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“I’m crossing the rice paddies to Bath, where I’m taking my own ship.

I thought to avoid Cape Fear in case the Sheriff’s picture frame awaits to hang me.

Governor owns my head for his plantation.

I had my skin sold from my back, but I won’t go without a fight.

” Each man swallows his pride when I reveal our Captain’s plan.

Chub, Snips, and Teeth are exempt from such treachery due to their bright, white skin.

Boom, Sharp, and Bud are the same color as me.

Sharp joined the QAR from the same slave ship raid that rescued me.

We liberated Boom later that same Summer.

I’m watching Snips for a response, but Boom takes the leadership position. “Do you have a crew?”

“Do you see me hearties here to save my arse from you lot?”

“We joined together in freedom. We die for freedom, but in between, we have the freedom to choose to work together.” Bud started our crewman’s pledge, but we’ve all been reciting the words by the end. Hugs are exchanged, and my spirit soars.

“Well, isn’t this a touching sight?”

My blood runs cold at the frigid tone of her voice. I lost track of the sun’s descent. My she-devil has awoken to find me swearing allegiance to strangers. Strangers to her, at least. I must do some heavy damage control.

I flash my most flirtatious smile and hope she falls for it. “Happy to see ya, darling.”

Her brows lower into angry slashes. “Branko, why don’t you introduce me to your friends? Are they coming with us?”

“Oh no, lady,” Chub stammers with waving hands in front of his person. “We do not sail on a boat carrying a lady.”

“Tis bad luck,” echoes Boom.

“Sorry, old boy, but if your offer is to sail with her, we are out!” Snips claps my shoulder before stepping away.

The others shift to follow him with my hopes of safely traveling with a band of men.

I hadn’t realized how precarious my situation was with Magda until given the option of surrounding myself with allies.

“Wait—" I sound a little more desperate than I wish, but sailing a vessel with a known crew is a sailor’s dream. I hoped to recruit a skeleton crew in Bath to trade for passage to Nassau, but they would be wildcards who could slit my throat in my sleep. Of course, Magda is a wildcard herself. Sailing alone with her is more than I can handle, too. One of us would have to steer while the other…did everything else. What I could have flashes before my eyes now—a crew of my own. “We worked like clockwork for Blackbeard. Don’t you want those voyages for ourselves?”

“How dare you abandon Branko because of me?!” Magda screeches. “You don’t know me and what I’d bring to a crew!” She stomps her foot and splashes Snips to his knees, earning her a deeper scowl.

If she’s trying to win over the men by proving she’s a lady pirate, she just blew it.

Chub’s eyebrows climb his forehead. Sharp bares his false metal teeth.

Bud chuckles and waves a dismissive hand at her.

She fumes in return with her fists clenched and her lips pressed together.

I can practically smell the smoke coming from her ears.

Perhaps choosing between them is the best course of action.

She’s a lovely distraction, but too much for the long run.

A wound opens in my heart, and my ribs squeeze the empty cavity. She belongs here, while I….

“They may not want to listen, doll face, but I’m all ears.” Teeth swaggers into Magda’s space, wearing his predatory smile. He runs a finger down her cheek while letting her know he’s looking down her dress. “What talents do you plan on bringing to our adventure? Do you cook? Wash dishes? Sew?”

“No, I—I—” she sputters in distress. Her fury melts into a familiar panic. “I’ve lived my life in three rooms. I’m a quick learner, but if it isn’t in a book, I’ve never heard of it. Even what I read, I never practiced.”

“No domestic skills? That’s not a problem,” he says with a playful tone.

He flips his long blond hair over his shoulder and beams another smile at her.

Wenches fall hand over fist for his act.

There’s no way to tell him to back off fragile Magda without claiming her as being under my protection, though.

I don’t want her under my protection, do I?

“We’ve always got room for a doxie, haven’t we, men? ”

Over my dead body.

“What’s a doxie?” Magda may be the same height as Teeth, but her innocence shrinks her to child-size. She crinkles her nose and squints her eyes at him in suspicion. He runs a hand down her back to rest on her bottom.

Someone snickers. I see red. I’ll gut him like a fish.

“Well, beautiful, a doxie keeps the crew’s spirits up….” He runs his fingertip just inside the neckline of her dress. “She uses her God-given assets to keep us in…fighting condition.”

I shift my weight to the balls of my feet in order to pounce on the man—until the frost on her tone freezes me in place.

“I don’t like to be called that.”

“…but you are savvy to being a doxie, beautiful?”

“That’s the second time you’ve called me beautiful . Now, you pay!” she hisses.

Her spindly arm grabs Teeth in a headlock.

The shocked man falls like a split mast. She opens her mouth wide to display her fangs for all of us before biting down on Teeth’s neck.

His feet scrape at the muddy swamp, but he can’t gain purchase.

His fingers claw at her arm. His oblique position leaves him at her mercy as she slurps and gulps.