Maia had the urge to laugh. It had been the second time she heard those words. The difference was they said it straight to her face now. It still sounded just as ridiculous.
"What?" She fake gasped, "The Crown Prince? What makes you think a low life like me has seen the Prince's face? Let alone be engaged to him?"
Then, she scoffed at their assumptions. No one in their right mind would come up with such a story. Such bold claims wouldn't be believed by the people.
"Oh, not this again, missy." The leader spat on the floor, "Don't even try. We all saw you earlier with him."
Maia pressed her lips together, "You have to be more specific, mister. I had three male companions with me."
"It was the good looking one." A subordinate answered for her.
The good looking one?
"You mean Raz? I mean, Rash? Rash of the Sea?"
No one moved but somehow the atmosphere changed. The name brought out an eerie silence and why wouldn't it? Raz's reputation composed of five men on the ground in five seconds, a silent murder of an evil baron, countless bodies drowned by the sea and tide after tide of catastrophes in her wake.
"You were with the Rash of the Sea?" The same subordinate breathed out.
Maia nodded slowly and bowed her head. She tried to hide her face by looking over her shoulder, mumbling, "Yeah, we're in a relationship."
The subordinates shivered while Grass-head immediately pulled on her ponytail, baring his teeth, "You said your fiancé is lost at sea."
Her face showed no fear—not even from the smell of tobacco coming from his mouth, "Yeah, Rash of the Sea. Lost at sea. Same difference."
"It's not."
"Whoever said women made sense?" Maia shrugged and leaned her head back. In her mind, she commented on how easily men get pissed off and how they liked to pull women's hair.
Not that she hadn't used those to her advantage.
The leader let go of her hair, gritting his teeth, "Enough of this, missy! You have dragged this too long. Confess or we'll have to take action."
Putting away the dagger he held, he pulled out a long sword from his belt and pointed it at Maia's chest.
The red haired pirate looked unimpressed, "Oh my, I thought you said I was the Crown Prince's fiancé?"
"So you—arrgghh, enough!" Grass-head swung the sword to the side. It swooshed against the air then, it arched back to Maia's neck, "Confess already! We saw you intimate earlier."
"Intimate…" Maia looked up at the ceiling, thinking. It had been a long day. It was crowded too. They could have meant anyone, "Oh, the hug?"
"Yes!" The leader pleased at their synchronization, "We saw it!"
"Oh… That's not Rash."
"Ha!"
"That was Nyt, a new Phantom Pirate. Poor lad. He's still unused to our missions. He's easily excited, you know? So when we haven't found anything yet, he becomes sad. Then, there was this fortune teller. Oh, did I want to hit her. She just had to open her big mouth and discourage him even more," Maia shook her head at the memory, "What else could I do but comfort him?"
"A likely story!"
She merely snorted at his skepticism, "You should listen to your story sometime, mister. The Crown Prince? With a peasant? Everyone knows the Prince almost never leaves the palace."
Grass-head couldn't see it but her words startled his subordinates slightly. Their shoulders slacken at the thought. Maia hid a smile. A little bit more and she could persuade them to her side or, at least, question theirs.
If only Grass-head would do the same.
"I mean, hardly anyone has seen the Crown Prince since the King died. How on earth would he come to know peasants? And mind you, I have never worked at Teralyn's Palace. I doubt His Highness goes out to the market to buy his shopping."
"Oh, but we have a solid source," their leader smirked. This broke the trance on his subordinates.
Yet, Maia didn't miss a beat, "That what? Crown Prince Tylen has a fiancée? Wouldn't the Palace announce that if it were true?"
"Ah, but the underground doesn't work that way, missy." A mocking smile formed on the grass-head's lips, "Everyone knows the Crown Prince should be on his way to Aurae but only his Knight is in the Royal carriage. It has been a race ever since to capture him."
Maia paused for a moment. If they knew about Tylen's scheme, it would only be a matter of time before it reached Aurae Kingdom.
When she spoke, she spoke carefully, "There's… a bounty on the Crown Prince's head? Has he offended anyone?"
"We're not sure on the details but someone had posted a job listing to bring back the Prince… but he has to be alive."
"I see…" Maia nodded and leaned forward, "...and you think I'm his fiancée how?"
Unfortunately, Grass-head saw through her act. He bent forward to meet her eyes and said, "Keep your words cryptic all you want, missy. It's no secret that the journey to Aurae is for his engagement with its Princess. Why else would he leave if not for another woman?"
Well, they weren't wrong, Maia mused in her mind, except that said person in question had been presumed dead years ago.
She sighed helplessly, "Look, mister. I don't know what screws you have missing in your head but without a shed of doubt, I am not Crown Prince Tylen's fiancée."
The leader had been trained how to successfully interrogate a subject. The sure way for him to win it was if the subject showed any unconscious sign of lying but none of them appeared on Maia's hard stare.
"Let's see who will have the last laugh when the Crown Prince comes for you." He whispered and straightened his spine.
Maia cackled, tears forming at the corner of her eyes. The kidnappers stood stock still. They merely looked at each other then, back at the lunatic tied to a chair.
Her laughs suddenly stopped, "Oh! But this isn't my last laugh though. It doesn't count."
"What makes you think you'll have the last laugh, missy?" Grass-head snarled, the last of his patience dwindling.
It was Maia's turn to smirk, "Mister, if you think Crown Prince Tylen will come for me, you are greatly mistaken."