Pirate Princess (13 page)

His laughter faded the farther away he got.

I screamed in frustration and suddenly Faxon was in front of me. “What’s wrong?”

I knew I should tell him, but I just said, “Some boy stole a kiss from me.”

His face softened when he realized I wasn’t in danger. “I’m sorry, Tilia. Some don’t have proper manners.”

I exhaled and calmed myself down. “It’s alright. I just needed some air to calm down.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t punch him,” he said with a smirk.

“I thought about it,” I muttered. If only he hadn’t been so fast. I needed to step up my training.

Faxon led me back inside and Jared started to approach, but Faxon waved at him to let him know everything was alright. The muscular boy I had danced with in the beginning of the night walked over and bowed to me. “Would you like to dance?” he asked sweetly.

“I would love to,” I said with a smile. I couldn’t be rude to everyone here just because that jerk of a pirate had stolen my necklace. Besides, I knew I would have it back by morning. I let him lead me out onto the dance floor and tried to pay attention to him as we danced, but my mind kept going back to that rude pirate. I danced with four more boys and then excused myself for the night.

* * *

The next morning I woke up feeling happy as a clam, my necklace back around my neck where it was supposed to be. Esmeralda knocked on the door, peeked inside and said, “Oh good you’re up. I forgot to tell you that the ball goes for two nights so I brought you a dress for tonight.”

“Wait, what? There’s another ball tonight?” I asked in disbelief.

“I knew you’d object so I waited until today to tell you,” she said with a mischievous smirk.

“You’re full of surprises,” I murmured.

She shut the door, sat on the edge of my bed and asked, “Do you want to talk about last night?”

“What do you mean?” I asked nervously.

“Faxon said you were upset because a boy stole a kiss,” she whispered.

I threw my hands up in the air. “I should have punched him in his ridiculously large nose!” I yelled angrily. “I couldn’t believe the nerve of that filthy, uh, boy.” I bit my lip since I had almost said pirate.

She laughed and patted my hand. “It happens to the best of us. Just keep your guard up tonight.”

“Oh I will,” I muttered.

“Get dressed and come to breakfast,” she said, “I want to hear about your night.”

I did as asked and was surprised to find Griffin and Esmeralda were the only ones in the dining hall. “Where are Faxon and Jared?” I asked.

“They went to check on the pirates. Apparently your favorite pirate Jax made an appearance and started a riot among them,” Griffin said.

“What? She’s here?” I asked excitedly despite already knowing that since she had been the one to get my necklace back.

“No, you can’t try to meet her,” Esmeralda said.

I stuck out my lip in a pout, “You’re no fun.” I looked at Griffin and asked, “How did she start a riot?”

“According to my sources she snuck onto some pirate ship, stole something from him and then escaped without anyone on his ship the wiser. The pirate was young and demanded a search, but they didn’t know who they were looking for, until he looked up at his pirate flag, which she had painted her symbol over,” Griffin said.

“Sounds like she had a fun night,” I said with a laugh.

“Yes, well the pirates ended up fighting amongst themselves trying to find her and assuming she was hiding on someone else’s ship, but alas they never found her.”

“She’s very sneaky,” Esmeralda said.

“Well I’m sure that pirate probably deserved it. It is an extreme thing to paint over a pirate’s flag with your own symbol. Pirate flags are as precious to them as their ships, sometimes more so. I haven’t heard of a pirate doing that to another in a very long time,” I said as I took a bite out of a cinnamon roll.

“From what I’ve heard the last time it was done was by Captain Rocco himself when a pirate stole something very precious to him. Although he also burned his symbol into the side of the other pirate’s ship so that he was forced to bare that mark and be known that he had tried to steal from the King of Pirates and had failed,” Griffin said.

“Pirates are an entertaining bunch,” Esmeralda admitted, “I can see why you are interested in them.”

I smiled and ate my food in silence while Esmeralda and Griffin talked about other things. Faxon and Jared came in a little while later and reported that everything was calm again and they still hadn’t found Jax.

