His eyebrows were raised, and a slow smile spread across his lips. “Well, I never. Knighton Villiers is actually in love.” He chuckled, shaking his head. “You don’t want her far away while you work? I thought you lived only for the Navy. When you said you’d married, I assumed it was a matter of family duty, not a love match.” He leant over the table and patted his shoulder. “Well, for that I must apologise and wish you much more heart-felt congratulations than I did earlier.” Brown eyes earnest, Billy held his eye contact and nodded. “Congratulations, my dear friend. I’m so happy for you.”

Wild Hunt take me.

He didn’t deserve this from Billy, especially not in response to a lie. But it was a necessary lie. A life-saving lie. If he could just make this plan work …

Clinging to that thought, he pushed his mouth into a smile. “I’m hoping you have space for two more passengers when you return to Arawaké.”

“Ah”—Billy nodded—“I see. Well, I’m afraid we leave in the morning, I’m sure that’s too—”

“It’s perfect.” Even better than he could have hoped, in fact. If they could get away on the early tide, they might even escape before the guards spotted Vee wasn’t in that cruel cage. “She—my wife—she doesn’t have much taste for Portsmouth, so she’ll be glad to leave as soon as possible.”

Eyebrows raised, Billy blinked. “Well, if you’re sure, then, yes, I have the berth.”

Knigh scratched his face to hide the relieved breath he exhaled. “Thank you, Billy. I can pay now, it’s—”

“No, you can’t.” He shook his head, a laugh in his voice. “I won’t hear of it.”

Knigh clenched his jaw and rose. Billy might decline payment now, but he had a whole voyage to slip the money to him. “We’ll see.”

Billy just laughed and stood, pulling his coat on. “Get yourself out of here—it sounds like you have more preparations to make for this mysterious wife’s arrival.”

“You can say that again.”

They said their goodbyes, and Knigh promised to bring some belongings to the Swallow later.

Knigh hurried further inland towards a reputable inn. He’d secured their passage, but he still needed to finalise other parts of his plan before the sun set.

From the look of her this morning, it was going to take some work to disguise the fact she was a fugitive. A lady’s clothes, a wash, food, and, preferably, some time to rest before they slipped through the city to the docks and masqueraded as husband and wife.