Pirate Princess (47 page)

“Get dressed Captain, we have a meeting to go to,” I told him.

“What are you talking about?” he asked with a frown.

“Meet me at your ship in ten minutes,” I ordered him, “Or I will sail without you.” I left his house before he could say anything else and ran to the docks where Bernard was sitting in one of the long boats. “Good morning, Bernard.”

He smiled at me and said, “Good morning, co-captain.”

I smirked and said, “Make sure you say that in front of Finn next time.”

He laughed and shoved off from the docks. “Oh, I think I’ll let you two work that out.”

He rowed to the ship and let me climb up the ladder before returning to get Finn. I stepped on to the deck where the crew had gathered. Paul walked up to me with something wrapped in cloth in his hands. “We figured since this is your kingdom and you might not want your future subjects to know about your participation in this event that you might need to have your identity concealed and since Jax has died that puts you in a predicament.” He handed me the object and said, “So we made you this.”

I unfolded the cloth and found a beautiful mask that had silver swirls and makeup painted around the eye holes with a matching tiara. “It’s beautiful.”

“Took us a while to procure it and make the mask with Finn always hanging around, but we used the times he was away with you to our advantage,” he explained.

“So he doesn’t know about it?” I asked in shock.

The crew smiled happily at each other and at me.

“No,” Paul said, “He doesn’t.”

“You’re the best crew ever!” I yelled happily. “When the captain gets here set sail.”

“Aye aye co-captain!” they called and went about their duties.

I walked to the cabin and covered the gift back up so I could hide it from Finn until the right moment. A few minutes later Finn boarded and I heard him talking with some of the crew, but they just ran about the ship as they pulled up the long boat and set sail. Finn walked into the cabin and asked, “What is going on? Where are we going?”

I smiled at him, took his hands and pulled him right up against me. “Do you remember the first day we were in this cabin together?” I asked him, kissing my way up his jaw to his ear before switched sides to repeat.

He held very still, his hands gripping my sides just above my hip bones. “Yes,” he whispered, “I remember every moment with you.”

“Flatterer,” I accused as I continued to kiss his neck and lips. “I’m going to have to keep my eye on you at the tournament with all those women looking for men. You’re bound to have women flaunting themselves in front of you and it might be too irresistible for you to resist.”

He pulled me tightly against his body and whispered, “Who could see any other woman when he has you in his heart?”

My heart stuttered and I moved us backwards until my butt hit the table and then sat on the table with my legs on each side of him as he stood in front of me. “If women challenged each other the way men do to try to win the woman over, I would receive a dozen challenges if anyone heard you say such sweet things.”

“My words are for your ears alone,” he said and then kissed me deeply.

I lost track of time as we kissed and then Bernard knocked three times on the door, which was the signal for arriving. I pushed Finn back and said, “We are here and we have to depart to the island.”

“What island?” he asked with hunger in his eyes. “What are we doing?”

I smirked at him, put the tiara and mask on, changed my hair to dark red, and said, “Captain Finn and his co-captain the Pirate Princess are heading to hear the rules from the King of Pirates about the festival.”

His eyes widened in shock and he asked, “What? But you said…”

“Jax is dead,” I told him, “but I will always be the Pirate Princess.”

He smiled wide and pulled me into a tight hug. “Well then come on, we have a festival to win, Pirate Princess.”

I lifted the mask and kissed him, finally feeling like my life was complete. We stepped out onto the deck and I ordered, “Drop the long boat!”

“Aye aye co-captain!” the crew called.

“I never said she was co-captain,” Finn said. “Who gave the okay for this? Who thinks they can name a co-captain without the captain’s consent? She’s nothing more than a recruit!”

“I’m not a recruit. You agreed to that a year ago,” I told him as we had our fake argument again.

“I believe it was a year ago today that I stole this,” he whispered and then lifted my mask to kiss me again.

I smiled and said, “Aye Captain, and it was the day you stole the heart of the Princess.”

“The long boat is ready, co-captain,” Bernard called.

“There you go with that term again!” Finn said with a sigh. “It’s mutiny, plain and simple.”

