Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 56021 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 280(@200wpm)___ 224(@250wpm)___ 187(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56021 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 280(@200wpm)___ 224(@250wpm)___ 187(@300wpm)
He leaves me, shutting the door behind him considerately. I am shocked at how kind he is being. It is the last thing I expected from him. Everything I have been told has led me to believe I would be ravaged without warning, concern, or care.
I take off the horrible outfit and toss it to the side. I will never wear that again. I will never wear anything like it again. Having been sent to the planet dressed like that makes me feel like I was violated by my so-called crew. I do not know if I will ever be able to forgive them for that.
Sometimes I wonder if we’re really the good guys.
Sullivan used to say we were just doing what we needed to survive, but pirates don’t do what they need to survive. We did a lot of things just for fun, too. Sullivan saved my life, but she was a villain to many. Her choices were always thoroughly unhinged. Raine followed some kind of internal compass, but she was ruthless and murderous.
Lettie is worse than either one of them.
Not everybody is cut out to be a captain. If the ship wasn’t down on crew by eighty percent, she’d never have gotten near the chair.
I’m glad to be rid of her.
Naked, I slide into the water and discover that it does tingle even as it envelops me in a warm embrace. It feels incredible to be immersed. I had forgotten how light you can feel, and how snuggly it is to be in hot water. There’s a slight green tinge to it, I notice when I look down at myself, but it’s not an unpleasant hue. It’s more like a wholesome, verdant color, a rich one that implies health and other sorts of things.
I spend a long time in the bath, trying out all the different lotions and soaps that are arrayed along the ledges. It is big enough to swim around, which I adore. Swimming is a luxury I have also not been able to indulge in for a long time. And then there’s floating. I love the floating.
At some point in the middle of my reverie, a tap at the door indicates that someone is there.
“Yes?!” I call out, splashing about to sit up a little.
“There are towels and fresh clothes waiting outside the door,” Wrath’s voice comes through the door, somehow sounding as strong and immediate as if he’s in the room with me. Close to me. Almost touching me.
“There will be food if you decide to emerge at any point. Or I can deliver food to you if you like, but your modesty may be compromised.”
My stomach growls at the mere mention of food, but I am not sure I want to be exposed that way.
“Or you could use the foaming bath, and that will provide modesty.”
“Which one is that?”
“The one in the orange glass jar.”
I uncork the jar I think he’s talking about. The second so much as a drop of the contents hits the water, it starts to foam with a brilliant fizz that makes me laugh with excitement. It’s a simple joy, and it sparks something inside me I have not experienced for the longest time. Happiness. Simple physical satisfaction. I’m comfortable. God, it feels good to be comfortable.
“Don’t use too much,” he says, just as I finish emptying the entire bottle.
“Ooops.”
“I don’t like the sound of that oops,” his gravelly voice replies.
The entire surface of the bath is covered in bubbles which are multiplying exponentially.
Wrath
“HELP!”
I enter my private bathing chamber to discover it full to the ceiling with foam. She used too much, to say the least. I should have been more clear in my instructions.
Wading through the bubbles, I find the warm, wet, squirming body of the human brat I left alone for two minutes too long. I pull her out of the bubble cascade and into clear air.
She has an impromptu hat of bubbles and an expression somewhere between shock and excitement. She looks very different now than she did before. She was so worried and so tight in her expressions. Now she is smiling, laughing.
“Oh my god what a mess! I can’t believe I did that. I’ve never done such a thing. I’m so sorry. I’ve made such a mess. I’ll scrub it all, I promise.”
“You will do nothing of the sort. The bubbles reduce on their own over time.”
I pop one that settles on her nose.
She smiles, and I see an expression of relief expanding across her soft face. She was happy, smiling. But she was still scared that she was going to be in trouble. I feel as though she hasn’t been treated very well before. There’s a certain timidness about her, even in the middle of a natural appreciation for something funny.
“I don’t mind cleaning.”