Chapter 37

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

B efore I headed up, I headed down.

I ransacked the bottom deck as best as possible, hoping to find something I could use against the two other pirates. A sword, perhaps. Or, at the very least, a spear. There was that dagger Frode kept hidden under a dirty pile of clothes, but it didn’t look like it could inflict as much damage as I wanted.

Something longer and sharper would do the job well, but there appeared to be nothing of the sort down here. The barrels I had spied earlier were filled with food and treasure but no weapons.

It appeared that Frode’s dagger and the element of surprise would be my only weapons.

I thought I would be sick when I returned to Frode’s room. I had to pinch my nose to escape the metallic smell of blood. The only good thing about it was that the strong smell of blood reminded me that Frode was dead.

Pushing through my fear about being in a room with a dead body, I knelt on the ground beside him to place my ear to his chest, listening for his heartbeat. I stayed there like that for several moments, and when I couldn’t hear a thing, I exhaled in relief and reached for the blanket from the bed to pull it over him. He didn’t deserve such mercy, even in death, for how he and his men captured us and what he had tried to do to me. Regardless, I couldn’t stand to look at his cold, lifeless body for a moment longer.

I never thought I’d be the person to rejoice over someone’s death, especially not when it was at my own hands, but a lot of things had changed since The Serpent sailed away from Jorvik many, many weeks ago. And one of those changes was me .

Reaching over Frode’s still, lifeless body, I pulled a face and stuck my hand under the pile of dirty clothes. After some rifling, my fingers curled around the cold handle of the dagger he used earlier to cut my ties.

I moved to the other side of the room and pressed myself against the wall, leaving it slightly ajar. I knew the chances of the two pirates hearing me all the way from the beach were slim, but I had to try something.

Sending off a silent prayer in my mind, I opened my mouth and screamed as loud as my lungs would allow me.

“No, please!” I screamed as loud as I possibly could, pushing past the way my throat burned from the strain. “Please! Someone help me! No! Please don’t do this to me! Please!”

I screamed as loud as I could for as long as I could. When it didn’t work immediately, I pushed past my dry throat and screamed some more. I knew the plan worked when I felt the soft quiver of the top deck above my head–somebody had heard my screams and ran onto the ship.

As soon as I realised my plan was working, I changed things. As the footsteps approached, my screams grew quieter and became moans.

I could hear a single pair of footsteps get closer, and when I heard them on the last step before coming down the hallway of the second deck, I clutched the dagger tighter between my fingers.

When I moaned again, calling out, “Oh, yes! Yes! Just like that!” I heard a single chuckle, confirming that only one pirate had ventured onto the ship to check on Frode and me. It was better this way because I couldn’t take on both pirates simultaneously, but it also meant I would need to devise another plan to lure the remaining pirate onto the ship. But one problem at a time.

Still moaning and whimpering quietly, I clutched the handle of the dagger tighter in my hands. I could barely hear over the sound of my heart thumping loudly in my chest, so I had to strain my ears to hear the pirate knock on the door. Of course, the only response was another moan. He probably thought the only thing happening behind the door was sex, but boy, was he in for a surprise.

I knew these despicable men wouldn’t be able to resist taking a peek, and I was only proved right when he pushed the door open to enter the room. He didn’t even have the chance to glance around and figure out Frode was dead on the floor before I jumped at and aimed for the jugular, just as I had done for his precious Captain.

This pirate was easier to kill than Frode. I had the element of surprise on my side, and he didn’t even have the chance to turn his head and see me before I slashed his neck with the sharp end of the dagger, going as deep as I could to inflict as much damage as I could.

The man’s lifeless body dropped like a heavy sack of potatoes, the light gone from his eyes before he even hit the ground.

There were two people’s blood on my hands now, and at the very least, I looked to add one more person to the list.

I didn’t like it, not one bit, but I had no choice.

These pirates gave me no choice.

This wouldn’t be over until the third and final pirate was granted the same fate as the other two. Then, I needed to find a way to help Viktor and the crew overpower the remaining pirates escorting them.

With that in mind, I slipped the dagger into the neck of my dress, between my breasts, where it would be hidden from him and anyone else. I flinched when the blade nicked the side of my breast, drawing out a small trickle of blood, but thankfully, my dress was dark, so it didn’t give me away.

And that’s when the idea sprang to mind.

It was a terrible, disgusting idea which nearly made me sick, but I pushed myself forward. I fisted the right sleeve of my dress and yanked hard, ripping it halfway and leaving the material to dangle. I did the same to the material around my waist, tugging hard until it tore at the seams and the white of my underskirt showed from underneath it. I ruffled my skirt all over, making it creased and in all sorts of disarray. To make things even more believable, I poked myself in the eyes until they watered, making it look like I had been crying for ages.

Genuinely crying now, and not just because I had poked my eyes repeatedly, I staggered up to the top deck and toward the plank.

The first thing the pirate did was laugh at the state of me. That made me feel so much better about what I planned to do to him.

“What are you doing out of the bedrooms?” He laughed, walking over to the plank.

“Frode,” I started, but my voice broke off with a genuine sob.

“Frode sure did a number on you, didn’t he?” He laughed and made his way onto the ship to join me. “I’m surprised he let you out of the bedroom this soon after. A beautiful thing like you, I certainly wouldn’t let you up after only one round.”

It took everything I possessed to keep the anger at bay.

The pirate stopped once he was standing in front of me. “Where’s Sven?” he asked, his lips turned up at the corners in a large, sleazy grin that sent fearful, disgusting shivers down my spine. It was the same look Frode gave me before he closed the door.

