Pirate Princess (45 page)

Had things happened differently I would have asked for your time to get to know you personally and I hope that you might be willing to spare some time to speak with me in the future. Eric was right when he told me of your magnificence and the pull a man feels when in your presence. I’m sure you have many suitors and I know my Kingdom does not deserve to ask anything of yours, but I must ask for myself if you would consider me as a potential suitor.

A marriage between you and I would reaffirm our alliance and would allow both of our kingdoms to prosper unanimously. Even if you will not consider me as a suitor, I hope that you will at the very least consider allowing me to become your friend. I hope to hear back from you and will continue to be enamored by your brief visit and the colossal impact it had on me specifically.

Farewell for now lovely Tilia. May you experience only the greatest that life has to offer from now until the end of days.

Samson, your bewitched love

“What are you reading?” Finn asked as he walked to stand just inside my room and lean against the wall.

I flicked the letter closed and looked at him in shock. “What are you doing here?” I asked nervously. Why was I nervous? It wasn’t like I had done anything wrong? Surely he couldn’t get mad at me for someone else’s letter, right?

He frowned at me. “I missed you so I came to see you early. Is that a problem?” He looked at the paper I clutched in my hand, but didn’t remark on it.

I made myself calm down and smiled at him. “No, that’s great. You just startled me.” I stood up and kissed him, hiding the letter behind my back.

He slid his hand around my waist and pulled me tightly against him. “I didn’t mean to startle you. So, are you going to tell me what is in the letter you’re hiding from me?”

“It’s nothing important. Just the Prince of Blith apologizing for his kingdom’s part in my kidnapping and attempted murder,” I said as nonchalantly as I could as I leaned against his hard chest and looked up into his eyes.

He arched an eyebrow and then snatched the letter out of my hand. “Good, then you won’t mind if I read it.” He stepped away from me and held the letter above his head so I couldn’t grab it back.

“Give it back!” I snapped. “It’s just trash. I’m just going to destroy it.”

“If you’re going to get rid of it then why can’t I read it first?” he asked me calmly.

“Because you’re going to get upset and I’m trying to avoid that.”

“So you think hiding what this says and keeping me in the dark about it is not going to make me as upset as if I read it?” he asked. Okay that didn’t sound like a good plan when he said it like that.

“It’s just garbage,” I assured him, “it might as well have been lost on the way for all I care.”

“Good, then I’m going to read it.” He opened the letter and continued to hold it up over his head out of my reach. Damn him for his slightly taller height.

I sat on my bed and waited for him to finish reading it. I felt more nervous than I had in a long time and I wasn’t really sure why. I hadn’t done anything wrong and I wasn’t even considering Samson as a suitor.

Finn finished reading it and set it down on my desk. “I see why you didn’t want me to read it,” he said angrily without looking at me.

I stood up and wrapped my arms around his neck. “I told you. It doesn’t mean anything to me. I wouldn’t consider him as a suitor even if you didn’t exist,” I assured him.

“Why not?” he asked. “He’s a prince. He’s right about a marriage between you two helping with your alliance.”

I stared at him with my mouth agape. “Are you trying to suggest that I should consider him?”

He smirked and kissed me deeply, making me tingle all the way down to my toes. When he finished he pulled back and said, “Definitely not. You’re mine. I’ll destroy another kingdom to keep you if I have to.”

“Silly man. What does a prince who doesn’t even know the bow from the starboard of a ship or how to tie a proper knot have to offer me?”

He smiled happily and said, “So you love me because of my knot tying abilities?”

“I love you for
many
reasons,” I assured him, “Besides, I wouldn’t be able to outrun you if I tried to escape.”

He laughed and said, “You could try. I can give you a head start and we can see what happens.”

“Maybe another day,” I offered.

“So, are you going to respond to him?” he asked me.

“To who?”

“The prince.”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I hadn’t really thought about it. I just finished reading it when you came in.”

“You should write him back,” he said, “it’s rude to ignore a man’s expression of interest.”

I put my hand against his forehead and asked, “Are you feeling sick?”

