“Is everything all right, my lady? You look upset.”
With a sigh, she wiped her face clean of expression and put on a smile. “Merely overthinking things,” she said, bringing her knight out to threaten his pawn.
“Do you miss your home?”
“Heavens, no,” she answered with a bit too much feeling.
Will nodded sagely. “I understand. I don’t miss my home either. The best day of my life was the day Lord Martin took me into his service. You’re very lucky to have married him. He’s such a good man.”
A good man? Lord Martin? With all the outrageous things he said? But then she thought about his actions, as well as Adelaide’s words when they argued. Martin had no reason to pander to her wishes, and yet he had offered her a way out of this unwanted marriage. He could have taken advantage of heron their wedding night, but instead he’d handed her the poker to defend herself. When he saw her frowning at the storm clouds, he arranged for company and distraction. He was undeniably kind to her sister. And this boy before her clearly revered the man, as did her sister, despite her warnings. Was it possible that she was wrong, and that the baron wasn’t all bad?
No.She couldn’t afford to entertain such thoughts.
“Do not worry, my lady,” Will said as he thwarted her next move by castling. “Lord Martin will bring us through the storm. He’s the best captain there is.”
“I’m not worried,” she answered, putting on a smile despite the faster beat of her heart. “I’m sure he and the crew know what to do.”
“If anyone can get us through the storm, it’s Lord Martin. He’s as brave as any man I’ve ever known, and he knows the sea like no one else.”
“Oh? What has he done that you think him so brave?” The man was intelligent and obnoxiously witty, and his easy confidence was enviable. But bravery was something else altogether. It required action, not just a general air of brashness.
She moved her queen out. It was time to show this boy how the game was played. “Check,” she announced.
Will was forced to block with a knight.
“We were attacked by pirates two years ago,” said Will, as she took his knight and threatened his remaining bishop.
“Check,” she said, certain that the game was hers in the next two moves.
The boy looked up at her and nodded in respect. “Well played, my lady.”
“You were saying you were attacked by pirates?”
Moving his bishop to block, Will continued, “Yes, my lady. They came upon us just after we left Dublin, throwing clay jars of stinging lime onto our deck to blind us. Lord Martin sent Pascalup to the crow’s nest with his bow and arrow to pick off who he could, then sent everyone except Halfred belowdecks to arm ourselves, and get ready to plan a counter-attack.”
The ship lurched, nearly knocking over a few of the chess pieces, but Will caught them quickly and righted them. Adelaide gave up on playing and secured her lute in a cabinet with a latch.
Unbidden visions of water rushing in from all sides and engulfing her, dragging her under to the fathomless deep, made her heart skip a beat, but she forced herself to take deep breaths and tamp down the burgeoning fear. She was safe. The ship was sound. Martin would not let her drown. Well. Maybe he would, but she doubted her doubt in spite of herself.
“By the time we came back up,” Will continued as if nothing was amiss, “he and Halfred had sliced through all but one of the ropes the pirates used to lash our ships together, and my lord was battling three men with swords who had climbed over while Halfred cut the final rope. I’ve never seen a man move so fast. Before we could come to his rescue, he slit one’s throat, kicked the next one overboard, and wounded the sword arm of the third, disarming him.”
“My goodness,” Adelaide exclaimed.
“Heavens,” Isabella said at nearly the same moment. He must have been quite the fighter to prevail under such circumstances.
“And that wasn’t all. The pirate he disarmed begged for his life. By all rights, Lord Martin should have dropped him overboard and let the sea take him, but he had mercy.”
Isabella’s eyebrows shot up. “He had mercy on apirate?” They were the scum of the earth and the scourge of the seas. Surely Martin wouldn’t have granted clemency to such a blackguard.
“He did indeed. He gave the man a choice between swearing fealty or being thrown overboard. Cian is part of our crew to this day, and he’s proven himself loyal many times over.”
“You mean to say there’s a pirate aboard this ship rightnow?” Was Lord Martin mad?
The ship lurched again, and this time the game did topple over. Chess pieces went rolling across the floor, and Will dove after them. It was all Isabella could do to stay seated. Adelaide, over on the bed, was starting to look green again. Dear Lord in heaven, they were going to drown. This was the end.
“Perhaps you had best sit on the bed, my lady,” Will said as his stool toppled over and started sliding across the floor. Her own threatened to do the same.
She stumbled to the bed next to Adelaide, grasping her sister’s hand and bracing herself against the bulkhead. She prayed fervently this wasn’t their last day on earth.
