Page 97 of A Prince Among Pirates
He laughs again and shakes his head. “The man you asked me to find… he isn’t here?” he asks.
I shake my head. “No. I… I betrayed his trust. He tried to make me see reason, and I cast him off.”
“This man… the one who owns the blue silk ribbon I left at the inn,” Thomas whispers. “He’s the one who broke your curse?”
My eyes widen. I hadn’t realized he had been listening when I told Kitty and Francis about the curse the viscount had burdened me with. But of course he was listening. He has ears, and he was in the room. I’m just as foolish as every other member of the gentry, who treat their servants like furniture when they aren’t interacting with them.
I still have a lot to learn.
I swallow hard and lower my eyes. “I thought so.”
“He’ll be here,” Thomas insists.
I force a brief smile, but I’m not sure I agree. I look back atthe dock, where Tristan and Trevor are carrying my trunk up the gangplank of our new ship. “I’ll be all right with them. They’re my brothers. They always have my back.”
“You could still come home.”
I draw in a slow breath as I watch the silhouette of Trevor, Tristan, and the trunk disappear onto the deck of the ship. “Thisismy home,” I whisper. “I belong to the sea.” It feels like the most honest thing I’ve ever said, and though my heart aches at Sharpe’s absence, I know without a single doubt that I’ve made the right choice.
“You, lad,” Thomas says, and I turn to see whom he’s talking to.
A passing dockhand stops with a blink. “Aye, sir?”
Thomas approaches the boy and hands him my letters. “Take these letters to Kensington Palace.” He pulls out the purse I gave him earlier and drop a few coins into the boy’s hand. “Tell no one how you came to have them.”
The boy squints down at the coins in the dark, then gasps and looks up at Thomas with a grin. “Yes, sir,” he says.
He hurries off before I can stop him. “Thomas,” I say. “What are you—”
“I’m your valet, Your Highness,” he says stubbornly, straightening his back. “I can’t have you growing a beard and forgoing your jackets like some commoner.”
I laugh breathlessly and shake my head. “Thomas, you don’t want to come with me. It’s not exactly going to be a leisure trip. This… this is life at sea.”
“Ifyoucan handle it, Your Highness, I’m quite sure I can. Besides, Ididdecide which vessel to invest in.”
The dig at my survival skills does not go unnoticed, but I am too charmed by his devotion to say anything. “Are yousureyou want to do this?”
“It’s too late to back out now. My things are already on the ship.”
My brows shoot up and I gasp. “Your…?” I look up at the rail of the ship, and then back at Thomas. “That’s why the bloody trunk was so bloody heavy!”
He smiles and puts a hand on my shoulder. “I’ll prepare your stateroom, Your Highness,” he says as he starts up the gangplank.
I watch him board the ship in silent awe. How did someone likemeinspire such loyalty from someone as pure and good as Thomas Lancaster? Either he’s mad, or I am even more charming than I realize. I follow him onto the ship.
It’s a fine ship. I sent Thomas with enough money to buy a man-of-war if I had wanted, but my instructions to Thomas requested a luxury merchant vessel. Something fine but still useful. My gaze falls to the open door leading into the captain’s cabin, and my chest tightens.
I thought to share this cabin with Captain Sharpe, as we had on theDeliverance. But I suppose I’ll have to learn to captain on my own. I wonder if I can inspire even half the devotion from the crew that Captain Sharpe did. Somehow I doubt it.
I step into the cabin, which is lit with sconces on the walls and a few candles. It’s similar to the cabin on theDeliverance, butwith newer fixtures, and it lacks the abundance of weaponry and the filth of longtime use on the walls. I wonder who owned this ship just yesterday? I wonder if he had to be bullied into selling it, or if he’s happy now to retire to a life of leisure with his profits.
Thomas has already started sifting through the trunk to unpack my things. He’s taken my mother’s memory box out and set it on the sofa, and I can see the trunk I brought from Falmouth sitting at the foot of the bed. They must have brought it for me from theDeliverance. I smile and step towards it.
“This is a mighty fine ship,” murmurs a familiar, melodious voice from behind me.
I freeze and my eyes widen. My heart does a giddy little leap, even as my eyes prick from the sting of tears. I have to remind myself to inhale as I turn to face him.
Thirty-Four
