Page 28

Twenty-Eight

V ane deposited me back on the Sea Storm and kept Marco hostage on the Ranger . He took Ace and Captain Kirk with him to the Lark to aid him in “the plan.”

After a verbal flogging, first from Rowan about ditching Shrug and then from Max over his obvious dislike of me wearing a man’s stolen clothes, I’d convinced both men of Vane’s intentions.

Max had ordered me to change clothes immediately. Apparently, I smelled like “the fish in the sea.” Had he smelled his crew lately?

And didn’t either man care I had a been held at knifepoint by Commander Crazy and now had a cut across my throat? How was I going to explain that to my mother?

After a quick wash with room-temperature water, I opened the trunk I recognized from the auction. The seafoam green wedding dress was folded neatly on top. I ran my fingers over the soft fabric and sighed. One day, Max would find the right girl. I just had to keep him alive long enough to make the search. If Vane’s plan, a.k.a. my plan, went awry, Max might never have his bride or his ship.

I picked a simple burgundy cotton dress out of the trunk. Ivory lace ran along the low scoop neck. Matching pantaloons made me feel about five, but I chose them for easy maneuverability and comfort.

I examined myself in the small, mottled mirror. The dress was a bit snug, and the low neckline barely covered my nipples. Jeez. A red, crusty cut ran across my throat, so close to my jugular that I almost fainted looking at the reflection.

There was a knock at my door, and Rowan entered without permission.

“Uhm, hi.” I wrapped my arms around my waist, which only shelved my bulging breasts upward.

His blue eyes grew wide as he stared at my dress. Well, the parts of me tumbling out of my dress. My face flushed at his curious gaze, and then he looked away. The man could certainly fill up a room.

“I brought ye this.” He dropped a leather pouch on the table.

“What is it?”

He flipped open the flap, and glass bottles clinked together as he rummaged through it. He finally produced a small tin. “’Tis the doctor’s bag from the Lark . Yer manservant said ye might need it.”

“Where’s the doctor?”

“Dead.” Rowan moved toward the washbasin. He sat the tin down and dipped his hands inside the soapy water. “Captain’s mother insisted we wash before applying medicine.” He sighed as if the request was done to satisfy instead of for hygiene. “And eatin’.”

He dried his hands and opened the tin, dipping his finger in the salve. He motioned for me to turn my head and applied it to the cut on my neck with a gentle touch. The sting disappeared immediately.

“That feels better.”

His finger trailed down my neck and stopped on my key. I hadn’t had time to cover it up.

I stepped away quickly, trying not to seem jarred by the oversight. “Thank you.”

“’Tis no good to leave a scar on sech smooth skin.”

Was he flirting with me? No, I didn’t think so. Compared to other women in this time, my skin was scar-free, pox-free, and rode hard–free. Every man had to notice.

He replaced the lid on the tin and wiped his fingers on his pants.

“Max didn’t seem pleased I returned,” I said, mentally adding, with an awesome plan to save his butt.

“Yer no safe here.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“Vane will no care where ye come from. If ye get in his way, I can no help ye.”

Did he know about time travel? I brushed the thought aside. He probably meant since I came from the colonies.

“Like I said, I can take care of myself.”

Rowan’s gaze fell to my key. “Aye, I believe ye can.”

* * *

I wound around the upper deck, passing men who swiped sweat from their brows. The ship was crowded now, after half of the Lark’s crew climbed aboard. Everyone hustled, preparing to sail while trying to seem casual in case Woodes Rogers peeked at them through his spyglass.

I was certain Sasha had returned to the Ranger . Her quest to find the piece of map Vane held along with information about her mother was surely stronger than boarding the Sea Storm , but I’d have a look at the crew anyway. If nothing else, it would pass the time until Vane made his move.

I couldn’t do anything to help Marco, or Ace, or Caiyan. Once we were safely out of the harbor, away from the guns of the English, I’d figure out a new plan. I adjusted the scarf around my neck to make sure it hid my key.

Making my way to the ladder down to the gun deck, I took one last deep breath. Leaving the smell of salty sea air behind me, I climbed below deck.

