His skin was leathered from over exposure to the sun and he held the sword like he knew how to use it. He had his sword drawn and pointed at Finn. He glared at Finn. “She is a prisoner of King Priam. Step aside or I will arrest you as well.”

Finn was standing in front of me one moment and gone the next. I saw movement swirling around the guard, but that was all I could see. A second later Finn picked me up in his arms and the guard fell to the ground with several cuts and stab wounds all over his body and did not move. I had never been more impressed or excited by a man. Now that I had seen him fight in earnest, I wasn’t sure if Jared would be able to beat him. Jared was fast and precise, but Finn was faster.

Finn didn’t say anything else to me, his eyes fixed on the group on the docks. He ran straight down the cliff, around the castle and to Esmeralda and Faxon who were standing on the docks using their magic. Faxon stopped his attacks when he noticed me. He waved his hands over my head as he used his magic to assess me.

“She’s alive, her magic was blocked by a sleeping spell, but it’s wearing off,” Faxon reported.

“Good,” Esmeralda said without stopping her attacks or looking at us, “Then we don’t have to destroy the entire Kingdom.”

“How?” I asked again.

“Get her to your ship and set sail for the rendezvous point,” Faxon ordered Finn.

Finn nodded his head and ran straight across the water to his ship. I screamed and he laughed in my ear. “You didn’t know I could do that, did you?”

“What? How? I’m dead,” I said definitely.

The crew pulled us up to the deck and the ship sailed away. Finn took me into his cabin and crushed his mouth to mine. I kissed him back since I was dead and let myself enjoy the delusion. He pulled back and I saw tears in his eyes.

“Please tell me I’m not dead,” I whispered as my heart tried to escape the shell around it.

“You are not dead,” he said, “and I am happier than I have ever been before because of that fact.”

He tried to kiss me again and I pushed his chest and tried to stand, but my legs wouldn’t work quite right yet and he grabbed me around the waist to hold me up. “No,” I said despite wanting to throw myself into his arms.

“Tilia,” he said softly, “I love you.”

“Take me back to the port,” I ordered him, “I’m not going to abandon my family like you did me.”

“Faxon ordered me to take you…”

“You’re a pirate! You break the rules all the time! Take me back or I will swim back.”

He growled at me, but walked us out to the deck and ordered the crew to return. He dropped anchor next to my dad’s ship and my dad yelled at him. “What are you doing?”

“She threatened to swim back,” Finn yelled back to him.

Dad cursed and I finally felt feeling return to my body. I stepped away from Finn, put my hands on the railing and watched as Esmeralda turned the castle to ash. The ash sifted down around a single figure crouched with his hands over his head. Jared stalked over to the figure, grabbed him by the throat and held him up straight. “You kidnapped and attempted to murder the Princess of Crilan. What do you have to say for yourself?”

Priam snarled at Jared. “Death to all pirates, including your niece. The wench deserves to die and…”

Jared sliced his head off in one single swing of his sword, his other hand still holding the head up by the hair. What was left of the Trian military stared at their decapitated king in shock and then at Jared. “Let this be a reminder that the Kingdom of Crilan will kill any who threaten us and the only reason we don’t rule outright is because we are merciful and kind. Any who wish to test us will find their kingdom burned to the ground and bathed in the blood of their leaders and any who stand against us.”

He tossed the head towards the handful of Trian military left, wiped his sword off on Priam’s shirt, sheathed it and headed towards Esmeralda.

“She’s safe,” she told him and kissed him briefly.

“I think this is the first time that I’ve been impressed and terrified at the same time,” Bernard whispered behind me.

“They have that affect on people,” I said proudly.

“Tilia!” Eric yelled as he jumped from ship to ship. Everyone stared at his acrobatics and I wondered where he had learned to do that. He took one more jump and landed on Finn’s ship with bent knees. He picked me up and hugged me tightly. I hugged him back and was incredibly happy the King of Blith hadn’t killed or harmed him.

“Are you alright?” I asked him when he let me pull back enough to look at his face.

“I’m fine. Are you hurt?” he asked me with concern and set me down so he could look me over for injuries.

“I’m fine as well,” I assured him. “Did he use a sleeping spell on you too? Is that why we both stumbled when we attacked him?”

Eric nodded his head. “Luckily Prince Samson woke me up despite his father’s orders not to and I notified your family right away so they could start sailing here.”

