I lifted my hand to the scowling pooka, feeling the magic holding his glamour in place slipping away. “Goodbye, Rían. I love you and will miss you every day until I return.” Too much? Maybe. But seeing Merriweather’s stiff shoulders and scowl was such a delight. Had he honestly thought he could waltz back into Aveen’s life and drag her off to some foreign land and she’d be happy about it?
The pooka’s lips pressed flat before he waved back and evanesced. With the connection broken, my magic swelled, but not nearly as much as it should have.Feckin’ water.
Merriweather’s fingers slipped around my elbow. “Come with me, my angel. Let me show you to our quarters.”
It was awfully presumptuous to assume Aveen would want to share a room with him. Not that I could say that aloud until he released her.
I’d been in privies larger than the captain’s “grand” quarters. If I weren’t wearing a glamour, I would’ve had to duck to fit inside. The dear captain didn’t have to bend at all. Short-arse prick with a chip on his shoulders, that’s what he was. I couldn’t wait to knock that chip right off.
“I cannot stay in here with you,” I gasped. “It would be improper.”Definitely something my human would’ve said.
“You have nothing to fear from me. I assure you that I intend to be the perfect gentleman.”
Perfect gentleman, my arse. If that were true, he’d be giving Aveen this room and bunking with the other worms below deck. “You’ll forgive me if I don’t believe you.”
I turned toward the circular window to stare out into the sea. How much longer was this going to take? “The bargain, Caden. You promised.” My glamour slipped, and that was it. I couldn’t get it back.
“Give me your hand.”
Good thing I’d worn the gloves. Hopefully, by the time he realized he wasn’t holding a woman’s hand, it’d be too late.
He squeezed my fingers. “Lady Aveen Bannon, I release you from your vow.”
I felt no magic, but then again, I hadn’t expected to when I wasn’t the one he’d bound in the first place. Still, the words had been spoken aloud; the magic would find my human and relieve her of any obligation to this monster.
“Look at me.” The captain’s stubby finger slipped beneath my chin, urging my face to his. “I promise you’ll be happy. I swear.”
“I am happy,” I said with a grin. Caden stumbled back, catching himself on the edge of his tiny desk. “So feckin’ happy.”
“You.”
“What? No kiss to seal the deal?” I braced my hands on my hips. “And after I went through the trouble of squeezing into this gown. You wound me, captain.”
“Where is she?” he snarled, searching the empty cabin as if he’d find my human hiding beneath the bed. “What have you done with Aveen?”
“My fiancée is waiting for me back at the castle.” A tiny lie, but he didn’t seem able to tell the difference.
His mouth gaped like the dead salmon I’d seen in the market. “She can’t marry you. She’s supposed to marry me. We had plans for a life together.”
He could take his plans and shove them up his arse. “I may be a lot of things, but I didn’t have to steal her away to make her want me.” I twirled the strands of my blond wig the way some women did when they were feeling saucy. Beating this prick had me all sorts of giddy. I couldn’t wait to get back to Aveen and tell her of my brilliant performance. “All I had to do was be my delightful self and she couldn’t resist.”
His eyes bulged. “She can’t want you. You are a monster.”
He was right about that. I was a monster. “And yet you thought you could come to my island and take what’s mine.”
“She was mine first.”
“How’d that work out for you,captain?”
He whipped his sword free. The blade glinted in the gray light falling through the leaden windowpanes. “I will run you through.”
“Go ahead.” Made no difference to me. If he wanted to gut me like a fish and drop me to the bottom of the sea, I’d come back soon enough and return to Aveen. Deal done and dusted.
Uncertainty flickered across his features, followed by resolve. He returned the sword to his belt with a smirk. “Let’s see how Aveen feels when you don’t come back.”
My heartbeat faltered.
That wasn’t part of the plan. He was meant to be so incensed that I’d bested him that he threw me overboard in two halves.