The smugglers escalated the argument. As soon as the lady of the house disappeared into the cellar, the men raised both their voices and their fists.
The surgeon met Mariana's eyes with a helpless look. He was obviously distressed.
The smugglers barely paid any attention to others right now, though.
Mariana gave the surgeon the universal "steal that" signal. Few among the decent and the proper knew of this hand signal, but the thumb pointing upwards was enough to tip the man off.
With his eyes darting from the box to the smugglers and back to the box again, the surgeon ducked under the table and reached for the box.
Success! The smugglers were too concerned with what turned out to be a wrestling match to pay any attention to the item that had caused it. The man came to Mariana and gestured to her to come to the gambling table with him so that they could leave without drawing any further attention to the theft.
Daniel had left. Mariana couldn't lie to herself. She had wanted to show off her accomplishments to him - just how well she was doing with what could become her next big theft. On the other hand, though, she was relieved.
In fact, sitting next to the spot he had just left felt like she was growing into a new person, untouched by his hands.
Oh, how that man changed everyone…
"Could you please give that box to me?" Mariana whispered to the surgeon. "I will give you some gold so that you can find yourself a ship out of Neul, with a decent crew, with no fights and no quarrels…"
"There are no such ships," the man said with a blank expression. "Blood, blood spills everywhere. It's just the nature of humans."
"Well, don't be positive about it if you don't want to. But do you want to trade that thing for a few coins?"
The man seemed to consider this. He kept an eye on the smugglers, though. Perhaps he thought that it would be better if Mariana was caught with the box instead of him. In any case, this reasonable man agreed to the trade.
Mariana took her scarf off. It wasn't a big deal, although the fabric covering her head marked her as a prestigious woman. It was still better to be safe than sorry, as it was quite likely that this box of dice was enchanted, or maybe even cursed.
There was a difference, but after all those sleepless nights due to her restless heart and aching body, Mariana didn't know which was worse.
To be enchanted by limerence or cursed by love?
She retreated from the large room, into a shady chamber where a fortune teller was talking about how his future had changed in the past few days. Whenever Mariana paid any attention to the man in an indigo robe, she felt like she was going to laugh at his face.
Apparently, this beggar in a rich man's clothes was the most fortunate man in Sennas and to become like him, one only had to give him money.
Mariana loved resourceful men, and the fortune teller wasn't too old or ugly. However, with the sight of Daniel's face still lingering inside her mind, she could not bring herself to properly focus on the man, however perfectly shaped his masculine brow was.
She sighed and took the box in her hands, carefully using the scarf to handle the item with grace and carefulness.
Mariana Adams was no specialist in the occult arts. However, she could see that the symbols carved in the dice were of magical origin, and they probably interacted together. Since the lines overlapped in ways that suggested many possible combinations, she could also see the element of gambling. The dice were not loaded, at least they didn't feel that way, and the outcome would not be certain. As to what happened when one played with them, she didn't have the courage to try it in this room.
"You have kept your hair blonde," Daniel said from behind her, scaring her so that she nearly dropped the precious box.
An anger as old as the sea and the sky arose within her belly, churning her insides into butter with a mixture of passion, lust, and plain hatred.
She crouched and hid the box into her scarf.
"I don't see why you try to anger me."
His voice was still the same, ever the low grumble, ever the ocean roaring. She wanted to tear her own ears off for loving how he sounded.
But wasn't he the perfect man? The ultimate pinnacle of subtropical masculinity, that lean and mean beast of a male with the best taste and hideous primitivity hidden under a shell of a decent and well-mannered gentleman?
Oh, how she hated herself for leaning into the mild cocoa scent of his skin! She had missed this feeling. Every time they drifted further apart, she nourished her fury so that this spell would never work on her again. Every time they met by accident, whether in Neul or in the wild lands beyond the equator, every single time she fell back into this curse. Her body was trembling and pulsating, he could have mistaken it for fear, but he knew better than that.
It was obvious. His hungry eyes pierced her, pushing his own agenda into her like a seed of a destructive thought.
They both had those blue eyes, but Mariana's were darker, kinder, and she only used their vivid color and obscenely large size for good whereas Daniel, the pirate king, used his own gaze to manipulate and immolate things depending on his fickle moods.
His perfectly sculpted form felt hot against her, since she had been feeling chilly earlier. The hatred she felt also raised her body temperature.
"Go away, you scoundrel," she hissed.
"I don't think I will. Look." He lowered his voice into a barely audible whisper. "There is a fight brewing in the main room. You won't be able to get out safely without my protection."
Always the pragmatist, Mariana tensed up. She was going to accept this offer. He could help her. Of course, he would expect something in return, and his eyes licked Mariana's cleavage so gently that she almost gave in to the pull, but she was still going to have to deal with the real world.
"Have they drawn their guns yet?" she asked.
A shot echoed from the main room, answering her question.
That same old danger addict expression lit up Daniel's face.
"Come, I know a secret route," he whispered with his voice all hoarse. He sounded like one of those low and grumbly swamp singers from the Raelian wilderness.
Her insides twitched again.