Saving Simon (Tarnished Saints Series Book 5) (32 page)

Rain now pelted him in the face, his long hair whipping, and stinging him in the eyes. His hands over his head, he could do naught to stop it. And that damned siren’s song still floated on the breeze and echoed in his head, calling him closer . . . closer . . . to his death.

Then, when he thought he would burst with want from a nymph he had never even seen, the sound of grappling hooks hitting the starboard side of the ship caught his attention. Someone meant to board. He couldn’t even believe this. How could it be true?

Then, the hands and dirtied faces and bodies of a dozen broken men made their appearance as they hoisted themselves over the side rail and climbed aboard his ship. The men were scarred, obviously from a furious battle. Some were missing fingers, and one man was missing an entire arm. Several of them had eye patches and one was missing his leg from the knee down, a wooden peg tied to his stump in its place.

“What is this?” he called out. “Who are you and what do you want?”

They seemed surprised he was talking to them. Even more surprised he was tied to his own ship. That amused them and they laughed, taking wool from their ears as they scurried aboard.

“You can’t do anything to stop us, you fool!” said one, picking up a skein of rope and ripping a canvas covering from over a barrel and tossing them over the side into one of their boats. They proceeded to take his fishing net. Next, they cut free and rolled a barrel of wine over the deck, obviously meaning to take that as well.

“Where’s your cargo?” asked a man who was built like a retaining wall with a long scar across the side of his entire face. “You are a trade ship, are you not?”

“I’ll not tell you a thing, now leave my ship anon or I’ll . . .”

“You’ll what?” asked the man with the peg leg, smiling and spitting at Ace’s feet. He had a dagger in his hand and held it up in front of Ace’s face. “We’ll take your provisions too as well as the clothes on your back.” He reached over with the dagger as if he meant to cut the clothes right off of Ace.

“Leave him be!” called a female voice from the side of the ship. “Get the goods and let’s be on our way. You are not to harm any of them, do you understand? That is not our purpose here.”

Ace turned his head to see a young woman with alabaster skin lifting her body over the side of the ship. She had large brown eyes and long black lashes, and light pink lips that looked like a little bow. Her hair was long and wavy, and a blue-black, mostly blue, that reminded him of the color of the sea. It hung in front of her body, covering her chest. With one brush of her hand to push it away, it was almost like she was tempting him purposely, as his eyes traveled quickly from her face scanning her entire being.

She stood there nearly naked, just a small, thin linen shift covering her body. It hung only halfway down to her knees. It was white and wet, and left naught to the imagination, and his eyes settled on the two pink spots beneath the fabric just atop her large rounded swells. He also noticed a dark patch showing through her shift at the juncture of her thighs and would bet a bag of gold that it was blue as well.

“Who are you?” she asked curiously, gliding barefooted over the deck toward him, not at all affected by the ship rocking to and fro. A necklace made from shells was around her neck and clicked together as she walked toward him. Shells of many sizes and colors were interwoven in her long hair, as well as starfish and an occasional strand of seaweed. She looked like she was a part of the sea. He found himself drinking in her beauty as she stopped right in front of him and her eyes looked to the depths of his very soul.

The band of men were now ransacking his ship, having found some of the provisions and throwing barrels of apples and nuts over the side of the ship and into their boats, eating as they pillaged his wares.

“I said . . . who are you?” she asked once again, coming even closer. When he didn’t answer, she started once again to sing softly so only he could hear her, and though he didn’t think he could grow any harder, he was wrong. His arousal strained beneath his braies, making his tunic stick out like a sail filled with wind. She noticed it as well, and smiled.

“Stop,” he cried out, shaking his head back and forth, straining at the ropes. Damn, why’d he tell Boots to tie such tight knots? “Stop and I’ll tell you what you want to know.”

Excerpt from
Sapphire
– Book 2

(Daughters of the Dagger Series)

(
Book Trailer Video)

Lady Sapphire pulled the hood of her mantle lower to hide her face as she entered the
Bucket of Blood
behind her stable boy, Dugald. She knew she shouldn’t be in town this late at night and amongst commoners, but she was trying to escape her husband, Lord Wretched. That is, the baron. People had no idea what a horrible man he really was. And if he found out she’d ever been here, he’d take his fist to her, she was sure.

She only wished the marriage had not been so rushed, and that her father and sisters would have been present. Perhaps her father would have stopped the marriage, since the baron was not an original part of the negotiations he’d made with Roe Sexton’s late father, Robert, who died just before her arrival. But she’d been convinced by her dead betrothed’s uncle who was also Robert’s brother, Lord Henry Sexton, that this was the proper thing to do and not to jeopardize the alliance between Blackpool and Rye. So she’d done the deed to ensure safety to her father’s lands, and especially her younger twin sisters, Amber and Amethyst back home.

Sapphire didn’t regret for a moment coming to the Bucket of Blood
pub, searching for answers. After all, there was nowhere else to go since her own bed was occupied with one of her husband’s latest women. Since he found her body not planted with his seed, his impatience won out and he went on to sample any woman in the castle he could get his hands on. Still, none of them had been impregnated by him.

She was grateful he hadn’t touched her now in over two months, as she wanted nothing to do with the vile man ever again. No woman would ever bear him an heir no matter how many he sampled. God was obviously punishing him for not only bedding every woman in the castle - be she a noble or merely a servant - but also for beating the women when they did not conceive. She’d had her share of bruises from his punishing hand, and knew this is not what she should encounter in a marriage or coupling.

