“It’s difficult to say,” James replied. He did not touch his drink, at least not yet. “They tend to blur together.”
“I would imagine.” She leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs so a swell of thigh flashed in his direction. James kept his eyes on her face; he would not give her that satisfaction. “I’m certain only a special woman would be able to distinguish herself amongst your history of them. I’m surprised that Magdalena is not here with you.”
“She is keeping an eye on particular investments,” James said, his voice a subtle growl at the mention of Magdalena’s name.
The Magistrate flicked her brow up, clearly not believing him. “Can we be blunt with each other?” she asked.
“I encourage it,” he answered.
Her painted lips curled up into a smile, and her dark eyes sparkled. “Good,” she said. “I know a Breather is in The Neverland. I do not know where she is, exactly, but I want you to know that I know should you know where she is and contemplate not telling me.”
“You are trying to regain your rule over The Neverland,” James said, and the fact that it dawned on him now upset him than it would have if he had figured it out sooner. He had been distracted, and a particular young dark blonde woman was the reason. He needed to remedy that as quickly as possible. “Instead of lying down your rule the minute you stepped into your role, you used your power to instill your fear in the souls that reside here. Each port has its own law. Each governor is corrupted with his own brand of deceit. Souls have no one to answer to, except bullies or pirates or both. There is no one law here because you’ve been too distracted to make it so.”
“So what if I do?” The Magistrate snapped, her mask of cool indifference sliding off of her face for a second or two at best. “It is my role. I need to show everyone what I am. I am more than a story whispered at night. I am more than a legend.”
“And you cannot do that honestly?” James’s eyes widened, and then it dawned on him. “No one fears your power anymore.”
“The only people who fear me are those who actually know me,” she told him. “My story has been told so many times it has lost its intimidation factor. I need a way to draw souls to me once more so I can reintroduce myself as leader over The Neverland and install one law that everyone must adhere to. It is my right to do so.”
“Then go out and do it,” James said, his voice getting more controlled with each word that came out of her mouth. “No one is stopping you.”
“I need her” –
“No.” Even James was surprised at the fact that he interrupted The Magistrate, but he did not show it. “You do not. You want her because you will be able to force the souls to do your bidding. You cannot do it the honest way, can you?”
“Is that not the same reason you want her?” she asked, her voice a biting venom. “Do not think I’m naïve, Hook. You want to usurp my position, I know it. I called this morning to offer this warning: if I find out you know where this girl is, you will be punished. And when I say punished, I mean tortured in every way possible until you beg me to end your sad, pathetic life and vanish into nothingness.”
James felt his lips turn up. “May I be blunt?” he asked, amused.
“I encourage it,” she bit back.
His smirk deepened, and he leaned forward so he was directly in her face. “I look forward to the challenge,” he said and meant every word.
Chapter 10
In short, Magdalena was furious. There was no way she would allow Nick to drink this so-called potion in order to obtain a mask hiding his life. It sounded like fairy magic, one not even she was familiar with. Which meant the magic was dark and untrustworthy. Not that Magda was the expert on fairy magic, but what she did know, she did not want Nick ingesting anything suspicious.
The minute they left Lizzie, Magda rounded on Nick and opened her mouth, prepared to tell him what she really thought. Before she could, however, Nick leaned down so close to her their breathing was intermingling and Magda found she could not speak even though she tried.
“Don’t want to hear it, Tink,” he told her in a low whisper. She had never heard him speak in such a way either. Low and articulate. And his eyes grew darker – Magda had no idea how such a feat was possible – and the way his lips actually formed around the words drew attention to his lips and she found they were a nice shape and looked quite soft.
She clenched her jaw, closing her eyes tightly, trying to get the image of Nicholas Grey’s eyes and lips and he smelled not terribly – actually, he smelled like the ocean and sweat – out of her mind. She had no idea what was going on with her. Nearly four weeks with the pirate and she was losing her senses. She needed to leave him and return to The Other World and James, where she belonged. How much longer did she need to be here?
“Does my close proximity to you disturb you?” he continued, tilting his head to the side. His voice was still a rough whisper, and she could feel his hot breath tickle her cheek, her neck.
“It does not,” she said, and she stamped her foot.
Her face turned even redder, not necessarily because of how close he was to her, but because of her own childish action. This was completely unlike her. She had never stamped her foot, not even when she was a girl. What was wrong with her?
“Liar.”
A shiver slid down her back, and she couldn’t help but shudder.
She hated Nicholas Grey. She hated him with a burning passion.
He instantly pulled away from her and gave her a curious look. “What?” he asked.
“What, what?”
“What were you going to say?” His crew began to pile out around him, and Magda shifted with shame as she still had yet to introduce herself properly to them. “Before I told you I did not want to hear it.”
