Empress of the Sea|✔️

Chapter 13

Rewritten
***

The deck of the Black Egret felt more like home than the Maiden's Cross, but the people couldn't be any less welcoming.

"Tell us your name, age, and occupation," ordered the quartermaster. From what Aeryn could remember, her name was Suzy Aranaz.

Aeryn rolled her eyes before giving an unwanted answer. "Can you untie me from the pole? My eye is itchy."

"I hardly believe that is a good enough reason to untie a prisoner. Now, give me the answers I want."

"I'll speak to your captain." A chorus of gasps erupted from the crew. They'd been watching Suzy interrogate Aeryn as if it was the first time the Black Egret hosted a prisoner. "Can you tell them to stop staring?" she whispered.

"Our captain is relieving himself at the moment—"

"Why would you tell her that, Suzy?" Sehyun said, voice aloof as always. He played with the buttons on his sleeves and shut the door behind him with his foot. "But why am I mentioned in your conversation?"

"The prisoner wants to speak with you." Suzy got off her stool and stepped to the side.

The prisoner wanted to waste time, not speak with the captain, thought Aeryn.

Sehyun giggled. What did he find so funny? He settled on the stool, folding his sleeves. He shuffled his feet, the heels of his boot clicking against the dark wood. Aeryn didn't like the way the brown interior clashed with the black exterior of the ship, but she didn't have much of a say in such matters.

"So tell me, survivor. What do you have to say to me?"

A string of curses ran through her mind, but in her situation, she couldn't risk it. "Why?"

"Why... What? What are you asking me?"

"Why do you sink ships as often as a child buys chocolate?"

Sehyun scratched his thumb. Almost everyone he met asked him this question, but answering never became easier. "I don't think we're close enough for me to reveal such things."

The survivor twisted around in her ropes, trying to avoid the owl that flew over her. What owl flew in broad daylight?

Aeryn asked another question. "Then tell me why you sank that British Navy ship? There were some pleasant people on that ship."

Sehyun inhaled his theory of Aeryn and the British Navy negotiating confirmed. There couldn't have been another way for the British Navy to ceasefire upon a pirate ship.

"They shot my owl." Reminded of owls, he tapped Suzy's wrist. "Deal with the owl that flew over just now."

"Aye, Captain." Suzy ran off to tend to the owl.

"Survivor, there will be no more avoiding my questions. Answer what I ask, otherwise, I won't hesitate to have you killed." He smiled the same smirk that had been on his face the day he sank Sheries' ship. "I was planning to do that, anyway."

Fear struck Aeryn quicker than Suzy's arrow. Han's aloof aura no longer sat on his shoulders. He was listening to the devil on his shoulders instead. He tilted his head down. It felt as if night fell half-day.

The years she'd spent on Sheries' ship had made her immune to fear. Nothing could be worse than that, right?

How wrong she'd been.

Han wouldn't hesitate, but he might regret it.

"Alright."

"Name? Age? Occupation? Birthday? I'm going to ask the same questions Suzy asked, so it matters not who you speak to on this ship"