thoughts drifted to Kell, standing like a shadow behind the flamboyant heir. Kell, with his reddish hair and his black eye and his perpetual frown.
“Fine,” cut in Alucard. “An easier question. Do you have a first name, Miss Bard?” Lila raised a brow. “Yes, yes, I know you’re a woman. You might actually pass for a very pretty boy back at court, but the kind of men who work on ships tend to have a bit more …”
“Muscle?” she ventured.
“I was going to say facial hair.”
Lila smirked despite herself. “How long have you known?”
“Since you came aboard.”
“But you let me stay.”
“I found you curious.” Alucard refilled his glass. “Tell me, what brought you to my ship?”
“Your men.”
“But I saw you that day. You wanted to come aboard.”
Lila considered him, then said, “I liked your ship. It looked expensive.”
“Oh, it is.”
“I was going to wait for the crew to go ashore, and then kill you and take the Spire as my own.”
“How candid,” he drawled, sipping his wine.
Lila shrugged. “I’ve always wanted a pirate ship.”
At that, Alucard laughed. “What makes you think I’m a pirate, Miss Bard?”
Lila’s face fell. She didn’t understand. She’d seen them take a ship just the day before, even though she’d been confined to the Spire, had watched from the nest as they fought, and raided, and sailed on with a fresh bounty. “What else would you be?”
“I’m a privateer,” he explained, lifting his chin. “In the service of the good Arnesian crown. I sail by the permission of the Maresh. I monitor their seas and take care of any trouble I find on them. Why do you think my High Royal is so polished?”
Lila swore under her breath. No wonder the men had been welcome in that tavern with the compass. They were proper sailors. Her heart sank a little at the idea.
“But you don’t fly royal colors,” she said.
“I suppose I could….”
“Then why don’t you?” she snapped.
He shrugged. “Less fun, I suppose.” He offered her a new smile, a wicked one. “And as I said, I could fly royal colors, if I wanted to be attacked at every turn, or scare away my prey. But I’m quite fond of the vessel, and I don’t care to see it sunk, nor do I care to lose my post for lack of anything to show. No, the Spires prefer a more subtle form of infiltration. But we are not pirates.” He must have seen Lila deflate, because he added, “Come now, don’t look so disappointed, Miss Bard. It doesn’t matter what you call it, piracy or privateering, it’s just a difference of letters. The only thing that really matters is that I’m captain of this ship. And I intend to keep my post, and my life. Which begs the question of what to do with you.
“That man you knifed on the first night, Bels … the only thing that saved your skin was the fact that you killed him on land and not at sea. There are rules on ships, Bard. If you’d spilled his blood aboard mine, I’d have had no choice but to spill yours.”
“You still could have,” she observed. “Your men certainly wouldn’t have objected. So why did you spare me?” The question had been eating at her since that first night.
“I was curious,” he said, staring into the calm white light of the hearth fire. “Besides,” he added, his dark eyes flicking back toward her, “I’d been looking for a way to get rid of Bels myself for months—the treacherous scum was stealing from me. So I suppose you did me a favor, and I decided to return it. Lucky for you, most of the crew hated the bastard anyhow.”
Esa appeared beside his chair, her large purple eyes staring—or glaring—at Lila. She didn’t blink. Lila was pretty sure cats were supposed to blink.
“So,” Alucard said, straightening, “you came aboard intending to kill me and steal my ship. You’ve had a week, so why haven’t you tried?”
Lila shrugged. “We haven’t been ashore.”
Alucard chuckled. “Are you always this charming?”
“Only in my native tongue. My Arnesian, as you pointed out, leaves something to be desired.”
“Odd, considering that I’ve never met someone who could speak the court tongue, but not the common one….”
He trailed off, obviously wanting an answer. Lila sipped her wine and let the silence thicken.
“I’ll tell you what,” he said, when it was clear she wouldn’t follow him down that path. “Spend the nights with me, and I’ll help improve your tongue.”
Lila nearly choked