Chapter 34

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

“ W hat’s going on?” I dared to ask, internally relieved that my voice came out confident, even though that was the opposite of what I felt inside.

The pirate guilty of manhandling me–with how he led all the conversations and got the first pick of food before all the other pirates told me he was the leader–seated himself in front of me, shooting me a big, toothy grin.

“How about you leave the questioning to me?” He chuckled.

I pursed my lips, not liking his response. My eyes drifted over his shoulder, and I locked gazes with Viktor. The way his eyes crinkled at the corners, I could tell he was attempting to smile at me from under the bandana covering his mouth, but I couldn’t bring myself to return it.

I wanted to rush across the sand and throw myself into his arms. I wanted him to hold me, comfort me, and tell me everything would be okay and that we would all make it out of here safe and alive. But I couldn’t do that. Not when all of us were tied up and held hostage by a gang of pirates.

“Eyes on me.” The same pirate snapped his fingers in front of my face to get my attention. Not wanting to rock the metaphoric boat and worsen the situation, I tore my eyes away from my husband to look at him. “That’s better.” He gave me another toothy grin, but I didn’t return it. “What are you doing here on this island?”

“We stopped for some food,” I lied.

All the toothy grins turned out to be a facade because, in the blink of an eye, he backhanded me across the face. I gasped as my face was forced to the right, my cheek burning even when I cupped it to soothe the pain. Viktor’s muffled shouts from where he was restrained made things worse, and I blinked back the tears–I wasn’t just crying from the sting of the slap, but because I hated how helpless we all were. I could see that Viktor was fighting terribly against his restraints, trying to free himself so he could save me, but just like the rest of us, he was utterly powerless.

I furiously blinked back the tears, refusing to let them fall and give the pirate the satisfaction of seeing me cry.

The pirate pinched my chin, forcefully yanking my face to look at him.

“Try again,” he growled in my face.

“We came in search of Treasure Island,” I whispered harshly, hating myself for admitting the truth.

“That’s more like it,” he rumbled lowly. “Why have you come in search of Treasure Island?”

“Why do you think? Isn’t it obvious?” I snorted, but the sound was cut short when another slap struck my other cheek, forcing my head the other way.

Viktor struggled harder to free himself, and one of the other pirates walked over to kick him in the chest, sending him flying onto his back.

“Stop it! Please, don’t hurt him!” I called out, unable to hold back the traitorous tears this time.

The leader grinned at me and raised his hand once again. This time, instead of slapping me, he signalled something to the other pirate, who, upon command, grinned wickedly and kicked Viktor once again. This time, the kick was to Viktor’s side, sending him onto his side, where he doubled over when another pirate kicked him hard in the stomach.

“Please! Please, stop it! Stop hurting him!” I begged, nothing short of a blubbering mess right now. But I couldn’t bring myself to care—not when Viktor was being punished for my attitude. “I’m sorry. I’ll tell you whatever you want, but please, leave him alone.”

“I want you to drop the attitude and answer my questions honestly,” the pirate bargained with a sleazy grin.

“I’ll do it,” I quickly agreed, fearful and desperate as I spied the other pirate, rearing his leg back again to hurt Viktor more.

He smiled at me and dropped his hand. The other pirates backed away from Viktor. They didn’t look happy about it, but at least they weren’t hurting him anymore.

I exhaled in relief and forced myself to look up at the pirate through watery eyes.

“We came to Treasure Island in search of the treasure,” I told him honestly.

“And how did a pretty young lass like you get on the ship?”

“My husband is the Captain. We’re newly married and couldn’t stand the thought of being away from each other for so long.”

The pirate quirked a curious brow at me. “Newly married?”

“We hadn’t been married for ten days when we set sail.”

“And where have you come from?” He asked, narrowing his eyes at me in warning. “And don’t even think about lying to me. I’ll know if you are.”

I pursed my lips and forced myself to say, “Jorvik.”

“I’ve never heard of the place,” the pirate hummed, looking as if he didn’t believe me.

“It’s further down south,” I told him. “We’ve been travelling for over a month now, but we’ve also made several stops along the way.”

“Stops? What for?”

“To rest and for food.” When he gave me a pointed look and raised his hand in warning, I sighed, “Sometimes, we also stopped for business.”

