Page 25 of Hooked

“Sixteen.”

“And he?”

“Twenty years my senior.”

“But you didn’t marry him?”

I shook my head. “Thankfully, no. I told you about Annabelle, the girl who taught me how to be a maid.”

His brow furrowed. “Yes?”

“I didn’t meet her in Tethurn. We became well acquainted when she was working for my uncle. After I was told of the betrothal, she helped me come up with a plan to leave. A possible means of freedom, no matter how small the hope. She was sent with me when I was to go to Captain Huckley. We bribed the coachman, gave him all the money I had managed to hide away so that he would leave us in Tethurn instead of taking us on to Huckley’s residence. Annabelle and I both escaped my uncle’s house.”

“And you escaped Captain Huckley?”

“Yes.” Fear welled in my heart as tears welled in my eyes. “And now he is back.”

“He will not have you.”

I looked away, unable to bear the surety of his gaze when I felt hopelessness creeping in. I dug my thumb into the palm of my other hand, trying to focus on the discomfort instead of my writhing heart.

“Cecily.” I hadn’t realized Falstone had moved closer until he took my hands in his, prying them apart and clutching them each in one of his own.

I finally looked up at him, and this time I let myself believe the surety. I let myself believe in him, in the fire his gaze held. I believed in his calm. His strength. His loyalty.

“He will not have you,” he said again.

I closed my eyes and did my best to breathe in the hope he offered while the warmth of his hands around mine eased an ache deep in my heart.

A knock sounded on the open door.

Falstone and I stepped apart, our hands dropping away as we turned to see a maid in the doorway. “Sir James has asked that you both come down to the drawing room,” she said, leaving as soon as her message had been delivered, knowing that we would obey the summons without any further prompting.

I fisted my hands in the sides of my skirt, spared one glance at Falstone, and then walked out into the corridor.

8

Being escorted to a room where an encounter with Huckley was inevitable reminded me of the afternoon sailing excursion that Captain Huckley had hosted aboard his largest ship when I was fifteen.

He’d sailed into the Norsing port, unloaded his goods, and then arranged the little outing before he was to return to his home on the coast of the Alayan Sea.

I hadn’t wanted to go. I’d only just turned fifteen and knew all too well about the agreement that existed between Captain Huckley and my uncle. However, my attendance was not optional. My uncle had ordered Annabelle to arrange my dark auburn hair with jeweled pins, and he even splurged on the purchase of a new gown for me, though I wondered at his posturing. The captain knew our financial situation and wanted me anyway. Perhaps Uncle Horace feared that Huckley would change his mind.

If only that were true.

Though there were several other families in attendance, stepping onto that ship for the first time felt like a door was slamming behind me—my fate being sealed. Captain Huckley greeted us. My mother stood quietly at my shoulder as my aunt and uncle fawned and preened, ever so grateful for the invitation. They didn’t seem to notice that the captain practically brushed them aside in order to take my hand and bow over it.

It was a clear, beautiful day. The sun was bright, the wind brisk. The animated voices around me spoke in jovial tones, punctuated by laughter here and there. Yet it was one of the darkest days of my life thus far. The air was suffocating. The wind tried to knock me over. Everyone was too loud while my own voice was too silent. I stood at the railing of the ship with the other guests, but instead of leaning out to feel the breeze and watch the waves, I simply stood, because it was all I could do to keep myself upright. Captain Huckley did not spend the entirety of the voyage at my side. Instead he just came back, again and again. Handing me another glass of refreshment, resting a hand on my back, teasing me until I was forced to smile so that he would be satisfied and go away.

Trapped on that ship, I felt as if I were fading away, like if I remained I might cease to exist altogether.

I knew my identity, but I feared that would be stolen from me the moment I became the wife of Captain Huckley.

So I made a desperate wish. I pled with the ocean, the sun, moon and stars. I pled with the clouds and the wind. I threw my wishes out into the world, hoping that some benevolent being might grant them.

My wish was that I would never reach my sixteenth birthday, that I would never grow up.

That I would never marry.