How to Marry a Marble Marquis(60)

“Sir?”

“If you think I’m going to shout, you’re very much mistaken. Am I correct in assuming your legs work?” Cadmus shot him a malevolent look, as he was still addressing the men, to which Lirian replied with a beaming smile. “Shake a leg, Charlie, before you get me in real trouble.”

She pulled from the ranks uncertainly before quickly hopping up the steps when it was clear she’d not be reprimanded for doing so.

“Right. My trunks. I expect them to be emptied this afternoon and then brought down for storage. I take my tea promptly at the end of the noontide watch and dinner at the start of first watch. I want my tub filled for bathing every third day—boiled sea water, with a pitcher of milk and soap of lye. Every morning, you are to retrieve the night reports and have them ready with my breakfast. You will take the crow’s nest for two hours every morning once I’ve been served.”

He paused at last, glancing down to the runt. She had flushed — most becomingly, he thought — at the mention of his bath, and the dull red had continued to creep over her face as Lirian had continued. And now for the coup de gr?ce.

“You’ve already been set up in the crew’s quarters?”

“Yes, sir.”

Her voice was little more than a whisper, hardly that of a strapping boy of ten or twelve, and he fought the urge to grin, knowing well that his teeth were gruesome to behold at this close vantage.

“Well, go and retrieve your things. Do it now, before they’re dismissed, and be certain not to leave anything of importance behind.”

“M-my things, Captain?”

“Your personal effects, dear boy! Sleeping roll, anything you brought with you. Step lively now. You can leave your hammock; there’s no tacking for it. But do it quickly, or you’ll spend your first night on board sleeping in the bilge. I don’t care to have my crew whipped, but our bos’n finds it quite soothing.”

He watched from the corner of his eye as she drew in a shuddering breath.

“If I’m not meant to sleep in the crew’s quarters, Captain, sir,” she began haltingly, “then where am I to sleep?”

Her voice was dulcet, and it, too, possessed a golden shimmer of otherworldliness, one she couldn’t hide even if she tried her damndest. Of which she was doing a piss-poor job. He would need to keep her as secluded as possible in order to keep her safe, at least until he ascertained her motives. Port Perico was a speck behind them at that point, and ahead, the sun broke over the waves in a white-gold blaze, burning off the haze that clung to the water’s surface.

“You’ll be staying in the captain’s quarters, boy. Where is it you think you’re working? If there’s one drawback to piracy, it’s the unfortunate nature of those bilge rats and scallawags it attracts. I don’t know what sort of scum we picked up at this last port, but there’s bound to be a pederast amongst them. You’ll be far safer behind the only locked door on board, I assure you.”

“Pirates?”

“Well, of course, lad. Didn’t you say you had signed up at the saloon? Talked with the crew?” He glanced down, giving her stricken look a winsome, closed-mouth smile. “Put your X on the parchment? Surely you knew what you were signing on for? Come now, you look half about to cry. I didn’t realize the crew had recruited ladies for this leg of the journey.”

She stiffened at his dig, and then he did grin, wide and terrible, unable to help himself.

“I should hope not,” she gritted out stiffly. “Frightful bad luck to bring a woman on board. Isn’t that what they say, sir?”

“Full cover, Mr. Stride,” he called out, ignoring her for the moment. “Let’s take her to sea.”

“You heard the captain, you worthless bunch ’a sots. Full cover!”

The bos’n echoed the order, and Lirian watched the girl blanch as the full sails were dropped, an impressive unfurling of slate grey, the foremast bearing their insignia, the upper torso of a beautiful woman with the lower haunches of a serpent. Perhaps, he considered, it might be wiser to show his hand, to call her bluff, and let fate blow them to their futures. He had cargo to unload in Atlantis, and the coin that would be earned from that journey would fund the next, and that alone had been enough for him to look forward to. Now though, he found himself looking ahead to the journey, wondering when he would learn her secrets, if she would bare them to him willingly, and if there was anything else she would be willing to bare.

“You came to the right place for frightful bad luck, in that case, my dear. Welcome to the Malediction.”

~

Coming Autumn 2023, part of the Bonkers Romance Kickstarter, launching March 2023