After what had happened with Dimitri, I’d half expected to be up all night, but my bed was warm and soft, and I snuggled beneath the covers, letting the waves lull me into a deep, healing sleep. A sleep of pure exhaustion, full of dreams of my sister, of Ironhaven…of my captors. Of grand balls and harvest fairs and games of chance and laughter.

But my fantastical dreams took a dark turn. One of death and destruction. One of pain and fear, and suddenly, I shot bolt upright with a gasp.

I opened my eyes to find myself staring into pitch blackness. It was still the dead of night. I wasn’t used to such inky darkness, and my eyes wouldn’t adjust for quite some time. I rubbed at them with my fists, trying to hurry the process.

A shout broke the eerie quiet and my heart leapt into my throat. I froze, my fingers tightening around the edges of my blanket, and I strained to hear. I was sure it had been Dimitri, and it didn’t sound like a playful sort of yell. It was an angry sound. A sound of fury.

Fury mixed with pain.

I tore my blankets off, pulse careening out of control. What was happening?

I stumbled when I got out of bed. The blankets were tied up around my legs, and as I twisted and turned to try to break free, I fell on my hands and knees onto the wood floor.

That was when I discovered that the floor was swimming in about two inches of water. My nightgown, a pale, yellow confection I’d found in a drawer, was instantly soaked through with ice-cold water. Shivers wracked my body as I struggled to stand.

The sounds of a struggle echoed from above and I wished the iron collar wasn’t still around my neck. Were the men having some sort of argument amongst themselves? And if so, how heated had it gotten? And why all the water?

Still trying to make sense of it all in my sleep-sodden mind, I pushed myself back up to my feet. My eyes were well adjusted now and I could just make out the shape of the furniture in my cabin. The water sloshed back and forth around my feet as the ship rocked from side to side.

I was spurred into action again when I heard a crashing sound from somewhere above deck. The distinct clash of metal on metal reached my ears, and my stomach rolled.

That was no squabble amongst friends. That was the sound of a sword fight.

I made for the door, but just as I reached it, it burst open, slamming against the wall. Part of it splintered under the impact and a chunk of wood flew towards me. I darted to the right, but it struck my cheek. I felt a sting of pain as hot blood trickled down my jaw.

The scream in my throat died as a stranger stepped through. He held a lantern in one extended hand, and swept it over the room until the warm light it cast fell upon me.

I was being rescued.

My gut churned with a strange sense of sadness, even as my heart lit with glee. My sister had sent men and they’d found me…but what would happen to my captors?

“Well, well, well. What do we have here?”

The warm glow of his lantern spread as he lifted it higher. He was tall, maybe only a few inches shorter than Titus. His shirt was open, revealing a burly chest decorated in swirling dark tattoos. His beard was braided and full of glittering gold beads that matched the one in his rotten smile. His eyes were blacker than the ink on his skin.

“A treat just for me?” he purred, his voice a crackling hiss.

Not a rescue at all, I realized. From the frying pan into the fire.

Icy dread snaked through me and I backed up farther until I was pressed up against the far wall beside the port windows.

He stepped deeper into my cabin, and I was horrified to see a second man come in behind him. He wasn’t as tall, but his blonde beard was styled in a similar way, and his skin was also covered in tattoos.

Pirates. The real deal.

I had only read about them in fables my father kept in his study. I never thought in a million years that I would meet one face to face. I knew of their cruelty, and I knew how unlucky I was to be a woman right now.

Fear clawed at my belly as I tried to cover myself, suddenly aware of just how thin my nightshift was.

“Ain’t she a pretty thing, Rupert?” the blonde man asked, hovering over the shoulder of the man who had entered first.

They both regarded me with hungry eyes and bloodthirsty smiles.

“Indeed, she is,” the one called Rupert crackled.

“She’s too proper to be a strumpet,” the blonde man said delightedly.

“Aye. She’s a proper lady, Bass. It’s our lucky day.”

“Stay away from me,” I said, trying to sound as strong as possible. The words sounded weak in my own ears, and my voice was definitely trembling.

“Or?” the blonde man, Bass, asked as he stepped around Rupert. He peered at me hungrily, his eyes roaming all over my body. He licked his lips.

“Oh, darling, don’t play coy with us. We have so many questions. What’s a lass like you doing on a ship bound for Myrad?”

I had never heard of a place called Myrad, and I had no idea how to answer his question. I wasn’t about to tell him who I was or that I had been taken against my will. It was better if they thought I was a nobody.

“Come on, lass, don’t keep us waiting. How do you know these boys? They seem real upset right now.”

“Seem.” Not “seemed”, which meant they were still alive. Something in me unfurled as I let out a breath. I refused to examine why that mattered to me, but damn it, it did.

“They’re alive?”

Rupert showed me all his rotten teeth and gold caps with a broad smile. “For now.”

A welcomed fire started to burn in my belly, chasing away the awful fear.

“What do you think, Bass? What type of shifter is she?”

“I don’t know. Something elegant and lean. Like a gazelle,” Bass nodded. “Yeah. Definitely. The light hair. The high cheekbones. Must be.”

