Read Online Paradise Island by Charmaine Ross - Free Book Online

took her a moment to light the tinder. A flame burst into life and set the rest of the dried seaweed alight. She moved to the entrance to the cave, carefully crawled through the entrance and cautiously peered inside. The flames illuminated the cave. It was dry and small, and large enough for the two of them to rest and see out the night. The sandy floor was littered with dry seaweed and broken lengths of driftwood. The ceiling was low, too low for her to stand upright, but that didn’t bother her. It suited their purposes well. Estelle planted the lit stick in the center of the cave and squeezed back out.
    â€œThe space will do us well. Go in and I’ll gather some wood for a fire to dry ourselves,” Estelle said.
    Gregory stood and lifted his bound wrists. “I could help you if I had free hands.”
    â€œI’m not stupid enough to let you free,” Estelle said. “Do what you want, but I’m making a fire inside that cave because I intend to dry out. If you want to stay out here and freeze, so be it. But I’m not so ruthless that I would not offer you some measure of comfort. Besides, I need you alive and well for you to attend your trial.”
    â€œThat trial is sinking further and further away. I’m sure you agree we have more pressing issues at stake,” Gregory said.
    â€œNevertheless, it will still happen,” Estelle said. She stooped to gather an armful of wood and carried it through the cave entrance, set it into a pile and crawled back out. She needed to get a good fire going. This night was going to be uncomfortable enough as it was. Gregory watched her silently and helped her collect the driftwood as best he could. Before long they had enough to keep a fire going for the next few hours.
    Estelle ignored Gregory’s penetrating black stare as she set about building a fire in the middle of the cave. She took one side of the cave while Gregory took the other, settled into the fine, soft sand and waited for the warm flames to lick life back into her bones. She watched him shuffle uncomfortably against the rock wall, moving awkwardly with his arms pinned in front of him by the heavy manacles. She felt a twinge of guilt at furthering his discomfort, but she couldn’t risk removing his manacles, even for a moment of relief. For this night, until she knew more about her situation, he would just have to endure the discomfort.
    Eventually the flames did their work and Estelle relaxed against the rock wall and closed her eyes, her extremities sufficiently warmed. Her mind wandered to the attack on her ship. In her mind’s eye she watched the ships melt from the horizon, seemingly from the vapors that bound the sea to the sky. Black dots, coming fast, faster than anything she had ever witnessed before, intent on reaching her ship, destroying her crew. How could Cutlass have sailed so fast, and known their location?
    â€œI don’t know how you were attacked with such vicious force.” It was as if he read her mind. She cracked open her eyes, found his and was locked in a bottomless black stare that had her wanting to know what his thoughts were.
    â€œYou have a theory?” she asked. She shuffled straighter against the cave wall, leaning with her arms resting on her upturned knees.
    â€œAlthough I am a captain of the Royal Navy, I am still not sufficiently important to warrant an attack as extreme, or with as many ships, as we just witnessed.”
    She rolled the words in her mind. The disjointed shock of being in one place and then the other in a split second was wearing off and she found she could reason again. He was right. She hadn’t expected such a chase as this. The
Wanderlust
sailed as fast as any rig in the Navy. At best they would have kept the same distance, with the gap neither increasing nor decreasing as they sailed the same winds, the same water. Sometimes those sorts of chases could last for days.
    â€œDo you think it is something