Terri met his eyes, her expression flat as she considered him, her eyes flicking down to the blaster. Shrugging, a smile spread on her face. “Sure thing. Catch!”
The blaster jerked to the side as the pirate lunged for the jewels as she tossed them into the air. The individual plops of them hitting the water were punctuated by the male’s cursing as he swept his hand through the water in an attempt to clear the debris enough to see.
“Oopsie!” she sang out, but he was no longer paying attention to her, or to Veral coming up beside him, inserting himself between his mate and the pirate.
“Help me find the jewels!” Egbor snarled to the males clustering at his side.
They pawed frantically through the water, but it did none of them any good. The water merely became murkier as all the washed-in sediment clouded in thick plumes.
As he watched them work, Veral sensed Terri shifting behind him. Her muttered exclamations of disgust as she climbed over the corpse was enough to make him smile despite his fury. That smile widened, his teeth baring when, with a snarled curse, Egbor jerked up, his blaster rising, only for it to be caught in Veral’s large hand.
24
Terri watched as Veral leaned in toward the pirate captain. She’d been busy stuffing the sealed storage pouches on her armor. Technically they were made to carry rations and necessary supplies, but since all she had was in the small pack on her back, she decided to put them to better use.
There was plenty to fill them with, that was for sure.
It had been almost amusing to watch the pirates struggle to find a mere handful of jewels in the water. Sure, they were beautiful, but anyone with a sharp eye from years of scavenging could’ve seen there was so much more to be had. The dear prince had certainly surrounded himself with finer things, wealth that would keep their ship stocked and fueled for some time to come.
She thought she had everything under control—distract the pirates with what they want—and snatch up a share for her and Veral for their troubles, but this was unexpected. She had been aware of Veral’s large body blocking their view of her, and she had taken advantage of the opening to crawl over his royal deadness, as gross as that had been, in order to pluck up everything of value in sight on the other side of the bed. It seemed that while her attention had been occupied things had certainly escalated.
“That is the last time you will threaten my mate,” Veral snarled, each word punctuated by the deadly hissing rattle of his vibrissae.
He didn’t even appear to notice that the other seven pirates had drawn their weapons and aimed them at him. Or if he did, he wasn’t worried about them. She knew that Argurma were hard to kill, but even she was concerned about her mate taking that many direct shots from the blasters.
“Males,” Azan snorted with disgust, one of her arms wrapped protectively around Garswal. “Take note of this behavior,” she said to him. “It rarely accomplishes anything. It is far better to keep a calm, collected mindset than to be so reactionary. Right now, cooperation serves our purposes far better. That is the route to go—until it does not.”
“Cooperation,” Egbor agreed with a smirk. “Or the death of you and your mate. Perhaps drawing my weapon was a small overreaction, but I am a pirate. Threatening is part of the job description, especially when my blood is up. I would not have harmed her while she still served some use. In that way, Azan is correct.”
Veral tilted his head as if he were listening. The lethal smile widened before it fell away. “Cooperation,” he snarled. “Very well. We shall…cooperate.”
Very slowly, he released the blaster, and as his hand pulled away Terri could see the bent metal. He had crushed it, rendering it useless. The captain’s face reddened when he saw it, but he schooled his expression into a tight smile. Veral inclined his head and withdrew, his eyes never once leaving Egbor.
Without a word, he strode toward a door at the side of the room, the water sloshing at his hips. His eyes slid over to her, and he gave her a tiny, almost imperceptible shake of his head, a movement that would have been difficult for most to catch among his writhing, vibrating vibrissae.
He didn’t want her to follow him.
Terri darted a look over at Azan, but the pirate remained at the far corner with Garswal, her face almost relaxed as she watched the eager greed rise in Egbor as he hurried after Veral.
“No tricks this time!” the captain called out as he struggled to catch up to the Argurma’s greater speed and longer stride as they pushed through the water. “I will be first through this time. I will not tolerate any more loss of wealth from mischievous females and their games.”
Terri smiled innocently and lifted her hands in front of her in the universal gesture of surrender. “I won’t even dream of coming in,” she said agreeably.
There was enough for her to continue to lift from the room she was already in.
She didn’t need to enter the treasury, though she had to admit that she was curious to see it. Pirates’ gold was a thing of dreams and fairytales. To be that close to it… No. Veral didn’t want her to enter. Egbor eyed her suspiciously, but she sat on the bed once more and patted the embroidered cloth covering one of the prince’s skeletal arms. “Princey and I will keep each other company until you return.”
Egbor grunted and nodded at the remains. “Be of some use then and strip that robe. Those fibers are of a quality to last for generations, according to rumor, and it appears the rumor is true. I want that robe for myself. It will be the finest thing in my wardrobe.”
Terri balked, her hand dropping away. “You want me to remove it from a dead body? So you can wear it?”
That’s sick.
Apparently he was determined, because his eyes did not move from her until she reluctantly turned and began to pull the sleeve from the corpse. The bones fell out from the sleeve, along with the dust of decay. She swallowed back her bile and yanked the robe out from beneath the skeleton, the bones rolling from it, scattering over the bed. Gray matter dusted the forearms of her armor. Gingerly, with one hand, she plucked off a few smaller bones that were stubbornly clinging to the fabric.
“This is so disgusting,” she mumbled as she yanked the other arm out of the robe, freeing it of bones and plucking off the few remaining strays before rolling the fabric up. She held it out, certain she was going to throw up at any moment.
Scurrying over the body was one thing. Direct contact made her stomach turn.