Gild (The Plated Prisoner 1)

“He’ll pay you,” I blurt, my voice finally coming out, though it’s quiet, stretched thin. He drops his hold from my hair, my scalp pulsing in time with my hammering heart. “His guards, his saddles...me...he’ll pay you whatever ransom you want. Just don’t hurt us.”

Captain Fane smirks. “Oh, I’m not going to ransom you. I can fetch a far higher price elsewhere.”

His words hollow out a pit in my stomach, dark and bottomless.

“I’ll be keeping this one ’til we sell her off to the highest bidder. Put the word out.”

“Aye, Cap’n,” Quarter replies with a nod. “King Midas’s favored? There will be plenty who will be wanting her.”

“The rest of them can be divvied up to entertain the men for their hard work,” he tells his second-in-command. The pirates near enough to hear whoop out in celebration. The saddles cry.

Captain Fane’s eyes look down where Polly is still unconscious in a heap in the snow. “And put ’em to work, too, to earn their way. They need toughening up.”

Quarter nods. “Consider it done, Cap.”

The captain nods, a wicked gleam in his gaze that flicks over me. “I’ll enjoy having Midas’s gold-plated prisoner kept in my cabin.”

My trembling body starts shaking even harder, chin wobbling. I can already see the pain he intends to inflict, the force he aims to assault me with. It’s all there, in his eyes.

His hand comes up to grope my breast, fingers pinching, touch revolting. I try to shove him off, but he just laughs and squeezes harder. “Aye, I’ll like breaking this one in. Midas’s fucking favored,” he laughs, like he can’t believe his good luck. “I wish I could see the look on the bastard’s face when he finds out I took her, used her, and then sold her off.”

Tears fill my eyes, blurring the world, drowning my chest. I can’t breathe. I can’t even feel my limbs. This isn’t happening. This is a nightmare. I’m going to wake up. I just need to wake up.

Captain Fane’s fingers tighten, pinch, making me cry out. “Mmm, noisy too. I like that.”

He starts to tug at the collar of my dress, scratching at my chest, but a voice shouts behind him. “Don’t fucking touch her!”

Captain Fane stills. His hand drops. Slowly, he turns around. “Who said that?”

One of the pirates walks up to a still kneeling Sail. “This one, Cap’n.”

My eyes fly to Sail just as the pirate sends a brutal kick at his back.

My guard goes sprawling forward, his face hitting the snow. Captain Fane stalks over to him, and dread catches, airborne and ruthless, infecting me instantly.

“What’s your name?” the captain asks, stopping in front of him.

Sail struggles to raise back on his knees, his jaw clenching as he looks up, defiant and bruised. “Sail.”

At his answer, Captain Fane tips his head back and laughs. “Reds, did you hear that? We finally got a Sail for our sail-less ships!” Mean amusement floods the icy plains. Red flames flicker through the black night.

“Alright, Sail. You have something to say? You must, since you hollered out like a cat in heat.” More pirates laugh, and Sail’s pale cheeks probably would’ve blushed if they weren’t already chapped and red with cold.

But he doesn’t cower. He looks up at the captain, expression soaked in hatred. The Barrens go quiet, as if watching, every eye trained on the scene.

Don’t say anything. Don’t say anything, Sail.

But Sail doesn’t stay silent. “I said, don’t touch her,” he repeats, his tone livid. A band around my heart constricts.

Captain Fane chuckles as if amused. “Look, Reds. We got a brave one, here. How rare for Midas’s army.” The pirates laugh. The other kneeling guards hang their heads, humiliation and cruelty falling on them alongside the snow.

But Sail’s fingers curl into fists in front of him, his gaze steady. “She’s the king’s favored. He’ll pay handsomely for her if she’s returned to him unharmed. Despite what you said, Midas will pay much more for her than anyone else. He’s the only one that has the means to.”

“Aye, the king with the golden-touch,” Captain Fane says with a jeering, bitter edge at the mention of Midas. Hate. There’s hate there in his tone. And maybe envy.

“Perhaps it’s time that the king learned a lesson,” the captain muses. “Time to ensure that ther

e’s something that he can’t buy. In fact, maybe I’ll even just keep her for myself, to make sure of it.”