Page 55 of Measure of the Stars

“And what’s that?”Wes asked.He rolled up his shirtsleeves.

“Murder,” Peter said.The word burst out of him, hard and sharp.“You almostkilledmy uncle, and then you have the gall to come ontomyship and seduce poor Delauney, as though you won’t just whip him to death the moment he displeases you!”

Wes froze, staring at Peter’s grief-stricken face.He’d thought Peter had seemed familiar when they’d first met, but he’d been thinking of his parents’ old woodcuts of noble faces.In the darkness of the hedges, Wes could finally recognize the broad forehead, the sharp nose, and the grim twist of his mouth.

“Captain Lennox is your uncle,” Wes said, disgust twisting in his stomach.He could have forgiven the person who left those messages if they’d been paid to do it.Money meant a great deal more to an enlisted sailor than it did to an officer.But Peter seemed to have done it all for the love of Lennox, which was far worse.Wes took another step back as the guards tried to flank him, their hands upraised.

“He told me what you did,” Peter said.“How you attacked him all because he cut off his ship’s supply ofale.”

A horrified laugh burst out of Wes at that.“What?He was trying to flog a child to death.”

“You lie,” Peter said.“That’s what he told me you’d do.You lied to me, you lied to Delauney, and you lied to Ned, all with my uncle’s blood on your hands!Now, why won’t you lot stop dithering anddosomething?”

The first guard stepped forward, drawing his sword.Wes grimaced.He’d expected fists and boots, not blades.Sailors only used blades if a pirate ship boarded them, and by the time a ship was boarded, it was usually too late to fight.He took a step back, spotted a stone on the path, and hauled it at the closest guard.It slammed into the hilt of his sword, knocking it out of his hand.He cursed loudly, and Wes reached forward to drag him closer by the tunic.

“I’d say sorry,” Wes said, slamming his fist into the guard’s jaw, “but you’re the one taking wages from a noble prick.”

Years of living on the sea gave him a small advantage over guards used to protecting nobles from imaginary threats, but not by much.The first guard crumpled like wet paper at his feet, but the next still had his sword, and he drove Wes back against the hedge.

“Did your uncle tell you that he starved children, too?”Wes asked, as the guard lunged forward to grab him by the neck.“He said they were so small that they didn’t need normal rations.Did he tell you that?”

“He’d never,” Peter said, but there was a quaver in his voice that hadn’t been there before.

“He broke a man’s jaw,” Wes said, speaking through gritted teeth as the guard held him against the hedge, ignoring Wes’ attempts to drag his hand away from his neck.“All because the man smiled at him.”

“No.”Peter clutched his arms tight.“No, he’s always been so kind.He isn’t like...he’s not like him.”

“Not like who?”Wes asked.He thrashed as the guard squeezed his fingers.“Like your father?”Peter blanched.“They’re the same, Peter.And look at you.A proud little protégé.”

Peter was breathing hard, hands shaking.

“Go on, Peter,” Wes said, as his vision started to go dark.“Try it.Hit me like Lennox beats his sailors.Hitme, Peter!Hit me!”

Peter gave Wes one last, terrified look, then turned on his heel and fled into the garden.The blackness swallowed him, then the hedges, then, at last, the dim light of the stars as Wes collapsed in the guard’s grip, falling into the dark.

Chapter Twelve