10
All the Treasure
in the Sea
“SO, HERE’S THE THING,” Hawk said to Elizabeth, placing himself into the old familiar chair in her office. “Even with the cannons from theHecate, it’s too risky taking on theEstrela do Nortealone.”
“What are you asking me?” Elizabeth leaned in, her hair falling in silken strands elegantly in front of her face.
“I am saying, we need a... cshmshh.”
“Beg pardon?”
“A cnsssrrr.”
“A corsaire?”
“Consort! All right? I need a consort!”
“The Dreaded Hawk, Scourge of the Seas, Captain of theOrca, still needs a partner?” Elizabeth laughed, leaning back in her chair. “Well, Captain? What do you come tomefor? Rumor on the beach is - you’ve already got yourself aconsort.”
“Don’t be cute, Elizabeth. I come to you as a business partner and an equal but never forget I’m both your elder and your better.”
“Ah,” Elizabeth furrowed her brow. “There’s the Samuel Hawk I know and like occasionally.” Her fingers tapped along the varnished wood of her heavy desk. “Well then? What ship and captain do you have in mind? I can attempt to broker the deal for you.”
“I’ve pissed off almost every other captain who beaches at Port Royal, one way or another,” Hawk scratched his nose sheepishly. “You know diplomacy isn’t my forte.”
“Why not theTempest?”
It was Hawk’s turn to laugh. “Elizabeth, you were the one who just mocked me for my choice of bedmates...”
“I wasn’t mocking,” she interrupted, “merely remarking. And Henry is a good captain!”
“Henryis allergic to his shirt!”
“So, you’ve noticed then that he’s in much better fighting shape than Enrique Ruiz!”
Hawk couldn't believe this nonsense. He had always counted on Elizabeth to counter his own hot-headedness with measured reason. But Henry Pane was young and foolhardy, as was evidenced by the fact that he thought with his dick more than with his head. The man may have been easy on the eyes, but that didn't inspire the sort of confidence Elizabeth put in him.
“Pane can’t control his men!” Hawk pressed on. “You have said so yourself, need I remind you? ‘They’re animals!’ Yes, I believe that’s what you’d called them. And still you want his company?”
“We were going through a rough patch,” Elizabeth waved her hand dismissively.
“A rough patch? My face went through a rough patch when I had to fight twelve British soldiers who tried to hang me for sodomy!”
“See reason, Hawk, and put your personal bullshit with Henry aside. TheTempestis the most battle-worthy ship in Port Royal aside from theOrca,” Elizabeth insisted, patently ignoring Hawk’s latest outburst. “And Henry can be counted on, both as a sailor and as a warrior.”
“You stand in personal guarantee for him?”
“I have just as much to lose as you do if this were to fail,” Elizabeth pointed out.
“Fine, arrange the meeting,” Hawk surrendered, leaning back and closing his eyes against the madness of the world. Sailing with Henry Pane as consort - ha! He must have been losing his mind to even be considering it.
Silverfin didn't like the brothel, he decided. There was something undoubtedly crass about men displaying their desires so openly, pawing at women like they were searching for the ripest fruit on the vine, too lazy to earn love the old-fashioned way and ready to buy through coin what they could never earn with innate charm. He didn't like the thought of his dear sister subjecting herself to such treatment to earn a living. Now, if this was some place with class and well-bred customers - the type of customers Mara deserved - it might be another story. But there certainly wasn't a place like that in Port Royal.
It smelled like stale beer and even more stale bodies. He was a literal fish out of water, sitting at the table on his own, nursing acup of rum that was unsatisfyingly warm in the heat of the Port Royal afternoon. Even with his ungainly fake leg tucked under the chair, the fact that he was notone of themhad never been more apparent.
A set of doors opened on the second floor, and Silverfin looked up eagerly, hoping for Hawk. Wrong doors. His sister came out, adjusting her hair and her bodice, with a faint flush upon her cheeks and over her breasts, and sat down on the bench across from him.