Sven must be the name of the second pirate I killed.

“In the bedroom,” I sniffled and dropped my gaze, unable to look him in the eye for several reasons. “With Frode.”

He chuckled at my answer. “Well, it wouldn’t be the first time Frode has shared his women with us.” I wanted to scoff at the notion that I was now Frode’s woman, but it wasn’t worth it. “Why are you here?”

“Frode said to get you,” I whispered, tears still streaming down my face.

“Well, I’m not going to say no to that,” the pirate laughed and threw his arm over my shoulder. He guided us across the deck and down the stairs to the second floor, the both of us taking each step simultaneously. “What do you say that we stop by my room before we join Frode and Sven?” He chuckled, sliding his fingers down the slope of my neck. I wanted to gag at his touch but forced it down. I couldn’t be sick and ruin it all now. Not when there was so much at stake.

“Won’t they mind?” I asked, trying not to cringe back at his touch.

“He has Sven there to keep him company,” he laughed. “And as long as we don’t take too long, they won’t even notice. It can be our little secret.”

I nodded, but we both knew my opinion didn’t matter. This man planned to do to me whatever he wanted, and he thought I could do nothing about it.

This wasn’t exactly what I had planned. Admittedly, this was better than what I had planned: killing him as soon as he saw the other two bodies.

I tried to act normal as we walked down the hallway. My breath hitched in my throat as we stopped outside the room opposite Frode’s bedroom. Thankfully, I moved Sven’s body out of the way before closing the door. However, my paranoia thought of all the clues that could have remained. Like the possible blood spots, maybe a bloody footprint or a fingerprint–anything that would give me away if the pirate glanced over his shoulder toward Frode’s room.

His tunic was off as soon as he entered the bedroom, not even waiting to close the door behind us.

“Take your dress off,” he instructed me, but I refused to listen.

I leapt forward and plunged the blade I had been hiding in my dress the whole time into the middle of his upper back, between his shoulder blades.

Unfortunately, it appeared that stabbing someone in the back didn’t have the same effect as stabbing them in the neck. When I realised my mistake, the pirate turned around with the dagger sticking out between his shoulder blades and lunged at me.

“I should have known!” The pirate growled as he knocked me to the ground, immediately clasping his hands around my wrists and forcing my arms above my head. His legs were on either side of me, straddling me. When he leaned forward to press his forehead against mine, forcing all of his weight on me, I screamed.

I screamed and screamed, writhing and struggling underneath him, desperate to get him off me, but it was no use. He was too strong and too heavy for me.

The most damage I seemed to be doing was to his eardrums with all my screaming, and even though my voice had gone hoarse and ached painfully, I continued screaming.

My voice was the only weapon I had left, and it seemed to really bother him, so much so that he slammed the palm of his hand against my mouth. I was quick enough to close it, so while it hurt immensely, making my mouth throb, my teeth were safe.

Choking on a broken tooth while this pirate had his wicked way with me was not the last moment I wanted to remember before he killed me. If I had my way, I was going to die in bed with Viktor by my side, the both of us old and grey, taking my last breath in his arms. Hopefully, I would go before him because I couldn’t fathom life without him. Not even a few minutes.

“Soon, you’ll be screaming in pleasure,” the pirate spat at me, gripping the bottom of my dress and pulling it up. He struggled to push it up past my hips with the way he straddled me. “Soon you’ll be–” His hand stilled, and his words were cut off before he was thrown off me.

I gasped and sat up, watching with wide eyes as the pirate was slammed against the wall, his head knocked against it several times until he was knocked out.

Viktor let go of him, and the body dropped to the floor, but he wasn’t done. He pulled the dagger out of his back and turned him over onto his front before slamming the blade into his chest.

The body spasmed as blood splattered Viktor, but that was the least of either of our worries right now.

“Astrid,” Viktor whispered, and before he could say anything else, I threw myself into his arms.

Viktor lifted me into the air and forced my legs to wrap around his waist so the pool of blood he was standing in wouldn’t taint my feet.

“Viktor,” I whimpered into the crook of his neck, finding myself at a loss for words.

It felt like I couldn’t breathe because of how much I loved this man.

“Everything will be okay now, Astrid,” he whispered, rubbing a soothing hand down my back as he carried me out of the room. “I’ve got you. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“I’ve done terrible things,” I cried into his shoulder, unable to look him in the eye.

“I’m sorry, my siren. I’m so sorry,” Viktor apologised profusely as he held me tighter. “None of this is your fault. Please don’t blame yourself. I’m so sorry you had to go through all this alone. I should have been there for you.”

“You need to see what I’ve done,” I forced the words out of my mouth despite the horrid, bitter taste they left behind.

If Viktor started looking at me differently for what I had done, I don’t know what I would do. But I needed him to understand what I had done. To see the extent of it.

“Whatever is behind that door, it doesn’t change anything.” He brushed his lips against my forehead. “I love you, and I will never stop loving you. Nothing will ever change that.”

I gulped and nodded but struggled to believe him.

How could I when I had done some horrible things? Even if all of these men deserved this.

When Viktor pushed open the door and spied the first body by the door and the foot of the second body peeking out from the blanket that I had carelessly thrown over him so I wouldn’t have to look at him anymore, he didn’t judge me. He didn’t yell at me. He didn’t look disgusted or ask what I had done. He didn’t say he didn’t love me any more or couldn’t look at me the same. He just held me tighter and peppered kisses all over my face.

When the first tear rolled down his face and onto mine, I didn’t know where his tears began and where mine ended as they blended into one and dropped into the pool of blood that we were standing in.