She stopped in the doorway, glancing at the patrons in the dimly lit pub. The Bucket of Blood was a favorite gathering place for sailors and fishermen since it was so close to port. And with Rye being one of the Cinque Ports, she knew she’d find many honorable men here who had vowed to protect the channel for their king. Men of the sea filled the tables and wooden benches and stood at the drink board that served as a counter. The innkeeper handed them ale, wine, brandy, and drinks of many kinds in large tankards made of metal or wood with a curved handle on the side. Women of the night clung to the men, wearing their low-cut-bodice gowns, working the room, and trying to earn a living.

The large burly man guarding the door, the bouncer, held out his hand and growled in a low voice. “

“Ye know the charge. A hay-p’ny for each o’ ye. Now pay up.”

Like most pubs, there was a petty charge at the door to cover any damages of broken bottles or benches should a patron get rough. And in a place like this, chaos was always evident.

Sapphire slipped two halfpennies to the boy, and Dugald handed them over to the bouncer. The man held out his board of wet wood and one at a time bounced the coins atop it to make sure they were real and not made of lead. Satisfied, he nodded and grunted.

“Go ahead,” he said, stepping to the side, enabling them to enter.

She followed Dugald forward into the room, stepping carefully atop the dirty rushes spewed across the floor that looked and smelled as if they hadn’t been changed in years. She wondered what rancid scraps of food or how much spittle lay hidden beneath them.

Sapphire felt nervous, yet excited at the same time. She knew ’twas far from proper to being sneaking out of the castle and coming here in disguise, but she just had to feel alive outside the clutches of her doomed fate. She’d convinced the stable boy to help her sneak away and to bring her to the pub that also served as an inn. He’d even supplied the commoner’s gown she now donned to protect her identity.

Dugald fancied the innkeeper’s daughter, Erin, so when Sapphire offered to pay his entry fee, he’d been more than happy to help her. She’d been here half a dozen times in the past two months, always staying in the shadows and just watching, and letting Dugald talk to the girl who was his own age of six and ten years. While Sapphire was only a few years older than them, she’d always had the nurturing aspect of a mother. And while she wasn’t the eldest of her siblings, she’d still acted the part of mother to each of her three sisters through the years.

She enjoyed getting away from the castle and out amongst people who were more interesting in her opinion. She needed this in her life right now. And so Dugald kept Sapphire’s secret and she kept his.

Sapphire wandered over to the side of the room and slipped into the shadows, trying not to be noticed. She surveyed everyone having a good time, and only wished she could join in on the merrymaking. A minstrel played a lute in the corner with a bard singing out the stories of his travels. Men played cards and gambled coins atop the trestle tables. And they all drank. There was laughing, lots of laughing, as the girls teased the men and the men grabbed them for a kiss or just pinched their bottoms. She watched the lovers disappear one after another up the stairs to the second level, sneaking away to have a tryst. They were coupling, and though the girls did it for coin, at least they seemed to enjoy it, as they always had smiles on their faces. So did the men. 

She felt an emptiness gnawing deep inside her heart, wanting to know enjoyment and pleasure from coupling with a man. But Sapphire’s marriage to the baron had proved to be uneventful and unfulfilling in every way. Somewhere along the way in the past few months, she’d started to lose her dream of being happily married to her true love and having a large family, and this bothered her more than anything. She wasn’t one to give up her dreams easily, even when times got rough.

She wondered what it would have been like if her original betrothed, Roe Sexton had not died overseas. Mayhap she could have enjoyed being married and making love then. And mayhap she could have had children, the thing that meant the most to her in all the world.

“There she is.” Dugald’s green eyes lit up as he spied Erin wiping a rag over the counter at the back of the room. Sapphire felt a certain sadness inside her soul, pitying herself, but yet was happy for the young boy. He had been a good friend to her ever since she arrived in Rye. And just in the past few months she’d witnessed his growth spurt, and now he was even taller than her. He had beautiful red hair and his face was covered in freckles. He was a nice boy, and any young girl should be happy to be in his presence.

“Go to her.” Sapphire smiled, knowing Dugald wanted to be with Erin yet felt it his duty to stay and protect the lady of the castle. Never before had he left her out of his sight on these visits, but tonight would be different. The boy deserved some time alone with the girl. Everyone deserved some tiny bit of happiness once in a while. Dugald was more than a boy, as he was a man now. She would give him the opportunity he needed. And hopefully, at least he would have the chance of finding true love, even if she would never know it in this lifetime.

“I’ll be fine, Dugald. Go.” She turned him gently toward the girl. “Just take your time with her, don’t hurry.”

“But m’lady –”

Sapphire hushed him with a finger to her lips. “Please, Dugald, don’t call me that here.” Her eyes scanned the room to make sure no one heard him. “Tonight I’m just another commoner,” she reminded him softly.

“Of course, I forgot, my la-” Dugald stopped himself from using her title and Sapphire smiled.

“I’ll be waiting for you out in the stable. I’ll go check on our horses,” she told him.

Dugald nodded his head and disappeared into the crowd. Sapphire pulled her cloak closer around her as she felt some of the patrons’ eyes upon her. There was no one here for her, she sadly realized. No one that was any different than what she’d left back at the castle. These men were all looking for a whore to satisfy their itch. And satisfied they’d be, and she was happy for each and every one. But she knew not a one of them would ever be able to tell her anything about true love.

“Wench, come give me a kiss.”

She saw one of the dockmen well in his cups looking in her direction, and she knew ’twas time for her to leave. The men hadn’t bothered her before now because she’d always been with Dugald. But tonight was different. She was alone and fair game for any sex-starved man that saw her as a cure to his problem. And though she wanted to feel the ecstasy of making love, it would not be here and with one of these men.

She was headed for the door when one of the drunken patrons grabbed her by the sleeve and spun her around.

“Where are ye goin’ so fast?” the man asked.

Her eyes frantically scanned the room for Dugald. She saw him disappearing out the back with Erin on his arm. It was too late for her to call out to him to help her. Besides, he would never hear her in this madness.