Page 71 of If I Go Down with This Ship

Silas smiles as he folds his arms across his chest.“There’s a thing about pirates you may be unaware of.We always manageto get information, one way or another.Whether it be the whereabouts of a certain item or the route of a privateering ship, all we need is a bit of gold.”

My lips part in surprise, and I take in their crew again, their finer clothes.I see gold rings on Captain Rivers’s fingers, the decorative pistol gleaming at his side.And I knew privateers existed, but I never… I never imagined I would come face-to-face with them.

It is a part of history I never imagined myself tangled in, and now I am standing before the very people who worked with the colonizing powers, raiding and pillaging, not necessarily for themselves, butforthe colonizers.

Who would willingly take part in this?

Right.The money.In the end, they’re just glorified pirates with papers.

Captain Rivers sneers.“Is that right?”

“When I got news of your route, I suspected where you were heading.”Silas looks at him pointedly.“And I’m sure, when you saw my ship along your route, you thought sinking it was your best way of continuing unencumbered, but I fear you’ve stumbled upon not one buttwopirate crews.”He motions sidelong to Charlotte.She stands slowly from her spot under the trees, lips tugged down into a frown, but at the ready.Was she always a part of this?

“Now,” Silas says as he closes the distance.“You have very few options here.You can run, but you may have noticed my ship is blocking your path, and if I signal to my crew, you won’t be boarding your ship again.”

Captain Rivers bares his teeth.

“Your other option, of course,” Silas continues before the captain can interrupt, “is to bargain.”

Captain Rivers is undoubtedly furious, and I press my fist to my mouth to keep from laughing.This is Silas at his best.He is a brilliant captain who cares for his crew.And he has outmaneuvered this man in every way possible.This is the Silas I know and respect—the Silas that I care for.

When we came here, I didn’t know what he had planned.All along, since that night in the tavern, he has been strategizing.He gave no hint of the scheme he was running, and somehow, it has worked out in his favor.Silas could not have predicted the storm, could not have known this would still be their route.

But he took a chance and called the right shots.

“My ship will destroy yours before you ever have the chance,” Captain Rivers warns.

Silas raises a brow.

“The crew,” I say, realization dawning.Silas and the other captain turn to me.Captain Rivers looks confused, but Silas only smiles.“The crew,” I say again, louder this time.I laugh, I can’t help it.“You brilliant man.”

I could kiss him.

He’s taking one hell of a chance, but if he can pull it off—

Captain Rivers’s face twists as he comes to the same conclusion, and we all swivel to the water, to the large ship bobbing there, just as a black flag emblazoned with a skull and dagger is raised above it.

Silas tilts his head at the other captain.“It would seem your ship is under my command, Captain Rivers.”

“That’s impossible,” he spits.

“I’d say it is very possible,” Charlotte says, walking up beside me.Her hand rests on her knife, her head tilted towardthe man.“Far too many people have underestimated Captain Night, and it seems you just have as well.”

Silas watches unmoved as Captain Rivers reaches for his pistol, but Silas’s hand is already stopping him, knife out and blade pressed to the other man’s throat.I thought we were dead, and here we are on the beach, Silas in control.

Damn, Silas.Damn.

“Now, I need something from you before I decide what comes next.”Silas presses the blade in farther, and Captain Rivers’s crew reach for their pistols and knives, but Charlotte and the rest ofShe Deceitful’s crew already have their pistols cocked, loaded, and aimed.

“Willie Taylor,” Silas says slowly.“Which one of your crew is Willie Taylor?”

Astra steps forward in my periphery, drawing their knife from their belt.I shiver as they brush past me, determined.Their head is tilted down, hat shadowing their face as they stop behind Silas.

“It’s all right,” they say slowly.

They reach up and pull off the hat and then the scarf, their thick, long chestnut hair falling free.They glance past the crew and Captain Rivers, eyes cutting to a form in the back.The crew begins to part as Astra steps toward them.

They shrink away as if in horror, leaving nothing in Astra’s path as they creep through the sand toward the last man standing.He’s unmoving, eyes wide, hair artfully disheveled.He is a pretty thing, with red hair and a dreamy smile that has likely seduced many a person, and I can see what Astra saw in him once.But it has been years, and Astra has been harboring this grudge since they were abandoned at the altar.