“I dreamed of far-off places,” James confided. “I read tales of lands where people ate each other for dinner, where gold glitters in the ground for anyone to dig up and where there are no lords or ladies, only men and women. But those dreams were few and far between even when I was eight. Mostly I dreamed of more. More food. More friends. More for my mother and my father and my brother. We were all happy when word reached us that my father was to inherit. Then I dreamed of having everything money could buy and more. But money does not ensure happiness or safety.”
He raked a hand through his already mussed hair. “Amelia has never known how it feels to pull food from the land or slaughter her own dinner. She’s never known coarse fabric against her skin or had to do anything for herself. I bet this grand adventure isn’t nearly as grand as she thought when they left.”
“Why did they leave?” She had to ask.
But James shook his head, lost for words for a moment. “I don’t know. One day they were there when I left for my club and when I returned the next morning they were gone. I tracked them to a ship and discovered their route, and then their capture by your father. The ship didn’t make it more than a few days out.”
“Which seems so odd in itself,” she remarked aloud. “My father is retired. The Aurora would only sail now for cargo or pleasure but not for pillage. It would be suicidal for all involved.”
“Perhaps he ran out of gold? I’d imagine it’s costly to live on the wrong side of the law.”
Daniella knew that wasn’t the case. “You said it yourself, gold isn’t everything. No. I can’t see that as any kind of motivator.” Not since he lost his leg and a portion of his freedom. He’d lost a good measure of his confidence that day also.
Perhaps her father had been coming to get her and something had gone wrong, forcing him in another direction? But that couldn’t be it either. Otherwise he would have returned Amelia and his mother and picked her up.
“Tell me,” he started, then seemed to rethink his question before finally resuming. “Is this one of those times when I should fight for my life? Or should I go along with it and trust that you actually do know what you’re doing?”
Chapter Twenty-Three
From the frightened expression she wasn’t adept enough at hiding, James had his answer. She was as much in the dark now as he was. His only hope was the inept navy coming along but then they would probably all get blown up in a ridiculous quirk of fate.
“Never mind,” James said, letting her out of answering. For one split second he’d considered handing her the control she kept fighting him for.
The door opened and rather than the guard from before, Darius himself carried in a tray and placed it on the table. “Good morning,” he said cheerfully.
Neither Daniella nor James answered. He was glad to see Daniella glare at their captor.
“Come now, Lamb, surely we can put our past behind us and share a meal, can we not?”
“You could leave the tray and be on your way, could you not?” she told him with a scorn that could probably burn had it a spark.
“It’s not often I get visitors on my ship. I would enjoy the company.”
“You should stay,” James said, knowing it was a chance for them to get more information.
“Thank you. I don’t believe we’ve been formally introduced?” Darius held out his hand but James ignored it.
“You already know who I am, Darius. Do you have a family name?”
“I long ago got over the need for the name of my family and go only by Darius.”
He was lying. James let him. “Do you have the key for these manacles?”
Darius looked to Daniella first before answering. She shook her head and then shot James a small look of triumph. Petty little thing.
“Perhaps just for the meal and when I leave I can chain him back up? After all, I am here and I have a guard outside the door. Are you going to hurt her, Lasterton?”
James hated being called Lasterton. It was the part of the title he truly loathed. The name had never been meant for him, reserved as it was for the eldest male child. He enjoyed the responsibilities of the estates and her people but every success in his life had been as a Trelissick. It’s who he was through and through. Lasterton came to him only with scandal and grief and madness attached.
He let it go this once. “As long as the lady behaves herself, I believe I can be civil.”
Darius let out a bark of laughter and James realized they weren’t making a good act of captive and captor. Quite the opposite probably. He wondered if Daniella was aware of the fact that she had moved towards him when Darius entered the room, almost seeking his shelter and safety, even though he was chained and unarmed. He would certainly point it out to her later just to see her squirm.
“Let me clean his wound first,” Daniella said, not waiting for an answer before she once again kneeled before him, a bowl of water in one hand, clean-enough strips of fabric in the other.
“What happened there?” Darius asked, gesturing to his injury.
Daniella’s lips tightened into a straight, rather pale line as she bent her head to her work.
“The minx thought she could escape me while we were attempting to outrun you.” It was the only answer he could give as Daniella tentatively touched him. She ran her fingers lightly down the hair on his leg before wetting a linen strip to wash his skin.
Darius laughed again. Something about their situation was…amusing him? From the lines around his eyes, James
