Adele’s eyes narrowed and her lips pressed into a thin line. Finally, she responded with a, “You may.”
Remy stood up, leaving her mug behind. She felt her heart hammer against her chest, knowing that she was clearly going against orders. When her fingers caressed the hilt of her cutlass, she relaxed a bit. If someone did threaten her, she could at least put up some sort of fight. Instead of heading to the bar, she allowed her frame to get swallowed up by the crowd, hoping to hear a tidbit of information about where her crew mates might be. The deeper in the crowd she got, the less she could make out, and it was not long before Remy found herself outside once more.
Interestingly enough, it was much quieter outside than in, even though there were more people here. She spied street vendors start to gather up their belongings, making Remy swallow. It really was getting late, was it not? Perhaps it might be better if she returned to the tavern…
But no.
What if Nick needed her?
He had rescued her from those vile sailors back when she was on earth, and not only that, but gave her residence on his ship. She owed him. She would save him.
“Miss?”
The voice behind her startled her so much that she spun around and drew her cutlass out in the same motion. There, before her, was a rather well-dressed man, holding his hands up in a manner of surrender. Remy tilted her head to the side, hoping to get a better look at him in the darkness but made sure to keep a firm grip on her weapon. He was wearing red, she could make out. A uniform. Quite similar to the Guard’s, actually, but this one red rather than blue.
“Who are you?” she asked in a low voice. She hoped he could not hear how frightened she felt. At least she had means to protect herself. That gave her some comfort.
“Lieutenant Roads,” the man said in a calm tenor. “You are Remy, correct? You are looking for Captain Grey, I take it?”
Remy narrowed her eyes. “And what makes you say that?” she asked. She had thought finding Nick would be much more difficult, but apparently information regarding her captain sought out her rather than the other way around.
“I know where he is,” Roads explained. “He was asking for you, specifically. He said I would know you due to… Well, I’m sure you’re well aware the affect you have on us, Miss Cutler.”
Remy felt her resolve start to falter. “You really know where Nick is?” she asked. Her voice was not as strong as it had been, and Remy hated that.
“I do. If you would only put your weapon down, I’ll be happy to escort you there.”
Well, he did seem to be telling the truth. Slowly, she placed the cutlass at her side once more causing Lieutenant Roads to smile. “Come,” he said, tilting his head into a beckoning nod. “He’s only this way.”
Something in Remy’s stomach hardened but the young woman ignored it. If this would lead to Nick, she would go, no matter what was going on in her stomach.
Twenty-Four
Lieutenant Roads was a liar.
He led her into the King’s Cross Inn, literally across the road from the Albatross. The moment Remy’s boot-clad feet stepped over the transparent threshold and into the inn, she knew she was in trouble. Her stomach continued to protest that this was wrong, that she was in danger, and now that Remy had finally listened, it was too late. She was trapped.
She had attempted to run, of course. It would do Nick no good to have Remy harmed or captured or killed, but Roads had apparently expected her to react this way because his gloved hand shot out and grabbed Remy’s wrist before she could either leave or grab her weapon.
“I don’t think so, Miss Cutler,” Roads said in his soothing tenor. In that moment, Remy detested that voice. It was laced with lies. How could she have been so stupid? She should have listened to Adele and Giselle and stayed put. “We have been waiting for you, actually.”
“We?” Remy said as she struggled against Roads. The man was firm in his grasp, however, and any defiance against it was met with indifference at most.
“Of course,” the lieutenant said. He proceeded to lead her up the stairs. Remy was certain that if she did not pick up her feet, Lieutenant Roads would have no problem dragging her. “You are going to help us acquire Captain Grey. By now, I think you’ve realized I haven’t the foggiest clue as to where his location might be. However, my captain has been waiting for this moment, waiting to have him in the palm of his hand, so to speak. When you presented yourself, everything fell perfectly into place.” He stopped at a door and knocked.
Remy felt her face get hot from shame. She was in another mess and it was all her fault. How could she not have realized this was a trap? And, to be honest, it was a rather obvious one on top of that. Really. In fact, it was much like her last encounter with a man who wished to do her harm, offering her his help when all he wanted from her was her life force. But what did Lieutenant Roads want from her? She did not know. And that, more than anything, scared her.
Certainly he knew about Captain Grey.
Nick.
Was he there, wherever Lieutenant Roads was holding her, a prisoner just like she was about to be?
But no. Nick had more sense than that. He could probably see through any sort of trickery a mile away. There was absolutely no reason for him to get entangled into a trap.
Which means… Adele had been right. Remy should have stayed in the Albatross where she was safe. The likeliest scenario concerning Nick, Edward, and Calum was that they had garnered important information in regards to Captain Pan and were tracking it down, investigating it. Not that they were kidnapped or harmed or anything of the sort. Three men together were more than likely enough to hold their ground.
How could she have allowed herself to do something so entirely foolish? Now that she was in trouble again, no doubt somebody from the crew would come looking for her, risking their life for Remy’s. Again. She was tired of people saving her. She was tired of allowing herself to get caught in these nonsensical traps. She wanted to be apt and able-bodied. She wanted to be able to save herself.