I spent the rest of the day walking around the town with Faxon and listened as he explained the history of the city. Some of the people waved to me and I saw some of the girls from the party the night before. Faxon bought me a replica of Captain Rocco’s ship that the vendors had on display on account of the festival. I knew the ship wasn’t an exact replica since a few windows were missing, but I would treasure it and keep it to remember dad by. It took quite a bit of restraint not to point out to the vendor that there was an additional window where a child used to watch the waves as the sun rose each day.

We were on our way back when I saw the pirate boy who had stolen my necklace. He looked at me and then at the necklace on my chest and the surprise on his face was priceless. Faxon excused himself to go inside a magic shop and I waited outside for him, looking at the toy ship and noted the things in my head that weren’t right about the model. The most frustrating part was the missing mast. How could they have miscounted the number of masts on his ship?!

A hand wrapped around my wrist and pulled me around the side of the building and then the pirate boy held me against the wall with my hand above my head.

“Where did you get that necklace?” he growled.

“Jax left it in my room last night as a present,” I said with a happy smile.

“How do you know her?” he asked.

“I’m her biggest fan,” I told him honestly.

“So you know who she really is?” he asked.

“I’ve only seen her with the mask on.” He reached for my necklace, but I used my free hand to punch him in the stomach. He gasped and took a step back. “That is for stealing a kiss from me,” I whispered angrily. He straightened up and moved closer to me, angry beyond reason, and I took the opportunity to kick the inside of his leg. He groaned and I cut his arm with my dagger as he reached out towards me again. “And that is for stealing my necklace.”

“Tilia!” Faxon called.

“Over here,” I called back. I blew the pirate boy a kiss and backed away.

“I’ll get it back,
Tilia
,” he muttered.

“You’re welcome to try,” I said, “but Jax will just steal it from you again.” Faxon walked around the corner and I turned to face him. “Hi,” I said with a smile.

He looked over my head at the boy now sitting on the ground. “You alright?”

“Yep, he just lost his manners for a moment so I had to refresh his memory,” I explained, “Nothing I couldn’t handle.”

Faxon frowned at him, but just put his arm behind my back and escorted me away. “Did he hurt you?” he asked.

“Nope,” I said smugly. We went back and I changed into the new dress, which was a similar style to last night’s but was blue with green accents. I made sure I had my daggers and added a couple extra just in case. I really wanted to wear my sword, but knew that was out of the question. I went down to the ballroom and was glad that today was more informal. Everyone was still dressed up, but there was no announcement when I came in. I danced with several guys and even pulled a few girls off the side of the wall who looked too shy to come out to dance, making them dance with me and then trading them off to a nearby guy. Faxon danced with me once and Jared did as well. The night was perfect and I escaped again to the balcony to look out over the ocean. It was perfect except that I wished my dad could see me. I missed him so much.

“We really have to stop meeting this way,” a growingly familiar male voice said.

I turned, my right hand went behind my back and got a dagger, and smiled. “I never did catch your name.”

He bowed and said, “My name is Finley, but everyone calls me Finn.”

“Well Finn, if you are here to steal my necklace again I won’t allow it,” I told him sternly.

“I haven’t come to take your necklace,” he said as he walked around me, “I came to dance with you.”

“What?” I asked in shock. He stopped in front of me and I realized that he wasn’t dressed in normal pirate attire and instead wore a beautifully tailored suit. “Who did you steal that from?” I asked with a smirk.

“I’ll have you know I paid for this legitimately. How else would it be tailored to my measurements?” he asked as he stalked towards me. He was like a lion on the hunt and even though I was his prey I felt excited instead of frightened.

“You want to dance?” I asked.

He lifted my hand and kissed the back of it. “I would like to, but you’ll have to put your dagger away first,” he said with a smirk.

I smiled back and put the dagger away. “If you try to steal anything while inside I’ll have a guard arrest you,” I told him.

“Will you visit me while I’m in the dungeon?” he asked, “Because it might be worth it.”

I laughed and let him lead me inside by the hand. He twirled us seamlessly into the swarm of dancing people and was surprisingly adept at dancing. “You’ve danced before?” I asked him.

“On occasion,” he responded, “Although I’ve never had the pleasure of dancing with a lady quite like you.”

