“Seems to get better every time.” She gazed at him and smiled.
He kissed her brow. “I like keeping you happy.”
There was no doubt about it. Sparrow was happier than she’d ever been in her life.
“I can hardly wait to marry you.” Sparrow kissed Lock’s chest. They lay entwined in her bed, gazing at the fire in the hearth across the room. “I only wish there was some way we could marry right here. It would be such a nice place to live. We’re right on the coast, so you could have a ship for fishing and trade, and I could keep the farm.”
“There’s no point in talking about it. You know the law in Begonia says you can’t marry a slave. We have no choice but to go.”
“The village is still getting on its feet, and I don’t want to leave until I know everything is all right. Shea-Ann—”
“I think it’s a good idea that we wait. Give you a chance to change your mind.”
She raised her head on her elbow and narrowed her eyes at him. “I will
not
change my mind!”
“I always thought you were a little crazy.” He winked and slipped from the bed to stoke the fire.
Sparrow’s eyes fixed on his naked form, firelight licking his flesh, creating shadows against his long, muscled frame.
“I want to ride to the city tomorrow,” Sparrow said.
“Why?”
“There are some women I know in the palace council. I want to make sure there’s no legal way we can marry here.”
He turned to her and winked. “That’s what I like about you, girl. You never give up.”
“If I’d given up, we’d never be together.”
He walked toward her, his kinky two-toned hair grabbing at his shoulders, his cock awakening as his eyes fixed on hers.
“We should get some sleep.” She moistened her lips. “We’ll have to leave early to get to the city. I don’t even know how easy it will be to get to the palace. I know the storm damaged them, too.”
“I’m ready to do damage.” He loomed over her, his mouth brushing hers. “Right here and now.”
“We really should…”
Other than moans of pleasure, she fell silent as his lips moved down her throat to her breasts.
Change my mind? How can he even suggest such a thing
?
Her last coherent thought before she surrendered to sensation was she hoped there was some buried law that would allow them to marry.
* * * * *
“It’s a pirate ship!” Ginny screamed, her short legs pumping as fast as they could as she rushed toward Lock and Sparrow who had just arrived in the village square.
“What?” Sparrow raised herself in Sea Storm’s saddle, doing her best to look over Lock’s mass of hair toward the shoreline.
“It’s true.” Emerald jogged up behind her sister, panting. “Docked this morning. They haven’t done anything, though. They claim to be stopping off for fresh water.”
“You’re sure it’s a pirate ship?” Lock asked the girls.
Ginny lifted her chin. “Ma said so. She said it’s the end of the world.”
“Ma again,” Lock muttered, kicking Sea Storm to a canter.
When they arrived at the dock, a group of villagers stood, staring at a ship that Lock recognized as the Lady Fire. The Captain—if someone hadn’t killed him already— was nearly as infamous and feared as Lock.
“Do you think it is pirates?” Sparrow asked, her arms tightening around his waist.
“It is. Captain’s name is Rino.” Lock dismounted. “Wait here.”
Sparrow nudged Sea Storm forward, and Lock glared at her. “Are you deaf, girl?”
“You can’t go anywhere without me. You’re still a slave, remember? If those villagers see you approaching that ship, they’ll think you’re one of them.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I am one of them.”
“You want to go with them?”
He held her eyes. “No.”
“I’m still going with you.”
Together, they approached the ship. Several pirates stood on shore looking ready for a hunt. They carried bows and arrows and kept glancing toward the woods. One of them noticed Lock and nudged the man nearest him. Conversation stopped, and they stared in Lock’s direction.
“If it ain’t Lock the White!” A voice bellowed from the ship. A tall, big-boned redhead swung down to shore, his boots landing with a splash in the shallow water. He laughed as he approached, his green eyes glistening in the sunlight. “We all thought you were dead.”
“I was hoping
you
were.”
“Better to be dead than be wearing that.” The Captain nodded towards Lock’s slave band. Then he looked at Sparrow who stood by Lock, one hand touching his forearm in an almost protective gesture. “Or maybe you’ve found the privileges of slavery outweigh the humiliation.”
“What are you doing here, Rino?”
“We’ve been at sea a few months. Need some water. Do a little hunting.” Rino folded his arms across his broad chest draped in a loose shirt of black silk. He glanced at Sparrow. “Want to sell him, missy? I’ll pay you more than he’s worth.”
“He’s not for sale.”
“Too bad. I’d love to see you spit shining my deck, Lock.”
“The ocean would sooner dry up. So you don’t intend to stay?”
“Only a night or two. Nothing here worth staying for. This village is dung heap.”
Lock silently thanked any gods who might exist that the repairs from the storm still weren’t complete. Rino’s raids were devastating, and he hated the thought of taking on his entire crew alone, which is what he’d do before he allowed the sea swine to touch a hair on Sparrow’s head.
“If you want a lift back to the Archipelago, I can still use a cabin boy,” Rino told Lock.
Lock growled deep in his throat, resisting the urge to choke the life out of Rino. He turned back to the village.
“By the bloody goddess of SothSea!” Rino chimed. “What the hell happened to your back? Looks like you were almost whipped to death. I’d have love to have been there just to hear Lock the White scream for his life.”
Lock continued walking, but Sparrow glanced over her shoulder and said, “Then you’d have been badly disappointed.”
The villagers gathered around Lock and Sparrow as they distanced themselves from the ship.
“Are they going to attack?” someone asked. “Should we notify the guard from the city, not that they’d come to help us in a hurry.”
Lock shook his head. “They’ll be going. There’s nothing of profit for them here. Just stay out of their way, if you can. They’ve been known to take slaves.”
The villagers dispersed, and Sparrow glanced at him. “Do they really?”
“Of course. Many pirates do.”
