The Secrets of Jane: Book 1: Forgotten (Improper Bastards) by Charlotte Mallory

Author:Charlotte Mallory [Mallory, Charlotte]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9798986255538
Publisher: Owlery Publications
Published: 2023-09-18T16:00:00+00:00

Jane’s listless as I carry her, her dirty hair partially in her face as an arm dangles and sways. I eye the cliff edge; that had been far too close for my comfort. She demonstrated a clear modicum of a soldier’s honor, harboring that sense of loyalty required to survive in Skull’s Row and on the oceans we sail.

She’s willing to die for her little siren friend more than trust the witch she sought. For whatever reason, all I felt when she spoke of Cypress was distrust.

It’s not the reaction I expected, which means I need to tread carefully.

I move Jane to a flatter region where Phantom can reach us, laying her down on the grass so I’m not carrying her the entire way. There’s no point in exhausting any ounce of energy if I don’t have to, not when the air feels wrong. It’s like the change in the sky before a storm approaches, although this is something only I can pick up on. I search Jane’s body until I find my bag of coin tied around an empty belt loop, pausing to examine the laceration on her thigh.

Taking the bag off of her, I open it, looking at how much she spent. My brows raise as I see something wrapped in goat skin—the very thing she had pulled out—and unwrap it to confirm there are, indeed, ruby earrings from Cypress in there.

Great. So that bitch knows where we’re at.

Cypress can see people easier through the fog of her visions if they wear her jewels. This leads me to wonder why the Scorpion would give these very jewels to his wife…

Unless Cypress was lying about the entire story.

Jane will have a lot to answer for when she wakes. As tempting as it is to chuck these earrings into the ocean, breaking or destroying her precious things will only make my life more miserable.

I can’t have that while I’m still contemplating what Cypress told me.

Tying the coin back at my hip, I grunt at the idea of trying to coax the truth out of Jane. She’s willing to die for her secrets. It’s a pain, really. It’s so much easier when someone responds to torture.

Sitting down next to her as she lightly breathes, I don’t know what to do. In truth, she wasn’t wrong at all—without my skillset, she would have gotten away. If she had gotten on that ship, it would have created enough of a gap that might have delayed me by an entire month.

Stopping to see Cypress might have cost her everything.

The decisions before me are vast and complex, like a butterfly wing about to flap and unravel fate. What if her father is the key to all of this? Do I go looking for him now? And when do I share that her father is alive? I’m assuming I’ll know in the way I know everything else—it will eat away at my instincts until I act upon it.

She’ll probably try to skin me if she finds out I know of her father and didn’t tell her.

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