In control?Bah.He’s nowhere to be found.
The sinister voice rattled what remained of Gabrielle’s hope, and she batted a tear from her eye and stared at the door.“Where’s my son?Oh, my, do you think he is…?
“No, Child.I told you de Laud said you’ll hold him agin soon.”
Gabrielle huffed, her fears growing.She was about to respond unkindly when the sound of a baby crying reached her ears.
Flinging hands to her mouth, she dared to hope, not willing to take her eyes off the door.
The crying grew louder, and finally the lock clinked, the door opened, and a screaming white bundle was shoved into her arms.
Cussing, the pirate slammed the door, but Gabrielle didn’t care.
She stared down at her son, his face red from screaming and little tears streaming down his puffy cheeks.
“Matthew, oh Matthew, I’ve missed you so.”
At the sound of her voice, he stopped crying and looked up at her as if he, too, had missed her.But that wasn’t possible.He was too young for that.
Omphile moved to glance down at him.“He looks healthy an’ sound, Miss.All is well.I told you.”
Smiling, Gabrielle kissed her son on the forehead and drew him close.At least in all this madness, God had blessed her with one tiny miracle.
???
Cadan had only been this furious once before, and that was when Elyna and Damien had conspired to have him convicted of treason and sent to Barbados as a slave.And just like back then, he had not expected this mutiny.What a fool!He’d thought he’d engendered a smidgen of loyalty amongst his crew.But they were pirates, after all.
Digby, a man big of head and less of brains, shoved him down the ladder to the gun deck.
“Didn’t I line your pockets with enough coins, Digby?”Cadan growled.“That you turn on me so quickly?”
“Nothin’ personal, Cap’n,” Jud said, pressing the barrel of his flintlock at Moses’ back.“Smity offered us a fortune if we sided wit’ ’im.That’s all.”
Cadan laughed.“And you trust that feckless ingrate?”
Which earned him another shove.
“Down below wit’ ye, an’ shut yer trap.”
One glance over his shoulder revealed Moses, rage tightening all his features, and a fire in his eyes Cadan had not seen before.
“Don’t be thinkin’ it, Cap’n.Ye try anythin’, and yer Negro friend ’ere gets gutted.”
Cadan ground his teeth, but continued onward, climbing down the ladder into the dark moist stink of the hold.Hadn’t he just been down here talking to Smity?How had the man escaped?No doubt he’d bribed one of the pirates by saying he’d go after Demster’s treasure.Not that he knew where it was.Cadan grinned.
Another smile stretched his lips at the sight of Pell and Soot inside the cage.At least they had remained loyal to him, though he was not happy to see them thus.
Digby unlocked the gate, shoved Cadan and Moses inside, then slammed the door with a mighty clank that echoed through the hold.
Jud spat to the side then left, chuckling all the way up the ladder, Digby lumbering behind him.
Darkness as thick as the grave encompassed them.
“I did my best, Captain.”Pell’s voice joined the creak and groan of the ship’s timbers.
“You were outnumbered.”Crossing arms over his chest, Cadan leaned against the bars.“I should have listened to you.”
“Aye.”
