Serpent's Traitor (Four Kingdoms #2)

10. outrageous plans (part 2)

To her surprise, the man's chest began to rumble until an abrupt explosion of laughter escaped him. Sephirah's mouth turned down in confusion. She'd just threatened this man's entire existence and he was laughing?

Did he take her for a fool?

Alethia's sword dug further into his stomach, cutting off his chuckles. His cloak wrinkled with the risk of being torn at any second. Alethia's stormy grey eyes were void of all readable emotion as she spoke in an ominous tone, "Explain yourself, or I will carve out your intestines and use them to hang you in front of the wretched mother who birthed you."

Sephirah nearly lost her controlled grip on her magic, the fire encasing her arm flared. She had forgotten how violent this girl was.

"Too bad that wretch is dead already, eh?" the man replied, his voice rumbling with humor.

"Explain yourself at once," Sephirah repeated, tightening her grip on his throat.

"I can't talk if you're gonna start choking the air out of me, now can I darling?" he practically purred.

The redhead loosened her hand but increased the heat of her flames. "Start talking before I burn you alive, darling."

"I ain't getting paid enough for all that, sugar cakes," the man said with a slight shrug. "I ain't nothing but all mouth and no trousers. If you'd get off me, my tongue will catch a mind of its own and tell whatever that pretty face of yours wanna know."

There was something about his dialect bothering her. Sephirah looked over at Alethia whose face remained guarded and as vicious as ever. She was on her own to figure this one out.

But one thing was for sure, this man wasn't from around here.

"I see those good ole wheels in ya head turning mighty fast," he continued from beneath her. He raised a hand, and she tightened her grip again. The man stilled. "I'm just gonna take off the clothes. Your fire magic is goddamn hot, ya know that? But cha is royalty so that's to be expected."

"Do it, slowly," Sephirah conceded. The man proceeded to remove his clothes, uncovering his tanned skin and red stubbled, sharp jawline. His nose was crooked, and a dust of freckles went across the bridge of it. He had two long scars going through his right eyebrows and to his full cheekbones along with a smudge of black kohl beneath the waterline of his eyes.

"Like what cha see, darling?" his lips quirked into a slight grin. An unwanted heat raced up her throat.

"I don't care about that," Sephirah snapped. "Tell me what you think you were doing."

"Exactly what it looked like," the man blinked as if the answer was apparent. "I was paid to scare ya and a damn good amount too. But cha obviously a different kettle of fish, and I ain't get paid enough for all this trouble. Now would cha let me up? My back done spent too much time on wood to be fond of it."

It took Sephirah a moment to dissect his dialect and figure out what in the ashes he was even saying. She lifted her hand off his throat and stepped away from him. One shake of her arm and the fire creation disappeared, her magic swirling back down to rest.

Alethia glanced at her, her sword unwavering as it pressed against the man's stomach.

"You are quite the bucket of sunshine, ain't cha?" he directed his question at Alethia with a casual grin. "I did my job, so I ain't gone do nothing."

Sephirah nodded at Alethia who stepped toward her bed, shoving her sword back into its sheath with a rasp.

"Who are you?" Sephirah inquired, watching him stand to his feet. He towered over both of them at an impressive height. "And more importantly, who hired you?"

The man dusted himself off, his grin unfaltering. "That's Captain Slyvester to you. And I think you ought to know the answer yourself."

"Clearly I don't know." Sephirah's voice vibrated with anger. "Or I wouldn't be asking, Captain idiot."

Slyvester shrugged his shoulders. "Ain't the worst I've been called by a woman. Group of men in this here village hired me." His grin blossomed into a full crooked smile. "They hate ya guts. I wouldn't wanna be rocking in ya boots for a day."

Shock resonated through Sephirah's core at his words. She had known that the men in the border villages didn't generally like Nixian women with an abundance of magic. But to go as far to order someone to intimidate her?

They had a death wish. And they were all a bunch of fools if they thought this puny man would ever frighten her.

"What are you even captain of?" Sephirah inquired, trying to dismiss the churning thoughts and fury bubbling within her.

"Captain of the good ole Wasted Sea," Slyvester clarified as he stuck a finger in his ear, twisting it around to clear out wax. He rubbed his hand against his cloak afterward. "They ain't pay me enough, that's for damn sure. I've got some extra money to collect, if ya would be as nice as to excuse me, darling."

He started toward the window, his boot thumping against the wooden ledge as he climbed onto it.

"Where do you think you're going?" Sephirah lunged forward, her hand outstretched to grab him by his cloak. The tips of her finger grazed it as he jumped onto the ledge of the window and tossed a wolfish grin over his shoulder.

"You're two stories up!" Sephirah shouted.

"Boats ain't sailing until they start flying," Slyvester responded, giving her a two fingered salute before leaping out the window.

Sephirah went over to the window and leaned out, watching his cloak flap in the air as he made a perfect landing. He moved stealthily between the homes to the direction of the harbor until he disappeared from her glance.

She huffed out an annoyed sigh. Alethia cleared her throat, gaining Sephirah's attention.

"Shall we kill the men for their insubordination?"

Sephirah grinned at the girl. "No, I have a much better idea."

She moved away from the window and began shoving her daggers back into place. Grasping the boomerang leaning near the door, she strapped it onto her back. Resolve mixed with her wrath as she turned to Alethia who blinked at her.

"Come on. We're going to the harbor."

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