The gold beneath my hand is cold and solid, no give, no warmth. It feels the way only lifeless, insentient things can feel to the touch. Like a rock left at the bottom of a sea.
I stare at the face with the slightly curled lip, the barely visible grains in the teeth, the panicked stare. My heart pounds in my chest, but not with regret. It thrums with the truth of what I’ve done. With what I’ve revealed.
I peel away my fingers from his throat one by one, until I’ve released the metal husk of a man, letting my arm drop to my side.
“You…you—what did you do?”
My eyes pass over to Rissa who’s sitting frozen on the bed, gaping at me in horror. Her eyes keep flitting from me back to the gold statue of Captain Fane’s body, like she isn’t sure which one is more of a threat.
Her breath is coming in quick pants, but I don’t know if it’s from what I just did, what she endured from the captain, or if she’s just in shock from it all.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
She only blinks at me, mouth open, hair disheveled, tears drying on her cheeks.
My head is beginning to swim, an ache blooming out through my temples, while a heaviness is threatening to settle over me. I rub my forehead for a moment, as if I can ease the oncoming headache. It feels like all of my strength is dripping out of me, like a tree oozing sap.
I gesture to the late captain. “He’s much better like this, don’t you think? No more talking or moving…” I glance down at his cock that’s still standing at attention, my lips pursed in thought. “I bet we could even hack that thing off with a hammer if you wanted to.”
She makes a choking noise, though I’m not sure if she wants to scream, sob, or laugh. Maybe a combination of all three.
Ripping the belt from her throat, she rubs at the red marks marring her skin before shakily getting to her feet and pointing. “How did you do that, Auren?”
“Umm…”
She walks over, unbothered by her nudity as she circles around the captain, her trembling hand reaching toward his chest. She makes a fist and knocks on it before snatching it back. “Great Divine, he really is solid gold,” she breathes. Her uneasy eyes lift to me. “And he’s…dead?”
“Oh, yes,” I assure her. “Very, very dead.”
A weighted exhale tremors through her body. “But King Midas…”
Her words trail off and fall at our feet, but I don’t pick them up for her. I’ve already revealed far too much. I can’t explain how it all works, with Midas and me. I can’t let her know anything more than she already does.
She shifts on her feet, and the wooden boards beneath us give an ominous creak. We both freeze and look down, where the floor is sagging beneath the weight of the captain.
I wince. “That…that’s probably not good,” I admit.
She gives me a vexed look. “You think?”
If the captain breaks the floor, it will be incredibly loud. And if it’s loud, then the pirates will come running. I can’t let that happen, because I can’t let anyone see what I’ve done. Doing this in front of Rissa was bad enough. But if the pirates find out…a shiver travels through me at the thought.
“Rissa,” I say, forcing her eyes to lift and focus on me. “You can’t tell anyone. Ever,” I stress, my expression hard, my tone absolute. “You have to keep it a secret. Please.”
I can see her mind working, her cogs turning, and I wish I knew what she was thinking.
“You told him to stop hurting me.”
I nod carefully. “I did.”
She considers me for a moment. “The last time you tried to help me, you chucked a book at my head.”
I grimace a little. “I’m a bit impulsive.”
She looks at the captain. “I’ll say.”
Worry gnaws on my bones like a starved mutt as silence stretches between us. Sure, I tried to stand up to the captain, but she’d already been hurt. Despite everything that’s happened tonight, I can’t assume I’ve earned any kind of loyalty from her.
But she finally nods. “Okay.”
For now, that okay will have to do.
I blow out a breath, shaking out the tremble in my hands, trying to push back the aching tiredness and anxiety pouring over me. “Alright. Now, we don’t have much time before the commander comes for us. We can’t let anyone see this.”
Rissa shoots me an exasperated look. “And how in the world are we supposed to hide him?”
I bite my lip, praying to the Divine gods that the floorboards don’t buckle as I look around the room. But it’s not as if I can simply toss a blanket over him or shove him under the bed. The Red Raids are going to notice when their captain doesn’t emerge from his room.
My eyes catch on the trunk of gold coins next to his desk, and my mind sparks. “I have an idea,” I tell her. “Get dressed.”
Rissa spurs into action and goes to gather her gown from the bed, while I go to the captain’s open closet and snag a pair of thick gloves left on the floor. As soon as I slip them over my hands, the white changes color, like the leather was soaked in a vat of gold.
