Page 189 of The Discount Damsel

“But Amberly has no seas, nor rivers deep enough for a galleon.”

“Correct. But those wretches who would bleed my country certainly do.” Her expression was a charming mixture of sweetness and savagery.

“So you’d give up the life of a princess to become a vigilante to ensure the safety and prosperity of your people.”

“Exactly. I’m not looking to conquer or take that which is not mine. I wish only to make the lives of those who would hurt my kingdom insufferable.”

“So you wouldn’t be targeting merchant ships or fishermen or innocent villages.”

She laughed, truly amused at the preposterousness of his preconception. “Of course not. I would only engage those entities that pose a direct threat.”

Bradley shifted in the bed then to look her full in the face. “That really would make you a pirate I’ve never seen before. You’re a pirate who would hunt down the pirates looking to plunder your kingdom.”

“Exactly,” she agreed simply.

The apprentice trembled with the need to kiss her. This princess was astounding. Selfless. A champion to people just like him. What he would give to see her sailing up the Cut and turning her cannons to Viscount Saltreave’s keep. What he would do to convince her of his appreciation and adoration afterward. Kissing her would only be the beginning.

But he wasn’t free to kiss her. Not yet.

“Millie, about yesterday, I never meant to overwhelm you. I was just trying to tell you how inspiring you are.” He groped for the right words. “You really are as marvelous as that little pink octopus.”

“The tula.” Her nose wrinkled.

“Listen, I could compliment your hair, how it shines like fire when the sunlight hits it. Or how your smile can beguile even the surliest snake. Or how you pull everyone towards you like gravity. Or how all your new freckles enhance your beauty instead of detract from it, like your governesses would tell you.”

He risked touching her then, sliding his fingertips down her cheek to her jaw. Her chocolate eyes were impossibly large, shimmering. “But all those things don’t make you you. When I call you tula . . . what I mean to say is, I see you, Millie. The Princess Pirate of Amberly. Unstoppable.”

She held his gaze. “If you see me, then you know me and what I want. So why haven’t you kissed me?” It was so cathartic to finally call him out on it.

Twin spots of color like springtime poppies bloomed on his cheeks. “Pocket asked me the same thing.”

“My bestie needs to shut her mouth.”

“Your bestie was right to ask.” He grimaced. “And right to deter me.”

“She did what?” Millie wiggled upright. “So she can stay behind at the tower and strip Duncan out of his clothes with some cards and I can’t even get one measly kiss? The perfidious tramp!” She reached for her cutlass.

Bradley grabbed her hand and pulled it back, held it in the cushioned valley of the comforter created by their legs. “She wasn’t sabotaging you, Millie. Far from it.”

“Doesn’t sound like it,” she grumped.

“She told me if I didn’t know what I wanted out of my life, then I had no business kissing you and weighing you down with my indecisions.”

“Oh.” She inhaled, as if preparing to refute it, then released a long breath, unable to. And she wouldn’t pretend otherwise. She had no need or desire for a man without purpose. “Oh.”

Bradley smiled softly. “Exactly. I’ve had some time to think since then, when I wasn’t livid with you or Dirk.”

“So you’ve had a few seconds. Your thought-processing speed must be extraordinary.”

He nudged her in the shoulder with his. “Passing my Master’s exam and getting my staff is the finish line to a single goal, but it is also the starting line of the rest of my life. I know that now.”

Bradley looked out at the rain, and beyond. “I want to do something grand with my life, to show the world that great things can come from humble beginnings. I realize I don’t want to return to the Cut as a fisherman. But I could return there as its protector. To help make it prosper. Or take a position somewhere where my gift can really help those who need it. Because that’s what I have. A gift.”

He looked down at his hands, one intertwined with hers, the other lying palm-up on his lap. “Wild magic, more potent than the masters have seen in generations. I don’t want squander it. I want to be worthy. I want to give back to those who helped me—my parents, my village, Master Excelsior. If . . .”

“If what?”

He unlaced his fingers from hers. “I found a piece of dark magic in the workroom. And I even considered using it to summon a djinn to break my curse. I don’t know why Master Excelsior has that in his possession. If it was stored there away from the College so it could be disposed of and was accidentally forgotten, or . . . if I was meant to discover it and . . . join him.”