He tried to find something to say. Something easy, something that did not reveal his nauseous, mounting suspicion.
But Ruby spoke before he could. “The—dog?” she said unsteadily. “How do you know about the dog?”
Archer’s whole body went cold, as though he’d plunged into an ice-choked sea. Ruby—ah God, Ruby, who could not lie to save her own skin. Who had no defense against the truth.
Penney sat back in his chair. “Oh, my dear,” he murmured. “I had hoped you would not notice.”
Ruby’s voice pitched up. “You hoped I would notnotice? What are you trying to say? You already knew that they were missing? Do—do you know where they are?”
Her eyes blazed. Archer could see her with a mortar knife in her hand; he could see her, blunt and fierce and heartbreakingly loyal as she protected him from her own father.
“Archer,” Penney said softly, “tell her it’s all right.”
Archer looked at Ruby. And then he looked at Penney. His throat felt tight. His hands were numb. “I—” His voice jerked. Stumbled to a halt. “I don’t...”
“You know you can trust me,” Penney said. The words came out low. Persuasive. “You know I care for you, don’t you, son? I got you a ship when no one else in the navy would touch you. I got you the position at Pomeroy House when you had nothing left.”
“Don’t,” Ruby snapped. “Don’t you speak to him that way.”
But Penney wasn’t looking at Ruby. He was looking at Archer with an expression of cool intensity. “I’m trying to help you,” he said. “I put you there at Pomeroy House because I knew we might be in this spot one day. That there was a chance Verdura might rise to the throne, and we could position ourselves in such a way as to assist him. I made you an officer once, didn’t I, my boy? Only think what I can make you with a king on our side.”
The revelation was hot and cold at once. Searing.
Penney had got him the position at Pomeroy House not because Archer deserved the job or because Penney regretted what had happened to theSwallow.
He had done it because he knew he would someday need Archer to look the other way. He believed that Archer would turn a blind eye to his misdeeds, and he hadreasonto think so. Archer had done exactly that already.
He couldn’t—hear clearly. There was the sound of water in his ears, rushing, screaming, stinging his skin.
“You think Verdura will reward you for helping him?” Ruby demanded, her eyes fixed on Penney’s face. “Don’t be a fool. He’s made you his sacrificial lamb. He’s fled the country—you are the one remaining here to take the fall if the princess is found dead.” She leaned forward, her expression ferocious and defiant. “Were those your sailors who attacked the princess’s ship? Whom we spotted prowling the cliffs? Wesawthem—and the princess did too. Do you truly believe House di Sangro will not uncover the truth?”
Penney’s jaw flexed. “Princess Serafina does not concern me. Verdura will be the future of Monfalcone.”
“Well, she ought to!Weought to concern you. We—” Ruby broke off. She sent Archer a glance of agonized confusion, and he knew it was because he was still sitting—frozen, motionless. Silent.
Penney too turned back to Archer. “I know I can trust you to do the right thing,” he said evenly. “How many years did I keep you at my side? How many years did I invest in you—raised you up from brig trash to the sailor you became? I made you a man worthy of an earl’s daughter, Archer. You know I did. Tell your wife I would not lead you astray.”
Still—helplessly—Archer wanted to believe him.
He had chosen Penney once. More than once. He had been alone and afraid, and Penney had given him a way out. Penney hadmadehim. Penney had looked at a cocky loudmouthed little convict and seen... something worthy. Someone who might, someday, be a good and honorable man.
If Penney did not deserve his loyalty, then what did that say abouthim?
He had the sense of water in his ears, in his mouth. An old terror rose in him: He was lost; he was vulnerable; he was going to drown, abandoned under the waves.
And then he looked at Ruby, her hair falling down around her shoulders, her gloved hands locked together in her lap. Her eyes—clear and blue and steady on his face.
He had thought to prove himself to her by charming her father. By finding the princess and restoring his good name. By showing her that his loyalty to Penney had not been in error.
And Christ—again and again he had failed.
But she was looking at him now, and she trusted him, and this—thiswas the moment of decision. This was the test he could not fail.
He had chosen wrongly before. But he could choose differently this time. He could change.
“No,” he said hoarsely. “No, Jack. Not again.”
“Son,” Penney said, and it...