“What kind of business?”

“Trade. Honey and spears, mostly.”

“Honey?” His eyebrows shot up in surprise. “For food?”

“And medicine.”

“Interesting,” he hummed and rubbed a hand under his chin. “And what’s your name, lass?”

“Astrid.” At this point, I was beyond ashamed of myself for being so forthcoming with all this information, even though the pirates hadn’t given me a choice.

“I’m sure you’re wondering what’s going on here, Astrid of Jorvik,” the pirate grinned at me. “I’m sure you’ve figured it out by now, but we’re pirates. My name is Frode, and I am the Captain. That means that I’m in charge and that Treasure Island is ours. It will be good for you to remember that.”

I gulped and nodded, biting my tongue to stop myself from saying something I would regret.

“One of my men is an early riser. Imagine his surprise when he woke up this morning to find your ship docked at our shores,” Frode chuckled as if there was anything remotely funny about this situation. “You were all fast asleep, so it was pretty easy to restrain you. You were found on the top deck with that brute of a man. He had his arms wrapped around you.” He gestured over his shoulder at Viktor, who had a trickle of blood rolling down his forehead. That wasn’t enough to stop him from continuing to struggle against his restraints. “I assume he’s your husband?” I nodded. “The man my men were kicking just now?” I nodded again. “So, that would make him the Captain…” Frode mused aloud, a thoughtful look on his face.

“What are you doing here on the King’s Treasure Island?” I dared to ask, wanting to get the attention off Viktor. I couldn’t handle seeing him hurt anymore.

“It’s not the King’s island anymore,” Frode snorted, offended by my words. “That old fart has been dead for a long time now, and he was stupid enough to leave this island without anyone guarding his treasures. Well, his loss is our gain.”

“We don’t mean any trouble. When we docked here last night, we thought the island was deserted,” I said, urging him to believe me.

“That’s because we keep our ship hidden at the back among the trees for moments exactly like this one,” Frode grinned. “I have to say, you and your crew are a whole lot more ballsy than some others we’ve come by. No one has dared to dock on our island before. We usually sail out to introduce ourselves whenever we see passersby, but you lot decided to turn up in the middle of the night.” It almost sounded like a compliment. “When we first discovered your ship this morning, we were going to wait until you woke up to make you walk the plank together. But then we had a change of heart…”

“What kind of change of heart?” I forced myself to ask despite the dread that settled in the pit of my stomach.

“If you help us with something, we’ll let you all go.”

His words caused hope to flicker inside me, but I didn’t want to get ahead of myself. Not when a literal pirate was leering in my face, pretending to be kind.

“Alive?” I asked, feeling like all of this was too good to be true.

“Alive.” Frode nodded in confirmation. We’ve been here for months but haven’t had much luck finding the treasure. We’ve found some small bits here and there, but we all know there’s so much more that we’re missing. That’s where you and your men come in.”

“What do you need us to do?” I asked, even though I already had a pretty good idea of the answer.

“You have the rest of the day to find all the treasure. Or at least enough for us to be happy to let you all go. Alive,” he grinned wickedly.

“What if we don’t find enough?” I had a pretty idea of this answer as well.

“We’re going to kill you all,” he smiled brightly at me as if he hadn’t just threatened all of our lives.

“And how do we determine enough treasure?”

Frode’s lips twitched higher at the corners. “Me and my men will be the judge of that.”

When he held his hand up in the air this time, all seven of his men rose to their feet and headed over to the crew. I watched as the pirates untied their hands and legs. Everyone was on edge, especially when the pirates pulled out knives and waved them in the air, threatening to make good use of them if anyone tried anything funny.

I watched with wide, fearful eyes as the pirates ushered the crew down the shore toward the line of trees in the distance. Two pirates remained behind and walked over to stand by Frode.

“Where are you taking them?” I asked in a shaky voice, craning my neck to hold onto Viktor’s eyes as he was forced into the forest with the sharp tip of a sword digging into his back.

“You’re collateral,” Frode laughed and grabbed my hand, yanking me onto my feet along with him. “If any of your crew members or the Captain, your precious husband , try anything funny, I’ll kill you in front of them all. That should be enough motivation to keep them in line.”