“You’re supposed to be at the rendezvous point!” Jared yelled at us when their ship sailed closer to Finn’s.

“I don’t abandon family, especially not when they destroyed a town and a castle to save me,” I called back firmly to him.

“Sail to the rendezvous point and we will meet there!” Esmeralda ordered.

“Set sail!” Finn ordered his crew.

“You’re sure that you are alright?” Eric asked.

I nodded my head and took a step back so his hands weren’t holding me and stood on my own to emphasis it. “Yes. Thank you.”

He kissed my cheek and started jumping from ship to ship again as he headed back to one of the navy ships. Finn stood a few feet away with a clenched jaw and clenched fists at his side.

I tried to walk to his cabin, but my legs were shaky and without warning buckled beneath me. Finn caught me, thanks to his speed, and carried me to his cabin.

He set me down on the bed and stood a few feet away so he could look at me. “Thank you for coming and helping rescue me,” I said without looking at him.

“I would come for you across the seas,” he assured me.

I didn’t look at him and started rubbing my legs to wake them up and get the blood flowing properly. “How long will it take to get to the rendezvous point?” I asked him.

“Just a few minutes,” he said. “Are you hungry?”

I nodded my head and he set an apple and a bread roll in my lap. “Thank you.”

“Tilia, why won’t you look at me?” he asked softly as I took a bite of the bread.

“It hurts,” I whispered.

“What hurts? I thought you said you weren’t injured?” he asked with concern as he moved towards me.

I held my hand up to stop him and said, “It hurts to look at you. Being on this ship hurts. Being around you hurts.”

“I know I hurt you and I know I don’t deserve a second chance with you, but I love you and I have missed you every second since you left my ship,” he said.

“Why should I give you a second chance to shatter my heart even more?” I asked him. “So you can leave me again when things get tough? So you can dump me off like a broken part that is no longer useful to you? Why should I give you another chance?”

“You shouldn’t give me a second chance,” he said quietly. I looked up at him and saw the raw pain on his face. “But I hope you will. I don’t deserve it and I don’t deserve you, but you are the only thing that matters to me.”

“I wish I could believe that,” I said to him, “But actions speak louder than words and although you saved me, you also left me alone and crushed. You deserted me for more than a month and most likely would have been gone longer if I hadn’t been kidnapped. I don’t know how you found out that I was in trouble, but if you hadn’t, or circumstances were different, I could be dead right now and the last memory I have of you would have been getting kicked off your ship.”

Someone knocked on the door. “We’ve arrived, Captain.”

I stood up without looking at him again and thankfully kept my balance. I walked out of the cabin and ignored his crew as I looked at the island where all the ships were gathered. I climbed down the ladder and sat in the boat with Bernard. A few minutes later Finn and a few others from his crew joined us in the boat and they rowed us to shore. I jumped out and walked to wait for my family to arrive before they had completely pulled the boat to shore. Finn came and stood nearby, but made no move to talk to me.

Esmeralda ran from her boat and hugged me tightly. “Are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m the same as when I last saw you,” I assured her.

“That pathetic waste of skin should have known what was going to come when he kidnapped you,” she snarled.

“I made sure to warn him, but he assumed you wouldn’t get here in time,” I advised her.

“We wouldn’t have, if Eric hadn’t contacted us so quickly.”

Jared jogged over and hugged me tightly. “Why are you always having such grand adventures without us?” he teased me.

Faxon hugged me next and used his magic to double-check my health. I rolled my eyes at him, but he finished and kissed the top of my head. “We are just ensuring you are well.”

They stepped back from me and my dad wrapped me up in a giant hug. “I told you I would destroy a city to save you if I needed to.”

I laughed and said, “I think this day will be remembered forever and no other Kingdom will dare mess with us again.”

Everyone laughed and nodded their heads in agreement.

“Did you catch Martin?” I asked dad.

He smiled and said, “He’s buried on that island and will rot alongside his King.”

“How come you are here?” I asked him. “I appreciate it, but how come Finn and you came with them?”

Dad looked at Esmeralda and asked, “You didn’t tell her yet?”

“I tried to before she left, but she didn’t give me a chance,” Esmeralda said defensively.

“Tell me what?” I asked.

“I can explain to you while we sail back home,” Finn volunteered with a smile.

