Her throat closed to something the size of a reed, and it took all her effort just to keep breathing. Every inch of her went stiff and cold as stone as his words sank in. My plan.

And Blackwood’s involvement … from the very start …

To think, she’d believed his primary danger was to her feelings. When all along, he’d been playing a far more deadly game. Maybe it had been just sex, just bodies to him. A perk of hunting her down. An extra bit of smug satisfaction for him, knowing that he was screwing her and later would be screwing her over as she sailed right into his trap.

Chest aching, hollow, she shuddered. What an idiot she’d been. He was dangerous all right.

Hadn’t she told herself there was something off about the whole offer? But, no, she’d just been happy that they were finally privateers like she’d always wanted.

What a damn fool.

Was he off somewhere celebrating? He was probably telling his friends about how good a lay she was, how she hadn’t suspected a thing. The great Pirate Queen laid low by his scheming, his sexual prowess.

But he wasn’t here. She’d have to satisfy herself with tearing Fitz to shreds with a few choice truths.

“You”—her voice rasped, forcing her to stop and swallow again—“you couldn’t stand it, could you? The stories, the songs, the wanted posters—all about me. Such a pathetic creature that you couldn’t bear to be overshadowed by a woman.” Face tight, trembling, she sneered at him.

“A pathetic creature?” He smiled, eyes narrow, cruel. “My darling, I’m not the one bound and locked in a cell.” He sighed and traced his thumb over her cheek, the sensation crawling through her. “But you’re, again, partially right. A girl shouldn’t overshadow her captain.” He snorted, shaking his head. “Bricus spent years telling me, I was just too blinded by you to see. You weren’t even a quartermaster or first mate and, yet you strutted across my deck, through my ship like you owned the damn thing.” His jaw knotted, and nostrils flared.

So Bricus had always been against her. Had he felt that her odd position in the crew gave her too much power, trod on his toes as first mate?

“But that wasn’t all.” Fitz lifted his chin, a tight smile on his mouth as his hand slid down over her jaw to her throat. His fingers rested there at the point between neck and shoulder, thumb on the hollow between her collarbones. The pressure grew a shade too heavy for comfort.

She would not back down. She would not flinch. Face as still as Blackwood’s, she glared back at him.