She saw the lump in his throat as he swallowed down his anxiety. She saw the thin tip of his rapier almost vibrating from the unsteadiness of his hand. Saw the fear, masked by forced determination, in his eyes. Contrary to what he may have wanted her to believe, the black-haired boy was no threat.
“You’ve got nerve, boy.” She slowly turned away from the mirror to face him, seemingly unperturbed by the sharp steel at her throat. There she stood for a moment, sizing him up, the silence punctuated only by the ticking of an ornate grandfather clock and the faintest shouts and ringing of swords outside. Then, quicker than lightning, Scarlett drew the pistol from her belt and aimed it at the boy’s head. “But nerve don’t win against lead.”
Scarlett was on a tight schedule. There were a dozen more buildings to rob on this island before she could consider this a profitable endeavour, and countless unsearched rooms in this house alone. Killing this boy and moving onto the next room would be the quickest and easiest course of action. However…
She cast her mind back to the painting they passed in the dining room. A brilliant idea sprang to mind. "So you’re the lord and lady’s son, are you? Their only son, too… Bet you’d fetch a prettier ransom than what I could get from these trinkets.“
With her free hand, she pressed her fingers to her lips and whistled loudly. Angelica and May would be here soon.
As she turned, Chase watched. He was waiting for the sword to be swatted out of his hands, to be held up against the wall with a shorter blade in true pirate fashion. “I like to think so,” he replied, allowing himself no more than a moment to consider whether it was a compliment or not.
He hadn’t exactly anticipated a pirate having a gun. He probably should’ve but, for all his worldly education, his parents hadn’t considered a pirate’s arsenal to be a worthy topic for the son of a nobleman. His eyes flitted to the weapon and back to her face, but he didn’t lower the sword in his hand.
Shaking his head, as dangerous an occupation as that could be with a gun pointed at it, he told her, “You can’t buy my parents. You’d make more money taking everything in this house. The guardsmen won’t be able to stop you, they’re all down at the docks.”
He swallowed again. “I’ll even tell you what’s the most valuable.”