The royal city of Port Cressida has a new King.
Casper Ashe.
After spending years chained to the floor of a dungeon, haunted by visions of a beautiful woman, Casper is finally free. As Port Cressida's new King, he has two priorities: restore peace t...
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The Spit - Port Cressida
Sophie Reese
It was close to dawn, and the marketplace was buzzing. Both vendors and customers were coming out of the stalls to watch an unusual scene unfold. The infamous royal captain of the guards, and his security team, had entered the marketplace to pick up Jacques and me.
The curious onlookers watched as I emerged from Marie's stall, surrounded by ten palace guards. Nico made a point of standing next to me, his hand lightly resting on my elbow.
He scanned the crowd and then gave us the order to move.
Everyone stared at us and whispered amongst themselves:
"That's the Captain of Guards."
"What is he doing here?"
'Who is that girl?"
"She's the one who caused the trouble at the Old Mermaid Tavern?'
The guards guided us out of the marketplace to a line of four blacked-out SUVs parked on the main street. Nico took us to the third SUV and opened the passenger door.
"Get in," he ordered coldly.
His face was an unreadable mask of coolness.
There was nothing passionate about Nico. He did not express anger through heated words or violent gestures. Instead, he chose long silences and dark stares to communicate displeasure.
I climbed into the SUV, and Jacques followed me.
We both sat in awkward silence as Nico slammed the passenger door and walked calmly to the driver's door. He slid into the driver's seat and adjusted his rearview mirror, so it focused solely on me.
He said nothing, although I had a good idea of what he wanted to say. How could you be so reckless? Do you want to be killed? What were you thinking?
I finally gave Nico a small wave and weakly said, "Thanks for picking us up."
He said nothing and put the car into drive. It wasn't hard to imagine what he truly wanted to say. How could you be so reckless? Do you want to be killed? What were you thinking?
He pinned me with his dark stare through the rearview mirror, and I squirmed uncomfortably in my chair.
"Have you lost your fucking mind," he growled at me.
My mouth opened to defend myself. I was prepared to tell Nico everything. I was going to tell him about the witch, the Lady in Green, the missing girls and Mia. But, at that moment, Jacques decided to intervene.
He leant across and stared at Nico through the rearview mirror and said, "Daddy, chill."
The mask of calm fell from Nico's face. His face scrunched up, and he snapped at Jacques, "What the hell were you doing, bringing her to this cesspit?"
