Pirate Princess (27 page)

I looked at him curiously and he fidgeted. “Know how to braid?” I asked him.

“It’s like rope tying,” he mumbled.

“He had four sisters,” Bernard told me. “They used to all sit in a row, with him in the middle, and braid each other’s hair.”

“That was privileged information,” Finn said with a glare at him.

I stood up and hugged him. “I think it’s sweet.”

“You say that, but what were you doing when you were six?” he asked me.

“Fightin’ Captain Rocco’s crew and beating the Captain at dagger throwing,” I said with a smile.

“I can’t believe you’re Captain Rocco’s daughter,” Paul said with a shake of his head, paused and then said, “I take it back. I definitely believe it. Only someone from Captain Rocco would be so…”

“So what?” I asked with my hands on my hips before he could say what he was thinking.

“Amazing,” he said quickly with a broad smile.

“Mhm, I believe that was what you were going to say.”

Bernard came back with a stool and some scissors. “Sit down and I’ll fix you up quick.”

“Don’t you dare cut it shorter,” Finn growled at him.

I was right. He did like my hair long. “Maybe I should shave it off,” I teased, “Then it would
never
get in my eyes.”

“Don’t even consider it,” Finn ordered.

“I think I could pull it off,” I said cockily, “I’m much too beautiful to be taken for a man even if I was bald.”

“Any of you even attempts to help her shave her head and I’ll cut off an ear,” he warned.

I laughed and then Bernard put a hand on my shoulder. “Stay still if you don’t want me to cut it shorter.”

I sat still and realized the entire crew were still staring at me. “Well go on, ask me whatever you all want since you’re staring at me like some crazy animal in a cage at an exhibit.”

“We wouldn’t believe that you’re such a skilled fighter if we hadn’t seen you fight the king,” Lawrence said. “How’d you learn to fight like that?”

“My dad started teaching me to fight when I was two,” I started, “He taught me hand to hand, swords, daggers, and his crew taught me a few other things when he wasn’t there. I was decent with the sword by the time I was eight and I was one of the best with the dagger by six. I had a lot of free time so I practiced throwing the dagger and practiced fighting with it against his crew. They taught me all the normal things I was supposed to learn like reading, writing, math, how to sail the ship, proper knots, and anything else my dad could think of that he wanted me to learn, but they spent a lot of time on learning to fight. I think Dad was worried about getting attacked and wanted to make sure I could protect myself if that happened. When I moved to live in the Capitol with my aunt and uncle I thought I would have to live in a dusty old castle and learn to curtsy and wear frilly dresses all the time.” I laughed and shook my head. “My aunt and uncle aren’t exactly like normal kings and queens. I did have to learn to curtsy and more than I liked I had to wear a dress, but Queen Esmeralda would steal me halfway through a ball, change clothes, and go spar in the training arena. I think I spent three quarters of my time the past six years in that arena.”

“The Queen fights?” Bernard asked from behind me, still snipping away at my hair.

“Oh she loves fighting. She’s also one of the most powerful mages ever and is one of two Arch Mages,” I said.

“So in your Kingdom it’s alright for girls to fight?” Finn asked.

I started to nod my head, but Bernard put a big hand on my head to hold me still. “Girls and boys both fight in both the King’s Steel and Queen’s Fire.”

“Sounds like a kingdom we should not mess with,” Paul said.

“There really aren’t that many girls who join the King’s Steel though,” I admitted, “I guess not all girls enjoy fighting like the Queen and I do. There are also a lot of boys who don’t understand my enjoyment of fighting and battles.” In fact it was a huge reason I didn’t have friends other than Natalie. “Apparently I’m too intimidating to them,” I whispered.

“That’s ’cause they’re lilies,” Finn said, “And you don’t need to worry about them anymore.” He winked at me and I smiled. Right, who cared that all those boys couldn’t handle me. Finn could and he was definitely a better fit for me anyways.

“You fought in battles?” Tom asked, shocked.

“A couple, but always at the Queen’s side. The battles never last long, especially if both the King and Queen are there. They’re amazing together.” I sighed longingly. “They were so synchronized and it was like they could communicate without even speaking. She would duck down to shoot someone with a fireball and he would stab someone over her back and then they would spin around, standing back to back and, oh it was glorious.”

