The Princess and The Pirate
Chapter 45

“Kyle, you must promise me. Promise me that you’ll never end up on the sea. You’ll be a blacksmith, a carpenter, an anything else! The sea holds nothing but misfortune for you.”

“Yes mom. I’ll stay as far from the ocean as possible. Scout’s honor.”

“Good boy.” She kissed Kyle’s head and ruffled his hair. “Find a nice girl and settle in the fields, far, far away from any waves.”

Wouldn’t his mother be proud? He’d probably never see the sea again.

“Wake up, pirate,” came a sharp voice, cutting through the conversation, followed by a stinging, attention-grabbing slap. Kyle’s eyes snapped open, seeing Lillian pull the back of her hand away from his face.

Groaning, Kyle surveyed his surroundings. It was a luxurious room draped in blue and the balcony doors were casually open to the night air. A cold evening gust blew its way in, widely wafting the sheer curtains. The room’s candles were burned to half their lengths and the lanterns were on a low, simmering flame. Lillian stood there, no more dressed than when he was last conscious. Half clad in a transparent robe, her raven black hair covered her breasts but not much more was left to the imagination. She flaunted it cruelly.

It was a sight near enough to put a fever in Kyle’s cheeks. Whores had more business sense. They at least had you pay for a show.

He needed to put more distance between him and her. He tugged at his shoulders but they didn’t move. He was tied to a chair. The pirate went to speak, but the gag in his mouth stopped him. Silk, from what he could tell, as he rubbed his lips together.

Jacqueline! Where was Jacqueline?! Kyle struggled harder, trying to pry his wrists up from the arms of the heavy chair he was tethered to. “Mmrph!” Complaining hurt his already bruised face.

“Oh, glad you’re awake,” Lillian said with a smile, looking over the bound captain as he thrashed.

“Mmrpff!”

“Stop that dreadful noise.” The queen slithered in front of him, gently sat on his knees, and coiled her arm around Kyle’s shoulders. She smelled like pomegranates and dusty feathers. Smiling, she slid her manicured finger down the length of his broken nose. “I have some questions for you. I’m sure we can be friendly about it.” Batting her long, curling eyelashes, Lillian dragged her nail to his gag. “What is your people’s word?” She slowly dug her nail into his cheek, gliding it between his skin and the scarf, “Can‘t we…parley?”

Kyle burned his eyes into her, feeling the material lifted off his face. “Where is she?” Rocking the chair as he spoke, he tried to rip the bindings off by sheer will. “You fucking tell me.” The veins in his neck pulsed.

“Oh?” She rolled her hips with the motion of the chair suggestively. “We’ll have plenty of time for that.” Lillian’s tone was coated with sugar but hid venom just below the surface. Pushing the side of her fair face against his chin, the queen pinched Kyle’s cheek with her finger tips. “But right now, you and I are going to have a talk.”

Grinding her bare hips into his knees, Lilian threw his face away while she pushed off him, standing up. “I want answers.”

“Where is Jacqueline!” Kyle thrashed again though even his feet were tied to the sides of his chair. “There’s nothing to tell!”

Lillian walked over to her vanity, lifting her sapphire, silver, and diamond crown off its headrest and placed it upon her own hair. While wearing nearly nothing, she watched his reflection struggle in the mirror. “I’m a queen. And queens get what queens want.” Her icy eyes looked over his form, seeming elated at her advantage beneath the frosty attitude.

Kyle tugged at the ropes defiantly. The seductive curve of her spine led down to the plump heart-shaped ending of her backside. “Put some clothes on, you cheap imposter.” He never thought he’d say those words to a gorgeous specimen such as her, but he wouldn’t be antagonized by a naked woman!

An upturn of her dark eyebrows suggested she agreed with him. “Tsk, where are my manners?” Lillian said with a dramatic gasp, covering her lower lip with her fine nails. She picked up a pair of bronze scissors before leaving the vanity and strutting over to her armoire and clicked it open. “Now, tell me how this mess came about with my cousin.”

“No! Tell me where she is!” A violent blush came to Kyle’s face as Lillian bent over, pulling something out from the depths of the closet floor. He cleared his throat, looking away. That robe hid none of her secrets. “Is she alive at least?!”

