Avarice of the Sea | | b o o k 1

12: Unwanted Details

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:  C H A P T E R  T W E L V E : 

He left with Cody, and as the door closed, I found myself staring at Conroy just as he did with me. I wanted this all to be just part of his game. Maybe he was a double-conman, pretending to side with Avarice just so he could help me escape and bring me back to Damunt.

"Please tell me they're lying," I begged, hoping I was keeping my voice strong, but I could feel it shake in my throat as it came out. He had a bit of stubble on his chin, and he scratched at it as he shook his head and stood up from where he sat on the edge of Avarice's desk. He looked so incredibly foreign in this setting, just as I probably had my first day here. Now I was dressed like a pirate and looked like the part. Conroy didn't--he was playing a different part.

"You will understand soon enough. It has been so long since I have seen Aloysius--we have been separated since our mother passed away," he explained. He had a hand on the necklace he always wore, twirling around the capsule of poison that looked black in the light. He paced closer to me, and I backed up until my backside hit the edge of the couch.

"Wh-Why did you become apart of my father's defense then? You're obviously against him," I countered. "No one can hear us through the walls--just tell me if you mean what you say. Y-You can't be related to Avarice. You work for the King!" I was getting angrier the longer he stayed silent, the longer he stared at me with his open gray eyes.

I did not want to see the resemblance, but my mind was yelling at me that they had the same eye shape, the same wide nose that even Cody shared.

I stumbled around the couch when he relentlessly closed in on me. I backed my way between the couch and the coffee table bolted into the ground. "Is it that much of your concern, Maxine? I realize brother can be a bit harsh, but with me around he will not touch you-"

"Don't call him that!" I shrieked, whirling around to march off, but he grabbed onto my arm and spun me back around. He was in my face, and the smell of brandy was on his breath as he bent down to my level and shared with me a pitiful expression.

"I have seen you grow up to be the beautiful woman you are, Maxine," he began, and the soft tone he used on me reminded me of all those times he had been there to protect Theo and I. He had never been this cruel to me, and it was tearing me apart inside. "You share so much with your mother-"

"Do not bring her into this," I hissed, sneering at him as I tried to shake his hand off of my arm. "You're the reason she's gone!"

"No, listen to me, Maxine!" he argued, taking me by the shoulders and forcing me down onto the couch. I slapped my hand over my mouth to keep from screaming when he came so close to my face, I could see the veins in his tired eyes. "I have worked for your family for all of your life, and I'll be damned if I let that all go to waste. So long as I am here, you are safe. I meant what I said when I told you that you should not be afraid of me simply because I am related to Avarice."

I wanted to settle myself down somehow. I was just so full of every emotion that I was capable of feeling. Instead, I pressed myself back into the couch cushions and pulled my hand away so I could say, "Yes, but that doesn't change what you did."

My pulse was beating so fast, even when he moved away from me. I felt stuffy sitting here with him as close as he was to me. He may have walked away, but my insides still squirmed with unease. Being on The Avarice of the Sea was tolerable until he showed up, and now I wasn't sure what was keeping me from jumping off the ship again and abandoning all the threats Avarice made.