With unbending hands and an iron will, he controlled me, and I yielded, defeated, letting the ruthlessness of his lust hammer in and out. He felt terrible and beautiful, wild and experienced, mean and ravenous.

I didn’t know how many thrusts he got in, but it wasn’t many. He fucked me hard and came fast.

When it was finished, he withdrew from my slumped body. His hands didn’t reach for me. His eyes didn’t seek. He turned his back and strode away, leaving me to fester in agonizing silence.

I wouldn’t chase him. I wouldn’t beg for a different outcome. And I would not cry in front of him.

Pushing away from the rail, I retreated into the shadows of the balcony and listened as he washed behind the privacy screen. He was cleaning me off him, rinsing every trace of me away. Like it never happened.

It shouldn’t matter. I shouldn’t care. I was stronger than the cruelty of men.

Footsteps sounded beyond the door. Moments later, he strode past the balcony, dressed in a shirt and breeches, without casting a glance in my direction.

“Why?” I heard myself ask as I stepped back inside. “Why did you take me there? Why like that?”

He stopped, his broad shoulders stiffening, as he assumed the powerful stance of a commodore.

“I know why you’ve worked so insidiously to lure me. You wanted my seed.” He turned to face me, his blue eyes blazing. “So I gave it to you in a place you couldn’t use it against me.” His nostrils flared. “You will stand trial, Bennett Sharp, and you’ll do so without my babe in your womb.”

I backed away, my legs shaking as shock and overwhelming sorrow rode roughshod over my insides. Of course, he was right. I’d arrived with several plans of escape. But the one he referenced would’ve been a complete and utter lie.

“If you had taken the time to look at my body, you would’ve noticed my scar.” I placed a trembling hand over the puckered skin low on my abdomen.

His gaze followed the movement and jerked back to my face.

“Do you know what happens to a woman when she takes a sword through the middle?” I raised my chin, helpless to stifle its quivering. “She loses her female organs, her menses, and her ability to conceive. I will never be a mother, Ashley. Your concerns have been wrongly placed.”

I tried to stem the flow of tears. Tried. And failed.

He didn’t stick around to witness them. Turning on his heel, he stepped through the chamber, the hem of his untucked shirt just a flick of silk behind him as he vanished beyond the dining cabin.

The exterior door opened, followed by a deafening slam.