Which means, her voice murmured, flitting across her mind like a fresh butterfly across the sky, having just left the safety of its cocoon, that no matter what happens to you, you are not allowed to give them any information.
Remy clenched her jaw together and curled her fingers into fists, physically expressing her new, hardened resolve. She was certain that anyone who happened to look into her eyes would no doubt see the utter terror in them. Her fear could not be helped; it was something she had yet to master. However, just because she was afraid of what was waiting for her did not mean she would allow her determination to falter. She could not. Lives were possibly depending on her, and she was responsible for them. Her friends. She could not allow herself to place them in any more danger than she already had.
At that moment, the door opened. Remy had no idea as to why it took the occupant so long to open it, but she had no time to contemplate reasoning before an unfamiliar man reached out and grabbed the upper portion of Remy’s arm and pulled her inside. Surprisingly, Lieutenant Roads did not follow her inside. Instead, threw occupant shut the door with his free hand before tightening his grip on Remy and leading her over to a rather plain, wooden chair, sitting in the center of the room. It was obviously out of place, but Remy seemed to know that this was to be her place for the duration of her stay.
Why was she not fighting? Struggling, at least?
Remy began to pull against the man she could only assume was Captain Pan. He seemed surprised at the friction she was causing but it took him a moment to react to it. This gave Remy plenty of time to reach for her cutlass, only to realize that Lieutenant Roads must have confiscated it while she had been too consumed in her thoughts to notice. Well, the least she could do was get a good box in, so she jutted the base of her palm upward until it connected with a rather unpleasant crunch against Captain Pan’s nose.
He let out a pained howl before screaming obscenities at her. He seemed to be distracted enough
where there might be a good chance Remy could escape. Without thinking on it any more, Remy made a dash for the door.
The captain might have been in pain, but he was still quick. He stopped Remy by grabbing her, wrapping his long arm around her waist, and then promptly carrying her to her designated chair, forcing her into a sitting position.
“You little bitch,” he seethed through gritted teeth.
From Remy’s position over him, she could see that her palm-thrust caused a good amount of bleeding from Captain Pan’s nose.
Well, good. It was not as though he deserved it.
Remy continued to struggle, to put up a fight, but this time, it was no use. Her act of rebellion inspired resolve in Pan and his was just as strong as hers was. Considering how much bigger and muscular he was, Remy knew she was not going to get a chance to fight him.
At least not yet.
It took him a while, thanks to her constant moving, before he finally tied her to the chair – rather tightly – with thick rope. Even Remy knew there was not a good chance that she could loosen the knots and slip through the loosened constraints.
“There!” he exclaimed, obviously pleased at his triumph at finally having restrained her. He pushed himself into a standing position, giving Remy a perfect view to take him in as a whole.
Captain Peter Pan was not an unhandsome man. He was tall, much taller than Nick, but not quite as tall as James Hook, with deep chestnut hair combed back and in such a manner than every lock was in its proper place. He was decidedly clean shaven, with sharp blue eyes, and shockingly, dimples. Remy personally always found it difficult to be intimidated by someone with dimples. He was slender but well-built. His shoulders were not as desirable as Nick’s or James’s, but perhaps if a woman saw Pan without knowledge of the pirate captain and the ruler of The Other World, she might think they were exemplary. He was dressed in rich silks, bold colors. Not a wrinkle could be found in the material; not a speck of dust or crumbs. This man was obviously a bad man, a man Remy wanted no further acquaintance with, but even she could admit that he carried and presented himself in an admirable way. He cared what people thought of him, and wanted to make an unforgettable first impression. Before she met the crew of the Black Star, she would probably yearn to befriend Captain Pan and hope that he noticed her.
But now, it was different.
Now, Remy knew that there was more to life than how one looked.
“I assume,” Captain Pan began after he successfully caught his breath and took a couple of steps back in order to get a good look at Remy, “I do not have to introduce myself to you. However, because you are obviously different – you’re still alive, are you not? – maybe you don’t know me as well as I’d like. I am Captain Peter Pan.”
“I know who you are,” Remy said. Interestingly enough, her fear had left her, at least temporarily. Again, it was probably due to those dimples. “I know you work for the Magistrate, and yet you moonlight as a murderer, slaying souls left and right without mercy.”
Instead of being offended at her words, he grinned as though he were proud of his accomplishments. “So you have heard of me,” he said with an approving nod. “However, your source for information on me is not to be trusted. Captain Grey is a biased, unlawful man and needs to be brought in to answer for his unspeakable crimes.”
“That is all and well,” Remy said, shocked at how natural her flippancy slid off of her tongue, “but I do not see how I fit into your plan of acquiring Captain Grey.”
“He will come for you.” Pan’s words were firm, but his eyes were clouded with doubt.
“Captain Grey is a pirate, as you well know,” Remy replied. “Why do you think a pirate would risk capture for me?”
