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“Thanks, Nelson,” she told her twin brother. She tried to shoot him a grateful look, but it came out pained instead. Nelson was the one who had sneaked her away the night before her wedding to Vince Fiddick was supposed to take place. He was the one who promised to save her. He was the one who kept her hidden and fed, despite the rocky waters and low food supply.
She didn’t know where the ship was headed or what was going to happen when it got there, but they both knew that this was Julianne’s only option if she ever wanted to be free.
“You’re welcome. I’m sorry it’s not more.” Nelson shrugged regretfully. Julianne knew that he was cutting his own rations in half in order to keep her hidden and alive. Her twin was nothing if not resourceful. His determination mixed with cleverness was keeping her alive. She wouldn't forget it and she wouldn’t ask him for more. Anytime she was tempted to complain about how hungry or bored she was, she considered the position she had put her brother in.
He was a pirate, after all. It wasn’t in his nature to be merciful, yet here he was, taking care of his sister when no one else would.
“When’s the next port?” Julianne asked.
“Tomorrow. Hold tight until then and I’ll try to get you off the ship for a little while, at least.” He looked nervous, and she knew he was thinking about what a risk it would be to let her out of the little storage room. Crates and barrels surrounded her day in and day out, but there was comfort in knowing this space was rarely used. Most of the pirate
s spent their days on the main deck when they could and in the crew’s quarters when they couldn’t. Even when they needed to access cargo, there were two other rooms they used more frequently than this one.
Julianne had gotten good at being quiet in her tiny space on the ship, but if Nelson allowed her to leave, even for a little bit, she would risk being seen. What would happen to her brother if he was caught?
She nodded and wrapped her blanket tighter around herself, cold from weeks of staying in the stores of the ship. Nelson gripped her shoulder for a moment in a soft sign of compassion, then disappeared around the corner. Julianne heard the door close and the lock click in place. She allowed herself to crumple onto the floor with a sigh.
She was stuck on a ship in the middle of the ocean and she had no idea where they were headed. Rumor had it that Wade Docherty, the captain of the ship, was searching for something. Nelson was tight-lipped about what it was. He always told Julianne he wasn’t sure what the pirate captain wanted, but his eyes flicked away when he said it. She had been his sister long enough to know when he was lying, and Nelson was definitely lying about knowing.
Was the hunt that dangerous?
Or was Nelson afraid that Julianne would figure out his secret?
She knew her brother loved being a pirate. He pretended to hate it. He’d whine and complain with the best of them, but he loved it. He loved the thrill, the adventure. He loved the hunt. He loved the fights. Most of all, Julianne knew, Nelson loved the danger.
They had grown up in the upper-class area away from the dirty harbor of Gunthry, but they had always sneaked down to peek at the pirates, even as children.
“That’ll be me one day,” Nelson whispered, but Julianne always made him promise not to tell their parents. There was no telling what they would do if Nelson proclaimed his loyalty to anyone besides the King, especially a pirate.
She leaned her head against the side of the boat. The wood was hard against her head, but she barely noticed anymore. It had been weeks since she fled from Vince Fiddick and her parents, weeks since she joined the gang of pirates, weeks since she gave up one prison for another.
She knew her parents had been pressured to wed her off. Socially, they needed to climb. Their wealth had dwindled and their bloodline was in trouble, but they could have picked a better man.
Any other man in town, she thought, would have been a better choice than Vince. He was cruel and conniving, but more than that, he was calculating. How long would he parade her around town on his arm before he grew tired of her and locked her away to rot in silence and loneliness? How long would he pretend to love her before he grew tired of the charade?
Julianne worried, sometimes, that her parents had suffered some sort of social ramifications when she vanished. Maybe people would think she had died. When she disappeared, she made sure to tell her best mates she was going for a long walk along the cliffs to clear her mind, to think about how she would be a good wife for Vince.
Her girlfriends had giggled and laughed, but they had all promised not to tell anyone. What about the next day? When Julianne never came home, did they tell her parents what she had said? Did they think she had slipped? Did they suspect she had fallen from the cliffs into the raging waters below?
No matter what fate her pals dreamed up, no matter what the townspeople said, nothing could be as horrible as a marriage to Vince. Nothing in the world, nothing in her dreams, nothing. Not even the stale piece of hard tack she was eating, thought Julianne, and she took another bite.
**
Wade Docherty was the best captain the high seas had ever seen. At least, that’s what he told himself. He had commanded The Dark Lovely for nearly 10 years, earning quite a reputation for himself. The Saucy Devil was exactly that: saucy. He was sly and cunning, handsome and clever. When Wade put his mind to something, chances were that he got exactly what he had been hoping for.
And what he had been hoping for, for the last several years, was to find Mad Drake's lost treasure. The treasure had vanished when the evil pirate Drake's ship, The Cursed Hangman, went down many years ago during a routine cargo transport. Though hundreds of pirates and sailors had searched for the treasure, none had ever found it or the ship. Some speculated that Mad Drake had simply taken the treasure for himself. Others thought that the treasure had a more mythical fate, that it had somehow been cursed or stolen by ghosts or sea monsters.
Wade didn't buy into that nonsense. He knew it was hiding somewhere, just waiting to be found. The right pirate, he knew, could find that treasure. The right pirate could keep that beautiful bounty for himself.
And then that pirate could use that treasure to retire quietly from a long life of thievery and fighting.
Though the rumors varied from port to port, Wade had been captivated by the stories from the first moment he heard them. His crew advised him to stop his search and insisted that it was futile, but Wade didn’t care.
He had to find the treasure, no matter how long it took or how much it cost him. The Cursed Hangman’s bounty would be his. Of that Wade was sure.
“How long to port, Cap’n?” Nelson asked, silently sidling up to the captain. The boy was quiet as a mouse, and smart. Wade had picked him up in a tiny port town nearly a year ago. While Wade wasn’t the kind to take on strays, something about the weariness in Nelson’s eyes made him bring the boy aboard.
He hadn’t regretted it yet.
