^“So, what do you think of her?” Chaz asks when I lean back on my bed inside my room. Chaz is sitting on the desk by the door, sharpening one of his daggers. I glance at my huge axe leaning against the wall, thinking that’s it’s been a long time since I’ve had any excuse to be in a fight and use it. The waters are calm and most of the other pirates wouldn’t be stupid enough to try and fight us. Our ship is one of the biggest in the water. The only ones who could battle against us is one of the guards ships because their ships are the same size as ours. The King’s ship is the largest in the seas, no other ship would win a fight against it. I look over at Chaz, who is still watching me for my answer about Cassandra. I still remember the soaking wet woman Jacob pulled out of the water. I watched as Chaz saved her life, breathing air into her lungs and she coughed up a lot of green water. We all knew that it would be touch and go on whether she would wake up. Every one of us has watched her the last two days while she slept, the first day she had a fever but once that passed, Chaz believed she would survive. I don’t think any of us expected her to be so headstrong when she woke up. I knew she must have been hidden somewhere and I would guess her parents are high up, even on the council of Onaya. The only reason she would have run to the sea would have been because someone found out about her. That mark would have been a death sentence for her on that island.

“She is brave, smart, and beautiful. A very deadly combination with that mark on her forehead,” I reply. Cassandra is all those things and more. I knew from the moment I met her dark eyes that matched the long, brown, soft-looking hair that she was different from any other woman I’ve met. The fact that she threw a chair at me when I walked in just made me laugh. She is brave, so brave to do that. It’s surprising as she couldn’t have had much interaction with people, with men. Yet, the way she spoke to me earlier, you wouldn’t think it. I knew she was scared, but she didn’t show it. I like that about her.

“I know she’s deadly, I got distracted by her beauty too,” Chaz huffs, and I laugh. Chaz is a good fighter, all my brothers on this ship are. They may not be related to me by blood, but we have spent three years fighting for each other and making sure we all stay alive. It’s not easy when nearly every island has someone looking for us, for various things.

“She’s also a small girl with no powers, who managed to knock you out with a book,” I say, chuckling. Chaz narrows his eyes at me. I’m surprised she managed to knock him out cold with only a book. She must have some upper arm strength to do that. I wonder if she was taught to fight. I remember her small body, every part looks soft, and yet, her eyes blaze with a fire. A fire that tells you that you will get burnt if you get too close.

“Shut it,” he says, making me laugh more.

“We need to keep her in one of our rooms until we get to Fiaten. I don’t trust the men and women we have on board. You know as well as I that people act out of fear more than sense most of the time,” I say. The people we have on board are getting off at our next stop, but they still can’t be trusted. We may have helped them, but everyone fears the changed ones. They would fear her.

“Agreed. I will speak to Ryland about her sleeping in one of our rooms every night,” Chaz says, looking down at the dagger and twirling it in circles. I don’t like the idea of her sleeping in other guys’ beds all the time, but there isn’t much choice. We take it in turns to stay up at night and watch the ship, so she will always have an empty bed.

“I feel drawn to her, protective of her,” Chaz says, surprising me. The strange thing is, I feel the same way. I haven’t wanted to be close to any woman in years, so the feelings I get around Cassandra are strange to me.

“You are drawn to her as well,” Chaz says after I don’t reply. I am, more than I want to be. I would be no use to a beautiful girl like her. I wouldn’t ever push her for more than a friendship, my body is nothing to be admired after my punishment for killing my parents. I glance down at my glove-covered hands, knowing she would hate to see what they look like uncovered. All the scars.

“I know little of changed ones, but they are said to be kissed by the Sea God. Any beautiful woman kissed by a god would be easily drawn to. That’s all it is,” I say, and Chaz leans back in his seat, his eyes watching me too closely. He flips the dagger in the air and catches it, before repeating the motion.

“I don’t believe it’s just that. We should ask Ryland and Hunter about changed ones. There were so many in their family, if anyone knows anything, it would be them,” he says.

“Yes,” I nod. The twin’s parents were changed ones, so they would be the ones to ask. The only problem is that they don’t speak of their parents at all. They’re running from them, like everyone on this ship is running from something. Cassandra has more in common with us than she realises.

“I have to go and check the ship,” Chaz say, walking out of the room. I lie back on my bed, thinking about Cassandra and knowing that I won’t be able to stop for a while.

She may never want me, but it doesn’t mean I can’t help her sort her life out and be her friend.

Just a friend.