Hell Hath No Fury - Book One

Finale

"When they told me you had died, at first it took me a little bit to remember exactly who you were. With all the sisters it gets difficult, as you can imagine," Ulises spoke and brought her face to look at him again, gently resting his finger under her chin, "then I remembered all of the trouble you caused at the estate. The nuisance you were on my ship when I would transport you across oceans. The way you just never quite fit at family functions. My second thought was good riddance. You had died for a cause. You had finally helped the family."

Ava didn't want to just sit there and take his insults, but she had no choice. He was clearly armed and stronger than her. To leave would be to endanger herself and the others on the ship.

"Who else is here?" Ava asked.

"There will be rules when you are on my ship," Ulises continued with his own conversation and ignored her question, "first, you will have a bath. Those things in your ear will come out and a healer will come in to check you for any other foul marks you may have put on your body."

"How did you know I was alive?" Ava asked, "Hoffstater said he had come to save me. How did you know where I was?"

"The Vaiths are well connected, Avery. We have people everywhere. Who's to say it wasn't one of your pirate friends on Captain Theo's crew. How do you know it wasn't your very Captain who sent a letter informing us?" Ulises said as he let go of her chin, "you will be given proper attire and you will join me for dinner every night until we arrive at Aubermause."

"I refuse to," Ava huffed.

"Then you will have a first-row seat to the execution of each one of your friends I have here on board," he threatened.

"How do I know you're not bluffing? What if you have no one?" she challenged.

"You know I have at least your precious Captain," Ulises retorted, "you wouldn't let your lover die because of your actions, would you Avery?"

Avery was taken aback. He had called her a renouncer, but she had just thought it as a general insult, as a reference to her lack of feminine clothing. He knew about Theo. He knew they were together. But how? Ava didn't answer, she just clenched her jaw and quieted herself. She attempted to channel Xyra and her unbothered nature. He wouldn't affect her. He wouldn't get in her head.

"I thought so," Ulises answered his own question, "you leave this room, and she gets hurt. You speak out of turn, she gets hurt. You refuse what I ask of you, she gets hurt. Is that understood?"

"Aye," Ava answered, and it earned her another slap.

"Scrub that low-life vocabulary from your speech, Avery," he shook his head, "by the time we get to Aubermause, I expect you to have remembered how to be amongst civilized society."

"How did you escape?" Ava spoke out of turn again, her tone less aggressive and meeker, "we were winning. I saw it. I saw all your ships burning. How are we here right now?"

"Dinner will begin in a few hours. You will be bathed and properly clothed by the time you come out of this room to eat."

He left the room and Ava wasted no time in leaving her chair and sinking to the floor. She felt like a child, unable to control the tears as they began to flow out of her. Her cheek still stung with the effects of the several slaps, and she felt trapped. She didn't feel trapped, actually, she was trapped. They were on the way to Aubermause but she couldn't go back there. She couldn't let Theo go there. It would be the end of Ava's life in a figurative sense and the end of Theo's literally. But there was nothing she could do that wouldn't land Theo in a world of hurt.

Maybe if she would have come clean earlier, none of this would have happened. Had she been honest, she wouldn't have been put in the brig at that moment. She wouldn't have had to have Theo come rescue her. Theo wouldn't have gotten hurt, Theo wouldn't have blacked out, Theo would have been able to save both of them and get them away from being in the custody of the Vaiths. Her forehead was buried up against her knees as the sniffles and fat droplets continued to pour out. A bath was prepared for her, but she didn't move from her spot. She heard the water continue to fill the tub with each bucket full that was brought in, she heard whatever workers were there move around her room and lay things out on her bed. But it wasn't until hours after the door had closed behind them that she moved.