“Well, well, well,” he murmured, paying no heed to his entourage forming a human wall on either side. “Knighton Villiers, as I live and breathe.”

She blinked. Did he just say …

Knighton Villiers?

Her ears roared. Her chest tightened. She turned, the movement feeling sluggish, breaths loud in her ears.

The grey eyes, the nondescript brown hair—the boy she’d last seen a decade ago had that colouring, true. But … he’d been an arrogant coward. Too self-important to speak to her, but too fearful to swim to the island in her family’s lake. That boy couldn’t command a crew or take all those pirate ships. And his pasty, plain face hadn’t held any hint of one day looking like that.

She swallowed and shook her head.

It couldn’t be. The Duke had to be mistaken.

Although, hadn’t Mama said he’d passed his Lieutenant’s exam with ‘full numbers’ not long before she and Father had struck the deal? Knigh was the sort of man who’d get full marks in an exam.

But—no, Knigh couldn’t be Knighton Villiers.

Not possible.

She stared at him. He had to correct the Duke, tell him he was Captain Knigh Blackwood. Go on, tell him.

“Your Highness,” Knigh bowed, stiff and curt, “I don’t go by that name anymore.”

“Ah, yes”—the Duke’s eyes glittered—“of course. Not since the incident. Blackwood, isn’t it?”

It wasn’t a mistake, he was …

A disbelieving snort burst from her.

Knigh was Knighton Villiers, the fiancé she’d fled three years ago.

A Royal Visit

Knigh’s body was so rigid, it was a wonder he could bow. He was more a puppet being bent by habit than a man choosing the action himself.

“Dear Captain Villiers,” Mercia drawled, “you must allow me to apologise.” The way the corner of his mouth rose looked anything but sorry. “When we saw your flag of marque, I believed it some pirate trick. It was only when I saw you at the helm with—with …” His dark eyes went to Vee, and his eyebrows rose slowly. “My, a dark-haired beauty aboard The Morrigan—could this be the infamous Lady Vice?”

“Guilty on that count, Your Highness,” Vee said, her address and the bow that followed, near-perfect. Whoever she’d been in her previous life, she could summon that aristocratic manner when needed.

“And here I thought it would be my day to finally capture the notorious pirate.”

“Alas, I hate to disappoint Your Highness, but I’m a privateer now, pardoned by the Queen herself—isn’t that right, Knigh?”

“Knigh, is it?” Mercia raised his eyebrows.

Damn it, Vee. Did she not understand that would lead to questions?

“Indeed, madam, your charm more than makes up for any disappointment.”

She flashed a bold grin. “So good of you to notice.”

At Mercia’s urging, she made the introductions to FitzRoy, Perry, and Bricus.