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“They see us,” I say. “They’re coming for us.”

“We can outrun them,” Cruz says.

“No!” I snap at him. “We are not outrunning them! We stay and we fight!”

“Captain,” Thane says. “With all due respect, they have sixty guns and most likely sixty gunners. We have forty guns, and only a handful of crew at them.”

“You know this ship will not sink,” I tell him.

“Only because we know when to evade.”

“He’s in our sights, brother!” I say, suddenly spurred by frustrated rage at having waited for this moment for too long, and I turn, grabbing Thane by the collar. “We need to avenge our father. We need to do this for pa!”

Why doesn’t he have the need for justice that I do? Why isn’t he frothing at the mouth to destroy this man?

Thane’s stoic expression softens. “Our father would not want us dead if it meant vengeance. You can’t let it control you like it has been. You need to learn to let it go.”

I shake my head, blinking at him, unable to come to terms with what he’s saying. “You say we should flee with our tail between our legs? We have fought naval ships before.”

“And in the end the wind always takes us away. Even if theNightwindcan’t sink,wecan. We’re not all at our best and Smith knows exactly how to kill us,” he says imploringly and his gaze goes to Maren behind me. “And we already have people on board that may not survive this.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Maren says with a growl of determination and my heart sings at her loyalty to me. “I say we do as the captain says. We fight. We destroy that ship and the man who killed your father. What kind of pirates would we be if we ran away every time things got a little hairy?”

My god, I think I might be in love with her.

“This is a great democracy on theNightwind, is it not?” I yell to the crew as I let go of my brother’s shirt.

A cheer rises up from them.

“And since this is a democracy, I say we put it to a vote. Those who oppose the fight, who thinks we should evade and run, say aye.”

“Aye,” says Thane, Cruz, and Drakos. When Sam doesn’t raise her hand or speak, Thane gives her a look of quiet disdain to which she shrugs.

“Everyone else?” I yell. “Do we fight like the pirates we are? Like the Brethren of the Blood?”

A cry goes up, the majority of the crew siding with me.

“Then the democracy settles it. It has been put to the vote. Now I must ask my quartermaster and my first mate, will you be helping me with this or shall I put the ship’s boat down for ya?”

Thane just scowls at me and slaps me on the shoulder. “You know we’re here for you, Captain,” he says begrudgingly. Then he turns and starts barking orders at the crew and the deck erupts into controlled chaos.

My blood pumps hot in my head, my skin feeling as if tiny pins are being pricked upon it and my senses are becoming clearer than normal.

The battle has begun.

“Ramsay,” Maren says worriedly, pulling me to the side of the chaos. “Feed from me,” she whispers.

“There’s no time, luv,” I say looking at thePembrokequickly approaching. I wave my hand at the sails above me to make sure we slow down so we don’t collide at high speed. “I must make sure everything goes as plan on deck and god help me if I lose control again.”

“I won’t let you lose control,” she says, tugging at my arm. “Come on. It won’t take but a second.”

That’s what she thinks but it’s far more complicated than that. To feed would mean I have to leave the deck where I’m needed and disappear with her below, not the best look for a captain. Besides, I need to keep her Syren identity a secret and this won’t help.

“Maren,” I tell her sternly, grabbing her by the shoulders. “It’s too late now. And it doesn’t matter a whit anyway. I’m going to go kill that man and I don’t need any help in doing so. You go and take the boys and Sedge and hide them in my quarters.”

“With Nerissa?” she asks in surprise.

“She won’t touch them, they’ll be safe with her,” I tell her, going off of pure instinct now, “and there’s a lot of weapons in there.”