The Masquerade Ball (A tale of Eswor Book 1)

The journey ahead

I felt like I was going to be sick. The Pirate King knew who I was. He knew were I was. He knew that I'm still alive. And apparently I knew who he was. 

I was in Cole's room at the moment as I refused to go back to Kinnley and Opal feeling like this. The sun had set and it was getting darker outside by the minute. "Kava, you need to stop pacing." He held into my shoulders and pulled me into a hug and kissed the top of my head. I turned my nose into his neck. He smelled of pine and the forest.

We held each other for a while. "I should get going. I have to get up early in the morning." I tried to pull away from him, but he held onto my arm.

"No. I want you to stay with me tonight." He said. "I don't know how long you'll be gone for."

"Fine." I sighed, but I had a slight smile. He pulled me towards his bedroom. I pulled off my tunic, wearing just my cotton shirt and my shift and kicked off my boots. I plopped on the bed and closed my eyes.

I heard Cole shuffle around the room and then felt the bed dip as he laid down next to me. He wrapped his hands around my waist and pulled me towards him. He pressed his lips against my neck, and started kissing up towards my jaw. "Mmm." I hummed. I leaned into his arms and absorbed his warmth.  His hands traced shapes along my waist and stomach.

"Hey Cole?"

"mhm?" His mouth hummed against my skin.

"Say if you or I died, what would happen to the other?" I asked simply.

Cole was quiet for awhile. "Well if it was me that died, then I guess I would want you to be happy and find someone that made you happy."

"That sounds reasonable. If I died I would want you to never stop smiling." I said. My eyes started drooping.

"Night Kava."

"Night Cole."

~

The only thing I could think of was how long this journey would be, how annoyed I already was and it was only the first day in the saddle. Derrick was riding next to me, but we haven't spoken a word. I bowed when he came out of the castle, but nothing was spoken. I said my goodbyes to Cole and the last kiss we shared still tingled on my lips. I sighed and looked up at the sky. At least I only had to go to one or two mansions. Plus the fact that we just had to send a couple of men to search for any sign of pirates.

I was pulled out of my thoughts as someone rode up next to me. "Sir, you have a letter from the Captain."

My brows furrowed. "Already? We've only traveled at least three hours from the castle."

I took the letter and nodded at the guard, signalling he could leave. I removed the wax seal and ribbon and unrolled it. Every word just deepened my frown. Kinnley wanted me to leave the prince with a couple of guards after our last assigned mansion so he could look around for pirates and then have me travel to another mansion with some of the newbies and travel back to the castle with them.

I scowled at the letter and shoved it into my saddle bag. Screw Kinnley.

"I take it the Captain asked something of you." Derrick said. I was a little surprised to hear him talk.

"Yes, actually. He wants me to leave you with a couple of guards and have you look for pirates while I travel to one more mansion when we finish with the first mansion."