“Are we going to go around and around all night? I may need to summon more candles,” she said, placing a pair of polished blue heels on the tile with a soft click. “She seemed nearly on death’s door anyway. I’m sure he’s come for her by now.” Lillian slipped her bare feet into the modestly heeled, courtly shoe.

Gritting his teeth, the Captain nearly flew out of his skin but the rope dug into him. He could hear the buoys chime in the harbor as another night wind blew.

Swaying her luscious hips, the queen’s shoes clicked against the stone floor with her graceful stride. The sapphires in her crown glowed divinely in the soft lantern light. Standing before him, all the beauty in her face twisted away and Lillian raised her shoed foot, clutching the scissors in her other hand. “I’m done bantering.” Lillian slammed the heel of her shoe right into the center of Kyle’s pants, crushing the buttons of his fly into his pelvis. “TELL ME WHAT I WANT TO KNOW, PEASANT.”

Feeling the pinch of his testicles, the Captain gasped, throwing his head back.

“TELL ME,” she pushed her fine shoe further into his crotch, “OR I WILL MAKE YOU A EUNUCH WITH MY HEEL!”

“JESUS CHRIST!” Kyle shouted, trying to pull himself away from the chair without success. “We kidnapped her and her parents exploited the opportunity! Just tell me if she’s alive!” The pain tore through his stomach and caused his ribs to shake.

Lillian leaned in, raising the point of her scissors into the soft part under his jaw. She delicately placed her elbows upon her uplifted knee, looking at him in a charming way, the whole of her naked body completely in full view. It was too bad Kyle’s eyes were shut tight. “I think I will keep you in a box under my bed.” She pushed her foot further in while dragging the scissors against the stubble of his neck. “What else?”

Kyle wailed in pain, grinding his flesh into the ropes, hoping to trade one pain for another. The woman was crazy! “They never paid the fucking ransom! They sent assassins instead, so we fled the bay!” The crushing vice upon his penis was making the pirate much more cooperative. “L-let me see her!”

“Good, now te—” but Lillian was cut off, the candle flames bent towards the opening chamber door.

Versetti entered, wiping the blood off his sword, having made short work of the two drunken imperial guards. The sight he walked into made him pause. He slowly twisted the hilt in his fist, confused. There was his queen, nearly nude, with her foot in a man’s lap, scissors to his neck, and completely revealed for all the world to see.

“What in the holy fuck is going on?” He slammed the door shut behind him, extinguishing the candles nearest him. He cut across the room and in a fluid motion ripped Lillian off Kyle. He threw her down onto a lush, shaggy carpet as if he were reprimanding a spoiled child.

Sent to the ground, the queen’s scissors, her crown, and even her shoes went flying about wildly as she landed. Her expression was one of utmost horror. Lillian’s pale hands spread out against the rug, grabbing onto the fibers tightly as if she’d fall straight off the edge of the world. “VINCENT!”

“DO NOT ‘VINCENT’ ME! YOU PICK YOURSELF UP AND GET DRESSED,” he screamed at her, pointing a bloody, gloved finger at the naked snake of a woman who writhed on the ground. His first name had no power over him. “AND YOU!” Versetti unleashed his rage on Kyle, hitting the pirate so hard with his fist the entire chair toppled over on its side, “HOW DARE YOU LOOK UPON HER!”

“How DARE you!” Lillian abruptly screamed at him, pushing herself up onto her knees, tightly closing the sheer robe around herself, “I AM YOUR QU—”

“YOU ARE A CHILD!” Versetti snapped, coming back to Lillian’s side, bending down and grabbing her forearm tightly. He swiftly brought Lillian to her bare feet. His rage helped suppress the hypocrisy of enjoying her youthful body but scorning her youthful attitude. Smearing blood across her pale blue sleeve, Versetti shook her, hoping to shake her free of her stupid ego. “ENOUGH OF THESE GAMES.”

“UNHAND ME!”

“IT’S TIME YOU STOPPED PLAYING QUEEN AND STARTED BECOMING ONE!”

With a gargle of fluids in his mouth, Kyle limply laid in the chair, his world turned upside down. The only thing his eyes could see was the glint of a shiny, sharp bronze tool near his tied wrist. Weakly, with one eye shut, he started sawing against the scissors while the lovers quarreled.