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Hobbes shook his head. “No need, my lady,” he said, pointing to the semiprivate alcove frequented by the Blackchurch trainers. “She is there, breaking her fast.”

Astria could see the chamber and part of the table inside, and just a hint of Maude’s right side. “Thank you,” she said. “Will you please bring me some food as well?”

“A pleasure, my lady.”

Taking a deep breath for courage, because she truly wasn’t sure how this was going to go, Astria headed over the alcove and stuck her head in. Almost immediately, she and Maude made eye contract and Maude froze for a moment, eyes wide.

“Good morn,” she said. “Ye… ye came. I dinna think ye would.”

Astria stepped into the chamber. “I thought it would be rude not to.”

Maude smiled timidly. “Of course,” she said. “Thank ye for coming.”

“You are welcome.”

“Will ye sit?”

Maude indicated the chair at the end of the table and Astria accepted. From that position, she had an unobstructed view of the common room and the entry door, but she wasn’t paying attention to either. Mostly, she was looking at Maude.

She had a few things to say.

“I am hoping you will let me speak first,” she finally said. “May I?”

“Please.”

“Payne thinks you want to smooth what has been a rough relationship between us,” she said. “He said you wanted peace. Is that true?”

She went right to the subject, one that had perhaps been the most important subject to settle since the day Maude and Astria first came into contact with one another, but it was much more complex with the advent of the marriage. Maude set down the cup of watered wine in her hand.

“Ye and I could not have had a more difficult beginning if we’d tried,” she said. “Aye, I would like peace. I hope ye know that I never hated ye, lass. I was never angry at ye. What I did was…”

“Your duty,” Astria finished for her.

Maude drew in a long, perhaps regretful, breath. “Aye,” she muttered. “My duty. My duty tae take what I can, even if what I take is a person.”

Astria could see that the woman was uncomfortable and quickly put up a hand to ease her.

“Please let me finish what I was going to say,” she said.

“Maude, I know that our beginnings were difficult. But you were not any more difficult than I was. And you did not attack an innocent merchant fleet, so please put that out of your mind. What you attacked was me stealing ships from my stepson, who is the rightful Sea God. The San Miguel family is full of pirates, Maude. They are the Titans of the Deep. I want to be clear about that.”

“I know.”

Astria’s brow furrowed. “You know ?” she said. “How do you know?”

Maude smiled faintly. “Because I’d be a poor pirate, indeed, if I dinna know who my enemies were,” she said. “I’ve been around awhile, lass. I know more than ye think I do.”

Astria was a little stunned. She’d fully expected her information to be a revelation in nature, but evidently, Maude already knew.

She thought she knew why.

“Did Payne tell you?” she asked.

Maude nodded. “He did,” she said. “But I already knew before he told me. He told me that ye were concerned about my knowing of yer past activities as The Sea God. Truthfully, ye look more like a sea goddess tae me.”

It was odd how the tension between them had suddenly eased. Truths were being spoken and honesty was preserved, which did much in dispelling whatever angst was still held between them. Truthfully, Astria felt as if a burden had been lifted from her shoulders.

She smiled weakly.

“It was all part of the family I married into,” she said.

“In the San Miguel family, the father managed the legitimate shipping business and the son managed the piracy business. Because my husband was quite old and his mind wandered toward the end, I was forced to manage both because his son, Arnaldo, was not as he seemed.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that he killed his father so he could assume both enterprises,” Astria said bluntly.

“He poisoned his father and then fled before he could be brought to justice. But I knew where he was. I knew where the fleets were moored, and that is why I stole those ships, the ones you captured. I took them from him because he was running from his punishment. He’d prematurely taken something that did not belong to him, so I took it back. Or tried to.”

Maude nodded in understanding, realizing that the captive she’d taken those months ago, the one who fought like a wildcat, was evidently a woman of some spirit. Going to war against the rightful heir of a dukedom, no matter how he had acquired it, took resolve. She admired that.

Truthfully, she really wasn’t surprised.

“I seem tae have a dishonorable lad myself,” she muttered. “Declan the Devil, they call him. He envies all that I have, all that Payne has. I think he’d do away with all of us if he could.”

“He’s ruthless.”

“Exactly.”

A silence settled between them, but it wasn’t uncomfortable.

It was pensive because a new understanding had dawned.

Two women who had done basically the same thing, had fought for their families in an unsavory family business, yet were facing opposition from someone close to them.

