tactic meant to intimidate. I sat taller, unmoving, and waited.
“We can be friends, Miss Sharp.” He held out the compass, daring me to grab it. “Just give me the combination.”
“I’ll give you something, darling.” My mouth twisted. “How about an oozing rash? Or a bald head? Just come a little closer.”
He hissed past his teeth and reached for the red beard that no longer hung from his chin.
“Oh, for the love of God.” I leaned back against the mast behind me, reclining. “The big brave Highlander can’t take a joke?”
“Not about that.” His gaze dipped to my throat, narrowing on the jade stone. It was useless to him without a keyhole. Perhaps that was why he hadn’t taken it from me yet. “Tell me everything you ken about the puzzle.”
“Well… When my father gave it to me,” I said without emotion, hoping he wouldn’t smell the lie, “he talked about an island of birds.”
“Where?”
“Near Anguilla, I think.” I blew out a sigh. “I don’t really know. I was young.”
“What else?”
“Truly, Captain, I need time to sift through my memories and figure out the combination. But I will. I’ll unlock the damned thing if you get out of my face and leave me alone.”
I needed to give Priest and Ashley time to race to Harbour Island and sail Jade down the coast of Eleuthera to my current location. If they didn’t encounter any delays, they would only be three days behind Blitz.
“You need an incentive.” Madwulf stood and clasped his hands behind his back.
Incentive? I tensed, every muscle on high alert. His two rogues rushed forward and towered over either side of me. I didn’t flinch, didn’t look away from the Scotsman.
He flicked his gaze at the men, and a second later, they had me on my feet and held between them.
My pulse accelerated. My legs felt like water, but I refused to avert my gaze from Madwulf.
A third man from Madwulf’s crew appeared at my side. In his fists, he held a broad, flat wooden plank like a sword.
I swallowed, unable to feel my tongue or my face or the deck beneath my feet.
In a blur of movement, the pirates manhandled my arms, jerking me this way and that. The iron on my ankle galled my skin as I tried to kick and twist away. But they overpowered me by sheer strength and numbers.
As they held me where they wanted me, I had no choice but to tuck my elbows in tight and protect vital organs.
The plank swung, colliding with the front of my thigh. My teeth slammed into my tongue. I cried out, and my entire body jolted with inconsolable agony.
My head dropped forward as I sagged and grunted with excruciating breaths, moaning, pleading with the pain, begging it to stop. It felt as though my leg had been ripped from my body.
The tars tossed me onto the deck, sending another wave of anguish through my thigh. I lay there, gasping through the splintering torment.
It took a minute before I could push up to sit. Resting on the opposite hip, I met Madwulf’s pitiless gaze with the bravest face I could muster.
“On the morrow, at eight bells of the morning watch, I shall return.” He dropped the compass onto my lap. “If it’s not unlocked, I’ll provide another incentive. I’ll do this every morning, and each incentive will become increasingly more convincing. I do hope you solve the puzzle before you’re too broken.”
He ambled away, and I hugged the compass to my chest, realizing my shirt was still awash in the sticky blood from the man in the cottage. I felt sick. Scared. Angry.
Daily beatings.
The horrendous pain in my thigh would be less pronounced by the morning. I could do this. I’d endured a fortnight of torture on the admiral’s flagship. Blows against my bones with a wooden plank were less intrusive, less damaging to my psyche. I would survive this.
I wanted to see Priest and Ashley again too badly to give up.
Gripping both hands under the knee of my injured leg, I dragged it out in front of me. My choked whimpers couldn’t be helped. The agony swept through me like fire, but the limb didn’t look broken. No visible bones protruded. No unnatural angles. Just muscle and ligament damage, perhaps.
As the Caribbee heat blazed down upon my pale skin, I scooted into a patch of shade cast by the rigging. Over the next few hours, I moved with that shadow, desperate for its cool protection as it