“Now I understand a bit more about how you got to be you,” Finn said, “Your childhood was unlike any other girl I know.”

I was proud of my childhood and my skills. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

“All done,” Bernard said.

Finn inspected it and said, “It looks much better.”

“Thank you,” I told Bernard, standing up.

“What’s our next move, Captain?” Marco asked.

“We rest tonight and then tomorrow we set sail,” he said, “I’ll give you sailing orders tomorrow.”

The crew dispersed and Finn and I returned to the cabin. I looked in the mirror on his wall and frowned at my short hair. It wasn’t
too
short, but I definitely preferred the long hair.

“It’s hideous, isn’t it?” I asked him softly.

He walked up behind me and wrapped his arms around me from behind so I could see his face in the mirror too. “You look lovely no matter how long your hair is.”

“So that was a ‘yes’.”

He laughed. “No, I like it. It’s different and makes you look a little more fierce.”

I didn’t see that when I looked in the mirror at all. I thought I looked younger and more like a child.

“Let’s get some sleep. We have had a rough day,” he whispered and then kissed my cheek.

Chapter Nine

We set sail as soon as the sun rose and to my surprise we continued to the other side of the Fire Ring. We visited two islands without incident, but decided we didn’t need to climb all the way up to the mouth of the volcano since I had already seen the first one. We did find some dried lava rocks and I took a couple with me to the ship and put them in the case with Finn’s treasures.

Finn gave his crew sailing orders, but refused to tell me where we were headed. “Not even a clue?” I asked him as we ate dinner with the crew.

He shook his head. “Nope.”

“None of you are going to say anything?” I asked the crew. They looked down at their plates of food with extreme focus and seemed not to hear me.

“How long until we arrive?” I asked instead.

“A few days,” Finn said noncommittally.

“Vague answers are my favorite,” I said with mock joy.

“Well you are going to fit in wonderfully then,” Bernard said with a laugh and then returned to examining his food thoroughly before each bite.

“Stubborn pirate men,” I grumbled as I finished my food. I went up to the main deck and looked out over the starboard side at the ocean and the moon that looked as if it were bathing partway in the water. The breeze blew my loose hair around and I inhaled the scent that was more home to me than any other place. The ocean smelled the same whether on my dad’s ship or at the shore in the Capitol.

“I challenge you!” Morgan yelled behind me.

I turned around and leaned my elbows casually on top of the railing. “To what?” I asked.

“Daggers,” he said with a cocky smirk. “No one on this ship, ‘cept the Captain, has ever beaten me and no girl is going to beat me now.”

I smiled. “You’re going to feel very sad when I beat you. Are you prepared for the taunting of your entire crew once that happens?”

“Ain’t goin’ ta happen,” he said smiling back.

More of the crew including Finn came out to see what was going on. Finn leaned against the opposite railing with a smirk. How could a smirk be so darn attractive? My heart was beating faster and my stomach had butterflies all from a smirk from a man who was across the boat from me. This man was too much.

“Captain,” Morgan called, “Permission to challenge her to daggers?”

“Granted, but no breaking anything if you lose,” he said and I wasn’t sure who he was talking to.

“Agreed,” Morgan said.

“Agreed,” I replied.

A few of the crew set up targets on the main mast and then moved out of the way. “How far away are we throwing?” I asked Morgan, flipping a dagger over and over and catching it without looking at it.

“Since I am a gentleman,” Morgan said with a smirk,” I will let the lady choose.”

“So, whatever distance I choose you will throw from as well?” I asked for clarification.

“That’s the idea,” Morgan said.

“Make it interesting,” Finn called to me.

“Yes, co-captain,” I called back.

“I’m the captain and you are a recruit,” he called back to me.

I walked to the center of the main deck so I was facing straight at the targets and backed up until I was a good distance away. I threw one dagger, backed another long distance away and threw the second, both hitting the center. The crew cheered and I stepped out of the way so Morgan could take his turn. Someone took my daggers out of the targets and they were passed down the line of men to me.

“Simple,” Morgan said and copied me perfectly.

