Hell Hath No Fury - Book One

An Offer You Can't Refuse

Theo was standing portside, at the edge of the deck. Her jaw was clenched and her arms were crossed over her chest, making sure Cooker knew that letting the ship approach was against her will. Cooker, who was next to her, didn't seem fazed by the attitude, a slight grin on her lips. Of course Cooker was excited, not only was her old lover aboard but potentially also the beginnings of a full armed revolution. Something she and Cooker had talked about since they were children, something that Cooker had been a passionate advocate for. It was what she lived for, it's what made her do the things she did. Forget about the Head of the Council, this was Cooker's dream. Of course, unless Theo committed to the cause, Cooker wouldn't either.

Although that did sadden her, the fact that if there were a revolution going on that she would be holding Cooker back from it, it didn't change her mind about being involved. They would help where they could but in the end, they were not going to get caught up in a movement that could take everyone from her. She had her own plans. She wanted her own island. A haven away from Baethos where she could make actual concrete change. Not cause cities to burn in the name of freedom from tyranny.

All of her thoughts about an uprising, about Cooker, about the implications of it all were swirling through her mind as the ship came closer and closer. From what she could tell, nothing was suspect. She spotted Sabine on deck, standing next to two men. None of them had uniforms on or any sort of clothes on that would give away who they were or their station. As the other ship came to the side of the Scorned Woman, Theo closely observed what they did, keeping careful watch over their procedures and movements.

The first one over was Sabine, who hopped down from the plank with a large smile and brought both Theo and Cooker in for a hug.

"Good to see you both alive and well," Sabine said as she pulled away. Two other figures had dropped down onto the deck while Sabine had greeted them. One towered over the other but they looked similar, like family. Both of them sported blonde hair pulled back into tight ponytails, the shorter one had a stone glare and the tall one wasted no time in reaching his hand out towards Theo.

"Pleasure to meet you," he said.

Theo looked down at his hand then back up at him before turning her attention to Sabine, "I'm sure you understand, I have to take safety precautions before we grace each other with introductions."

"Of course, Captain," Sabine said with a chuckle and a roll to her eyes. Theo flashed her a smile, Sabine knew Theo played the intimidation game with everyone she didn't know.

Theo glanced over at Iona and gave her a nod. With her cue to go, Iona boarded the adjacent ship with some of the vanguard and began to do what they were instructed to do. After a few minutes of silence- awkward silence for them, plenty fun for Theo- Iona crossed back over to their ship and gave Theo a nod.

"My vanguard leader tells me you're clear, I hope you don't mind but my crew is going to stay on your ship just to make sure nothing funny goes down, " Theo said but they all knew there was no room for discussion, "we'll take this to my office."

Theo began to walk to her office, hearing the footsteps of people following her. Cooker came up next to her.

"Play nice," Cooker said.

"Can't make any promises," Theo replied before slipping into her office and into her desk chair.

The party of three fled in behind Cooker and two of them took a seat, the tall one and Sabine.

"Apologies for the rudeness. Had to make sure we weren't dealing with spies from The Center," Theo gave them a smile, the genuineness of it was muddled, "And you are?"