Gild (The Plated Prisoner #1) - Raven Kennedy Page 0,102
ramp.”
I look up toward the bed. “If you can cry on command, now would be the time,” I murmur.
Rissa scoffs. “Of course I can cry on command.”
“Cap’n? You alright in there?”
Murmured voices sound behind the door, then heavy footfalls come closer. I hear the sound of Quarter’s voice calling for Captain Fane just as Rissa snaps her fingers at me. “What?” I ask her.
Instead of answering, she shakes a pointed finger toward the captain’s desk.
With a frown, my eyes skate over to it, only to see that the captain’s hat and coat are still lying there.
“Shit,” I hiss.
I debate getting up and trying to throw them out the window, but it’s too late. Quarter is already pounding on the door.
“Cap? Cap! I’m coming in!”
I hear Rissa sniffle as the pirates outside begin to kick at the door. I flinch with each hit, until the doorframe splinters and the door comes crashing open.
Three pirates stalk in, Quarter at the lead. Their eyes immediately find Rissa and me, but their heads swivel around, looking for Captain Fane.
“Cap?” Quarter calls.
When it’s obvious the captain isn’t in here, his expression darkens, and he stalks over to the bed.
“Where is he?” he demands.
Rissa starts crying. Really loud, wailing, hiccupping cries. Either she’s a terrific actress, or she was holding it all in.
I make sure to keep a scared look on my face, which isn’t difficult, considering I’m terrified.
Quarter stops in front of me and looks between the two of us. “I said where the fuck is he?”
“Captain Fane...he…he...” Rissa’s voice breaks off into wracking sobs.
Quarter growls in frustration and looks down at me, kicking me in the shin with his boot and making me hiss out in pain. “Somebody better fucking speak!”
I pretend to struggle against the ribbon tying me to the post. “After he...took us, he tied us up. Then he told us to stay quiet, and he grabbed the trunk full of coins,” I say quickly, my voice shaky and high-pitched. “He took it and snuck out. Locked us in here.”
Behind him, the other two pirates go tense and share a look between them.
“Snuck out.” Quarter repeats evenly.
I nod my head, anxiety nipping at my heels.
Just believe me. Please believe it.
Quarter pulls away and starts looking around the room. My heart rate soars as he circles around the desk where the captain’s hat and coat are lying. It pounds even faster and harder when he passes by the window.
Don’t look out there. I beg all the Divines. Please don’t let him look out.
“Where was the trunk?” he barks.
One of the other pirates points. “We set it just there, Quarter.”
Quarter curses and kicks at a nearby barrel, sending it flying across the room and cracking against the wall. “He fucking took the coin for himself and jilted us!”
“Where would he go without a ship?” the pirate asks.
“He obviously planned this,” Quarter snaps. “Took a fire claw or conspired with those Fourth soldier fucks.” Another string of curses batters out of his mouth, smacking into the room with vicious force. “That sneaky bastard. I’ll run him through if I ever see—”
“Quarter.” A different pirate appears in the doorway. “The commander is waiting. He’s getting impatient.”
“Fuck!” Quarter tugs at his hair in frustration before spinning on his heel and looking at us.
My body goes tense, worry pounding against my skull, magnifying my headache tenfold.
“What do you want to do, Quarter?”
He lets out a thin, gritted exhale. “If we tell the Reds the captain took off with our pay and the commander left with our whores, we’re going to have a fucking mutiny on our hands.” He sends a hated, dark look in our direction. “Get them to the commander.”
The pirate opens his mouth to argue. “But—”
“Now,” Quarter snaps. “You think we can survive an attack from Fourth’s soldiers if we try to renege on the deal? He paid, whether we have the coins or not. He won’t leave without them. Especially not the gilded bitch.”
The pirates glance at one another, clearly displeased, but they stalk over to us. “Come on, you cunts,” one of them mutters.
I quickly lift my hand to the ribbon that’s wrapped around the post and pretend to undo it so that he doesn’t attempt anything like tearing or cutting into it.
He grabs me by my arm just as I get the ribbon undone, his fingers pressing hard through the material of my sleeve as he hauls me out the door while the other pirate takes Rissa.