Page 71 of A Yulean Sister’s Guide to Getting Kidnapped

“What’s so funny?” a deep voice asked from behind me.

I turned, and Shadowhart was there, leaning over us. He had a smile on his face, but it was not a real one. One hiding anger that I feel radiating off of him in waves. When I turned to Anne, she’d gone pale.

“What are you doing here?” It was obvious he came looking for us, but I was too shocked to ask anything else.

“I was about to ask you the same thing,” he replied. “You were supposed to be on the ship. And you,” he pointed to Anne, “left your post. You know scallywags take the night shift at port. Yet here you are.”

“I-I—I mean I’m so sorry. You see, what I mean is, we⁠—”

“I forced her out with me,” I said, stopping her babbling.

“Forced?” she asked.

I nodded. “I’m just a princess after all, and didn’t want to get lost all by myself, so I told her if she didn’t come with me I’d probably get lost and die, and it would be all her fault.” It wasn’t the full truth, but it was pretty close.

He looked between us. “Is this true?”

Anne looked like she’d rather lose her pinky finger than lie to her captain. “K-kinda. She told me she was going, and I told her the rule about sticking together, and said she would go with or without me. I thought that rule would be the more important one in this scenario. So while she asked me to come in a bit of a… forceful manner, I came of my own accord.”

I blinked at her. She could have taken the easy way out I’d given her, but instead she chose to be fully honest and throw herself under with me. It was sweet, in a way. Though I would have been fine taking the blame.

He sighed loudly. “That is the rule,” he confirmed. “And one I take very seriously. Come on, let’s go back.”

I stood and walked behind him, leaving the theater with the last few people stuck around.

“See any of the show?” I asked, unable to stop myself from poking him. “It was pretty good.”

“No.”

Back on the ship Shadowhart told Anne to take over for Bee, who did so without question, leaving me alone with him, which seemed worse than stewing on whatever my punishment might be.

He brought me below deck and into his personal quarters. I jolted as the door slammed behind him.

“Why can’t you listen to anything you’re told?” he asked, instantly scolding me like a petulant child.

“Because I don’t belong to you,” I shot back.

“You do, though.”

My brows shot to my hairline. “How do you figure?”

He placed his hand on the door frame. “This ship, and everyone in it, is under my care. And that now includes you.”

I wanted to be more angry than I was at that statement, but instead I felt some weird warmth from it. One I dutifully ignored.

“I don’t need you to take care of me.”

“When you constantly make decisions that put you in danger, I have to disagree.”

“I wasn’t in any danger, it was a show.”

“One that could have gone very differently. You could have been snatched.”

“Anne was there.”

“Anne isn’t a fighter.”

“And there was no need to fight.”