Page 35 of A Yulean Sister’s Guide to Getting Kidnapped

“We’re doing this,” I said, with a finality I reserved for only the most important moments.

She sighed, knowing I had no plans to budge, and she still had to do her job. “I’ll prepare the crew.”

Connie got up, irritation obvious as she left the room, slamming the door behind her.

Bramwell and I sat in a tense silence. I could feel his gaze boring a hole into the side of my face. “Is there something you’d like to say?” I asked, feeling sick of the arguments.

He shrugged casually, as he did often. Though he was quick witted, he was a soft-spoken man. Something I quite enjoyed about him normally. Only spoke when he knew it was necessary, making people actually listen when he chose to.

“She’s upset,” was all he said.

“I’m aware,” I said. “There’s not much I can do about it for now. She’ll come to her senses soon.”

“Is she the one meant to do that?”

I turned my body to meet him fully. “Please speak plainly.” This conversation was starting to weigh on me, and there was already so much at stake.

“Whatever this odd man offered you must be important. You’ve never shared with us, and you’re going to great lengths to complete a job we would otherwise always pass up.”

His words weren’t wrong, though they prickled irritation up my neck.

A real captain listens to his crew. They also want for your success.

Sometimes I wished to shoo away that steadying voice in my mind that spoke nothing but reason.

“I’ve always trusted your judgement,” Bramwell continued on. “And will continue to do so. You are our captain, after all. Just… understand the belief you’re asking us all to have.”

Suddenly, the fight left in me sunk from my shoulders. Continuing to listen was again the right thing to do. “I understand,” I said. “And your trust always means everything to me. Just know I would never put us at this much risk, if not for an important reason.”

Bramwell nodded. “Very well. I’ll chart us ahead. Where are we going?”

“The Tyrell forest,” I said. “Before we go, though, I need you to do me one last favor.”

Chapter 11

Sage

Someone delivered my bags not long ago. It was a thinner man who hardly said anything, just dropped the bags and left.

Since then, I’d started picking through them, taking my dresses that had been crinkled and stuffed in here and hanging them. Though there was hardly any space, the closet just fitting two. The rest of them I began hanging around the room, using the twine I found as a rack. They covered almost every inch of wall I had left. My makeup, hairbrush, and toiletries I set along the desk, basically filling it. There was no vanity mirror, but I had my small compact I’d have to make use of.

There was a knock at my door, that came with a lack of footsteps. I glanced up, irritation setting in before I even saw my current keeper. He leaned against the door casually, looking me up and down. I didn’t like it. Though I couldn’t place it, the way he looked at me was so… different than most. Usually, I was set on this high pedestal, looked up at as a member of high society.

But he looked at me like any other person he’d ever seen before. Something about it made me feel off kilter.

“You’ve really… made yourself at home,” he said.

“Is that a problem?” I asked.

“Nope. I just didn’t expect so much… tulle when I came back.”

“Is there something wrong with my dresses?”

“I didn’t say that either.”

“It was implied,” I asserted. “You didn’t seem to have a problem with them last night.”

Even I knew goading my captor wasn’t the smartest thing I could be doing, but I’d never been that bright.