Devyl shook his head as he shrugged his coat on. “They’re merely servants.”
Will winced. “In our last few months together, I have seen unbelievable things that appear to have been spat out of hell itself. And I can’t help but wonder just what exactly does the Carian Gate hold back from this world, if we haven’t seen it yet?”
Fastening his cuff, Devyl met his worried stare with a knowing smirk. “The most corrupt, horrifying evil that ever gurgled up from the farting arse of the cosmos.”
“Lucifer?”
He snorted and clapped Will on the back. “We should be so lucky. Nay, Mr. Death … what’s coming up from the sea makes Lucifer look like a petulant, harmless child.”
Will crossed himself. “What exactly is it, then?”
Devyl sobered at the memory as a wave of bitterness and fury washed over him and burned him to the core of his blackened and withered soul. “In short, Mr. Death … my ex-wife.”
2
Cameron had to struggle to keep up with Bart’s long, forceful strides that she was beginning to suspect he did apurpose just to wind her. “So how long have you served on Captain Bane’s crew?”
He cursed her under his breath.
Again.
Honestly, she was beginning to develop a mental disorder over it. And an extreme case of paranoia.
“How many of these questions do you plan to assault me with, lass?”
“I know not. But I should like to have an answer to at least one of them … eventually. And before I die of frustration from it.”
He ground his teeth so furiously that she could actually hear them gnashing together. “Would it perchance stop this aggravating deluge?”
“Might quell it some.”
Clasping his hands behind his back, Bart slowed as they finally approached the docks and gave her a sideways glare. While not as breathtaking as the captain, he was exceptionally handsome with those piercing eyes. “All of us are new to the ill-tempered captain’s company.
He assembled our crew a few months ago.”
“What happened to his old crew?”
The moonlight cast spooky shadows over his sharp features, turning them sinister and cold. “There are many questions that are best left unasked, my lady. And that particular one definitely tops the list.”
Perhaps, but it wasn’t in her nature to let things rest. “Did pirates kill them?”
He gave her a sardonic smile.
“They say he ate them.”
Cameron jumped as a thickly accented French voice came out of the shadows next to her. With an undignified squeak, she rushed to the other side of Bart, who laughed at her actions.
“Leave off the lass, Roach. Captain’s orders.”
“Lass?”
“Roach?” she asked in perfect synchronization with his question as the man stepped into the light so that she could see that he was a few years older than Bart. And quite a bit shorter.
Nowhere near as fashionable in his dress, he had a simple linen cap and a shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, held there by a bit of leather cord. And while he had a neckerchief, the collar of his shirt had been left unbuttoned and open so that the cloth was wound about his neck and not his shirt. His brown gloves were as worn as the dark red waistcoat he left unbuttoned. But the most curious thing was the whip he had around his tan-colored breeches in place of a belt.
Nor did he carry a sword. Rather, he had a baldric that secured a small double-headed hand-axe to his left hip. And now that he was closer, she realized he had flesh-colored vambraces.…
Nay, not vambraces. They were cleverly disguised dagger sheaths, which was why his shirt was tied up at the sleeves. That allowed him access to the hilts that were on the inside of his forearm and tucked into the crook of his elbow.
