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“I want that… that woman off my lands.”

St. Denis was speaking to St. Sebastian and Amir, the latter two having gone into the village during the night to do some reconnaissance on the pirate encampment.

St. Denis didn’t like what he was hearing.

“This is not a simple situation,” St. Sebastian said. “Payne tells us they mean us no harm, so we cannot order them away if they behave themselves. For Payne’s sake, there must be some measure of trust.”

“Trust?” St. Denis said, incredulous. “We are speaking of pirates. There is no trust.”

He looked at Amir, silently asking the man to speak, and Amir took the hint.

“Then if there is no trust, there should at least be a measure of respect for the fact that they are not tearing up the countryside,” Amir said.

“You do not have to trust or even like your adversaries, but you must respect them for their strength. You must respect good behavior. If you order them away when they’ve done nothing wrong, then that is as good as attacking them. They’ll look at it that way.”

St. Denis hated it when his advisors were right.

Unfortunately, he simply wasn’t comfortable with pirates on his doorstep.

It wasn’t a matter of defense, because Blackchurch could defend itself quite ably.

It was simply a matter of his personal preference.

That was the truth. He already had his cousin who was a pirate, and he wasn’t quite sure what St. Abelard would think if he found out his loyal cousin had allowed a rival pirate faction to camp upon his lands and, quite truthfully, he was hoping the man never found out.

St. Abelard had a habit of showing up at Blackchurch from time to time, unannounced, so he hoped his cousin was far to sea these days.

He didn’t want his cousin to think he was betraying him.

But even he knew it was a complicated situation.

They were dealing with the parent of Blackchurch trainer, and at Blackchurch, the trainers were family.

That was the truth of it. St. Denis viewed all of his trainers as relatives and treated them as such.

That was what made this situation with Payne so difficult.

There was the added complication that if he were to order the pirates away, he would offend someone he valued greatly, and he had no desire to do that.

It was a difficult situation all around.

“Then if they are going to remain, I want to know for how long,” St. Denis finally said. “Find Payne and ask him how long his mother and her band of thieves intend to remain, because this is not an ideal situation.”

St. Sebastian nodded patiently. “I know,” he said. “I will find Payne and ask him.”

St. Denis shook a finger at him. “I work hard to ensure the forests around Blackchurch are free of any criminal element.”

“I know .”

“And now we’ve allowed pirates to camp there?”

Amir spoke up. “You do realize there is an opportunity here.”

St. Denis looked at him. “What opportunity?”

Amir looked at him as if he had missed the obvious. “You have allowed Bloody Maude to camp on your lands,” he said. “You have allowed her access to her eldest son and you have shown hospitality. Even the pirates have a code of honor—they will be indebted to you for this kindness.”

St. Denis hadn’t thought of it that way. “Do you think so?”

Amir nodded. “I do,” he said. “Mayhap in return, Bloody Maude will leave our coast alone. Mayhap she will leave Triton’s Hellions alone.

Your kindness could spare Abelard, and that is how you should address it should he ever ask why you allowed the pirate queen on your lands. Tell him that you did it for him.”

That changed St. Denis’ attitude quite a bit.

He was still unhappy, but he liked the thought of his hospitality making him, and his men, immune to Bloody Maude’s raids.

Perhaps it would even make his cousin immune, as Amir had suggested.

In any case, he was less likely to order the woman away now, because Amir made sense.

But he jabbed a finger at St. Sebastian anyway.

“Very well,” he said. “I will continue to show hospitality. But you discover when she is leaving. She cannot stay indefinitely.”

St. Sebastian nodded, glancing at Amir as he did so. The man’s expression suggested that the crisis was averted—for now. But St. Denis had a way of changing his mind at times, and they all knew it.

With a final nod at his father, St. Sebastian quit Exmoor’s keep in search of the new Earl of Lismore.