Jewel of the Sea [Black Sails]

Chapter Seven

           

(Alira)

               Viktor, Dimitri and some of the crew dragged me along with them to the brothel to celebrate our first prize, we'd turned quite a profit. It had been a clean haul, all the cargo in pristine conditions and purchased for a fair price from Miss Guthrie. She ran the trade in her father's stead from what I understood, I didn't particularly care for the mechanics of everything. We got leads, we went after them and came back with cargo to be sold, that was as much as I needed to know.

               Some of the girls at the brothel told me Eleanor and Captain Vane used to be involved, in a romantic partnership. I wasn't sure what their intentions were for telling me, but ever since they had, I couldn't get the thought out of my mind. Were they still a thing? Did he love her? Did he still have feelings for her? Why was he paying so much attention to me of late if he had her? Why the hell did I care? It was making my head ache.

               Captain Vane and his crew had entered the brothel in a celebratory mood. His gaze wandered in my direction, but he made no move to approach me with my crew all around me.  I averted my eyes the moment our eyes met and hurriedly looked anywhere but at him as I felt my stomach twist into knots. I couldn't get the mental image of him and Miss Guthrie together out of my mind. Why did it matter? They were closer in age she probably had more experience when it came to love and intimacy.

               Viktor and Dimitri looked to me curiously, they'd noticed the tension in my body and how I'd quickly looked away from the captain of The Ranger. Drunken laughter came from the direction of Captain Vane and his crew and I chanced a peek in his direction to find him surrounded by girls all drinking, laughing and dancing trying to lure him up to their beds. My skin crawled, rage bubbled up inside of me and it took all the control I had to keep myself seated. Why was I so angry? It's not like he was seriously interested in me. As much as I lashed out at him, he probably thought I was nothing more than a nuisance. I thought back on our earlier encounter in his tent, my face flushed with color as I remembered how close he'd gotten and how it had flustered me.

               His breathtaking blue green eyes flit in my direction and our eyes met. My heart skipped a beat and I once again averted my gaze. Why the hell was my heart racing? It felt like it was going to catapult right out of my chest. Warmth spread through my core, there was a fluttering sensation in my gut and I felt a quiver in knees and was glad I was seated. Was I sick? Perhaps I'd caught some kind of island fever.

               Viktor had taken our earlier talk to heart, he reached a hand across the table and caught my hand in his giant grasp, "Are you alright?"

               "I'm fine. Just a little tired. I think I'm going to head back to camp." I replied softly not wanting to watch any more scantily clad women throw themselves at Captain Vane as it was starting to make me feel sick to my stomach.

               Viktor and Dimitri exchanged looks before simultaneously glancing in Captain Vane's direction. "I'll have someone walk wit-." Viktor began but I cut him off with a sardonic look.

               "I don't need a bodyguard." I grumbled as I motioned to my current attire, I liked the jade corset the girls had stuffed me in earlier and decided to keep it but had swapped the long skirt for a pair of black trousers that I'd cut off around mid-calf length and opted for a loose grey linen button up shirt that I had unbuttoned with the bottom ends tied together. My two curved medium sized blades were strapped across my back and I had a plethora of smaller blades concealed on my person.

               "Think of it more as a bodyguard for the people." Dimitri chuckled as he stretched to his feet, volunteering for the job.

               "Really want to try my patience?" I smirked as I retrieved a small blade from a pouch at my hip, it was designed to be the exact length and thinness of a bamboo shoot which were perfect to pry under the nails to get to the sensitive flesh beneath.