Yet again, I was being underestimated.

Excellent.

“If you can help me find a way to take my collar off, I can show you...They’ve had it around my throat for days,” I said, uncrossing my arms, trying to shift my approach, “despite there being nowhere for me to run on open waters. These bastards have kept me here like an animal.”

It was a long shot. During my idle time, I’d tried all manner of thing to pick the lock, to no avail. Still, a slim chance was better than none, and surely, as pirates, they’d picked more than their fair share of locks…

“Poor sweet thing,” Rupert laughed. There was no humor in the sound. “Turn around then,” he said, taking another menacing step towards me.

But it was clear as day in the tightness of his features. He wasn’t going to make any attempt to take off my collar. He was watching me with lust burning in his eyes from beneath hooded brows. His fingers were toying with the hilt of the sword fastened to his hip. Bass was watching with similar heat in his stare, and I could see him swelling against the front of his salt water-soaked trousers.

“No,” I said firmly, trying not to gag and let fear take the reins again.

My ploy had failed. I might not have my teeth and claws, but I had my wits.

“No?” Rupert chuckled, looking over his shoulder at Bass. The two of them laughed together.

I threw my head back and joined the laughter, which had them both pausing with surprise.

I seized the split-second of opportunity, springing forward, reaching for his blade. My fingers closed around the hilt as Rupert let out a bellow of anger. He caught my wrist, spun me around, and threw me aside like I weighed nothing.

My hip collided with the table beside my bed. Sharp pain shot down my leg but I didn’t let him see that he had hurt me. I dropped low into fighting stance and prepared to battle. I had trained for this, after all, and there was no way in hell I was going down without a fight.

Rupert made the first move. He came at me fast with an angry snarl. He reached for me, but I darted to the side, slipping by him and rushing Bass, who was blinking in surprise as I rushed him.

“Bloody hell,” he managed to sputter as I came in low, swinging one leg around in a semicircle. I took his feet out from under him and he dropped in a heap into the water on the floor. The air left his lungs in a whoosh, but I didn’t let up. Instead, I dropped down on top of him and went for the weak spot.

He shrieked like a child as I pushed my thumbs against his eyelids with all my might. He kicked his legs wildly and swung out with his fists, but I used my knees to pin his arms down.

Just as his scream reached a new pitch, I was pulled off of him and thrown down on the bed. I kicked and fought as Rupert grabbed a fistful of my hair.

“You’re a feisty bitch,” Rupert said through gritted teeth as I dragged my nails down his bare forearms, drawing blood. He straddled me, pinning my hips down, and then grabbed my wrists and held them above my head. “I like that in a woman.”

I spat in his face and instantly regretted it. He stared at me for a moment, his lips curling in a sneer, and then he released my wrists just long enough to raise a ham-sized fist high in the air. I closed my eyes and said a silent prayer.

Then the ring of steel filled the air, and my eyes shot open.

“Bass,” Rupert growled, “on your feet, you yellow tailed-”

He didn’t have time to finish his sentence. Whoever had just entered the room had launched into battle. Bass shrieked, and as the sound filled my ears Rupert leapt off of me, drawing his own blade.

I shoved myself up on my elbows just in time to see Eryk, tall, dark and menacing, swinging his blade with the precision of a god. He had already swept the sword across Bass’s gut, and the pirate was on his knees trying to scoop spilled intestines back into himself while weeping like a child. The room reeked of copper and death.

His fate was sealed.

Rupert howled furiously as he and Eryk collided.

I watched the flash of their blades as Eryk beat Rupert back several paces, until the pirate was pressed up against the wall--he was pinned in the same place I had been, right beside the port windows.

Eryk swung his blade in a wide arc. It whistled through the air, and then there was a wet sound as it sliced through Rupert’s throat. Blood sprayed into the water at their feet, and Rupert crumpled forward, gurgling on his own blood as he fell.

I scrambled to my knees and looked Eryk over, heart hammering.

“Are you hurt?” I demanded breathlessly.

He shook his head once and came to me, searching me for injuries. “I’m fine,” he said, taking my chin in his hand and turning my head to the side. I realized he was looking at the cut on my cheek from when Rupert had broken the door down. He made an angry sound in the back of his throat as he wiped the blood away with his thumb. “Jesus, look what he did to you.”

“It will heal quickly,” I said. “I’m alright. It’s just a scratch.”

“I’m so sorry, Iris.” He slid his sword back into the scabbard he was wearing on his back and took both my hands in his. “Come,” he said, “let’s get you some dry clothes. You can sleep topside where it’s still dry.”

“Is the ship sinking?” I asked.

“No. They plowed a hole in it but Titus patched it up. It won’t hold for long but it will keep us afloat until we stop to make proper repairs.”

Everything felt so surreal right now. I was so relieved and filled with gratitude to be alive, it was like the fate I nearly met was a distant memory, or like it had never even happened. “Thank you for saving me,” I whispered, opening a top drawer on my dresser and gathering pants and loose tunics in my hands.

