When she wasn’t locked away in the cabin, Julianne frequently found herself standing with Buck in the galley. She was good at cooking, perhaps because she had been raised to be a proper housewife, but cooking on a ship was different. Buck displayed more patience than she thought possible as he showed her the way around the ship’s kitchen.
Almost every day, she would wander to the kitchen and perform the tasks Buck needed help with. Though it was hard work, she’d do it without complaining, and the two of them slowly began to form a comfortable camaraderie.
One night, Julianne stood at the counter chopping fish. The galley was hot and she was sweating, but she brushed away the droplets that beaded on her forehead. This was one of the worst jobs, but someone had to do it, and Julianne felt like she should earn her keep.
“Why cooking?” Julianne asked, trying to get her mind off of things.
“Eh?” Asked Buck. He was getting older, and a little hard of hearing, but he could hold his own in battle. All of the younger pirates had nothing but respect for the man.
“Why did you want to become a cook?” She asked again. “I’ve never met anyone who enjoyed preparing food as much as you.”
Buck smiled and continued slicing an apple.
“It started when I was just a boy,” he told Julianne. “When I would watch my mother cook, I watched her drift away to a land where things were different.”
“What do you mean?” Julianne asked, trying to imagine Buck as a small lad.
“We were quite poor,” he told Julianne. “I didn’t have a father, only a mother, and she worked as much and as hard as she could. She was always tired and always sick, but when she cooked, she didn’t seem so sad anymore.” Buck looked thoughtful as he continued. “She always had a smile on her face when she cooked. She always sang and hummed.”
“That sounds nice,” Julianne commented, thinking of her own mother. While her parents had never been outright mean to her, they had always been openly disappointed that she wasn’t a boy. They had big dreams for Nelson, but when it came to Julianne, her parents simply planned to marry her off as quickly as they could.
And then there had been Vince.
Julianne tried not to think of how she would have ended up had she been forced to marry the evil man. Would she have become a single mother, the way Buck’s mom had? Would she have been killed or forgotten? Would she have broken?
She didn’t want to think about it.
She took a deep breath, reminding herself that she was safe.
She was with Wade now, miles and miles away from Gunthry, and she would never have to go back.
She would never have to face those demons again.
She would never have to be scared of the people who raised her, of the people who were willing to give her away.
“What about you, child?” Buck asked softly. He cocked his head as he looked at Julianne, as if he were trying to analyze her. She wondered what he saw when he looked at her. A broken girl? A hopeful girl? A seductive girl?
She wasn’t sure.
“Julianne!” A voice boomed from upstairs.
Julianne looked at Buck, silently asking if she should go or stay. She wasn’t done cutting the fish yet, but Wade was calling her. He never called that loudly.
“Go on, now,” Buck urged her, taking her knife.
Julianne nodded, wiped her hands clean on a towel, and murmured her thanks to Buck. Then she disappeared through the door and headed up to the deck. When she arrived, Wade and most of the crew were standing around, staring at a beautiful, lush island.
“What’s that?” Julianne asked, her mouth suddenly watery. The trees that lined the beach had some of the biggest, ripest fruits that she had ever seen. She imagined walking along the beach, eating as much as she wanted to. “We should stop there.”
“We’ll never stop there,” Wade told her firmly.
“Why not?” She asked. “What is it?”
“Dragon Isle,” he said simply, then pointed.
Julianne looked back toward the island and gasped when she saw what Wade was pointing to. A huge beast flew out from the trees, circling the beach and staring at the boat. Its eyes flashed dark as it breathed out a huff of fire, lighting some of the trees on fire.
She had never seen a dragon in real life before, but she got its message all right: stay away.
“Why doesn’t it like us?” She asked.
“Because most pirates are dragon hunters,” said Wade.
“And you’re not?”
He shrugged.
“I never saw the need to kill a dragon,” he told her. “I never saw the need to kill something bigger than me to feel better about myself.”
She thought about what he had said as they continued past the island. Once the dragon saw that they had no intention of landing on its beach or attacking its kind, he stopped blowing fire and instead landed on the beach. As Julianne watched, the dragon grew smaller and smaller until it eventually reached the size of an ordinary man.
And it was an ordinary man.
A shifter?
She had never seen one, though she had heard stories of such creatures. Julianne looked back to Wade, but he just shrugged, as if watching a monstrous creature turn into a real-life man was an everyday event.
Then he wrapped his arms around her and held her as they continued on their journey.