“Did you?”
“Slaves are too expensive to keep. I prefer cargo that doesn’t eat, drink, and shit.”
“Tactfully put as always.”
Lock winked at her before they mounted Sea Storm, passed through the square, and headed for the city of Begonia.
* * * * *
Though small, Begonia was considered one of the loveliest port cities on the Western Continent. As Sparrow and Lock reached the crest of the hill, the sun bleached palace loomed in the distance, a long, rectangular building of white brick and marble.
“Unusual looking palace,” Lock said.
“It’s nothing like the one I came from.”
“It’s a fine tribute to men.”
Sparrow wrinkled her nose. “To men?”
“What do you think of when you look at it, girl?”
She stared at the structure, tall, sword-like. She almost blushed. “Honestly, Lock. Is your mind always in your trousers?”
He glanced over his shoulder and winked. “So it reminds you of me, too, does it?”
She playfully slapped his shoulder as they continued toward the city.
The palace had withstood the storm, except for some minimal damage, but the city wall was ruined and dozens of workers scattered around it, making repairs. At the gate, the guards questioned Lock and Sparrow briefly and allowed them to pass.
Inside, some of the houses had been destroyed, but many still stood, and the market was open for business, as busy as Sparrow remembered. They dismounted Sea Storm, and Sparrow paid a boy to stable him for the morning.
“Let’s have a look around the market before going to the palace,” Sparrow suggested. “It’s so much better than the one in the village.”
“Best markets in the world are in the Kennas.”
“I’ve heard about the Kennas but have never been there.”
“Once we’re out of here and I have another ship, I’ll take you there.”
Sparrow entwined her fingers with his and smiled. “I’d like that. I speak their language.”
“You speak mine, too. How many do you speak?”
“Ten. It was my favorite area of study. I was training to be an ambassador when my family was overthrown.”
“Never thought I’d be marrying a woman with royal blood,” he muttered. “But I guess you never thought you’d be marrying a pirate, either.”
“Reformed pirate.”
He tossed her a look she didn’t quite understand, so she chose to ignore it. Nothing was going to ruin their day. Even if she didn’t receive her desired answer from the women at the palace, they could still enjoy the visit to the city.
“What pretty bracelets.” Sparrow’s gaze swept a cart full of wide silver bangles carved with symbols.
The vendor, a skinny man with matted black braids picked up one of the bracelets and offered it to Sparrow for closer inspection. “Imported from the Isle of Sole made by the tribe of Six Stars. The tribe is dying out and these trinkets are very rare. Worth twenty coins a piece.”
Lock glanced over Sparrow’s shoulder at the bracelets and said, “Those aren’t from Sole and no member of Six Stars would create such messy work. Symbols are wrong, too. Twenty coins? Ain’t worth two.”
The man glared at Lock, his teeth clenched. “So a slave is supposed to be an expert on jewels?”
“I’ve been to Sole over a dozen times. I’ll wager you’ve never so much as seen the coast.”
Sparrow returned the bracelet and tugged Lock away from the cart before he and the vender erupted into a full-blown argument.
“I should take you shopping more often,” she said.
“Most vendors are bigger thieves than I ever was. Made by Six Stars. Do I look like a jackass?” Lock raised his voice and glanced over his shoulder at the vendor who shook his fist in the pirate’s direction.
“Would you try to behave yourself at least for the rest of the morning?” Sparrow lifted her eyes skyward.
“What did I do?”
His pale eyes looked so genuinely confused that she couldn’t resist smiling. “Come on, Lock. The palace entrance is just around the corner and…”
Sparrow stopped speaking suddenly and stared several feet away at a man seated on a black gelding. Tall, with a body of solid muscle and a face that looked as if it had been carved from a mountainside, Sparrow would never forget him. Eyes of such dark brown they appeared black riveted to her. Four white scars ran down his left cheek, and Sparrow remembered how he’d sustained the marks. Her heart pounded so hard her chest ached, and she forgot everything except the desire to see him dead.
“Son-of-a-bitch!” Sparrow shrieked and raced at the worst fiend she’d ever known.
* * * * *
Lock stared at Sparrow for a stunned moment before chasing after her. Had the woman gone completely mad after all?
He saw her pull a dagger from her belt before she flew at a large man—rough-looking even by Lock’s standards—on horseback.
Lock grasped her waist before she reached her mark, just in time to protect her from the powerful kick of a booted foot. The man’s kick caught Lock in the shoulder and knocked him onto the dirt so hard he grunted with the force of landing. He was glad he’d knocked Sparrow aside. The kick would have caused her serious injury. Lock felt like he’d been slammed by a horse. A guard who happened to be bartering at a nearby stall, held Sparrow who struggled in his grasp and bellowed, “Murdering bastard!”
Lock pushed himself to his feet. The man on horseback glanced at him and smiled wickedly.
“What is going on here?” a feminine voice called.
A blond woman in burgundy robes approached Sparrow and the guard.
“Sparrow?” The woman looked surprised. “What’s wrong?”
“Him!” Sparrow glared at the man on horseback. “Arrest him! He’s a rapist and a murderer!”
“He’s also the Empress’s favorite gladiator.”
Sparrow snapped, “I don’t care who he is, Monique! I know
what
he is!”
The woman motioned for the gladiator to go. As soon as he’d left the area, Monique ordered the guard to release Sparrow.
“Are you sure, My Lady?” asked the guard, struggling to hold Sparrow who fought with all her strength.
Monique nodded.
The guard dropped his hands from Sparrow and she snarled, “He is a criminal!”
“Sparrow, I told you his position in the city. You know I could have let you be arrested for this disturbance, but you’re my friend, so I won’t report it.”
“Some friend! That
gladiator
is the animal who killed my sister!”