I turned back to Eryk. He was staring at the two corpses that were face down in the water. He looked back up at me. I could see the anger in him; it was obvious in the tight lines of his face, the clenching of his jaw, and the rising and falling of his chest.

He didn’t say anything to me. Instead, he took my hand in his and led me out of the cabin. We climbed the stairs and emerged on the top deck, where I was horrified to see more bodies scattered all over the place.

I wasn’t horrified by the bodies. I was horrified by the idea that one of them might belong to Dimitri, or Mathias, or Titus.

“The others,” I asked, finally giving voice to my fears, “are they-”

“Everyone is alive,” Eryk said, pulling me towards the doors to the Captain’s quarters. We pushed inside. It was instantly warmer.

Hildie came rushing up to me and jumped at my feet. I patted the top of her head as I swept my gaze around the room.

Mathias was removing a belt from his hips that was weighed down in blades and knives. He was soaking wet and his golden hair was plastered to his forehead and the back of his neck. When he looked up and saw me, a tightness in his muscles relaxed.

“Thank the gods you’re alright,” Mathias said, closing the distance between us. He looked at the cut on my cheek with the same anger Eryk had displayed. “Are you alright?”

“Yes,” I said, unable to give him all my attention as I searched for the others.

Titus was there, in the corner by the windows, towel drying his hair and bare shoulders. He was shirtless, and I felt my cheeks begin to burn as I looked at him.

“Where is Dimitri?” I asked, the words feeling thick in my mouth. The anxiety in my gut made me want to hurl.

Mathias nodded across the room to the bed.

My heart hammered in my chest. Dimitri lay upon it, stone still, his face turned slightly away from me. His dark hair was wet, like all the others, and his chest was rising and falling slowly.

I left Mathias and went to the bed.

I stood staring down at a man I should have hated, yet…didn’t. It was a strange sensation.

He was naked from the waist up, and his ribs were wrapped in white cloth that had soaked through with dark red blood. He was pale, and I had to strain my ears to hear the soft whistle of breath escaping his slightly parted lips.

“What happened?” I breathed, unable to look away from him.

Eryk came to stand beside me. “Dimitri was on the deck when the pirates boarded. He fought them off while we fetched our weapons. Took a couple blows before we were able to get to him. He’ll be alright, Iris, don’t worry yourself over him. He just needs to rest while he heals.”

“You’re sure?” I asked, unable to hide the tears that were blurring my vision as I looked up at Eryk.

He nodded, giving me a soft and reassuring smile. He took my shoulders in his warm hands and steered me away from Dimitri’s side. “I’m sure. Now, dry those tears. We don’t need him waking to learn you cried for him. His ego is already the size of this damn ship.”

I smiled and wiped my eyes with shaking fingers.

Eryk brought me to a screen that would shield me from view of the others. I changed into the dry clothes in my arms and relished in the soft fabric against my skin. It was all far too big for me, and the pants dragged on the floor as I emerged, but I didn’t care.

The men gave me sheepish smiles and Eryk looked up from what he was doing. He had collected pillows and blankets and was laying them out on the floor. “Make yourself comfortable, Iris. I’m going to help the others…clean the decks,” he said.

I figured what he meant was that they were going to throw all the bodies overboard, and I couldn’t wait to have those carcasses off the ship.

What bothered me was being left alone with only the company of a dog and an unconscious Dimitri. I felt like I was going to shatter into a million pieces.

“Can one of you stay?” I asked softly.

Eryk paused, a response hanging at the edge of his tongue as he eyed the others, who nodded. Right when I thought he was about to tell me no, he closed his mouth and tipped his head. “Yes, I will stay.”

I went to the blankets as Titus and Mathias left the cabin to go rid the ship of the pirate corpses. Eryk went to get more blankets from a closet and started laying them out beside me. I pulled all my blankets and pillows up beside his as he tugged his shirt off.

His body was a dark sculpture of perfection. He was unmarred and beautiful, his torso riddled with muscle and sharp lines. He lay down beside me, and as he did, I inched closer to him until I could feel the warmth of his side pressed against my back.

I needed the closeness. I needed the assurance that there was someone there to keep me safe. The truth of what had almost happened to me back in my cabin was breaking over me, and I felt weaker than I ever had in my life. This was the same feeling I had during the Revolution. I could taste the fear in the dryness of my tongue.

I buried my face in my pillow as more tears came. I was so far from home.

I was so alone.

I ached for someone to hold me. I just wanted to feel protected. I wanted someone to show me that they were there, and that I could trust them.

I stifled a sob in the pillow and curled my knees up to my chest.

Then, suddenly, strong arms were wrapping around me and pulling me close.

I stopped breathing as Eryk drew me into him. His body curled around mine and he rested his chin in the groove of my shoulder. I listened to his breath, slow and steady, so sure, so reassuring, and finally took a breath of my own.

“Just breathe,” Eryk said softly, “you’re safe now. We’re all safe.”

I did as he said, and soon sleep was gathering around me, and I welcomed it with open arms.