Instead of twirling me off to others, he twirled us
around
the others. I spun around in front of him and then he pulled me quickly against him. We moved all around the room. I laughed each time he twirled me and the smile never left his face. The song slowed and he leaned close to me. “I see now why you escape to the sea each night; it’s rather stuffy in here.”

“It is, but I enjoy the dancing,” I told him.

The muscular guy tapped his shoulder trying to cut in, but Finn said, “Sorry Biceps, but she’s mine for the rest of the night.”

Finn spun us away from him before he could give a response and I asked, “Why do you think you will have me to yourself for the rest of the night?” I asked him.

“Because you don’t want any of these wimpy boys who haven’t even the skill to match you in a fight. The only one deserving of dancing with you is me and you know it,” he said smugly.

“Perhaps they aren’t as talented at fighting as you, but they surely aren’t as cocky.”

“It’s not cockiness if it is true, beautiful Tilia,” he murmured with his lips right next to my ear.

I blushed and looked away so he wouldn’t see my blush and found Faxon watching us with a deep frown on his face.

“Someone doesn’t like that your attention is elsewhere,” Finn said. He slid his hand from my waist up my back and pulled me closer to him.

Faxon’s eyes narrowed and he disappeared among the people. “He’s protective because he’s known me since I was ten,” I explained. I pushed his hand back to my waist and said, “And if you aren’t careful my uncle will cut your hand off for inappropriately touching me.”

“And who is your uncle?” he asked.

I turned my head and motioned at the King and Queen dancing. “He is.”

Finn stopped dancing for a moment as shock set in and then looked back at me. “You’re the Princess?”

“Whose party did you think this was?” I asked with a teasing smile.

He spun me and then pulled me back against him. “You are full of surprises, Princess Tilia.”

“A girl must be mysterious and enticing to obtain a man’s attraction,” I said jokingly.

“Add your beauty to that and no man could resist you,” he whispered and then he kissed me. I was surprised by it, but I had wanted him to kiss me again all night. He pulled back and ran a thumb over my flaming cheeks. “An innocent blush from a fierce fighter like yourself is more reward than the kiss I stole from you yesterday.”

“You are a very smooth talker,” I said, “I bet the women love you whenever you come to port and fight each other just for a kiss.”

“You’re the first to receive a kiss,” he said softly, “the only girl who wasn’t seeking a fling with a pirate just to tell her friends.”

“Or perhaps you just wanted to be able to tell your crew that you stole a kiss from the princess?” I suggested. “Although that won’t be enough for you to win the Festival with.”

“Who cares about stealing treasure from other pirates when I can steal kisses from you?” he whispered and then kissed me again.

“It’s not exactly stealing if I let you,” I reminded him.

His body tightened as he looked over my head and I turned to see Jared walking towards us scowling. Uh oh. “Looks like your uncle doesn’t like me stealing or receiving kisses from you.”

“Let’s run away,” I whispered.

Finn smiled, took my hand, and pulled me along behind him as we wove through the crowd, which slowed Jared’s progress. We made it to the back door that led to my balcony and he leapt over the balcony towards the ocean. I gasped and looked down to find him standing on his small boat. “Come on, run away with me,” he said with a wide smile.

“I can’t leave my own party,” I told him, looking back to see that Jared was closing in on the balcony.

Finn leaned closer and kissed me tenderly. “Then I will bid you goodnight.”

“Will I see you again?” I asked as he pushed away from the balcony, rowing himself backwards.

“Meet me in town at the shop that sells the carved pirate ships tomorrow at noon,” he called as he rowed back, disappearing into the mist that had begun moving inland.

The doors behind me flung open and Jared walked out, his body tense with anger. “Where did he go?” he asked.

“Who?” I asked, feigning confusion.

“That boy who kissed you,” he growled.

“Oh him. He left,” I said, “You scared him off.”

He nodded his head happily. “Good.”

Esmeralda walked out and asked, “What are you doing out here?”

“Jared scared away a boy I was dancing with because he kissed me,” I told her.

She turned and glared at Jared. “You scared a boy into leaving the party?”