“Thank you,” she breathed, remorse coursing through her. “That was myMarrubium vulgare.”
Percy gripped her wrist and placed the handle of a long-bladed dagger against her palm, his dark eyes solemn. “Keep this dirk on your person. Stab any man who comes close. You remember your training?”
Boom!TheSapphireshook beneath her.
“I do.” She nodded, her gaze darting around. Blood splattered her skirts from two men fighting nearby, and she grimaced.
“Good.” Percy gripped her free hand in his, the heat of his palm sending a spark of awareness up her arm, despite the utterly inopportune time. “Remain close.”
With that, he turned back into the fray, leading her along behind him.Blimey, this was it. She was in a proper battle, expected to do harm with an actual sodding weapon, not their wooden practice ones. But she didn’t know enough to survive in a battle such as this! Did she?
Fear and anxiety travelled in waves throughout her body, trembling in her fingers and twisting in her stomach, but she followed Percy. She trusted him.
Ahead of her, he was meeting opponent after opponent with his cutlass, smoothly slicing his blade through the air and across their flesh as though he had been born to it.
They reached the bulwark where two long wooden planks precariously connected the ships.Lord above, does he expect me to walk across that?
“We must cross,” he said, confirming her fears as he wiped his perspiring brow with his sleeve.
Boom-boom!
A beast of a man launched himself at Percy, and he grunted at the impact, working quickly to fight him off.
A flash of movement to her right caught her eye, and instinct once again took over. She arched her arm high, swinging the dirk through the air at the approaching figure. Her heart thundered, rushing in her ears and hammering in her throat. But the man stopped, his eyes wild on her as he licked his lips.
“I like ’em fiery,” he growled lasciviously. His gaze raked over her, and she shivered with revulsion. “I’ll take ye right ’ere.”
He lunged.
“No!” Percy hollered, as another opponent tackled him from the side.
Horror nearly froze her, but she tightened her grip on the dirk and brought the blade swiftly up between them, its tip digging shallowly into the blackguard’s jugular and halting the man’s forward motion. He glared at her, his heavy, fetid breath wafting over her cheeks and ruffling her hair.
“You will not have me,” she said, astonished at the calm that had settled over her.
Despite the upheaval around her, and the slight churn in her stomach, her body knew what to do, knew how to react. And if this was how she would survive, then she would do as she must.
Pulse thundering,Percy punched the hilt of his cutlass into his opponent’s eye, felling the man with a choked scream. Then he turned toward Heather. There she stood, her eyes steely as she glared at the pirate before her, her blade at the man’s throat.
His pulse fluttered, and his cock gave a twitch of acknowledgement.Damn, but she was beautiful.
“Step back and let us pass,” she said coolly.
The cur did as he was told, his eyes flashing with both hate and fear. Agonized cries rose around them, and all at once Percy lost his patience. The crew was dying, for fuck’s sake. They hadn’t time to waste.
He stepped forward and rapped the hilt of his cutlass across the man’s skull with a solid thunk, knocking the man out.
“Percy!” she breathed, her gaze wide on him. “Have you been hurt?”
He blinked, and with a grunt and a grimace of realization, he swiped at his face with the sleeve of his coat before pulling the irksome thing from his shoulders and dropping it to the deck. He was too bloody hot, anyway…and he knew what must happen for his plan to succeed. “No, I am well. I was bled upon.” He gripped her hand once more. “You did excellent. Are you well enough to continue?”
A small smile curved her lips. “Of course.”
He nodded. “Keep the dirk at the ready.”
Boom!
With that, they skirted past a fighting trio of men—one of whom was Stubbs—and across the planks connecting the ships. Fewer men were aboard the pirate’s ship, but while hewas grateful for fewer potential threats against Heather, it also meant that they were easier to see coming.
