he do the same?”
A deep calm befell him and his lids lowered. “Oh, aye.”
Cate looked back over her shoulder. The Valor’s lights were like a pestilent hovering of fireflies. The Morganse’s stern lamps illuminated her own wake with a molten golden glow.
“It’s not you they seek,” Nathan said evenly.
She glanced at him, and then away. “Are you sure?”
He smiled with the patience of a parent with a child afraid of thunder. “As sure as the tides.”
Cate shifted, toying with the cord. He frowned at seeing that she wasn’t convinced. “Darling, there’s no worry. You shan’t ever be turned over to him.”
She had spent nearly a fortnight formulating a list of possibilities of what his plans might be for her, but so far, nothing. If she wasn’t to be turned over for the reward, then what?
Nathan saw her doubt and winced. “In the midst of all this barbarity, luv, a pirate has but one thing upon which to rely: his word. And I give you mine: you shall never be handed over to Harte, nor anyone else. You can mark me on that.”
So touched by his sincerity, Cate reached for his hand where it rested on his leg next to hers. He jerked away as if seared and launched to his feet. He was nearly to the mizzenmast when Somers, the boatswain’s third mate, appeared at the door.
“Mr. Hodder’s compliments and duty, sir. We’re standing by.”
“On to it, then,” Nathan declared and darted away.
Cate sat staring in his wake, confused and doubly defeated. It wasn’t the first time she had seen him recoil and scamper away for no more reason than her nearness. She might be a widow, but she preferred to think she might still have a little allure left.
“Don’t flatter yourself, my dear,” she muttered.
No, it wasn’t the first time she had seen him race away, but would be the last, at least with reference to anything she had to do with.
She settled to the knot once more, but the cord blurred. Squealing, she pitched into a dark corner. In pure honesty, her frustration had nothing to do with the rope. Discontent gave way to curiosity at voices coming outside, low and urgent. She went out to find a sizable cluster of men around a number of empty casks lashed together. Two staffs had been rigged at one end, a lantern swinging from each.
“Silence fore and aft!” It was a wonder how commanding Hodder’s voice could be even in no more than a loud whisper.
The makeshift barge was lowered in the ship’s lee. A line was fed out, until the breeze caught and it drifted away.
“Douse the lamps,” murmured Nathan.
The Morganse veered from the barge’s path. The sea anchor at her side was cut free and she shot off on her new course, like a horse given its head.
“Won’t they figure out that was just a bunch of barrels?” she asked of Hodder, watching the Valor follow what must have looked like the Morganse’s stern lights.
Hodder smiled faintly, his multitude of ivory rings glinting in the starlight. “Oh, aye. Even if ’tis but an hour, ’twill be too late.”
He directed her attention to the topsails and jibs, now charcoaled to obscurity. On the moonless night, the black ship would be nothing more than a dark blot on the water’s oily satin.
Cate stood amidships. Venus, a diamond low in the sky, was soon blotted out by the jagged edge of land looming near. Uneasiness prickled between her shoulder blades as the islands, the ones they had paralleled all day, came closer. Obviously, Nathan had something in mind, but it was still a worry.
The watch bells were reduced to no more than the rap of Hodder’s knuckles on the binnacle. The lead lines were flung, the depths passed aft to the afterdeck by word of mouth. Men stood at the ready at the tacks and braces, should a change be necessary in a moment’s notice. A complex system of flashes and waves of watch lamps were employed to direct the helm as the ship tiptoed her way through.
The black spine of land before them eventually split, a passage between two islands showing itself. The land on both sides closed in as they slipped through, the air becoming heavy with the smell of damp earth and rotting vegetation. The breeze brought the howls and cries of night creatures. A hunch-shouldered blur swept overhead; Artemis, taking her leave. The land eventually fell away and the smell of jungle gave way to salt air.