“Time to spice things up,” I said with a grin. I jogged to Finn’s cabin pretty far from the targets. I threw my first dagger, turned around and threw my second over my shoulder.

Instead of cheering, the crew stared at the daggers sticking out of the center of the targets in silent shock. Someone finally came to and grabbed my daggers out and ran them over to me. I couldn’t remember his name, but I smiled and thanked him.

Morgan muttered something and walked to where I had just stood. The crew who had been near the targets now moved to the railings to avoid being hit if he missed the over the shoulder backwards throw. He threw the first and it hit a little below the center of the target.

“Ohhh,” the crew murmured.

He turned around, looked over his shoulder, raised the dagger, looked over his shoulder again, and then threw it. The dagger hit the very bottom of the target. He cursed and bit his lip.

I ran to the stairs, climbed up the stairs, and walked all the way to the stern. “Finn!” I called, “Can you assist me?” He jogged up to me and I held out my hand. He took it and I put a foot up onto the stern railing.

“Tilia, what are you doing?” he asked, trying to pull me back down.

“If you keep hold of me I won’t fall,” I said. I faced the crew who stared at me in disbelief, Finn held my legs and grumbled and I threw both of the daggers at the same time. They struck the centers of the targets and the crew cheered loudly.

“Show off,” Finn murmured.

“You said to make it interesting,” I reminded him.

Morgan stared at the daggers and said, “You must be using magic.”

“Don’t be a sore loser,” I told him as Finn and I walked down to join the crew. “You challenged me, remember?”

“Finn’s not even as good as you,” Paul muttered.

“I’m better,” Finn said. I looked at him and he shook his head. “I’m not challenging you. I don’t want to bruise your delicate ego.”

“The only thing delicate is you,” I challenged.

“Dagger fight,” Finn said.

I knew I couldn’t beat him in a fight. I discovered that from our fight the first night that we had met. He must have known it too which was why he challenged me to a type of fight. “Accepted,” I said.

We separated and the crew cheered for Finn or me as they formed a ring of bodies for us to fight inside. I took out two daggers, one held normally in my right hand ready to stab or thrust and the other held in my left hand sideways to block. He held his the same way and we took loose ready stances, knees bent, arms raised, and weight being shifted between the foot in the front and the one in the back.

“First blood?” I asked.

“Submission,” he replied.

I nodded my head. He ran forward and I threw the dagger in my right hand at his face. He blocked it with his left dagger, but it made him pause. I pulled another dagger out and threw it towards his right leg. He blocked it and then I tried to stab his shoulder. He twisted out of the way in the nick of time and tried to cut my exposed left shoulder, but I leapt backwards out of his range. We circled each other and I felt the joy I was sure was showing on my face. He was smiling too, but I could see he was concentrating and preparing his next attack.

“Don’t think too hard or you’ll get a headache,” I taunted him.

He darted forward faster than I had seen him move before, his blade slicing towards my raised arms. I ducked down, slashed his thigh and rolled away. He followed me and stabbed towards my arms again. I blocked with my left blade and he tried to stab with the other blade, which I barely blocked. We stood locked together and I felt him pressing on me. He wasn’t using all his strength.

“Don’t baby me,” I ground out through my gritted teeth as I tried to push him back.

“If I don’t hold back I’ll hurt you,” he whispered so the crew couldn’t hear.

“That’s the point,” I muttered, “So I improve to prevent another from doing the same thing.” I dropped one dagger, punched him in the stomach, he bent over, releasing the pressure on my other arm. I quickly snatched up the dagger I had dropped and backed away. He smiled at me and charged me. I blocked his first two strikes, but he was in my space and no matter how fast I tried to back away, he was faster. He nicked each of my forearms with his daggers, dropped them, grabbed my wrists and twisted forcing me to drop mine. I grunted in pain and then he swept my legs out from under me and pinned me to the ground with my arms up over my head.

I struggled against his hold and bucked my body up trying to get him off of me. I tried to wrap a leg around his waist to push him off, but he held me firm. “Submit?” he asked as he smiled at me and my attempted struggles.

“No,” I grunted. I tried to roll up and turned my shoulders, but he just continued to hold me. I sighed and relaxed on the ground. “Submit,” I whispered.