“No—”

His fingers closed around my neck, and he yanked my mouth to his, stopping just before our lips touched. “Don’t ever tell me no.”

He opened the door and shoved me huffing and seething into the companionway.

His personal guard, Sergeant Smithley, waited just outside, showing no reaction.

“Gather the lieutenants, Sergeant.” Ashley straightened his frock, his expression void of emotion. “We have another pirate to collect.”

“Yes, my lord.”

The Sergeant departed, and the door shut in my face, leaving me alone in the passageway with thoughts of violence.

The depraved pirate in me wanted to storm through the ship and stir up havoc from stem to stern. At the very least, I wanted to toss weaponry over the bow, cut all the ratlines, and piss on the king’s flags.

But all that would get me would be a ticket back to the hold. An impatient temper certainly wouldn’t win favors with Ashley.

So I went for a stroll and iced my anger. First stop… The gundecks.

Hammocks slung above the guns on all three decks. Senior officers probably had small cabins of their own, but the majority of the crew slept here. It was also where they ate. Tables hung from the beams of the deck above, making the most of the confined, airless, overcrowded space.

Running my fingers along the snouts of the bronze beasts that crouched along either side, I imagined their mighty booms as they spat thirty-two-pounders at enemy ships. Galleons like Jade. But she would never again sail into the sights of these guns. I trusted Reynolds to hide and protect her and my crew.

As I continued to roam, vigilant eyes tracked my every step. None looked pointedly at me. But there was always someone on my stern or at my beam, following orders. Ashley’s orders. It was apparent he’d charged a retinue of men to watch over the wandering prisoner.

I was standing at the rail of the quarterdeck an hour later when Ashley turned the ship around.

Overhead, cables and tackle clattered as rigging lines were hauled. Canvas slowly turned, and HMS Blitz swung into the wind, angling for a wide arc.

Plumes of frothy spray flung from beam to beam as she came about, her towering masts heeling out over the sea on a starboard tack. Timbers creaked and shivered. The deck canted, and I braced my legs as her massive hull smashed through the waves.

I missed Jade. I missed my compass, Reynolds and Jobah, my trousers, and so many things. But God’s teeth, I lived for this. The beat of the sailcloth in the wind, the salty scent of the ocean, the mist of spume upon my face and sleeves… The incomparable unity of the senses.

Squinting through the blinding sunlight, I scanned the decks for Ashley, but I already knew he wasn’t topside. I couldn’t feel him.