I stepped away from him and as I stepped backwards towards the railing with the ladder leading down to the long boat said, “Last one to the long boat is co-captain!” I turned and ran as fast as I could, but when I dropped into the boat Finn was already sitting there with a smug smile on his face.

“I won,” he said.

I sat down and Bernard started rowing. “Yes,” I said, “but I just won the title of co-captain from you.”

He opened his mouth and then closed it like a fish held out of water. “Did you know princesses were tricky?” Finn asked Bernard with a scowl.

“Aye sir, but especially Pirate Princesses,” Bernard said with a wink at me.

“There’s only one,” I said, “And she shall rule the seas for a very long time.”

“Long live the Pirate Princess,” Finn said and put his arm around me.

“And long live the pirates of Crilan,” I said and smiled at the pirate who had stolen my heart while giving me his.

It only took twenty minutes for Captain Rocco to lay out the rules for the Festival. We were dismissed back to our ships to choose our treasure and mark it properly. Finn stared at his collection with a frown on his face as he tried to decide. I sat at the table behind him and twirled a dagger on top of the table with the tip wearing a small hole in the wooden top with each spin. It felt better than I could express to be back in this cabin without worrying about Finn leaving me. The smell of Finn and the room made me relax so much that I could have turned to goo in the chair.

“It can’t be that hard to choose one, can it?” I asked him. “I can give you something if you don’t want to use any of your items.”

“It’s not that I can’t bear to part with these items. It’s that I have lost interest in them now that I have you.”

Such a flatterer. I smirked at him and said, “Why not the hair clip on the side?”

“That is a special hair clip that I stole from a crazy pirate,” he said seriously.

“Crazy, huh? Well you better hope she doesn’t steal it back.”

He turned and frowned at me. “You better not.”

I laughed at him and said, “You can keep it unless you keep calling me crazy.”

He turned back around and finally took out a small emerald gem. “This will work,” he said with a nod. I tied the red ribbon around it and he put it back inside his case.

“So, are we going to make a strategy or just go with it as it comes?” I asked him. I preferred to just go after people as I found them and make split second decisions because often times your planned out strategies didn’t work anyways.

“I don’t like planned strategies,” he said, “but we can choose our targets if you want.”

I shrugged. “It’s your decision since you are captain.”

He smiled and sat down across from me. “Conceding to let me decide courses of action already?”

“Only for this instance,” I said with a smile back. “Don’t get used to it.”

“Of course not. Why should a man get used to his woman listening to him or accepting his better judgment?”

“A man doesn’t necessarily have better judgment just because he is a man,” I said as I pointed my dagger at him.

“Always resorting to violence, my sweet Princess,” he said with a teasing smile.

“It’s not violence until I either throw it at you or stab you with it,” I told him.

“I always tell people how sweet my girlfriend is and I can’t understand why they look at me like I’m crazy.”

“Lilies,” I told him. “They’re just daisy loving lilies.”

“And you, my dear, are a Pinguicula,” he said with a wide smile.

“Did you just call me a carnivorous flower?” I asked in shock.

“You are definitely a beautiful flower that draws insects towards you and then consumes them.”

“I don’t know how to take that,” I admitted to him.

He walked around, picked my hand up and kissed the back of it. “It is the highest compliment, sweetheart.”

I wasn’t so sure. “Are you more excited for the festival or the tournament?” I asked him.

He shrugged. “I’ll win both so I’m not really excited for either.”

“You sound so smug.”

He sat down in the chair beside me. “Well I really don’t want to fight your uncle but he is going to force me to now that you continue to insist I’m faster than he is.”

“You are.”

“He doesn’t need it rubbed into his face.”

“You have no idea how wonderful it is to see him worrying that someone might beat him. I’m the first one to have drawn blood from him in his adult life. To have someone beat him will be even better. Esmeralda won’t let him live it down and it will make him push himself even harder which in turn makes all of us push ourselves to keep pace so it strengthens the kingdom.”

“So you’re telling me that I should beat your uncle to help make your kingdom stronger?”

“Yes.”

He laughed. “Crilan is the strangest place.”

