shoulders, and bronzed skin from long hours of work on deck during daylight.
Donté took good care of his human servants and they glowed with health and vibrancy. He took great pride in the humans who served him.
Loyalty was not something that could be bought or beaten into men. Respect was earned. His men gave trust and loyalty because he respected
their humanness. But he ruled his ship with iron command.
It had been a long voyage and everyone was ready to get back to Noctra. Just a few more days and he'd give the order. But not just yet.
He gazed hungrily at his two beautiful young men. "Shall we continue, gentlemen? I suddenly have a voracious appetite once again and I'll need
both of you to satisfy my thirst."
Chapter 2
"Bloody hell!" Skye watched blood leak from the stinging slice in his thumb and brought the injured digit up to his mouth, but another's hand
stayed him.
"Not just yet," the ship's cook said. He turned Skye's thumb and held a thimble-sized pewter cup to catch the droplets of crimson blood that
dripped from the slash. Skye tried to pull his hand away, but Nathan held it firmly in place, squeezing expertly to milk the small wound.
"Ow. What are you doing?"
"Nothing for you to worry about. Just catching the drips. The pressure will help to slow it. It'll stop soon, never fear."
Skye watched the fat crimson drips land in the cup. It wasn't long before it stopped bleeding and Nathan handed Skye a strip of white linen cloth
to wrap around the small injury.
"Not done much cooking, have you, lad?"
No exactly true, but he would let the lie stand. "No, not much." Skye watched Nathan, wondering what the man was going to do with the cup
containing his blood. Nathan carried it to the counter on the other side of the room and set it on a tray.
"Ah, well, you'll learn. You seem like a smart young'un."
"How long have you been with the captain?"
Nathan slid a glance in his direction. For all his beauty, his eyes were strangely filmed and Skye wondered how he could see with any clarity.
Although by looking at him from a distance one might assume him to be a man in his late twenties, the ship's cook seemed a lot more mature than
he looked, often talking like a man well beyond his years.
"Long enough, lad. You don't seem like a man who's had to turn his hand to rough work. I sense you wear the cloak of well-born about your
shoulders."
"How is it you can see? Begging your pardon, but your eyes..."
Nathan smiled and nodded. "Most make the same mistake. I've the sight, boy. Sure and it doesn't come on me often, but I was born this way. Me
mum and the village in Cornwall I called home always feared me. I was maybe seventeen when they'd had enough."
"What happened?" Skye watched as Nathan stirred the pot on the stove. Nathan looked at Skye, but it was hard to believe the man actually saw
him. Such strange, yet striking features. The ghostly translucent blue of his gaze made him appear like someone from the fae world.
"The mayor's son took sick. I told me mum it would happen and she told the mayor's wife. Unfortunately, he did."
"And they blamed you?"
"Who else? They came for me in the dead of night. Trussed me up and took me out and tossed me into the sea. There was talk of a sea serpent
trolling the waters killing the fishermen of our village. I guess they thought if they handed over someone touched like me, the monster would leave
them be."
"So they just tossed you overboard?"
"Aye, they did that. And made as quick a getaway as they could. It was the cap'n who saved me. Hauled me out of the waters and killed the
bloody monster. Eight long, windy legs it had and big as a small fishing vessel. I've never seen anything of its like before. Or at least I hadn't until I
joined the cap'n's crew."
"You've seen other sea monsters? I thought they weren't real, only yarns spun by fishermen and sailors."
"Aye, they're real enough. You'll find lots out here that many a man will scoff at on land. But they're true." He pointed a finger at his chest. "I seen
them meself. I know they're true."
"You say Captain Lucienne saved you? He seems very young to have battled such a monster and lived."
Nathan stopped stirring and peered at Skye. "Don't be underestimating the cap'n, lad. He's more man than any ten I've ever met. We're all alive
because of him. And what about you, boy? What do you know of the sea?"
Skye knew he should tread carefully. How much should he tell these strange men about his background?
"My father had an interest in the spices we were carrying. I begged my father to let me accompany the captain on this trip, as I hadn't been to sea