My Once Handsome Husband - Chapter 297

The Captain walked with Delaney on his arm up a grand flight of stairs.  At the top, there was a pair of doors.  He paused to unlock them before turning back to her.

“There are things in here it would be best if you never mentioned seeing.”

Delaney nodded, “I only want the tooth, Captain.  That will be the only thing capturing any of my attention.”

Captain Black looked at her seriously as if he was trying to gauge if she was telling the truth.  Seeming to accept her words, he turned then and opened the door.

Delaney stepped inside a room that was nearly dark.  The Captain stepped past her into the darkness and flung open a set of curtains over a large window.  Light washed down over the most terrifying thing she had ever seen.

In the center of the sizable room sitting on a platform was the enormous white dragon skull.  Delaney felt as if her heart skipped a beat when she saw it.  So this was the monster her husband had faced.  It was nothing like what she had imagined after all.  It was so much worse.

Its skull was as tall as she was.  There were large open holes where she knew the eyes must have been and a line of spikes ran from between them to the back.  It was nearly as wide as a carriage and half as long.

The most chilling thing about this skull though was not the sheer size of it.  It was the deadly, pearly, teeth that filled its mouth.

Delaney walked slowly towards the skull until she stood only a few steps away.  She looked up at it, trying to take it in.  What a nightmarish creature this was.

Before seeing the rest of its skeleton in the field and now seeing its enormous head before her, Delaney had never really thought about what her husband had had to face that day in the war.  It made her blood run cold.

“Your Prince Mason told me of the field that was full of the bodies of the dragons the day all of you were here,” the Captain said as he came to stand beside her, “So my men and I left within the week to go collect them.  I’ve sold or traded nearly all of them now but this one… this one I kept for myself.”

Delaney glanced at him, “So that was where you were when Ilona came?”

He nodded, “I was on my way back here with my men when your man found me and told me of Ian being taken to the castle.  If only we had known then that your husband would need the tooth.  He and the skull were both in the city at the same time.”

Delaney dropped her gaze.  They hadn’t known he would need the tooth then because she hadn’t spoken to the witch.  She hadn’t spoken to the witch because Vincent hadn’t told her he was dying.

“Now then,” the Pirate King sighed, “Which tooth is it you’re going to need?”

Looking up at the glistening, razor-sharp teeth, Delaney took in the size of them.  The ones towards the front were long.  Longer than her forearm.  Then they got shorter the farther towards the back they went.  Helena hadn’t said how big of a tooth she needed so Delaney would have to guess.

“I don’t think it needs to be one of these huge ones,” she said before stepping around to the side.  She remembered from the stories Vincent and the other men had told about his attack on this dragon that she was now standing on the same side her husband would have been when he ran up to kill the beast.  She didn’t know how he could have been so brave.

Cautiously, she stepped up onto the platform where the bottom jaw was resting.  Imagining she had a sword in her hand, she leaned inside between the teeth and imagined her husband stabbing upward as far as he could.

“Careful Lady Adair,” the Captain reached out, “Those teeth are still covered in poison.  If it gets into any knick on your skin then you’ll be as bad off as your husband.”

Delaney leaned back quickly, pulling her arm away.  She looked up at the jaw above her and the long row of teeth.  She studied them as she tried to decide which one to take.  Then she noticed something strange.

“Do you see this one?” she asked, pointing to a tooth in the middle, “Do you see how it isn’t as shiny as the others?”

Captain Black stepped around and looked where she was pointing.

“You’re right,” he said in surprise, “It isn’t the same… And look neither is that one.”

Delaney stepped back and saw the one he was talking about.  It was the same as the one she’d pointed out.  Much duller than the rest.  Then they both noticed a third.

“Three,” she said quietly, “There are three that are different just like my husband was punctured three times.”

“I don’t think that’s a coincidence, my dear,” the Captain said seriously, “I think those are the three teeth that sank into him.  I think it’s one of those teeth that you’ll need.”

