Because I loved them, too.

I loved a libertine and a pirate hunter. Of course, I did. Insanely, shamelessly, irrefutably.

Could love exist without forgiveness? I didn’t think so. It was time that I removed my invisible chains.

In the tenebrous, rotting heat of my prison, I let go of the scorn, freed the bitterness, and relinquished the anger. I forgave the two men I loved, completely and unconditionally. Not for their sakes. I did it for me. A final gift to myself.

I felt stronger for it, lighter, braver. It gave me an overwhelming sense of solace, even in this deathly place.

When my captors returned again, I didn’t fight them. Instead, I focused the last of my energy on holding my head high.

If they were to remove the gag and blindfold, they would find neither shame nor fear on my face. They would see relief, for I’d been reduced so low in the hole that I basked in every gulp of uncontaminated air I breathed.

But it was more than that. They’d taken so much from me, tried so hard to break my spirit. But I was still me. Only bolder. Sturdier. Shatterproof. I was a woman who loved and forgave and found peace in her darkest hour.

I was the pirate captain Bennett Sharp.

When the faceless man fell upon me, like all the times before, I appointed him no identity. No name. No rank. He was an inanimate object. Meaningless. Powerless.

As he rutted and grunted his onion stench atop my body, I didn’t cry. Didn’t make a sound. He seemed frustrated by this, his hands ripping at my hair. His knuckles pounding against my back. His hips ramming harder. More brutally. More bruises. I bit down on the rag and bore it. I held onto my peace.

Until the door of the hatchway creaked open.

Boots pummeled down the ladder. One pair…two pairs… Three…?

My breath froze, and my tormentor fell still, impaled inside me.

Not once had anyone ever entered the hold while I was being abused. This man worked alone. No witnesses. But whoever was down here charged straight toward him and forcibly wrenched him off and out of my body.

Then the world erupted in chaos.

It couldn’t be well described, for I lacked sight, voice, and movement. But I heard horrifying things—boots frantically scuffing, fists smacking flesh, bones crunching, and the gurgling cries of dying men.

Was it the admiral? One of his soldiers? Were my abusers not supposed to be down here hurting me?

Or had Priest found me and sneaked aboard the ship?

My heart thundered as a battle waged behind me. The metallic stench of blood flooded my nostrils. A man began to scream, but the roar cut off. A heavy thump slammed against the planks, followed by the continuous sound of something being pounded with a heavy object.