“Oh.” She blinked once, twice. She did not want to admit it, but he surprised her. She was never surprised. If Magda was anything, she was always prepared. She planned for every possibility. She did not plan for this. She did not plan for Nicholas Grey and just how he would affect her. She did not, for the life of her, think there was a chance Nick would ever contemplate drinking a potion filled with fairy blood and other magic-infused ingredients that would affect his being in The Neverland and make it appear as though he was a soul just to obtain entrance to The Other World.
They made it back on the ship and she barely noticed.
“I don’t think it wise to trust in her magic,” Magdalena said, shifting her eyes at Nick’s crew, gathered on deck. She wanted to say more but she could not, not with an audience.
Nick glanced behind him, following Magda’s eyes. When he took in what she saw and understood her hesitation, he told her, “They’re my crew. You can trust them. I do.”
Magda pressed her lips together but said nothing. Nick looked into her eyes and it would seem he could read them easily.
“But you don’t,” he finished. He shook his head, dark tendrils of hair following the whip-like motion of his gesture. “You know what your problem is, Tinker Bell? You don’t trust anyone.”
“That isn’t true.”
“Oh, that’s right. James Hook.” He made a face that showed just how little he thought of James. “So, you’re telling me you trust a man who basically forced you to watch over me for some reason that I don’t even think you really know of? Sounds like he doesn’t trust you.”
“James does not have to tell me everything,” Magda said, her eyes flashing a warning at Nick. She understood that he was frustrated with her, but he did not need to push her further. It would not end well for them. Their tempers were too similar. “I trust him.”
“Maybe you should trust me.”
“You want to drink some contraption your ex-lover compiled because you are so completely blind to your love for Remy.”
“I thought you said I was incapable of love.”
“I” - She stopped. She had no idea what to say. She would not talk about fairy blood or magic in front of people she had not even t
alked to. Yes, she knew the lack of communication was her fault, but she could not remedy that now.
“Um, excuse me?” The petite blonde broke between the two, looking up at them with her pretty blue eyes. Though she was only a few inches shorter than Magdalena, seeing her next to Nick made her look particularly small and slight. Did this woman know how to fight? She seemed too sweet for this type of life. “We’re going to head belowdeck.”
“You don’t have to do this, Giselle,” Nick said, his eyes softening when they saw her. “Whatever she has to say to me, she can say to us.”
Something punched Magda in the gut, and her jaw dropped when she realized it was jealousy. She wanted Nick to look at her that way and no one else. Which made no sense in Magda’s mind. She was just… hungry. The food on Nick’s ship was edible at best and had no flavor whatsoever. Her mind was starting to play tricks on her, such as making her think she was feeling things she was most certainly not feeling.
"We trust you, Nick," Giselle said and offered Magda a friendly smile. "It's okay that she doesn't. She doesn't know us. Why don't you hear what she has to say, and then if you feel the need to tell us, we'll be here to listen. If not, that's okay too."
Magda swallowed, and watched as Giselle walked away to the rest of the crew. She had never seen anything so warm and sweet and genuine before, and she wasn't sure how she felt about it. Not only had Magda been rude to them, but they went out of their way to understand her. Well, Giselle did at least. The redhead still looked at her warily, while the two other men held their tongues and let Giselle make the judgment on behalf of them all. James ran his ship based on respect and fear; Nick's crew, on the other hand, liked him. They cared about his well-being and more than that, they trusted him. Magda certainly liked and trusted James, but she couldn't say for sure whether other crewmembers felt the same way.
"Can I ask you something?" Nick asked, squaring his shoulders and looking down at Magda with hard eyes. He did not appear angry, per se, but firm. Serious. To be honest, it wasn't a look she expected on her face, but it did nothing to detract from its perfection.
She wanted to say no. She wanted to tell him that there were more pressing issues at hand than whatever he felt he needed to tell her. But she stopped. Pressed her lips together. Kept her retort on her tongue - where it belonged.
"Yes?" She did not sound too pleased. The word slipped out between her teeth, but Magda thought it was a small step forward from where she had been a few weeks prior.
He grinned when he realized she struggled with patience. She wanted to punch him. She felt this way a lot.
"Does Hook have a crew who would do what Giselle just did?" he asked seriously, taking a step toward her. His hands were now on his hips, making his broad shoulders even wider. A couple of dark strands of hair fell in his face and Magda had this inexplicable urge to push them away. She had to curl her fingers into fists and dig crescent moons into her palm to keep from doing so. “Does his crew blindly trust his decisions?”
“N-no.” Magda shook her head. She did not know why her voice came out shaky.