Lanterns hung on pegs to light the way below decks. I passed a boy sweeping up charcoal dust from gunpowder in the nearby powder magazine. I couldn’t see his face because there weren’t any lanterns in that room of the ship.

A sharp pain stabbed me in the ribs. I checked myself and saw nothing. Glancing over my shoulder at the boy, I stopped dead. It was Sasha. It had to be.

“Sasha?” I held my hands up in an unarmed move, hoping she’d accept my sign of truce.

She threw the broom at me and ran.

It hit me square in the forehead. “Ouch!”

I rubbed the sore spot, feeling the welt. That’ll leave a mark. And add another lecture on my incompetence from Jake, Max, Caiyan, Ace, Rowan. The list was endless.

She disappeared down a ladder. I followed in hot pursuit, or as hot as I could in the low-cut burgundy dress. A crew member gasped as I hurdled over a cannon. Thankfully I had chosen the pantaloons that hid my girlie goodies.

Catching sight of Sasha slipping onto the deck below, I slid down the ladder like an unseasoned fireman, landing hard on my behind.

I scrambled to my feet and cornered her in the hold. The smell of tobacco and gunpowder clogged my nose. I stepped around a crate of potatoes and blocked the exit.

She froze when she realized there wasn’t another ladder in this section.

“There’s nowhere to go but the bilge.” I spied the hatch in the floor. “And you really don’t want to go down there. It’s full of pirate ship ick.”

She tried to dodge around me, but I stopped her with my words. “I have a hard time believing that you would allow Marco to be held in chains and not do a damn thing about it.”

Her eyes darted toward the door. She paused, put on the frightened face of a young boy. “I don’t know what you speak of, miss. I’m only the cabin boy.”

“Cut the crap, Sasha. I know it’s you under those unplucked eyebrows, grimy cheeks, and worm-eaten hat. You can disguise yourself as a boy, but you’re not fooling me or Marco. He knows you’re here and risked his life to save you.”

The quick change amazed me. She morphed from cowardly cabin boy to full-on mean, angry bitch. She yanked out a knife large enough to whack off an arm. OK, maybe at the wrist, and pointed it at me. “I didn’t ask him to come here. He wants the eye. He only wants treasure.”

“What are you looking for?” I cocked an eyebrow.

“It’s none of your business why I’m here. I don’t work for your secret spy agency. I don’t report to you or anyone else.”

“Marco is involved, and that makes this my top priority.”

“Why is he your top priority?” She shifted closer to the door. The door I blocked. “I thought you had the hots for the Scot?”

“Marco is my defender, and that means I’ll not let him rot in a cell or be hung and gibbeted in the square with onlookers throwing rotten food at him.”

Her bushy eyebrows rose, telling me she knew nothing about Marco’s unfortunate future. “Hung?”

“That’s what happens to John Silver. He doesn’t find the treasure like in the book. The real John Silver, at least the one that has now become real, gets hung by the neck in Port Royal for killing Woodes Rogers. If you have feelings for Marco, we need to work together.”

“I was planning to help him escape after I found…” her words strained, her shoulders slumped, and her grip loosened on the wrist whacker.

“After you found your mother?”

She stilled, unblinking, unsure how to react.

I took a step toward her. “Fredericka told me that your mother abandoned both of you. And I know that she came here.”

“She didn’t abandon us.” Her lips curled, matching her disgust. “She was running. There was a bad man. He scared her. She had something of his, and he wanted it back.”

“A piece of a map to the King’s key?”

Her eyes grew wide, but she nodded slightly.

“Is that why you came here?” I asked. “To find your mother?”

“Out of my way.” She jabbed the knife at me.

“Did my Aint Elma tell you how to find Rogue?”

“Elma?” She looked surprised.

“Yes, my aunt. Petite, spunky woman, lots of wrinkles, white hair pulled back in a granny bun, blue eyes that sparkle like a mischievous fairy.”

“A woman matching that description found me after I ran away.” Her gaze shifted down to the hay spread across the floor. “My mother wanted me to leave Russia. I didn’t want to leave. I stayed a few weeks with some friends. I planned on finding her, but when I returned to the house, they were gone. My mother left a phone number with the neighbor who kept me when I was a child.”