Dad and Esmeralda nodded their heads, but I wished they had let me ignore him more. Plus I wasn’t sure I wanted to sail home on Finn’s ship.

“Eric, have the ships sail home,” Jared ordered.

“I’m going to sail back to port and get to work on the houses so we have a place to sleep,” dad said to Jared and Esmeralda. He smiled at me and said, “I’m glad you’re safe.”

“If any ship runs into trouble on the way send up a flare and we will come back to help,” Faxon said.

My family left and I reluctantly when back to Finn’s ship. I ignored his crew and Finn and walked straight into his cabin as soon as we arrived. I wanted to hear his explanation and I wanted to hear it privately so that I could yell at him or cry as I needed, without an audience.

Finn walked in, shut the door and inhaled deeply before letting out the breath in a loud whoosh.

I turned to face Finn and he started explaining, “Two weeks ago your father’s crew and mine banded together and started renovating the port in Crilan that has been in disuse, the one you suggested we might be able to use. We were beginning renovation there and unpacking the ships when word reached us about Jax’s death.” Finn looked hurt and angry for a moment and then continued. “I rode to the castle and burst inside to confront the King and Queen about your supposed death. I saw your mask on the wall and felt a hole ripped in me. Your aunt started to explain the truth and then the room filled with smoke and we saw a vision of Eric in the smoke. He told us about your kidnapping and plotted murder and what Priam had said. Naturally I volunteered to sail with them to rescue you and your father did as well.”

“Why would you care if Jax was dead?” I asked him. “Why would you care if some other king kidnapped me or killed me?”

“I left you so that you would be safe and then I heard that you had died in your own Kingdom and then found out that you were actually kidnapped by another King who was going to kill you. No matter where you are, you seem to always be in danger. You aren’t even safe around other royals. The only way to keep you safe is to keep as many of us around you as possible,” he said. Finn walked closer to me, picked my hands up and said, “Tilia, I know I have hurt you and I don’t know if you will ever be able to forgive me for what I did, but I love you more than anything, even the ocean and this ship, and I don’t want to live another day without you.”

My heart beat against the protective shell I made around it and cracks appeared in the shell. Slivers of light began to show through the hard shell. No.

“I’m not a royal. I’m not even a pirate anymore. I’m not sure what I am. I am sure that if you let me, I will spend the rest of our lives trying to make it up to you and ensuring you know how much I love you.”

The shell cracked in half and my heart shone through it with hope flooding my veins. Stop it, I ordered my heart.

“Will you please give me one more chance? Will you let me love you?” I didn’t say anything and he said, “I’ll beg if you want. I’ll come to the castle and beg for your forgiveness every day if that is what it takes,” he said adamantly.

The shell disappeared, exposing my broken heart. It glowed with an inner fire as pieces started to heal and fused back together. Warmth filled me all the way to my toes. Dammit. “How do I know you won’t just leave me again? How do I know that you won’t become worried about my safety and abandon me?”

“You can’t know that,” he said sadly, “but as soon as you pushed me away when I told you our plan I started aching for you. When you hid in the cell and I couldn’t find you, I became distraught as I searched for you. I wanted to tear apart my own ship just so I could find you and make sure that you were alright. I didn’t want to go through with leaving you in the Capitol, but I felt it was the right decision for you. It tore apart my heart to watch you leave my ship and I couldn’t sleep or eat. I only thought of you and it was then that I realized that I couldn’t be a captain anymore. A captain who cared more for his own selfish desires than what was best for his crew should not be captain anymore. I told the crew I was going to resign, but they all assured me that they wanted to talk with Rocco and make our own town. The month we spent with your dad’s crew on that island was one of the happiest month’s any of us has had and they wanted that again. I sent your father a message, but it took him a long time to respond. We decided on Crilan because we knew it would make you happy and I couldn’t stand to be away from you anymore. Your dad contacted your aunt and uncle for permission and then we sailed to our new port. I planned to visit you as soon as the houses were ready for everyone, but then…you were in trouble. I didn’t care if my ship sank or all the treasures I keep in it because you are my greatest and only true treasure and without you I am the poorest pirate alive. I love you, Tilia. I just need one more chance so that you can see. I won’t leave you again because in all honesty, I can’t leave you again. My heart won’t be able to take it.”