“Derphin?”
“Nay. The other hairy one I hate most of all.”
“Ilex?”
“Aye! He said a girl wasn’t fit to climb a tree and that I should get back to me mum’s breast before I got hurt. So I climbed the tree to show him what a girl could do, and then he shoved me down and we fought about it.”
Those words had ignited his fuse. “He hit you?”
She nodded.
That had been the first time Devyl had met the part of himself that had made him famous on the battlefield. That cold, unreasoning beast that wouldn’t stop until he had his enemy lying in pieces at his feet, either dead or begging for a mercy he’d never shown anyone save his precious Elyzabel.
Only Elf had ever stayed his furious hand. Only her tears had ever moved him to mercy or compassion.
Until today.
Something about Cameron reminded him of his precious sister, and this tiny chit touched the last shred of a humanity he’d thought had gone to the grave with his Elf.
Sink me.…
Cameron swallowed hard as she met Bane’s fierce, bloody gaze. For the first time, she saw the slightest softening of his demonic countenance. The merest glimpse of a soul beneath the evil.
His grimace lightened as he held one large hand out toward her. “There’s no need in that, lass.”
Refusing to give in to her terror, she forced herself to her feet and fell back on the strength Paden had taught her to stand on after the death of their parents.
Let no one see your weakness, Cam. Ever. We are Jacks, by God. And Jacks don’t buckle or fold.
In it for a half-pence. In it for a pound.
For that matter, she was in this whole matter way over her head. No way out now. Hell, or high water.
Or damnation itself.
Whatever it took. She had no choice, except to see it through.
“I still don’t understand why it is you brought me here, Captain.”
“Truth? Neither do I. Other than I fear something quite unholy has taken control of your brother. My experience with such things is that when they happen and the poor bastard who’s held in thrall reaches out to an innocent such as yourself … the consequences are always dire to said innocent, especially when it involves something as important as the trinket in your pocket.”
“It’s not a worthless bauble, then?”
The wind whipped at his wavy black hair while his eyes faded back to their ebony color. He glanced across the stormy sea surrounding them. “Quite the contrary, Miss Jack. Wars have been waged for that bit of gold you keep, and countless throats cut. Tell no one else you carry it. Ever.” He glowered at her. “How your brother managed to get that to you is what puzzles me most.”
“It came in the post.”
He gaped at her as he found that the most incredulous bit of all. As if it defied all reason.
She held her hand up in solemn testimony. “I swear it. I thought it nothing more than a letter that must have been sent before he left on his voyage. I kept it nigh on a fortnight before I could bring myself to open it to read it, and then when I did…”
“Did anything strange happen to you around the time you received it?”
“Other than meeting all of you and the lady Menyara?”
His dark grimace said that he didn’t appreciate her humor.
She softened her own expression to let him know she was teasing. “Nay, Captain. Nothing untoward.” In fact, she’d not had so much as a nightmare since receiving it, which was strange given that she’d had a number of them before it came.
