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When the impulse passed, I still stood a pace away from the prison, but the slim handle of the lantern had bent in my grasp.
“Do not speak of Alice like that,” I hissed, trying to speak quietly enough that hiscrew—orany pirates in the myriad shadows around thehold—wouldnot overhear. “I am here to help you. Do you want to die?”
“Alice?” Benedict laughed, but when he continued, his voice was as low as mine. “No,shetastedlike…whatdid she call it? Rosewater. Rosewater, and the lavender tucked under her pillow. So clean. So proper. I doubt Mary’s ever touched rosewater in her life, no matter what they dressed her in for that party. Now Mary, she’s much different than Alice. Except for how badly she wanted me.”
Before I knew I was moving, I had Ben by the collar. I hauled him into the bars with a clatter and reached both hands through, grinding him into the rough iron.
“Continue acting like a dog, and you’ll soon die like one,” I spat in his ear. “There is only one person here who gives a shit what happens to you.”
I saw the whites of Ben’s eyes as he craned to look up at me. He panted in pain, but grinned all the same. “You want to kill me right now.”
“I do,” I growled, then shoved him, hard. He stumbled backwards and nearly tripped, but caught himself. “However, you remain my brother.”
Benedict clutched his crushed face for a moment, then muttered, “Uncle’s not here to whip us, Sam. You can stop being my savior.”
I snorted, overwhelmed by scorn and loathing. I raked hair back from my eyes and forced my breath out in a steady, measured rhythm.
“I am not doing this because of him,” I said, speaking each word intentionally. “I am doing this for myself. I do not want my brother to die. I do not want to be the one who kills him. I want you to be a better man so that I can look you in the eye and not despise you. So shut up and listen to me.”
Silence fell between us. I heard a brush of fabric against wood, somewhere in the shadows, but attributed it to Ben’s gaping crew, witness to everything I said.
Benedict watched me with an expression so intense, yet so opaque, I could not read it.
“Help Demery defeat Lirr. Fisher has taken care ofEllas—sheis of no use to you anymore. You have few cards left to play, so play them right. Otherwise these pirates may kill you, and I will not stop them. You would have hung them all.”
Ben rolled his eyes, ignoring the bit about Ellas. “Sympathizing with pirates, Sam?Youare a traitor.”
“They are the ones in power now,” I countered. “You of all people ought to realize that being apirate—amurderer,adulterer—doesnot guarantee justice. Besides, I would rather fight beside a pirate with a just cause than a ‘lawful’ captain like Ellas.”
Consideration flickered behind his eyes.
“I ought to despise you for siding with him and locking me in here,” Ben admitted, eyeing me up and down. “But I never thought I would hear you say something like that. You have always beenso…”
“Do not say ‘honorable,’” I growled. “I am not.”
“I was going to say bull-headed and dull.” My brother smirked. He considered me for another minute, then decided, “Fine. I will help the pirates, but only against Lirr. I want my prize, and I want my commissionintact—helpme get that. I have my eye on a captaincy.”
His grin was more than a little cruel as he added, “Uncle has to be proud of one of us.”
My throat thickened. I nearly abandoned him then, and left him to Demery’s justice.
But in the back of my mind lingered two young boys, one’s hands bloodied from a lash. I remembered a night of pain and suffering that I could have prevented.
I heard my uncle’s voice too. But,no…perhapsit was no longer the voice of an admiral behind his desk. It was my own.
He is my responsibility.
“I will do what I can for you,” I vowed. I considered telling him of what the Mereish merchant had said, of possibilities of healing, but the glint in his eyes told me that only blood would sate him today. “You will sail home in glory.”
“And the prize?” Ben prompted.
“I will ensure you are given your fair share.”
“Fine, then.” My brother laced his arms over his chest and looked back at his crewmembers. I did not need to slip into the Other to sense he was using his Magni’s power when he said, “Right, sailors, we are going to help the pirates kill Lirr. Any objections?”
I left him before their cheers filled the hold. I wove through the ship, passing pirates preparing for battle. They barely glanced at me, clearing for action and readying the guns. There were no insults or threats, no brawling or drunkenness. They were just men and women with tasks, some pale with nerves, others grim, and yet others laughing and encouraging one another on.
They were people, criminals, but people all the same. People who would fight and die beside me tonight.
