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“Yes.”
Des’s hand ran along the back of his neck. “For if we do this—if we go after theMinerva—I need to know how important Torrie truly is. If I’ll be laying down my life for her if necessary.”
Roe’s lips pulled inward, strained, for a long moment. He exhaled a long breath, his head shaking as his voice dropped to a whispered rumble. “My life. Your life. Whatever it takes. She stays safe.”
Des nodded, his lips pursing into a grin. “I thought as much. I’d already forfeit my life for her if necessary, but I just wanted to hear you say it, Cap.”
Roe’s hand clamped down onto Des’s shoulder. “Watch it, mate, or I’ll be forced to strangle that smirk from your mouth.”
“It’s worth it to see your face, Cap.” Des’s grin widened. “Off to battle, then. I’ll round the forces.”
~~~
The entire crew had jumped alive around her. What had been a lazy day on the deck was now the complete opposite.
She wasn’t sure what was happening. Why Roe had scampered up the main mast with the pluck of a lanky boy. Why every man was now flying around her, running, yelling, bodies so fast in motion she was stuck in one spot on the far end of the deck, afraid to step into the fray and be barreled over.
If she could reach Roe’s cabin, she would be out of the way and in less danger of being accidently pushed overboard. Or so she hoped. But every time she started to take a step into the fracas a hard shoulder or hip would bolt past her, knocking her back into place. The first step into the mayhem of men was the worst, and she couldn’t even accomplish that.
An arm wrapped around her shoulder and yanked her into a hard mass of a body.
She looked up. Roe. Of course he’d have no problem shifting through the chaos of the deck.
She’d assumed he was directing the havoc around her, but he seemed oblivious to it as he shuffled her along the railing, weaving her amongst the frantic men and toward his cabin. The bustling bodies ran into him as well, but bounced off of him like flies on a window.
It wasn’t until he ushered her into the confines of his cabin that he released her.
He immediately went over to the chest at the end of the bed filled with various weapons and started rummaging through it. “Tell me you’ve held a blade before, Torrie.”
“Held a blade?” She looked from him to the window and all feeling in her face drained away. “We’re under attack? A ship is after us?”
“Not exactly.” Steel clanked onto steel in the box. “We’re about to attack.”
Her tongue went dry and she shuffled a step backward as her hand went to her bare throat. “We’re about to attack? Attack another ship? You widnae.” Her Scottish lilt was in full force, words flying from her mouth.
“We can and we are.”
“But—but—but why?”
“You didn’t tell me if you knew what to do with a blade, Torrie.” He pulled free a short sword, the handle wrapped with thin cords of leather. “This one—this should be light enough for you.” He flipped it in his hand, holding onto the blade as he held out the handle to her. “Tell me that as a Scottish lass you know what to do with this.”
“Aye, I ken enough.” She wrapped her hand around the handle of the blade and took it from him. The leather smooth under her palm, it instantly felt like an extension of her arm. He was right—it was weighted well for her, short but very wieldable. “Lachlan and Jacob made sure I could protect myself with various blades.”
“Then I owe them a thank you.” He dropped to his knees, pulling out blade after blade from the box and flinging them onto the bed.
“But why? Can this attack not wait until after you’ve dropped me off in port?”
“We’ve been after theMinervafor a year, Torrie. This is as close as we’ve come to it—it’s slipped through our fingers three times.”
“But why? Why is it so important?”
He paused, his forearms on the edge of the weapon chest, and looked up at her. “It’s the ship that made me a captain.”
“Made ye a captain?” She froze. “That means it was the ship that killed yer Captain Folback and a third of yer crew.”
His grey eyes met hers, the glint of steely vengeance in them impenetrable. “Aye. It is. The very one.”
“And everyone on board is out for revenge.”
