And the meal commenced. If you could call it that. ’Twas more like watching pigs at the trough—drunken pigs that was. Through it all, the monkey traveled down the table, plucking any morsel of food he wished.
Aside from an occasional glance from the captain and Monsieur Maston’s constant prurient stare, no one paid her any mind. ’Twas as if kidnapping innocent women were a common occurrence aboard this ship.
The woman gunner kept up with the rest of them in both drink and boasting, and the pirates treated her as one of their own. Though Emeline had encountered a few women at sea in her voyages with her family, she’d not seen the likes of this one. A vision…a thought, perhaps, filtered across her mind of this woman with a baby in her arms, but Emeline cast it aside. No doubt she was so benumbed with fear, she was imagining things.
The older surgeon, introduced to her as Sam Goode, said little, drank more than he ate, and stared off into space as if he were somewhere else. Or perhaps he wished it to be so.
She could see where Rummy got his name, for the man never ceased from his rum. The more he drank, the louder and more belligerent he became.
Finn spoke mostly of gold, conquests, and battles, the same bodacious bragging Emeline had heard from many a pirate over the years.He was a thickly muscled man with a cropped beard and tiny slit-like eyes full of greed. She got the sense he’d grown up poor,verypoor.
“You haven’t eaten,” Captain Keene finally spoke to her, nodding toward the lump of fish, biscuit, and mound of peas she’d placed on her plate.
She shook her head and gave him a look of bewilderment. Did the man expect her to enjoy a meal that very well might be her last?
He stared at her with those penetrating green eyes, studying her, and she longed for his assurance that he had no depraved plans, but instead he looked away and grabbed his drink. Her gaze dropped to the cross and the odd emblem hanging upon his chest, and she wondered at their significance.
The surgeon drew a deep breath, as if it took a great effort to speak. “Quite the fortunate weather we had this evening, Captain.”
Blake shared a glance with her. “I have a pirate’s luck is all—the luck of a buccaneer.”
“Or be it that Ring that’s good luck?” Finn belched and, having finished his food, lit his pipe. “The one ye gave the lady.”
“A Ring?” Maston laughed and sipped his drink. “How could a Ring create such a thick fog?”
Finn puffed on his pipe. “Then why did we follow ole Slippery Crock around the Caribbean so’s ye could take it from him?”
“It’s a king’s Ring, and I’m a king. That’s all you need to know.” Captain Keene leaned back in his chair, a smug look on his face.
Rummy shifted his glassy eyes over everyone. “If that Ring ’as power, then scupper, sink, and burn me if I don’t quit me rum an’ live the rest o’ me life sober as a nun.”
The pirates chuckled.
Charlie pointed her fork at him. “What’s in your head, Rummy? We all know you can’t do nothing, least of all steer this brig, wit’out your rum.”
“Here, here!” Maston raised a glass, joined by his compatriots. “To Rummy’s rum!”
Sam snorted, eyeing the lot of them with disdain. “Only the ignorant believe in fairy tales and myths.”
“Who ye callin’ ignorant?” Finn shoved back his chair and shot to his feet, hand on the hilt of his blade.
Emeline stopped breathing.
“Stand down, Finn,” the captain ordered, his tone akin to one swatting away a fly. “Ignorant or not, I’d say you are all too far into your cups.”
The captain included, by Emeline’s assessment.
Finn uttered a growl but obeyed his captain. “Jist because Sam ’as some fancy learnin’ don’t mean ’e can look down ’is nose at the rest o’ us.”
Charlie cleared her throat as if to assuage the tension in the cabin. “So, this is your new paramour?” She nodded toward Emeline, her tone playful. “She’s different from your usual.”
His usual?
“I beg your pardon.” Emeline huffed. “I am no one’s mistress!” she managed to say, though her voice squeaked like a frightened mouse.
Charlie’s eyes widened. “For shame, Captain. Did you kidnap this poor woman?”
The captain seemed to take no offense to her question. Instead, he cocked his head and studied Emeline yet again.