He smiled and pulled my hand down from his forehead. “I’m serious. This man left himself open to you and it’s not right to leave him waiting and questioning. Plus, if you don’t answer he might think he has a chance until you tell him that you’re currently and forever taken. I can write the letter for you if you want. ‘Dear Prince Samson, I regretfully must inform you that a former pirate has stolen my heart and is keeping it locked with his other treasures. Even King Jared is unable to take it back so you have no hope. I appreciate your interest and hope you find another princess to woo’.”

I laughed at him and said, “I’ll write him a return letter gently letting him down.”

“No, you can’t give him even the tiniest sliver of hope,” he ordered me adamantly. “If a man thinks he has even the tiniest of chances he will continue to pursue you. Even if we were married and you told him that you regret that you can’t take up his offer he would send you things in the hopes that the marriage would end and he would have a chance with you.”

“I won’t give him hope of being with me, but I don’t have to remind him that our Kingdom is stronger by bringing up Jared.”

“It would be a good thing for him to get a little fear in himself about our kingdom. His kingdom helped Priam take you. If you were dead right now I can guarantee Jared and Esmeralda would not be lenient with Blith like they are right now.”

“He’s right,” Jared said from the doorway. We turned and he said, “If you had died or been seriously injured I would be in Blith right now claiming it as Crilan’s new territory and stringing up that
King
of theirs for all of their people to see.”

“Esmeralda wouldn’t let you do that,” I told him.

“Of course I would,” she said from behind him, though I couldn’t see her since he was blocking the entire doorway.

Jared turned sideways so she could see into my room as well. “See,” he told me.

“So, what did the letter say?” Esmeralda asked. “I’m assuming that’s why there’s discussion of Blith.”

Before I could object Finn handed Jared the letter. “You should read it for yourselves,” he said.

I reached for it and then put my hand down. It felt like an invasion of my privacy, but I knew it was better to let everyone know what it said so if there were any comments made by him at a future event to anyone from here they wouldn’t go unnoticed.

Jared finished reading it with a stoic face and handed it to Esmeralda without speaking. She read it and then sighed. “We sort of assumed it would be this,” she told me.

“Why is that?” I asked her.

“The King and Queen of Blith sent us a request,” she said, “it arrived the same time as this letter. They…” she paused and looked at Jared who didn’t return her look. “They offered an arranged marriage between Samson and you and as a show of good faith they would let you live here until you were twenty before you moved there to begin ‘extending the royal lines’.”

I felt dizzy. They couldn’t possibly be considering it could they?

“Did you respond?” Finn asked. His body was rigid against my back and I could tell he was guarding his voice to hide the anger there.

“No,” Jared said, “We were waiting to speak to Tilia to see what she thought about it.”

“I don’t want to marry him!” I almost screamed. “I don’t want an arranged marriage. I don’t know him. The only thing I know about his kingdom is that they gave me to another royal to kill. Even if
he
didn’t have anything to do with that, I don’t know him and I don’t want to leave Crilan.” Or Finn.

Jared smirked and said, “That was pretty much the exact response we assumed you would give us.”

“Good, I will send a response declining their offer and we can be done with their Kingdom for a very long time,” Esmeralda said.

“I told her we should blow up a section of their unpopulated land as our response, but she’s being stubborn and won’t allow it,” Jared said with a sigh.

“Blowing things up is not always the answer,” she said.

“Women just don’t understand,” Finn agreed with Jared, “A good explosion says a lot of things to people that requires minimal effort on your part and clearly gets your point across.”

Esmeralda glared at Finn. “And to think I was just telling Jared that I liked you. Now I’ll have to take back everything that I said.”

Jared smiled and said, “I’m starting to like you more and more, Finn.”

Finn smiled back at him and Esmeralda said, “You two are not allowed to go blow things up.”

“What about us three?” I asked her with a teasing smile.

“Don’t abandon me now!” she said in fake exasperation.

“It has been a long time since we blew anything up,” Finn said.

“You just blew up the Capitol of another Kingdom,” Esmeralda reminded him.

