The Corsair's Captive by Ruby Dixon

Author:Ruby Dixon [Dixon, Ruby]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Publisher: Ruby Dixon
Published: 2017-09-07T18:30:00+00:00

8

KIVIAN

It takes about two days for the hunted look to leave Fran’s lovely face. It takes about two days and one hour for Fran to charm my crew. I know they’re going to get along just fine when I go into the mess one morning to find her arguing with Sentorr over the best-tasting meal packs and Tarekh’s laughing at both of them because Fran’s been eating my supplies instead of theirs. It seems that she likes the same salty noodles I do.

“She’s got good taste,” I tell them with pride, even if it does leave me with nothing but the leftovers. I don’t mind. Not for Fran.

It’s been days and she’s already wormed her way into my heart and soul. Hard to believe that I would fall so fast—no, “fall” isn’t the right word. More like “crash.” There was no in-between in Fran storming into my life and my falling in love with her. She’s just suddenly everything. I think of her when I drift off to sleep, and she’s the first thing on my mind when I wake.

Clearly she doesn’t feel the same way about me yet, but she’ll get there. How can she not fall for me? I’m incredibly charming. She’s just stubborn, my Fran. She’ll come around.

“I don’t see how a pirate can spend so much damn time farting around with sleeves,” she says, her hands on her hips as she glares into my closet. It’s become one of her favorite pastimes—criticizing my wardrobe. “Don’t you have pirate-y things to do other than spend hours lacing up your sleeves?”

“Like what?” I lounge on one of my chairs since I’ve learned that lounging in bed makes her skittish.

“I don’t know. Whatever space pirates do?” She casts me a look over her shoulder. “Make someone walk a space plank? Board a ship? Something?”

“First of all, a space plank is just ridiculous,” I tell her as she picks the least complicated of my shirts and pulls it from the closet. “Second of all, why would we board someone else’s ship? We’re in hiding. You were never very good at hide-and-find as a child, were you?”

“Humans call it hide-and-seek, and I was very good at it,” Fran tells me, and takes the shirt into the water closet with her to change. I wait until she returns a moment later, swimming in the fabric, and she comes to my side. “Show me the sleeves again?”

“It’s a raithu knot,” I tell her. “All the rage on Homeworld.” I take several of the cords hanging from the sleeve fabric, and when she holds her arm out, I begin to tie them in place, creating the sleeve out of the puffs of fabric.

“Can I cut the shirt down into a dress for me?”

“Cut it?” I pretend horror at the thought. “Do you know how much this cost?”

“No?” She looks crestfallen. “Was it very expensive?”

“A year’s wages for most workers, I imagine. I don’t run amongst the lower-class circles, so I’m not entirely sure if that’s accurate, but it’s expensive, yes.

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