distinguish their ship from any other merchants. They flew the marque of the Earl of Argyll, just as Rowan and Ruairí had. They had the same arrangement as the previous two pirate captains. They paid a hefty tax to the earl, and he gave them his marque to sail under, lending them legitimacy when they needed it.
Braedon inched toward Kyle with two pieces of hardtack and a strip of dried beef in his hands. Kyle glared at him, and the boy jumped back, his eyes wide. Kyle knew his expression was menacing. It was the same one he wore when he boarded ships he plundered, the same one he wore when he set people adrift. He grimaced and shook his head, not intending to scare the boy when Kyle knew Braedon was attempting to be thoughtful.
“Thank you,” Kyle mumbled. He accepted the food with a nod, but once Braedon disappeared toward the galley, Kyle gave the food to Keith.
“What do I want this for? I have food aboard my own ship, or I can raid your galley if I wish,” Keith mused.
“Because I’m not hungry,” Kyle spat. He knew neither his brother nor Braedon deserved his temper. But the O’Malleys were nowhere in sight to be on the receiving end.
“You haven’t eaten all day or night,” Keith pointed out.
“Do you think Moira has?” Kyle hissed. “Do you think she’s warm and dry somewhere?”
“She might be,” Keith shrugged. He returned Kyle’s menacing glower with one of his own. Kyle sighed and shook his head.
“I keep wondering if we missed a cave or inlet when we searched. We were gone longer than Dermot when he went looking for her. Maybe he gave up because he couldn’t find her. And maybe he couldn’t find her because she found a place to hide. But she couldn’t hear me calling to her, so she didn’t know to come out. Or worse, she’s injured with no way to get out. And I left her there.”
Kyle knew he rambled, but he’d always thought aloud with Keith as his silent audience. They both processed events and information that way, so Keith returned to sitting silently while his twin spoke. Kyle tried to work through scenarios where Moira survived and escaped the cursed cove where they never should have lingered. When he could think of no more, Keith nodded and stood, clapping a hand on Kyle’s shoulder.
“Before sunup, we go ashore. We look around, get the lay of the land, ask some discreet questions. Once we know where things stand, we either find horses and ride south, or we sail back and scour the coastline for caves,” Keith reasoned. Kyle nodded, but images of Moira stranded in a cave, freezing to death because he didn’t get to her soon enough still distracted him. Keith interrupted his thoughts with a shake of his shoulders. “This wasn’t your fault.”
Kyle rounded on his brother and grabbed the front of the doublet Keith donned against the chill air. Kyle and Keith argued from time to time, but they’d never come to blows—even as children and adolescents. However, Kyle was ready to plow his fist into Keith’s jaw. With the barest of restraint, he released Keith and shoved him away.
“Of course, it’s my bluidy fault!” Kyle kicked over a nearby barrel. “I raided her ship. I brought her aboard mine. I insisted upon keeping her. And I took her out where any O’Malley could see her. Then I didn’t even protect her.”
“And I would have killed her,” Keith said practically. “You told me she dressed like a lad, and I’d never seen her before. I would have left her to burn, run her through, or tossed her over. I’d say her fate would have been a far sight worse if I’d spotted her ship instead of you.”
Kyle offered Keith a jerky nod, knowing his brother spoke the truth. Neither purposely made women their victim, but Moira’s clothing and build had made her look like a lad. Keith might have ended her life before she could have pulled off her cap to show she was a woman.
“I can’t ignore that blame still rests with me,” Kyle muttered.
He looked toward the shore, the docks bustling as fishing boats returned for the evening. He looked south, toward where he’d last seen Moira. The pain in his chest threatened to bring him to his knees. No one other than Keith had ever connected with Kyle so intuitively as Moira. Despite the tension between them when he kept her