A Ship of Bones & Teeth Read Online Karina Halle

Categories Genre: Dark, Erotic, Fantasy/Sci-fi, Paranormal Tags Authors:
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Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 144411 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
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Perhaps you should have let them all survive.

But thoughts like that never do me any good. I’ve had too many regrets in my past, I don’t let myself entertain them anymore. Yes, I could have let them all survive, but the truth is that killing is part of my nature, no different than a jaguar in the jungle. People never want to admit to themselves that they’re bad, wicked, made in the devil’s image, not god’s. Everybody on this green and blue earth thinks they’re perfect, and that’s no way to live. I think there’s a bit of peace given to you when you accept who and what you are.

Like the princess. I don’t know her from Eve, she’s but a stranger and comes from the stock of people I abhor the most, the ones in charge of society. Yet there’s something about her nature that appeals to me. Perhaps it’s that she struck me in the face, or that she cursed openly, or doesn’t seem all that concerned about the prince. All of these moments showed me who she really was and she wasn’t afraid to show it.

With thoughts of her on my mind, I get up, my cock at a stand. Naturally it wasn’t just her attitude that warmed me to her, but how damn desirable she looked in that wet gown. With her long black hair, wild and free from the hair pinnings, full tits and gleaming blue eyes, she looked like she belonged to the darkness, like a goddess of some forgotten religion.

I don’t have time this morning to do anything about the stiffness of my cock. Instead I look out the clear section of the stained-glass window of my chambers. Dawn is breaking and the night watch will be ending soon, and it looks like they’ve kept the ship going at a steady clip. Judging by the land to starboard, we should be through the San Bernardino Strait by late afternoon. After that, we can breathe a little easier. It’s not unusual for navy ships to be lurking in the island coves, but once we hit the Pacific we should be clear of them.

My heart beats faster at the thought of the open ocean, the unyielding horizon and the freedom it represents. If it were up to me, we’d never make landfall at all. But though I am captain of this ship, this ship is a democracy and most of the crew get a little funny when they haven’t seen land for a while. It’s my job above all else to keep them healthy and happy.

I get dressed and do a quick wash in the freshwater basin before heading out. I should go up top first and check in with the night watch before it ends but I’m curious to see how my prisoners are. I can hear the ones down in the hold from here, moaning and crying and begging for release, but I have no interest in them at the moment. Instead, I head down a level to the gun deck and to the cell where the royal couple is kept.

I open the door to their cabin and brace myself, expecting to be hit with flying excrement or something of the sort. That’s happened a few times before when I’ve taken a special interest in a prisoner and kept them behind bars here.

Instead, I find the lovers on opposite ends of the cell. The princess is sitting on the floor, her hair in her face and looking down, the prince is leaning against the bars with a pitiful look on his face.

“I demand you to release me!” the prince says the moment he locks eyes with me, gripping the bars of the cell until his knuckles turn white. “By order of King Frederick, IV, of the Danish Realm! I am Prince Aerik, and you have no right taking me hostage.”

“And yet here you are,” I say to him. “I’d ask how you slept but judging by your foul mood and complete lack of gratitude for not being killed on sight, I’m going to assume it wasn’t well.”

I glance down at the princess, eager to see if she has a rebuttal. But the woman I see before me is completely different than the one I met last night. She doesn’t even raise her head to look at me and, if anything, she seems to be cowering. Perhaps she suddenly remembered I am to be feared. Either that or she’s in shock.

“And what say you, Princess?” I walk to the cell, keeping out of reach enough just in case the prince decides to do something stupid. Knowing me I’d end up killing him, and I really don’t want to ruin a good thing. “You’re awfully quiet this morning. Could barely get you to shut up last night.”


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