“No, I slip quiet.Nobody sees a servant.I come yest’day too, but your servants, dey look me up an’ down an’ slam de door in my face.”
“Humph.”His nose wrinkled.
“I t’ought you wan’ hear ’bout de Ring.”
“Mais oui!It is the only reason I burdened myself with placing you on that little fat’s ship.”He leaned close, his cloud of perfume making her nostrils flare.“Not only to thwart whatever fool’s errand hisimbécileof a father commanded, but to bring the Ring to me.”
Ayida snorted.“He keeps it close,oui.After dat woman show up, he wear it always.Never leaves his skin.”
“Then find a way to take it!”The marquis hissed, teeth clenched.“You are the one who boasts of dark powers,non?”
Ayida lifted her chin.“Not boast, monsieur.My maman, she was Vodou priestess.From I was a child, I learn de herbs, de charms, de poison.It run in my blood.”A heritage she was proud of, a heritage that deserved more than slavery and answering to a crowing peacock.
The marquis swatted at an insect.“Justement!And that is why I bought your freedom.Do well to remember that kindness, or you would still be rotting in chains.”
She did.She’d been a slave to a cruel taskmaster on Saint-Domingue, destined to a life of torture and lack when a chance meeting with Louis-Étienne de Montverre had changed her luck.But only after he discovered her powers.He sought the Ring of Solomon.She wanted her freedom.The exchange was made, and she was sent to Jamaica where Montverre arranged for a chance meeting with Caleb and his family.He knew the do-gooders would rescue her from certain death on the streets, as they had so many others.Then once aboard theSentinel,she was instructed to use her sorcery to disrupt the captain, his crew, and his mission.And ultimately get her hands on the Ring.
Ayida brushed fingers over the bone amulet at her neck, longing to cast a spell upon this man and be rid of him.“I remember, monsieur, an’ I say merci.”
“Then tell me, what have you accomplished for my trouble?”
“I made a leak in de hold, spoil de rice, forcing de captain to make port an’ offload de heavy sacks.I conjured a storm to steer him off course.I call a galleon from de mist to fire upon deSentinel.An’I summoned a horde of rats to de deck, hungry as wolves.”
Montverre blew out a laugh.“Mon dieu, you are a dangerous woman, indeed.”
Ayida’s eyes narrowed.Best he not forget that.A nighthawk squawked in the distance.With a simple incantation, she could summon it to land in the marquis’s wig and dig talons into his overlarge skull.
“Mais alors, what came of it?”he demanded, impatient.
“Somehow de captain an’ his crew overcame every ding.But wit’ de rats…” She folded her arms.“I dink he use de Ring.”
“Vraiment?”He tapped his chin.
“Why not just kill de man an’ take it?”Ayida asked, longing to be free from this buffoon’s rule.
“Because, fool!The Ring must be given freely, or it has no power.”
Ayida raised her brows.“Den why he ever give it to me?”
“That is your problem.”His tone was silk over steel.“Delay him.Ruin him.CapitaineHyde must not complete his idiot father’s designs, or the Ring is lost to me forever.”
Ayida dared one more question.“What do you wan’ wid it?You got enough gold.”Though she tried to hide it, loathing slipped into her tone.
Montverre’s temper cracked.He stepped forward, face gleaming pale in the shadows.“Taisez-vous!None of your affair!”His voice dropped again, low and cold.“Do as I say and as I promise, you will be rewarded.Not only free, but a queen on any French isle you desire.”
From slave to queen.A future she deserved.And though she doubted the crowing peacock’s word, she would play his game, until the day came to play her own.
“Go!”he snapped, dismissing her with a flick of his jeweled hand, before he turned and marched off, wig bouncing in indignation.
♥
By the time Caleb, Desi, and his crew had returned to theSentinellast night, his mood was as dour as the dark clouds smothering the moonlight above them.He’d been unable to find Monsieur le Marquis anywhere, and none of his servants or slaves knew of his whereabouts either.’Twas like the man disappeared.Or mayhap he was avoiding Caleb, unwilling to answer his difficult questions.Unwilling?Or a willing participant in the answers?
Now, however, after a fitful sleep, broken by nightmares he couldn’t remember—and didn’t wish to—and after instructing his crew to continue repairs using the replenished supplies, he invited Miss Starr for a walk along the shore.Aparticularshore.One that held far too many memories, mostly good.Yet all the joyful ones had been washed away by one night of horror.
“Where are we going?”She followed alongside him, her golden skin aglow in the morning light.
“You asked me about my history on this island and my association with Montverre.”He paused, remembering her many questions, both at the party and when they’d returned to the ship.He’d finally had to promise to tell her everything in order to stay her tongue and put her abed, albeit in her own cabin.In addition, he’d halted all repairs until the morning, allowing the crew to get some much-needed rest.
