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“You stole from me,” he stated. He leaned forward, looming over the table and eyeing my cloak. “In mypocket—thepocket of the coat you stole along with thatcloak—therewas a coin. Mereish, embossed with serpents. Do you still have it?”
I sat back. He was glaring, but I saw a ghost of desperation pass behind his eyes. Or perhaps it was just fatigue. He looked as though he hadn’t slept in weeks.
“I do,” I replied, more perplexed than anything. It was back in my trunk aboard ship. “Pray, can you stop looming?”
“What?Looming—”Rosser looked down at himself, ruffled. He ground out, “Do you have it with you?”
“No, why would I? Sit back, please.” I glanced around nervously.
He obeyed. “Ms. Firth, I do not care that you robbed me, though I do consider it a gross breach of trust. I only askthat—”
“Breach of trust?” I repeated. “What trust? Did you think I’d spend the night in a room paid for by a strange man, where you could return at any time and drag me away? Or worse?”
Suddenly he was the discomforted one. “It was cold. You required a place to stay and would not come aboardHart.”
“Because if I did, your captain would shackle me to the mast,” I reminded him. I knew what that felt like, and I let it show in my face.
Empathy passed through his eyes, deep and real enough that I was taken aback. But instead of softening him, the fleeting expression left him harder.
“Has Demery done better by you?” He started to loom again, then caught himself and sat straight, regal and restrained. “Mary, what are you thinking, falling in with pirates? Lirr is dangerous, but so is Demery. They are connected, those two, and I fear for you caught between them.”
The sound of my name silenced me. There was familiarity in his tone and words, even caring, and all of it wholly misplaced.
Over Rosser’s shoulder, I saw Athe re-enter the room. Her eyes immediately fell on me, then the back of my male companion. She raised her brows in question. She hadn’t recognized Rosser yet, but if she saw his face, she would.
I gave her a fleeting, casual shrug. Satisfied that I didn’t need saving, she sat back down at her table and picked up her drink. But she still watched me from the corner of her eye.
The pirate hunter continued. “Surelymy—our—companyis preferable to that. I know your mother is involved,but—”
I stared at him. “How do you know that?”
“My commission is to capture Lirr,” he reminded me. “I know many things. If your aim is to help your mother, if Demery is using her to controlyou—letme assure you, Ms. Firth, we will rescue her instead. You and I. Us.Hart.”
“Stop,” I hissed, cheeks suddenly flushed with unsorted emotion. “I thought all you wanted from me was a coin, Samuel Rosser. Do you even know who my mother is?”
He faltered at mention of the coin and I wondered if he might back down, but no. He plunged ahead. “She is one of Lirr’s victims. Which is why Her Majesty has givenHartthis commission. And if youwould—”
“My mother is the Fleetbreaker.” I leaned across the table this time. “The woman who won the Battle of Sunjai and bought the Seven Year Peace. And she did that withmein her belly. To buy us freedom. A safe home. A quiet life.” My voice thinned as I recalled that lost security, but I told myself it was from anger. “And the queen? Her Navy dragged my mother back to sea, they lost her to Lirr, and now look where we are. Lirr has her, and I?I…”
The emotion in my voice was definitely not anger now. My eyes burned. Everything I said flowed from a dark corner of my heart, bringing with it a truth I didn’t want to face.
Rosser did not say a word.
“Lirr caught me,” I reminded him. “She was there. I didn’t know it, but she was there. I heard her sing.”
Rosser’s hand started to reach across the table, but he halted it halfway. “You could not have known, nor done anything if you had.”
“Ishouldhave known, at the least,” I returned. “Somehow.”
Silence fell between us for a long moment. A rebellious tear finally trickled down my cheek, destroying my attempt at dignity.
I wiped it away and met Rosser’s gaze again. I expected scorn, maybe pity. But all I saw wascompassion—genuine,warm, disconcerting compassion that made me want to flee, because my heart recognized that expression as safe, when I knew it couldn’t be.
“I’ll give you your coin back,” I said, standing up. With that movement, I shoved thoughts of my mother back into the lockbox of my heart and clasped my hands before my skirts. “But this is my last night here. I doubt I’ll be off the ship againuntil…Well,not for a few days.”
“Until the Frolick,” Rosser said, startling me. “I will be there.”
Through a lingering cloud of emotions, a thrill that was equal parts anticipation and suspicion inched through me. I’d see him again. But: “How did you know about the Frolick?”