“I don’t know why everyone says that.”

“You said the King of Blith was upset you were even wearing pants. Now, think about everything else you and your aunt do when compared to them.”

“Just because they’re all chickens and can’t fight their own battles doesn’t mean we are strange,” I countered.

“I heard a rumor that while you were standing in Blith’s castle right in front of their King and Queen that you insulted the King and basically called him a coward,” he said with a smirk.

“Who told you that rumor?” I asked with a neutral face.

“Just the only other person who lives in Crilan who was present.”

Eric. “I can’t confirm or deny that rumor,” I said and examined my dagger.

“There was also a rumor that when confronted by the former King of Trian you also insulted him and attempted to stab him in the leg.”

“That is definitely true,” I admitted, “The only regret I have is not being able to stab him.”

“I was so worried the entire time that we sailed there. I ran all over that stupid place trying to find you and doubt began to make me think you might not have survived.”

“I think you will find that I am not so easily killed,” I said smugly. I asked, “Were you really going to challenge my uncle if I was dead?”

He exhaled loudly and leaned back in his chair. “I didn’t know what I was going to do. I was so distraught and out of my mind with worry that I wasn’t really planning anything except finding out the truth.”

“There were far too many death experiences for me this last year,” I whispered.

He grabbed my hand, jerked me forward and pulled me into his lap to hold me. “I agree.”

I leaned my head against his, closed my eyes and enjoyed the warmth and scent of him. I was hopelessly addicted to him and I knew it. I just had to hope that he wouldn’t leave me again.

We joined the crew for lunch and then sailed closer to Markleville’s port to prepare for our heists. “Why don’t we split up?” I asked him. “You go to the ship on the left and I will go to Captain Thomas’ ship over there on the right.”

“We aren’t splitting up,” he said.

“We can get two treasures faster that way,” I argued.

“Tilia…”

“You run as fast as you can and I will do this…” I stepped away from him on the deck and turned invisible.

The crew started yelling in shock and Finn stared at where I had been. “What just happened?” he asked softly.

I released the spell and smiled at him. “I just clued you in to my ultimate secret weapon.”

“She can turn invisible and unlock any lock. She could win the whole damn festival by herself,” Bernard said in awe.

“You’ve been holding out on me,” Finn growled.

“Mystery makes dating more fun,” I said with a smirk.

“Can your aunt and uncle do that?” Paul asked.

I nodded my head. “Faxon taught us the spell.”

“So, if you cross Crilan they will turn invisible, cut off your head, and laugh as they leave, and no one is the wiser?” Paul asked.

“Oh no,” I said sincerely.

“What do they do then?” Bernard asked.

“We walk right up to you while fully visible, decapitate you, and then challenge your Kingdom to kill us while smiling the entire time,” I said with a sweet smile.

“Deranged.”

“Demonic.”

“Amazing.”

“So why haven’t you taken over all of the kingdoms?” Bernard asked.

“Do you know how much work goes in to running one kingdom?” I asked him. “To run all of them with such large amounts of separation between them all would be a huge headache.”

“So you’re lazy then?” Paul asked.

I smiled. “Precisely.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to them,” Bernard whispered. “Can you imagine what Finn and her kids would be like? Hellions. Pure, royal, pirate hellions.”

“Let’s not discuss kids just yet,” I said nervously.

“Drop the long boat!” Finn ordered, thankfully allowing the topic to drop.

I checked to make sure all of my weapons, mask, and tiara were in their proper places and then climbed down the ladder to the long boat. Finn caught me with his hands on either side of my waist and then pulled me down as a couple of his crew started rowing us to the docks.

“I want you to stay on alert, in this boat so we can make a quick get away with the stolen treasure. I don’t feel like having to fight if I can avoid it,” Finn ordered Jason and Sloan.

“What if I promise to yell for help if they see me?” I offered.

Finn glared at me. “I said we should do it together.”

“Which makes no sense. If you go with me, you have to go slow and we will be seen. If you go fast into one ship while I go invisible to another we can make it out without detection and be rowing back to the ship before they come after us.”