A Pirate's Ruse by Camille Oster

Author:Camille Oster [Oster, Camille]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2015-02-20T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19:

* * *

The noise of the tavern wasn't exactly conducive to conversation. Clara looked around the space, sitting with her legs crossed and her elevated foot bouncing in nervousness. The gathered crowd was an eclectic bunch. Most were drunk, some passed out on the floor—usually the ones with the poorest dress sense. Their clothes were made with all sorts of materials harvested from sails, even sacks. Others were dressed as finely as money could buy.

Lieutenant Havencourt sat beside her, with his back straight, unimpressed with the view around him. His naval uniform was as neat and tidy as it always was.

"Do you think he is coming?" she asked.

"The message has been sent. He will come, after making us wait."

"Maybe there's a limit to how long we'll wait," Clara stated, still annoyed from her conversation with her father earlier that day. The man was clearly ill, dying if his own words were believed. Somehow she didn't think he was the kind of man who minced words over such things. If he said he was dying, it was probably true.

The one good thing about meeting her father, and disliking him intensely, was that he was freeing her from the concerns of her youth—who she was and why she had been abandoned. She didn't care anymore. The answer was clear: her mother had died and her father was the worst kind of man. What more was there to say? She could turn her attention to her future now. Well, maybe not quite. This competition seemed to have a grip on her, determining who she considered and allowed herself to be. Everyone seemed to want her to be helpless and useless, except the friends she had made here—friends who weren't necessarily as steadfast as she would want friends to be, but that was perhaps what she needed to learn. She had to depend on herself.

The room seemed to quiet and Clara looked up to see Christian at the door, wearing the black breeches that showed off all the muscles of his thighs and legs, and a white shirt, lose to keep him cool. His eyes were on her and a flush quickly spread up her cheeks. She dearly wished she didn't react like that, but he was the enemy and when his attention was on her, her hackles rose. It was only natural.

Slowly he moved over to the table, lifting his hand to the bar-keep, signifying he wanted a drink. Two of his crew came in the door and stood along the wall. He didn't come entirely alone, not trusting them not to ambush him.

The bar-keep arrived with a bottle and a glass, wiping his hands on his dirty apron. Christian grabbed the bottle and pulled the cork. "I trust you haven't tampered with this one," he said snidely, bringing it to his nose. He poured the brown liquid into the glass and it made glugging sounds in the neck of the bottle. He made another gesture to the bar-keep. "Care for a drink?" He pushed the glass over to Havencourt.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.