This seemed to make Captain Pan think for a moment because rather than answer immediately, he began to pace. His posture would be the envy of Remy’s previous suitors back on earth – before, of course, her family betrothed her to Lord Huntington – and his hands were placed rigidly behind his back as he walked. Finally, he seemed to have come up with a solution he had been unprepared for because he was smiling, and rather than give her butterflies, it gave her a slow, haunting sense of dread. In a flash, her fear came back to her, even though this particular smile aptly highlighted those dimples.
“You are correct,” he said, taking a step towards her. “Which leaves me no choice to turn my focus onto you.”
“Me?” Remy hated how meek her sounded when it had just sounded so certain.
“You will tell me where your precious Captain Grey is.” He took another step towards her so he stood before her, tall and menacing, his eyes shining more and more as the idea swirling around in his mind began to take hold.
“I do not know where he is.” At least that was not a lie, but her response would have been the same even if it was not.
“I do not believe you,” he said in the same time. “But do not worry. I have resources that will bring the truth to your lips, sooner instead of later I am hoping. However, should it take longer, I have rented the room for the night and any cries of pain you make will be thought to be in response to the fucking that usually takes place. No one will know what is truly going on in here, save for you and me. Unless, of course, you save me a good deal of time by simply tell me where Grey is.”
“As I have stated before,” Remy said, and she could not stop the shakiness from tainting her voice, “I do not know where he is.”
“A pity,” he murmured, more to himself than to her. “I shall hate having to damage something so beautiful.”
The first thought that passed through Nick’s mind after returning to his table at the Albatross with Edward and Calum at his side was, “Where is Remy?” And he could not help but verbalizing that thought out loud in a rather urgent manner. Because she was not seated in her usual seat across from his usual seat, and the looks on the other two females in his crew were not at all confident that they, too, knew where Remy was. In fact, even Adele looked troubled, her brown eyes glassy as she faced some sort of internal struggle he knew naught of.
“Where is she?”
Certainly the words that came out of his mouth could have been more compassionate. Certainly he could have controlled the edge that was merged with his usual low tone filled with mischievousness. Certainly he didn’t have to add his fist hitting the table loudly in order to get the two’s attention and also to emphasize his point. But Nick’s patience regarding Remy and Captain Pan and extracting his revenge was up and he couldn’t pretend to be polite when a storm was brewing inside of him.
It was Giselle who answered, after Calum took a seat next to her. “We don’t know!” she exclaimed. She had always been quite good at controlling her emotions – even better than the quick-to-temper Adele – but her blue eyes were wild and unsure. “She just got up, said she was going to get us food and drinks but she never returned.”
“It’s my fault.” The words were quiet and hair-raising coming from Adele. Rarely did she offer up an apology, even when she was in the wrong. But her eyes seemed numb now as she stared at the surface of the table, and Nick realized that unless he prodded her, she would not be explaining.
“What do you mean?” Nick asked, taking his seat next to the red head. He tried to keep the urgency out of his voice but it was quite hard to do when images of Remy being tortured and harmed and worse by the very man he loathed kept playing in his mind, and no matter how he tried to distract himself, it would not desist.
Edward took the other seat by Adele and placed his larger hand over Adele’s. It was such an intimate gesture that Nick was compelled to look away, afraid of trespassing on a tender moment between the two. But such luxuries would have to wait. And Edward’s touch seemed to remind Adele of that, of the importance of the situation of the task at hand. She blinked once, and then she was back.
“You were gone after we returned from Esmeralda’s,” Adele explained, turning to face Nick. However, she would not move her hand from underneath the protection
Edward’s offered her. Nick had to bite onto his bottom lip in order to stop himself from asking about Esmeralda, about why they were there and what she had told them. This moment was not about Esmeralda; it was about Remy. “And Remy kept saying how we were supposed to go after you, to make sure nothing bad happened to you. And I told her, I said that this was one of the rules that you enforced concerning fallen members of the crew, that we don’t go after one another. We sit and wait. But she wouldn’t listen. She said she was going to get bread, and hasn’t returned.”
“And you haven’t gotten up to go look for her?” The edge was back in Nick’s voice as fury slid through his body.
“We were waiting for you,” Giselle tried to explain, but apparently, Nick was having none of it.
He stood up so abruptly that his chair toppled over. A couple of nearby patrons turned to look at the disturbance, but since it was not as interesting as the pints they were drinking, their attention quickly waned.
“We need to find her.”
“We have no idea where she is,” Adele said, jumping out of her seat to match Nick’s glare. Unlike the pirate captain, however, she did not knock over her seat.
“We know exactly where she is,” Nick growled. His eyes narrowed in such a cutting manner, darkened to the point of blackness, that even Adele could not help but flinch at the harshness of the look he threw at her.
“Where?” It was Edward, standing as well. His hand had released Adele’s but he positioned his body so it was angled in front of Adele’s, almost as though he were shielding the woman. “If you know where she is, please speak it. Adele does not wish any harm to Remy. She wants to help you and has admitted fault. But it’s difficult to keep calm when you’re yelling at everyone about things they do not possibly know.”
His words were meant to have a calming sensation on his captain, but Nick’s only reaction was to look away before looking back. “Fine,” he managed to say – though it was quite obvious that even that word was hard for him to ground out – as his eyes lessened in tension but were still just as fierce.
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