Page 72 of A Prince Among Pirates
Oh God. He can’t possibly know about that, unless… How had I not realized sooner? How could I be so utterly daft? “It wasyou,” I whisper, shuddering at the memory of Jeffrey Reuter’s dead eyes and still-warm blood.
“Aye,” Renard growls. “He’da spilled his guts the moment he realized Cap’n was on ta him. Jeff Reuter was a coward, he was.”
“Reuter knew where you hid your stash,” I say in quiet realization. I bring a hand up to my mouth. I think I am going to be sick.
Before I can say more, the ship’s captain approaches me, ignoring Renard as he bows his head to me in a surprising act of deference. I understand now that I don’t outrank him as long as my feet are on his deck, but I won’t say anything. Instead I lift my chin defiantly and narrow my eyes at him. I am still reeling over my revelation about Renard and Jeff Reuter, my throat still burning with bile, but I can’t lethimsee that.
“Forgive my men’s rough treatment of you…” The captain seems to hesitate over my title, then eventually decides on, “My lord. I am Captain Hale of His Majesty’s Royal Navy. I will be your escort home to England, where your father eagerly awaits your safe return.”
Hang on—Hale?
Of course Digby’s absolute weasel of an uncle was the one to finally catch up with me. What a joke. What an utter disappointment. I regret ever letting Digby Hale put his tongue down my throat.
I scoff, which seems to take him by surprise. “My father awaits my return as eagerly as a condemned man awaits the gallows,” I say. “What’s wrong, did Elizabeth have another girl and now he’s desperate for his heir back?”
Hale’s brow twitches as he stares at me. I can see him working through a few answers in his head before he replies. “Icannot speak to that, my lord. You will have an audience with him yourself in a few weeks, when we return you to English soil. Until then Lieutenant Elmsworth will show you to your stateroom.”
My stateroom?
I forgot what it’s like to travel as a member of the peerage. I glance at Renard and narrow my eyes. “And him?”
“He will be… accommodated.”
My gaze shifts back to Hale’s face at that, and I can tell that something is amiss. There is something at play here that Renard doesn’t know about. For all the effort he put into ensuring the Royal Navy would be able to sneak up on us in the fog, he still has not won himself a seat at the table.
Good. I hope he rots in hell.
“I want my envelope.”
“That envelope belongs to your father,” Hale says regretfully. “I’m not at liberty to return it to you, but I am sure all will be explained once you’re safely home.”
“What’s going to happen to theDeliverance?”
Hale’s brows rise as he stares at me.
“The ship you justshotat!”
“Let me worry about them,” Hale says as he waves a hand for me to be ushered away.
“Leave them be!” I shout over my shoulder. “If I find out any harm has come to them, I’ll bring my father’s wrath upon you!” Though I know my father will care nothing for the pirates who helped me escape his grasp for the last half year or so,Haleknows no such thing. At my words, I can see his demeanor change,before he claps his hands together and begins barking orders to the other sailors on board.
I am taken belowdecks with a man on either side of me, which makes it particularly difficult to maneuver our way down the stairs. But we make it, and I am led down a hall to a small door directly below the captain’s cabin.
Lieutenant Elmsworth opens the door, and I am unceremoniously pushed inside the room. It’s respectable. I realize in an instant that it’s meant for royalty; this is likely the cabin the royal family would stay in on their voyages. I’m rather shocked to be put here, viscount or no. It’s not appropriate for me to stay in a room of this quality, even if I am the highest-ranking person on this ship.
There are windows across the back gallery—likely smaller than the ones in the captain’s cabin, but this room is clearly meant to mimic his, to allow the royals comfort as they travel. The bed is quite like the one I shared with Captain Sharpe—the realization is like a knife twisting in my chest. It isn’t very different from Captain Sharpe’s cabin at all, in fact, save for the lack of weaponry on the wall and its sterile, pristine state.
I whirl to face the door, but Elmsworth blocks the way, and the two sailors stand behind him with guns at the ready. “Your stateroom, my lord,” he says. “I’m sure you will find everything you need here. Supper will be served promptly at six thirty every evening, and breakfast at sev—”
“I know you don’t expect me to wake up for breakfast,” I snap, because I want to be a brat. I want to make this hard forthem. I’m ignoring the ache in my chest in favor of being furious, and I will do anything within my power to inconvenience these men. That is all Icando.
Elmsworth stops and stares at me for a long moment. I think he is going to tell me to shut my mouth and eat when I am fed, but instead he grits his teeth and nods. “Breakfast will be brought to you bynineeach morning.”
I cross my arms and stare back at him. “You plan to keep me locked in here like some common prisoner?”
“For your own safety, my lord. It’s not my orders but your father’s that you remain locked in for the duration of our voyage.”
“And how long willthatbe?”
