Woodbridge Recollection : The Hidden Kingdom

Chapter 21: Serina the Gypsy.

I swallowed a mouthful of food and then shook my head.

"We kind of just decided it ten minutes ago," I said.

He chuckled.

"Of course you did," he agreed.

I laughed and then continued to eat. I made it through my whole plate rather quickly. After sipping down the last of my rosé, I stood up and tapped Mathew's shoulder.

"I need to speak to Zacarias, quick," I said to him. "To tell him that you are joining us."

"You eat too fast when you get excited about things," he said, still eating the last of his food.

I shrugged my shoulders.

"With good reason," I said. "I'm only eating to keep everyone off my back about my loss of appetite."

He laughed.

"Just go to Zacarias," Mathew said.

I rolled my eyes and then smirked.

"Yes, Prince," I said and turned. I looked up, gazing over the heads of all the warriors, in search for Zacarias. Sure enough, there he was across the mess hall. He was seated amongst several other men and women that were dressed in the same black tailed leather coat; the privateer's coat. I could only assume that they must have been Zacarias' crew. I recognised several faces that had been aboard his yacht this morning.

I breathed in deeply and began walking down the aisle. Once at the end of it, I turned along the back of the hall and crossed over several tables to the other side of the hall. When I reached the correct table, I turned into the aisle and made my way up it.

Zacarias, by the looks of it, was about to finish up his supper. He was speaking to the man seated across from him, not exactly looking up. Another man, sitting three down from that man, looked up as I approached.

"Hey Zacarias," he said, turning to look at him. "Your floozy is here."

I slowed down as I approached, not very bothered with the arrogance of the privateer. To be honest, I was too focused on the current plan to see Serina to actually care about silly little comments.

I slowed to a stop when Zacarias lifted his head and glared, rather ominously, at the man. The man laughed as if the comment was a great little joke, but stopped when he noticed Zacarias not laughing.

"Refer te' Warrior Zelena as anything other than a lady, again, Pike, and I'll have ye' swabbing the yacht and peeling potatoes on our next voyage," Zacarias said to him, his voice hard and strict. "If no' keelhauled, first."

I pressed my lips into a hard line and widened my eyes. Holy crap! Did he just threaten someone for calling me names? That was...unexpected.

Pike breathed in deeply and then looked down at his plate of food. If I could put a word to it, he looked sorry for even speaking at all.

I turned on my foot when Zacarias looked up at me and left. Truth be told, I wasn't exactly sure how to respond to that situation. Turning and leaving seemed to best possible thing to do.

Behind me, Zacarias stood up and left the table to follow. He caught up to me quickly and we came to a stop at the end of the table.

"We're you done?" I asked when I turned to face him.

He nodded.

"Good," I said. "Good news: Mathew is joining us."

That look of discomfort touched Zacarias' expression again.