They were more similar than either of them had realized, but they had one thing in common above all.

Payne.

“I suppose what I wanted to say to you is this,” Astria said.

“I think I want your forgiveness as much as you want mine. I was not exactly a model prisoner. I was very difficult and we had difficult moments, you and I. But you brought me to your son, who is by far one of the most honorable and kindest men I’ve ever met, and because he is the way he is, that tells me something about you. ”

Maude’s gaze was surprisingly warm. “What does it tell ye?”

“That beneath that pirate queen persona, there is a remarkable woman,” Astria said.

“Only a woman of great character could have raised so fine a son. You and I may never be close, or the best of friends, but I want you to know how grateful I am to you for bringing me to Payne. Because of him, I’ve learned much about myself and about the warmth and comfort life has to offer.

I’ve never known that before. But now I do.

Because a madwoman named Bloody Maude captured me and two of my ships, my life is forever changed, and I am grateful. ”

By the time she was finished, Maude was smiling. “Those are words I never thought I’d hear from yer lips.”

“Those are words I never thought I’d say.”

“How does it feel? Do ye have a bad taste in yer mouth now?”

Fighting off a grin, Astria licked her lips. “A little.”

Maude broke down into soft laughter. “The taste will go away soon,” she said.

“I’m going tae tell ye something, lass. I knew ye were the right woman for Payne.

No ordinary woman will do for him. He’s very special, as ye’ve seen.

Ye canna know how glad I am that the marriage seems tae be pleasant for ye both. ”

Astria lowered her gaze, fighting off a blush. “You raised an understanding man,” she said. “He has a generous heart and that is very rare.”

Maude’s smile faded. “Dunna ever hurt it,” she said softly. “Payne is a good lad. He’ll make a fine earl. But dunna ever hurt him. If ye do, ye’ll have tae answer tae me, and I’ll not be so patient with ye the second time around. Are we clear?”

Astria knew the threat was genuine, but she also knew it was coming from a mother speaking about her son. “We are,” she said. “And I’m going to say the same thing to you.”

“What?”

“Do not ever hurt him or shame him. If you do, you’ll have to answer to me.”

Maude stared at her for a moment before breaking into a smile. “I think we’re going tae get along splendidly, lass,” she said. “Ye have the same fearsomeness that I do. I recognize it and I respect it.”

“You’d better.”

Maude started laughing. Truly laughing. It wasn’t that she didn’t take Astria seriously, because she did. Very seriously. She was laughing because it was a threat she very much understood and agreed with.

“Then we have a truce, lass?”

Astria nodded. “We do.”

“Good,” Maude said, reaching over to grasp the pitcher of warmed wine. “Eat with me. I want tae hear more about The Sea God and where it all went wrong between the two of ye.”

Astria held up her cup, and Maude poured some of the warm drink into it. “It went wrong from the start,” she said. “He resented his father’s marrying me and then he tried to seduce me at the wedding.”

Maude set the pitcher down, frowning. “The bastard!”

“It’s true,” Astria said, taking a bowl from Maude and spooning out some of the boiled beef that was in a pot on the table.

“And I fear that he is looking for us both. You because you took his ships and me because I took his ships first. The Titans of the Deep have a fleet of thirteen ships, Maude. That is nothing to be trifled with, so you must take care.”

Maude broke off a piece of bread. “The man has had five months tae find us,” she said. “If he hasna found us by now, then he’s a fool. And fools are not tae be feared.”

Astria spooned some of the beef into her mouth. “He’s not a fool, but he does get distracted easily,” she said. “Hopefully he’s found something else to focus his attention on and he’ll forget bout those ships. Where are they, by the way?”

Maude had a mouth full. “That way,” she said, pointing east. “They’re moored in a river about two days from here.”

“That was smart.”

The conversation continued from there, veering back onto the subject of Payne.

Maude was telling a story about a pet goose he used to have, one that constantly pinched him, when the entry door to the tavern opened up.

Astria was listening to the story about the grumpy goose, not paying attention to who had just come into the tavern, but she should have.

God help her, she should have.

Maude saw it before she did because of her line of sight, straight to the front door. She stopped talking and her features tightened, which caused Astria to look over at the door, purely out of curiosity. But what she saw made her blood run cold.

Declan was standing there.

And so was Arnaldo.

The dangerous sons had arrived.