Page 96 of A Yulean Sister’s Guide to Getting Kidnapped

I smiled, leaning into him. Even though the evening was kind of a disaster, this made up for it.

Suddenly, I shot up, remembering what I wanted to show him. “Hold on.” I started scrambling out of bed.

I got a step or two away from him before Adrian wrapped his tail around me. “Where are you going.”

“I have something for you.”

I slid one of his shirts over my head. It fell to my mid-thigh, which would be fine for a trip down the hall.

“I’ll be right back.”

I ran out, catching some strange glances, but was too focused to care. When I got to my room I pulled the drawer open, grabbed the pocket watch, and ran back.

Adrian was waiting there, still completely shirtless, though now sitting up, his interest obviously peaked.

I was momentarily distracted by his bare chest, but was quick to shake myself out of it.

I joined him back on the bed and he drew me into his lap, wrapping his tail over my legs. It was clear the captain liked touch, which was good, because I did too.

“You mentioned you and Coltar had a set of pocket watches. And I found this a couple days after I moved in.”

I picked the silver watch up and he took it, examining it.

“Where was it?” he sounded distant.

“There was a false bottom in one of the drawers. I’m assuming that was his room?”

Adrian nodded against me. “It was, it’s why it was vacant. I couldn’t bring myself to fill it. But when you came, it was the only empty one.”

“Anyway, I thought you’d want to have it.”

He opened the mechanism, which I hadn’t done. The watch no longer ticked, stuck at the fourth mark on the dot.

“Thank you.” He put it in his own drawer next to the bed and curled against me.

Chapter 33

Adrian

The few days it took to journey to the Tyrell forest passed relatively quickly, and thankfully, without any more mishaps.

Bramwell hadn’t had much luck with older maps. It seemed that area never had anything in it, always just a vacant spot in the ocean. It was pretty far out from the continent, almost bordering Quvill and Valcor if you tracked all the way back, but there didn’t seem to be any real connection to either of the kingdoms.

Sage did some looking with him as well, but when that was proving to be fruitless, she went back to doing clothing repairs. I was sure she had to be through most of her queue at this point. I thought about handing over a couple of shirts I’d damaged a while ago and never fixed, but wanted her to finish the crew’s first.

Every night, she spent in my bed. Her room had essentially turned into nothing more than a closet. Which was probably for the best, because with all the dresses she had, she needed the space. I had no idea how she traveled like this in the first place.

We were set to dock in Scorchcross in the next couple hours, the coastal town closest to the forest. It was condensed to the very outer reaches of Quvill, and luckily, Maralda wasn’t too far into it. At least not to my memory.

I couldn’t help but think about what Sage said, about trying to get used to the ocean. Now that she’d fallen right into it, I wasn’t sure if she felt the same way, but maybe some time on the deck while we were coasting could be good.

I fiddled with the new pocket watch Sage had given me. I assumed it wasn’t on Coltar’s body because he’d been robbed, but it seemed he left it behind. And I didn’t fault him for it. Though we were close, becoming captain over him did cause a rift in our relationship I was trying to repair before he passed. But we hadn’t quite gotten there, and that was a regret I just had to live with.

When I snaked to the war room Bramwell was sitting with his maps across from him, and Sage was in the corner, stitching what looked like a pair of pants.

As soon as she noticed me, she set it down, her smile radiant. “Hello, Captain,” she said.

“Hello, flower,” I said, walking over and dropping down to kiss her.