I nodded. “It was my aint Elma’s number, wasn’t it?”

“She told me she was a friend of my grandfather. She told me about my mother. And then she told me my mother and sister had died. She told me lies.” Sasha gave me a murderous stare. “Can you imagine what it’s like to think my family died because I ran away?”

“No. But I do know there’s a guy who cares about you enough to stay through a moon cycle to help you.”

“Marco works for the WTF, same as Elma, same as you. She was no friend of my grandfather’s, and Marco is no friend to me. He wants the eye. The map. The King’s key. Just like you do. You don’t fool me.” She jabbed the knife in the air, possibly practicing to extract my eyeball. “When I find my mother, she’ll tell you about the corruption in your WTF, and we will find the King’s key together.”

“Why did Aint Elma bring your mother here?”

“You don’t know?” Sasha looked perplexed at my lack of knowledge of my great aunt’s wrongdoings. “My mother worked as a spy for the WTF, pretending to be on the Mafusos’ side.”

Until she fell in love with the bad man, I thought. A few more pieces of the puzzle clicked into place.

“It wasn’t until my grandfather lay sick and dying that he told me about the map and that maybe my mother was still alive, but he waited too long. Your aunt had died, and the location of my mother with her.” Sasha’s voice sounded small, like that of a young girl abandoned and alone, not of the woman who left me to die on the Titanic .

“And Rogue’s map led you here?” I asked.

Her head snapped up.

“I found it in your room.”

“Vane has a piece of the map, too. He keeps it in his coat pocket. I saw him look at it while I cleaned his room. I couldn’t ask…”

Her voice trailed off, and I finished for her. “Because you didn’t want to draw suspicion to yourself.”

She nodded. “I’ve asked around, but no one seems to know my mother. I’ve searched the town, Vane’s ships. I don’t believe she would have been a prostitute.”

I shook my head. “She wasn’t.”

“You know my mother?” Her eyes hardened, like she might try and torture the information out of me.

I took a step back. “I have information about her, but I’m not giving it up for free.”

Her jaw tensed, and she clenched her teeth. “What do you want?”

“I want the eye, and I want your help to rescue Marco.”

“I promised my grandfather I’d find the King’s key and destroy it. I must have the eye to find it. It’s the only way.”

“I don’t think your grandfather wanted you to work against us.”

“You’re wrong. The WTF is corrupt. He always knew this. They want the King’s key to make a weapon.”

“Do you think I would let someone use the King’s key for a weapon?” My tone softened. She had to believe me. I would never agree to use the key for harm.

“I don’t know you well enough to make that call.”

“If you want information about your mother, you’re going to have to trust me. If the prophecy is true and I’m the one who finds the King’s key, I would never let the WTF use it as a weapon.”

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “If you know where my mother is, why can’t I find her? How did you find her so quickly? You haven’t been here. I stayed. I’ve been looking.”

I decided even if she didn’t give me the stone, she deserved to know her mother had died.

“Elma lied to protect you. But sadly, your mother died only a few years ago in Nassau. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not true.” Sasha’s eyes clouded with tears, and she reached for a nearby pole for support.

“I have more information about your mother,” I added quickly, securing my chance to get the eye. I hoped my suspicion was right. If I was wrong, I’d be at the top of Sasha’s most wanted list. I would also confirm Caiyan’s reasons for keeping me on base.

“Was it the bad man who killed her?” Sasha wiped a single tear from her cheek. “I saw him briefly, but I’ll never forget his face.”

Uh, boy . At least she hadn’t met Captain Crunch. Mortas resembled his father. I’d have to tell her my suspicions so she wouldn’t gouge his eyes out at first sight.

“I can tell you what I know, but you’ll have to trust me with the King’s eye.” I gave her a minute to think it over. “We can find the King’s key together.”

She sheathed the knife in her belt, reached into her pocket, and pulled out a velvet pouch. She spilled the contents into her hand. A pink diamond shimmered like a star even in the dim light of the hold.

We stared down at the King’s eye.

Deckboards creaked behind me. Sasha’s head jerked up. I whirled around and came face to face with Mortas.

Yo, ho, hell! I was so damn close.