Ocean Storm (Queen of Piracy Duology #1)

Chapter 36: The final confrontation

Sven and I glared at each other. If staring was enough to kill, we'd have died at that very instant. I felt a massive amount of sweat running down my entire body. I know that wasn't the most important thing to worry about at that moment, but I didn't want my dark purple coat to be torn again... Don't judge me, it was my favorite one! Anyway, our confrontation was imminent. At that instant, I couldn't pay attention to anything else. I forgot the environment around me. Even Dirk vanished from my mind. The snake in front of me was all I could think about. The man who'd saved me from drowning, made me laugh and pretended to be my friend. I wasn't sure if Maartje, Laurens, and uncle Ruben were watching Sven, but they'd be definitely disappointed if they were. Maybe they'd feel multiple emotions like I did. When I looked at Sven, I felt angry, sad, frustrated, and disgusted at the same time. God, I really wanted to throw that idiot into the ocean... There was no way I'd look at Sven the same way again. I wanted to punch that bastard every time I remembered him saying he intended to humiliate Laurens and me.

"After I'm done with you, I'll kill your stupid friends slowly," Sven's lips curled into an evil grin. "I'm finally going to be above all of you!"

I ground my teeth, "Just shut up!"

Angrier than ever and breathing fast, I attacked Sven. He dodged and tried to hurt me as well. Our swords collided as we kept fighting. Unfortunately, the traitor had told me the truth. He'd indeed improved his fighting skills.

Why won't Sven stop this nonsense and become my friend again?

I started fighting quicker, but not enough to exhaust me. After three attempts, I left an injury on the back of Sven's neck. He flinched and cleaned the blood. Although Francis tried to bite his ankle, the moron kicked him. The idiot tried to slice my waist and left thigh. I blocked him, went for his chest and he dodged.

The traitor laughed and attempted to punch me in the face, "Trying to stab me in the chest? Aren't you feisty?"

Taking a deep breath, I ignored him. I bit my lower lip, imagining how much easier that naval battle would've been if Sven hadn't snitched on me... His information probably helped those damn British officers immensely! They would've never found my crew and me that efficiently without assistance.

"Campbell is dead," I struck my blade against Sven's waist. "Your chances of joining the Navy are over."

He growled and tried to punch me in the stomach, but I blocked him. I gulped since he got pretty close to stabbing me. For a brief moment, I thought my head would burn because I was outraged. Each time our swords clashed, I wanted to cry. Before Sven, I never thought someone could change like that. We stopped fighting for a moment to catch our breaths. All that rage probably consumed a lot of our energies.

Sven narrowed his eyes, "I can't wait to kill you..."

I laughed, "The feeling is mutual."

My enemy kept staring as if he imagined ways to murder me. I took a deep breath to make my nausea go away. He disgusted me so much that I wanted to puke. I didn't know if he was indeed causing my sickness, but he definitely made it worse. I reached for my cutlass, ready to fight again, and Sven did the same.

"Captain de Vries would be proud of me if he saw me now," Sven smiled cruelly while getting a little closer. "I outsmarted his favorite niece, after all."

Uncle Ruben approached us, "There's nothing to be proud of. In fact, you're an utter disappointment, Sven."

The traitor gawked as he laid eyes on my uncle. I didn't know what to do, so I just kept watching their awkward situation. Uncle Ruben narrowed his eyes at Sven and shook his head in denial. Although I wasn't a mind reader, I knew my uncle felt the same as I did in Port Royal. A horrible mix of heartbreak, rage, and frustration.