Paddle Fight

"Why are you here?"

The brows of the Duke of Sleipnir rose as the question was thrown at him like a dead, stinking fish. "That would be my question, my dearest cousin. You were the ones that captured and brought me here, to this... beautiful lonely island."

He looked about as he said so, seeing that there was not even a tree and only three square meters of space. The island rested inside a small lake, the inflow of it being the water source of the camp. Newly appointed guards stood in call distance on the shoreline.

Katherine, who sat in the boat that brought them here together with her husband, looked at Ethan with derision as she folded her arms. "If you want to play dumb, you can do so on your own. Tell me: Why are you here? And while you're at it, spit out some details about your dealings with the organization named Loki. Else - "

"What, else?" Ethan broke her off with a curious face. It was hard to tell if the emotion was real or just mockery. "How will you make me produce the money you promised these street rats? It's a bit delusional to think you've got anything against me in your hand, especially since you declared killing me as beneath you. What do you think would irk me enough to tell you anything?"

With a deep breath, Katherine stopped herself from retorting or shifting nervously. "I have thought about that, and I think I know what it might be. Since your head works in crazy ways, torture is surely not the right answer. But before I try my idea, I wondered if you had something to tell me first. I can't think of another reason why you'd willingly come here."

Ethan's eyebrows lifted. "Willingly?"

"Are you saying you can melt my dagger but not the chain?" Annoyance rang in Katherine's voice, and Ethan smiled his harmless smile.

"Maybe I can just melt certain metals? Or I ran out of magic - wouldn't that be reasonable as well?"

In the following silence, Katherine's gaze wavered not once from the Duke. Instead, her brows furrowed further and her lips pursed tightly as if to say his questions were not worth answering. When the silence spread like a dark carpet, Ethan finally chuckled and sat on the mossy ground.

"I wonder what your idea might be...," he murmured quietly. "I myself don't know what to torture me with. Surely not with fire and weapons, so maybe starving? You gave me no food after all... and the daylight sun won't be nice on my skin. Oh, talking of burns, you might be interested in this wound you're responsible for. Be assured that it is the most itching reminder of your feelings for me. To think they would be this intense, I underestimated you."

An unladylike snort left Katherine's nose, and her eyes narrowed. "How come all your brabbling is completely unrelated to my questions? I will give you one more chance to answer them, or we will leave you here. And you better light your magic up at night, for the guards are advised to spike the island with arrows in the instant they don't see your ugly face anymore."

"Leave me here? Ha, what a threat!" Ethan grinned as the sarcasm flowed over his tongue. "How can just leaving me here be worse than torture? Who would succumb to that, my Dearest? It's more likely that I'll die of festering wounds than speak a word."

"Maybe if you were someone else, yes." Now Katherine grinned as well, though it was more like baring her teeth. "But if I leave today, I will never come back. You won't see me again unless you divulge everything I want to know. And even then... who knows? Honestly, it would be a relief to never see you again."

With sadistic satisfaction, Katherine saw Ethan's eye twitch. It was only for a moment, and his grin didn't waver, but it was enough to know she hit a nerve. Triumphantly, she raised a finger. "One thing I noticed on our way from the border: I did not miss you, but you did. You missed me so much that you came to annoy me every. Single. Day. Every hour. Even when I stabbed you with a blade, you returned to me. More than any information you want to tell, that might be the reason you are here. Is it not?"

With the innocent look he portrayed so well, Ethan blinked. "I do not know what you are talking about."

"Oh, really?" Katherine tilted her head and then snapped her fingers. "Well then... you will have no problem with me leaving, no?"

Without waiting for an answer, she nodded at Nathaniel, who pushed the paddle against the island's shore to send them off. Yet before the boat could float away, a hand shot forward and grabbed the paddle. Ethan moved with surprising agility and strength, pulling the boat back in.

Scowling, Nathaniel tugged on the paddle and almost hit Ethan with an uppercut of wood had the other not embraced the improvised weapon closer in time. A clanking noise and a grunt of suppressed pain followed as the wood knocked quite harshly against the metal on Ethan's chest wound.

Knowing his wife's plans, Nathaniel didn't try to lose him again but glared down at the man who lay on his stomach on top of the paddle. "Do you have anything left to say?"

Ethan glared back, for the first time showing real animosity. "Only to my cousin, Prince."

The last word was hissed, and the two men stared at each other as if they were the ones with bad blood between them. The eye contact was finally broken when Katherine placed a hand on her husband's arm. Both their gazes shifted to her.

"We are tight on time, Ethan. Speak or let go, but do it now."

"I..." For the first time, Ethan seemed speechless. Maybe he had pulled the boat back without thinking, or maybe it was just a ruse to buy him more time, but he took so long searching for words that Katherine got impatient.

Just before she'd have exploded, Ethan opened his mouth once more. "You want to know about Loki? To fight against the organization? I can bring you to their leader if you want."

"Huh?" Even knowing that there were dealings between Ethan and the organization, Katherine had not expected such a juicy piece of information. Despite this, she recovered rapidly. "Their leader? That is classified information not even his subordinates know. How would you know who it is, not to speak of the location?"

The boat stopped on the shore again, making the couple riding it jerk. As if he caught control of the situation again, the smile was back on Ethan's face when he answered. "I am closer than his usual subordinate. It took me months of afford until he believed that I'm loyal. That is why I can lead you to him."

One finger on her lips, Katherine pondered if that was the truth. She didn't trust a word of this liar of a cousin, but it was a temptation. "What proof do you have? And why would you so readily betray someone if it was difficult to build trust? No... actually, scratch the last part. Just show me proof."