A knot tightened in her throat. No, they most certainly had not.
Home.
The place she longed for but couldn’t reach. Tink twisted the bracelet around her wrist. Not yet, anyway.
*****
This couldn’t be the Port of Rochland where they said the Green Witch kept her shop. Tink had never been there, but everything she’d heard about it described it as a bustling city. The cove in front of them sported few buildings that she could see. And though the dock was sizeable, big enough to allow theJolly Rogerto tie up, only two small fishing boats were moored to it. Worn, dirt paths wove into the hills from the clearing near the dock, undoubtedly leading to more buildings, but this couldn’t be a city.
Smee was one of the first ones down the gangplank, rushing to greet a gaggle of blonde women.
“He really does have women in every port,” Tink said, as he lifted one girl into his arms and swung her around. He was nice enough, handsome, if not the cleverest of men. But still, so many…and they didn’t seem to care that he embraced them all.
“He does,” Hook agreed, leaning on the railing at her side.
She jumped, nearly flying out of her skin. With the hustle to get to shore, she didn’t think anyone listened to her musings.
“But those,” he said, gesturing to the women with his hook, “are his sisters.”
Heat rushed to her cheeks. Of course. That made so much more sense, especially with their similar coloring. This really was their home, wasn’t it? Sage said as much, but until that moment, it hadn’t fully sunk in. This dock, it was made for them, for theJolly Roger. And the handful of others walking down to the shore…they must be family too.
Her stomach tossed and turned as it had during the storms. Tink turned away, unable to watch the happy reunions. Without thought, she grabbed at her bracelet, twisting it around her wrist as she sucked in one deep breath after another. Hook watched her, his back to the shore. When his gaze dipped to her wrist, she slid it under her cloak. She’d chosen to hide her wings again once land was spotted. A shirt alone might do, but a cloak couldn’t hurt, and the very last thing she needed was more attention on her. The sooner they got this done with, the better. Speaking of which…
“I thought we were going to Rochland to meet your Green Witch?” The words came out in a rush, fast as her racing heart. “This can’t be it.”
“We are.” His lips quirked up at one corner. “By land.”
By land.Her mouth opened and closed, but the words didn’t come out.
“You thought we’d just sail into the Port of Rochland?” He rubbed his hook, an act that could have been menacing if not for the seductive grin on his lips. “We damaged theKraken’s sail, but they’ll have mended it or hoisted a new one days ago. You think they won’t come after us? Blackbeard saw which direction we sailed. Rochland would be one of the first places they’d look.”
She’d met Captain Blackbeard only once, and that was still enough to know Hook was right. He’d hunt them down. The mood of the crew of theJolly Rogerall the days they’d barely crawled along the water was proof enough of that. “So this is another part of the island.”
“Aye.” He glanced to shore. “Coconut Cove is a small fishing village, not even worthy of markings on a map. Just how we like it. Besides, the Royal Navy of Gamor likes to pretend this island is under their jurisdiction. They don’t always look favorably on us mooring at the Port of Rochland. We like to leave them to their false beliefs. Do you know why?”
Her brows scrunched and head tilted to the sea as she looked at the world through his eyes. “Because if they have one port of refuge on their passage through the sea, they won’t likely seek another?”
Hook nodded slowly. But that wasn’t all. There was more. She could tell by his expression.
She thought she might know what it was. “And…if they don’t want you to dock there, they probably wouldn’t welcome other pirates either.”
He grinned, looking proudly over his domain. “Exactly. We stay right behind their backs, the one place they never look.”
The one place Captain Blackbeard wouldn’t go sniffing around too closely either, but he didn’t need to tell her that. She could see it in the hard set of his shoulders, despite the wicked smile he tried to hide behind. Blackbeard might sail close to port, look for their ship, but if he didn’t see it, he’d keep going.
“You have a home here? Family?” The question twisted something tight in her chest, but for once, it wasn’t the memory of her own family, of her lost home. No, this was something else. A subtle fear that another lovely lady would run down the docks, but this one wouldn’t be a sister—at least, not to the captain. It was the same reason she couldn’t ask about his ring.
Hook’s hand wandered to his chest before he pulled at the lapel on his jacket. “Once.” The warmth in his voice seeped away. “The sea is my home now.” He shoved off the railing and stalked toward the gangplank without a backward look.
Gulls cried overhead. Soft waves lapped at the narrow beach. This cove was calm, mostly hidden by the surrounding cliffs. It was peaceful here—she’d give him that. A perfect sanctuary for anyone who enjoyed being far from others and at one with nature. Hook’s crew didn’t seem that type, though. By all appearances they loved people, parties, the open sea…everything this place wasn’t. Perhaps there was more to them than she’d seen.
Tink followed after Hook, and though there were many joyous greetings for the captain, no young woman ran to meet him.Thank all the revered elders for that.Not that Tink had any right to be grateful, far from it, but one of the knots in her chest smoothed out. The others…not so much. Once again, she was a stranger in a strange place. And their joy…it should have made her happy, but all she felt was ill.
Nearby, Anne hoisted a young child, no more than four, into her arms. The boy burrowed into her neck, clinging to her as she opened her arms to embrace the man who’d limped along with the kid, his wooden leg thumping on the boards.
Funny that even as she wove through people on the dock in her aimless wandering toward the shore, she’d never felt more alone, more out of place. People in port towns, especially ones like Tortuga, didn’t look twice at a strange face. Travelers andtraders were always coming and going. What was one new woman? Here though, everyone was known—except her.
Shit. She should just go back to the boat, hide below deck, somewhere out of sight. Tink turned on her heel, dipped her head, and reversed her path.