Since the captain tore the front of my dress, I snag a short brown overcoat on a peg near my head. Unlike the white leathers and furs that dominate the rest of his clothing, this one has large brown feathers down the back and the sleeves.
Despite how light it is, it’s surprisingly warm with the feathery down adding another layer of protection. It’s also short enough in the back that it’s not a detriment to my ribbons, and when I button up the front, it holds my ripped bodice in place.
As soon as Rissa is dressed, she looks over. “Alright. What do we do now?”
My eyes go from the captain to the windows behind him. Rissa follows my gaze and shakes her head. “It’s not possible.”
“It’s the only thing we can do,” I argue. “He can’t be found like this. Under any circumstance.”
She lets out a puff of breath like she wants to argue some more, but settles for muttering under her breath. She then ties her hair up out of her face while I go to the bed and snatch up the sheets.
In all honesty, she’s probably right about this being impossible, but it’s the only chance I’ve got. I’m damn lucky he’s close enough to the window to even attempt it, or there would be no hope of this. Even so, there’s a good chance I won’t be able to shove the bastard out the window.
But I have to try.
With Rissa’s help, the two of us move as fast as we can, knowing that our time is running out. We tie two sheets around the captain’s neck like a noose, leaving ourselves plenty of length to use as a rope.
I secure my sheet and then rush to the window and unclasp it, thanking all the Divines above that both of them open easily. With them now open, it lets in a blast of cold wind, soft snow flurries peppering across the floor.
I feel Rissa’s attention on me, casting clandestine looks. I know she’s brimming with questions, but I can’t afford to have her voice them, and we don’t have the time anyway.
I check to make sure the sheets are secure once more, and we circle around the captain until the window is at our backs. “So…the plan is to just pull like hell and hope we tip the bastard over?” she asks, doubtful.
“Pretty much.”
She shakes her head before rubbing her hands together. The two of us both grip our sheets, wrapping them around our hands.
“On three,” I tell her. “One, two, three!”
Together, we pull with all our might. Hands fisted, arms bunched, back straining, legs planted, we pull. Rissa grunts as she yanks, but it doesn’t move. Not even a bit.
We both let go of our sheets at the same time, panting and cursing.
“Shit,” I mutter as panic begins to bubble up in me. I can’t leave him here like this. I can’t. It’s not an option.
“Shit, shit, shit…” Full of frustration, I kick the captain hard in the shin. Not the best thing to do, considering he’s solid gold. I curse again at the pain that shoots through my toes.
Rissa cocks a blonde brow at me. “Maybe don’t kick the solid gold man statue, okay?”
“It was kind of worth it,” I grumble.
She cocks her head, considering. Then she turns and brings the meat of her fist down onto the captain’s dick with an impressive hit. It would’ve definitely hurt if he were still made of flesh. And alive.
“Ow,” she says, frowning at the unmoving gold phallus. She rubs her sore hand and looks at me. “Hmm. You’re right. That was worth it.”
“Yeah,” I sigh.
Both Rissa and I look around, puzzling over what to do. The window looks so close and yet so damn far. My eyes catch on a pair of hooks bolted to the wall beside the windows, where one of the captain’s swords is being displayed. My mind spins and clicks.
I rush forward, snatching the sword off the wall and tossing it onto the bed. Then I’m taking the length of sheets and wrapping it around the hooks, tugging to test how secure it is.
“What are you doing?” Rissa asks.
I lift my whole body off the floor by hanging from the sheet, and the hooks don’t budge. That’s a good sign. I just hope this works.
“Grab the captain’s chair and put it behind him. This hook will act like a pulley,” I say, showing her the sheet in my hands that goes from his neck, to the hook to me. “I’ll pull as hard as I can to tip him from the front, while you stand and push at his head from the back. Hopefully it’ll be enough to topple him, and then gravity can do the rest.”
She nods and hurries around the desk to grab his chair. Once she has it next to the captain, she stands on top of the seat, giving herself the extra height.
I take my place at the wall and grip the sheet. Four of my ribbons—the only ones I’ve managed to unknot—come up, wrapping around the sheet as well, but they’re tired and aching. I don’t know how much strength they can lend me.
Rissa’s gaze flicks over them with both wariness and fascination.
“Ready?” I say, cutting off anything she might want to ask.
In reply, she braces her hands against the captain’s head and plants her feet, while my grip tightens on the sheet.
I count down. “One…two…three…”
She pushes. I pull. The floor creaks. The wind blows.