But it was the truth. She hadn’t realized it, but Nick was right. James had a crew of the best sailors in The Neverland and The Other World. They were not with him because they had a lesson to learn; they chose to be with him for reasons of their own – because he was a fearless captain, a fierce warrior, an explorer. They respected him. They admired him. But they did not like him. And they did not blindly trust him. As long as there was something in it for them, then they were satisfied. James, being the intelligent man he was, knew this. He knew exactly what they needed to hear to inspire them. For the moment.
“What is it that you have to say?” he asked, his voice gruff with demand.
“You know what I am, yes?” she asked, her voice tight. She did not like to admit such things out loud, but she did not have a choice. At Nick’s nod, she continued. “That potion” – she gestured at it with a flicker of her eyes; she did not like to let her gaze linger on the purple potion longer than what was necessary, afraid that it would somehow reveal her true nature – “will not help you the way you think it will.”
“Oh?” he asked, his cheekbones highlighted based on the shape of his mouth. He was humoring her, and she found she did not appreciate it very much.
“By drinking that” – she flickered her eyes over to it once more before looking back at Nick – “you are either being incredibly brave or incredibly stupid.”
“I like to think I’m the best of both worlds,” he said with a grin. “Listen, Tink, I appreciate that you care about me. I’m sure if our positions were reversed, I would feel the same way about you. However, I’m going to drink this potion. And nothing you say will stop me.”
He reached for the potion, but Magda stood in front of him, blocking his path. She should grab the thing and toss it across his bedroom, watch as the glass smashed against the window and the liquid spilled all over the floor. Nick would no doubt be furious with her, but he would be safe. He would still be the same pirate captain.
Nick stopped and gave her a look. “I’m only going to ask you this one more time,” he said, and his tone darker, more serious. He was not playing anymore. “Move out of my way.”
“I can’t let you do this,” Magda said. Her eyes would not look away from his, even though she did not like seeing his anger as a direct result of her actions. “Is she really worth it?”
The question came out of her mouth before she could stop it. She really did not want to know the answer. She already knew the answer. But she needed to hear it. She needed to know Nick’s frame out mind in order to truly understand what he would do in order to get Remy back.
“Of course she’s worth it.” His voice wasn’t as loud as she thought it would be. It was soft and certain and in disbelief that she would question him about that. “She’s worth it.”
“Why?”
The question made him pause, and for that, Magda was grateful. Perhaps it would distract him enough to allow her to inch over to the potion and toss it over. If she tried to do it now, he would stop her. Of that, she had no doubt.
“What do you mean, why?” he asked.
“Why her?” Magda said, words sputtering out of her mouth like milk out of a cow. “Why her and not some other woman? How do you know, with Remy? What if she loves someone else? What if she does not love you at all? How can you be so certain of someone you just met?”
“Because you can,” Nick said, his voice insistent. “Just because you can’t understand it doesn’t mean my feelings are invalid. To me, Remy is worth it. What I feel for her… I’ve never felt before. And I can’t just allow that feeling to slip away. Even if she doesn’t feel the same way in return. I have to try. I owe it to myself to try.” He sounded desperate.
“Perhaps you are more fond of the idea of Remy rather than Remy herself,” Magda suggested, her voice hesitant but still sure. “Have you even considered that?”
“What does that bullshit even mean?” Nick asked. “The idea of a person is the same thing as the person.”
“It’s not. I can assure you, it’s not.” Her eyes were burning, and she thought, for a moment, that there was a good possibility that she was getting through to him.
But before she could stop him, he reached out and grabbed the potion, downing the contents in its entirety.
“You stupid man!” she exclaimed.
Nick wiped the remnants of potion on the back of his hand and glared down at her. “Might I remind you that you are here because of my generous hospitality?” he asked her, his voice low so only she could hear. Dangerous. “If you ever disrespect me like that in front of my crew again, there is going to be an issue between you and I, are we clear?” He perked his brow.
Magda opened her mouth to argue, stopped. Paused. Shook her head.
“Fine,” she said. “You’re right.” Her voice was shakier than she would have preferred, but she attempted to keep it low in the same vein as him. “Bu
t that does not make your choice any less stupid.”
With that, she left the deck to go to her room.
Chapter 11
At the end of Remy’s fourth week with James Hook, she was proud to say that all of the bodily injuries she had were gone. She could walk as she normally would have, and the pain was only usual when it came to lacing up her corsets. She still had yet to explore the entirety of James’s home – castle was probably the more accurate word, and a part of her believed that James had yet to do the same thing. Observing him on the rare chances he honored her with his presence – usually during mealtimes – gave little to no new information. However, it did not appear as though he preferred to remain dormant for very long. His eyes looked darker, his frown was more prominent. He might not be a pirate, but he was a Viking who thirsted for adventure. And remaining in a lonely home was not an adventure in the slightest.
Love in Neverland: Book 2 in The Neverland Trilogy Page 8