“I didn’t get to blow anything up. I was running around trying to find Tilia and killing guards around the jail,” he said, “I even had to let one of the guards hit me in the head so he would think I was unconscious to take me into the prison to look for her in there.”

“That was a crazy plan,” I told him, “What if you hadn’t been able to escape? What if they had locked you up?”

“There isn’t a jail in all the seas that can keep me locked up,” he told me smugly.

“How many have you escaped from?” Jared asked him.

Finn looked up at the ceiling and squinted. “I think I’m up to fifteen now with this one.”

“Fifteen?” Jared asked loudly.

“I was even released from yours the day you were supposed to be executed,” Finn told me.

I had forgotten about that.

“How do you do it?” Jared asked.

“It varies from each place and on each type of cell or location,” Finn said.

“If we locked you up would you be able to get out without us letting you out?” Jared asked.

Finn smiled and said confidently, “Yes.”

“Jared, you’re not locking him up,” Esmeralda warned him.

He rolled his eyes at her. “I’m not suggesting I want to leave him there. I’m just curious if he can escape if not released and if he is able to then we need to find a way to fix the reasons he is able to escape.”

“I don’t mind testing it for you,” Finn said, “It might not be as accurate since I won’t be willing to kill or permanently injure your guards.”

Jared nodded his head. “Alright. How about tomorrow?”

Finn said, “That works, but can I borrow a room for the night here so I don’t have to ride home and back again?”

“Of course,” Esmeralda said, “We have a room always made up for potential guests that you can stay in tonight.”

“It’s the one right next to their room,” I whispered to Finn as if Jared and Esmeralda couldn’t hear me. “This way they can keep tabs on you and make sure you don’t sneak out to find me and try to coerce me in to engaging in debauchery.”

“They do know that you snuck out almost every single night to be Jax, right?” he asked.

“Hey, they don’t need to be reminded of that!” I snapped at him.

“You know we never did punish you for that,” Jared said.

“I think almost dying a few times and getting kidnapped twice is more than enough punishment,” I said, “Plus I gave you my mask.”

“What do you mean you were kidnapped twice?” Jared asked angrily.

Oh, I had forgotten we hadn’t told them about that incident. “Uh, miscount?” I tried.

“Out with it or we lock you up for a year in a tower,” Esmeralda snarled.

“Maybe I should leave,” Finn suggested.

“You stay put,” Jared ordered.

“Fine, this crazy pirate drugged our boo…blueberry juice with a sleeping drug. He kidnapped me to use me against my dad and Finn rescued me.”

“Blueberry juice?” Finn asked in a whisper and then coughed.

“You were drinking?” Esmeralda yelled.

“I was with pirates on a pirate’s island!” I reminded her and then clamped my lips together. “Uh, it was only the one time.”

“On that island,” Finn muttered.

I punched his shoulder. “Stop it. You’re not helping.”

“You got drunk with pirates on an island and somewhere else,” Esmeralda said, “How many times?”

Finn laughed and I smacked him. “Only a few times.”

“Tilia Jasmine Swanson you had better spit out the entire story of your journeys or I will put you in the confinement box in Faxon’s house for a week!” she snapped.

“What’s a confinement box?” Finn asked.

“Be quiet you are the reason this is happening,” I told him.

“You told them about Carlos not me,” he said.

“Carlos?” Jared asked. “Carlos the Crusher?” he nearly yelled.

“Uh, maybe,” I said softly as I played with the ends of my hair.

“Dining hall. Now.” Esmeralda ordered.

Finn and I followed behind the adults and when he tried to put his arm around me I pinched his side. He smiled and I wished he could see the seriousness of the situation he was putting me through.

We sat down and I recapped our journeys, only leaving out things like the magic ring and personal things between Finn and me. When I finished Esmeralda and Jared just sat there and stared at us. I shifted in my seat and asked, “Why are you staring at us like that?”

“You made it sound like you barely experienced anything in your letters,” Esmeralda said, “Now we find out that you did more in a couple of months than most people in Crilan do in their entire lives.”

“You’ve also almost died more times than most people here,” Jared muttered and then said, “Well not me or Esmeralda, but the normal people here.”