Slayer of the Pirate Lord: Standalone (Dark Rulers Book 8) by Rebecca F. Kenney

Author:Rebecca F. Kenney [Kenney, Rebecca F.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-07-10T23:00:00+00:00

20

I should tell Risa exactly what we do with the slaves we rescue. But an obstinate, devilish part of me wants to keep her guessing. She’s looking for a reason to like me or hate me—she has a moral code, this wounded soul from the docks of Knockaine, and she wants to know if I’m worthy of her respect—or if I’m the most depraved kind of monster.

Hiding the truth from her is twisted, demented. But maybe I want her to discover it for herself. Maybe I want her to hate me, yet desire me anyway. Maybe I want to know that she craves me helplessly, against her own will and morality, against all reason. Maybe I want to be the object of a passion so fierce, so reckless, that no sin of mine could ever quench it.

Or maybe, if she thinks I’m a monster and treats me as such, I’ll be in less danger of having every waking thought occupied by her face, her form, her voice, and her eyes. Risa is a distraction, but her hatred could clarify my purpose again, and drive me back to my one true obsession—the Pirate Queen.

“Do you sell the slaves?” Risa persists. Her features are tight with anxiety.

I saunter toward her, spinning the blood-wet knife. “I’m not a good man, Risa. Money, magic, power, and pleasure—these are the only languages I speak.”

Horror floods her gaze, and she starts to recoil from me—but then she pauses, and she peers into my eyes.

“You like to rescue people,” she says quietly. “That’s one of the first things you told me about yourself. Your men said it, too, except I didn’t let it sink in, that night. I was too cold, wretched, and scared. But they said you react with pity, then anger, and then you do something stupid.”

“Who said that? I’ll have him keelhauled.” But under my feigned offense, I’m shaken. The way she’s looking at me—it’s as if she’s opening up my soul and rummaging around, tossing aside all the terrifying facades I display and finding the tender, raw things that cower in the corners.

“Even the way you were talking to your captive just now—you despise what he’s done to the helpless. You abhor his cruelty. That’s why you treat him like this. It’s a kind of justice.” Risa is slinking toward me, and my heart hammers against my ribcage. She’s not wearing anything salacious—simple clothing—and yet my whole body is aflame, blood hot as lava racing along my veins.

“You’re not stealing the slaves and selling them yourself.” Risa is right in front of me now, her fingertips ghosting over my breast. “You’re saving them, aren’t you?”

“It’s the task given to me by the Pirate King,” I say hoarsely. “Clear the slavers out of the southern reaches of the Shorn Seas. Discover all ports of call on their routes, and unearth the hidden players in the sex-slave trade. Thannira is one major source and consumer, but there are more. I’m hunting them down.”

“You’re getting their attention.

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