The statue doesn’t move an inch.
My entire body strains as I use every bit of strength and determination I’ve got. My sore side twinges in pain, but I ignore it. My poor ribbons feel as fragile as butterfly wings, and my spine is screaming, the muscles pulling.
“Come…on…”
I’m going to either black out or tip this bastard over. There’s no in-between. I hold my breath and just keep pulling, pulling, refusing to stop, refusing to fail.
This has to work. It has to.
I hear Rissa make a frustrated noise as she heaves, and sweat breaks out over my body. Dizziness swoops over me, like a bird circling my head.
We’re giving this every bit of strength we have. And if we stop, we won’t be able to start again. This is it. I know it, she knows it, even the frigid wind knows it.
But the captain doesn’t tip.
Tears flood my eyes, and my stomach drops. We can’t do it. I can’t do it.
The impulsive decision I made to kill the bastard probably forfeited my own life as well.
The realization cripples me. That this is all for nothing, that there’s no way I can do this. The utter failure of it all makes dread slump my shoulders. It pushes me down, hunches me over, bowing me with the weight of what’s to come.
With a growl of resistance, my teeth clench so hard together I’m worried I might actually break them. My entire body shakes, my head swims with black dots, but I keep pulling. All I get in return is the sound of the sheet ripping, the floorboards creaking in threat.
A sob escapes my throat. Rissa makes a strangled, painful grunt. The last of my hope starts to slip out of my grasp as the sheet continues to tear.
But then, like some sort of divine miracle, my ribbons start to glow.
It’s dim, like the softest beam of light below a pond of water, but it’s there. It’s the same glow of silken warmth that woke me up in the carriage after the attack.
A gasp escapes me as the four silky strands seem to come alive with a second wave of strength I didn’t know they were capable of. The lengths whip out, releasing the sheet and grabbing straight onto the captain’s torso, wrapping around with a metallic clink.
They pull with such force that I cry out in pain, my spine feeling like it’s about to snap.
But with their massive strength, Captain Fane begins to tip. And that slight movement is all we need to make him topple.
Rissa lets out a surprised yelp and falls forward as the statue goes tipping toward the open window. With a crash, his shins hit the lip of the window frame, but gravity has him in her clutches now and she’s not letting go.
My ribbons unravel in a flash, and the captain falls, like a massive tree cut at its trunk. He spins in his descent, and I lean over, watching as he plummets to the ground, the sheets around his neck flapping as he goes.
He hits the ground hard, sending up a spray of snow, like a body diving into water.
Rissa and I both blink down, staring silently, as we realize that we actually succeeded.
I cast a quick glance around, but luckily, the other pirate ships aren’t behind us, and the dawn is still meek enough that the landscape is barely lit.
Our breaths are jagged as we continue to look out the window, staring at where he’s landed cock-up in the snow.
Rissa’s lips curl up in satisfaction. “A fitting end, I think.”
I give a tired snort.
Even though all my body wants to do is collapse on the floor, I force myself to go over to the desk and grab the handle of the coin trunk. It’s heavier than I can lift, and my aching body barks in protest, but Rissa hurries over to help me, and we both chuck that out the window too.
We watch as it lands a few feet away from the captain, snowfall already spreading over them like confetti.
“Explain to me why we just tossed out all that gold?”
“Motive,” I say distractedly, my voice weary.
Snow is piling up on the floor, so I do my best to sweep most of it out before I yank the windows closed again. My only hope is that they’ll believe my story, that the ships will move before anyone sees.
I give one last look at the gleaming captain below. He’s cursed to forever have shock in his eyes and pants around his ankles. He’s also richer than he ever dreamed, but too dead to appreciate it. For a man solely motivated by coin and pleasure, that thought makes me immensely satisfied.
I turn away from the window with an exhausted sigh, barely able to hold my back straight. My ribbons hang limp and feeble behind me, no glow left in their golden lengths.
But we did it. It actually worked.
“Alright?” Rissa asks me.
I shrug in return. That was only half the battle, and we barely managed it.
All I can do now is hope that the snow keeps falling, that my lie is believed, that the ships move on, and that the gleaming truth stays hidden beneath a mound of smothering snow.
But even if we manage all of that, our lives are still in danger.
I might have ended the captain of the Red Raids, but we’re going from being the captives of greedy pirates to being the captives of bloodthirsty soldiers.
I don’t know which is worse.
But I’m about to find out.
