The Pirate Queen

Chapter 28

Just like they were the last to arrive at the meeting, they were the last to leave the island in the morning. Ariel was up at dawn, sitting on the balcony and staring out at nothing when Flounder rounded the corner and joined her with a tray in his hands, filled with two mugs of tea, buttered toast, and slices of fresh fruit.

"You're up early," she commented, taking a mug.

He set the tray on the table between them and took his own mug and a slice of toast. "When Sebastian gets comfortable he snores. It's the only good thing about the pirate ship."

Ariel snorted and sipped at the plain black tea and frowned at the bitter taste. She missed the honey Eric always added. "I trust you had a nice walk last night?"

Flounder shoved the entire slice of bread in his mouth and nodded, reaching for a second. Butter was a luxury he was not going to waste. "Everyone was present and accounted for. Nothing out of the ordinary. No sneaking off. Femi reported to me that no one left the grounds all night when I got breakfast."

"Good." She picked up the plate of fresh fruit and began eating it slowly, content to sit with her friend and watch the sunrise while they still had time. Raj and Miki had left before dawn, but the others had yet to haul anchor and follow her orders from the day before.

In truth, she didn't mind waiting. She got to eat fresh fruit, and listen to the birds waking in the trees, and look at the blooming flowers in the sunlight. It was peaceful. Just the reprieve she needed.

"I hope you don't mind me saying, but I heard the tale end of your conversation with our resident prince last night," Flounder said.

There it was. The needle popping her bubble. She sighed and used more force than necessary to stab a cube of pineapple. "Which part?" Eric had said a lot of things last night that was still making her head spin. And the way he'd looked at her, the way he held her face when she'd started to cry had almost been too much for her to handle.

"He told you to be dauntless."

"Ah." She picked a slice of mango this time and waited for Flounder to speak. Maybe he could make more sense of their conversation than she could.

He picked up his fifth slice of toast, but instead of eating it just looked at the butter melting down his fingers. "I don't need to tell you to be careful, because I know you can take care of yourself and make your own decisions..."

"But?"

He shrugged and set the toast back down, wiping his fingers on his pants. "I don't think I need to say anything either because of Eric."

"Too innocent?" She guessed, staring down into her tea. "Too princely, too naive, too different?"

Flounder snorted and polished off the rest of his tea before standing, gathering up a plate of fruit and bread no doubt for Sebastian. "Because nobody can look at you the way he did and ever have any intention of hurting you."

He left her alone and twenty minutes later none other than the Prince himself came stepping out of his balcony, fully dressed but eyes blurry with sleep and hair tosseled. He saw her immediately and gave a lopsided smile. "I had more trouble sleeping in an actual bed than I thought I would."

"Did you get any sleep?" she asked, holding onto her mug tightly as he came and sat in the chair Flounder had just left.

He shrugged and picked up a banana from the tray. It was stupid the way her eyes focused on his fingers as began to peel the fruit. Her mind flashed to his fingers on her cheeks, holding her hand, and she had to close her eyes to get them to go away, if only for a few seconds.