no further need for you to thwart the boundaries of propriety and risk your reputation. The hold in my flagship is empty. I shall transport this prisoner to England in your stead.”
My objection exploded in a plaintive, horrified gasp that quickly turned into an enraged growl. A smirk stole across Dycker’s face.
Ashley’s hand balled and released at his side. “I appreciate the offer, but she is my prisoner. As thus, I intend to deliver her myself and collect the due recognition.”
My heart shriveled. He wanted his promotion. Of course, he did. And perhaps a part of him wanted to keep me close for the duration of the journey so that he could continue to use my body until he handed me over to the headsman. There might have been an even smaller part of him that wished to keep me forever. But in the end, when forced to decide between his career and my life, I knew he wouldn’t choose me.
My thoughts twisted to a dark place, one that painted the aristocratic world in shades of liquid red.
Dycker strolled back to Ashley. “We’re only a day from New Providence. I don’t have the space to confine forty prisoners, but I can hold the woman while you capture your feral pirate. I shall take her off your hands and moor along the eastern coast of Eleuthera, just a few hours from here.” He thrust his chin in a southwesterly direction. “I’ll wait for you there, and upon your return, I shall sail in consort with your ship back to England. There, you can collect your prisoner from my hold and deliver her to the authorities yourself.”
I stopped breathing, my pulse shivering and gaze locked on the man who held my heart and my life in his hands.
His expression showed no creases, no tension, not a twitch of an eyelash as he spoke in a steady, unconcerned voice. “Very good, my lord. I’m most grateful for your assistance.”
“Excellent.” Dycker snapped his fingers at the lieutenants behind him. “Transport her to the flagship. Make haste.” He turned back to Ashley. “How about a drink in your quarters? I shall like to hear the story of how you captured Edric Sharp’s daughter.”
“It would be an honor.” Ashley turned and led the admiral to the companionway.
Everything inside me cried out, begging him to meet my eyes and reassure me that he had a plan, one that wouldn’t end us. Not like this.
But he didn’t. He didn’t look, didn’t try to send me a hint or give me a sign. Nothing.
It hurt. God’s wounds, it hurt far more than I thought it could. This didn’t even feel like a good-bye. I just felt…forgotten.
Fingers curled around my arms and wrenched me toward the stern, where the ladder to the jolly boat waited. Fighting my escorts and the hundreds of other armed men around me would only speed up my execution. I had no choice but to comply.
As I was ushered off HMS Blitz, I twisted my neck, trying to find Ashley among the scattering of soldiers. When I spotted him, it was only his back, where he vanished below deck. He hadn’t glanced back to check on me, hadn’t waited to see me off his ship and out of his life.
As I slid over the gunwale and descended the ladder, I couldn’t feel the rungs beneath my hands. As I was rowed to the flagship, I couldn’t hear the waves over the drubbing of my heart. As I climbed aboard my new prison, I couldn’t see the horizon through the blurry smear of wetness in my eyes.
Priest wouldn’t know to look for me here. This wasn’t the ship he was hunting.
Every plan I’d made to escape lay in ruin.
Because I’d fallen in love with yet another man who would never choose me first.
The desolation was all-consuming, unfathomable, dragging me into the unsearchable depths of the darkest abyss. And that was nothing compared to what was coming.
Little did I know, I’d just been delivered into an infernal hell that would surpass the very limits a human soul could withstand.
I was immediately put under the decks by two of the admiral’s lieutenants, who looked like brothers with their matching stern expressions and white periwigs. They handled me with less care than one would give a goat as they kicked, shoved, and dragged me to the bilge.
I’d expected the rough treatment but not what followed.
A wad of cloth was forced into my mouth. A ring of iron went around my