–

The Captain called for a few of his men to come to the room bringing tools with them.  They were all careful, not wanting to risk accidentally touching the poison-covered teeth.  Most of them had seen Vincent when he’d visited and they didn’t want to end up looking like him.

Using pliers, hammers, and a variety of other tools, the pirates, at last, managed to dislodge the middle tooth.  They wrapped it in a wax sheet and set it inside a metal box.  The pirate king felt sure that that would keep any poison from leaking out and touching anyone.  Delaney hoped he was right.

After the men had finished they vanished as quickly as they’d come.  The Captain took the box and handed it over to Delaney as if he was handing her a fragile treasure and she guessed, in a way, he was.

“Thank you,” she said seriously, “I can’t tell you what this means to me.”

The Captain smiled, “I know exactly what it means to you, my dear.  You gave me the same sort of gift when you saved my son.”

Moving one hand, Delaney turned it so the palm was up, revealing the light, bruise-colored scar across it.  The Captain took a step forward, gently taking the hand in his own.

“Ah yes,” he said quietly, “Your link to Ian.  I was curious what it might look like.”

He ran one long finger along the mark and it made her shiver.  He smiled and wrapped his hand around hers, closing hers into a fist.

“Thank you for that,” Captain Black said, “I know it was a lot harder tying your life to another’s than it was for me to give you a piece of something I have on display.”

His gaze dropped and his expression was sad.  It was then that she realized why he likely wasn’t in his normal good mood.

His children were gone.  Ilona, Ian, their brother and sister who had been taken by the King of the Red Lands.  Any of the Black Children that had been on board the ship with Ilona when it had gone down.  Any of his children that had gone with Ian to look for the others.  So many of his older children were all gone now.

“Have you… Have you heard from Ian?”

The Captain lifted his head to look her in the eyes.

“I haven’t,” he said quietly, “I haven’t had word come from any of them.”

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, feeling her heart ache for him as well as his children.  Especially Ian.

“I have many children as you know,” he looked away, “But that doesn’t make any of them any less precious to me… I am a pirate.  I am always in search of treasure.  But my family… my family is a treasure more dear to me than any other.”

Delaney bit her lip and felt tears sting her eyes.  She didn’t know what to say to this man who was in so much pain.  There wasn’t anything to say.  Nothing she could say would make it better.

Captain Black cleared his throat, “Come.  We must get you and your tooth back to Helena.  You have to save your husband.”

He took Delaney on his arm and led her back out of the room, pausing to lock the door behind them.  They walked down the stairs and came upon a woman Delaney recognized immediately as his wife.

She stopped and looked back and forth between them.  The Captain said something to her in their own language and she nodded before walking quickly back in the direction she had come from.  Delaney wanted to ask what he’d said but she had a feeling the Captain would not appreciate her prying.

They reached the front doors and the butler was still standing there so he hurried to open them for his master.  Bernard and Duncan had been sitting on the steps but at the sound of the door they jumped to their feet.  Spinning around, their eyes landed on Delaney and relief flooded their faces seeing she was alright.

“Did you get it?” Bernard asked cautiously.

Delaney held up the box and smiled.  Grins filled both men’s faces and Duncan reached out to gently take it from her and place it inside the carriage.

“Thank you Captain,” Bernard said sincerely, “This means a great deal.”

“Yes,” Duncan nodded, “Thank you.”

The Captain tipped his head in their direction.  They both hesitated a moment before climbing into the carriage.  Just then his wife appeared again, holding a basket.

“Something for you to eat on your way back to the city,” the pirate king said, taking it and handing it to Delaney, “Your baby needs plenty to eat so he can grow as strong as his father.”

Delaney’s mouth opened in surprise, “How-How did you know?”

Captain Black gave her a devilish smirk, “When you’ve had as many children as I have you learn to pick up on the signs.”

Blushing, Delaney thanked him for the food.  He walked her down to the carriage and she handed the basket inside before he helped her up as well.

“I wish you swift and safe travels,” the pirate king said to them before closing the door.

And then they were off, back to the King’s City.  At last they had the final thing needed to save Vincent.