“She took my father’s life and plundered his ship. My inheritance is gone.” He turned toward Madwulf. “I demand restitution from her. Following our agreement, I’ll kill her myself, but not before I exact my pound of flesh from her and her lover. Days, weeks… I want her to suffer for as long as possible.” He paused to draw a breath. “I’ll take both of them, a couple of horses, and find an isolated cottage farther up the coastline, where I can take my time fucking her to the point of death while her fine-mannered lord watches.”

“No.” Madwulf freed a dagger and proceeded to clean his nails with it. “The commodore is mine. I’ve been dreaming about his tears since the day he captured me.”

“No one touches him!” Horrified, I threw myself forward, jerking against the restraints. “If any of you so much as—”

Warm fingers curled around my mouth and shoved the neckerchief between my lips.

I glared up at Priest, and he glared back, wordlessly warning me he would do more than gag me if I had another outburst.

“You can have Edric’s daughter,” Madwulf said. “After the fellows and I take our turns with her. She was a real bitch when we met, and as it happens, we like them mouthy and kicking. Isn’t that right, lads?”

Whistles, stomping boots, and boisterous shouting erupted around the room.

Ice crystallized in my chest.

Priest clicked his tongue. “I’m not sticking my cock anywhere your diseased, unwashed pissers have been.”

Silence descended, constricting with unease. That was the thing about disease. When it attacked, it was one against all, and very few escaped. No one joked about it. No one uttered the word disease.

Except Priest.

“Pox on the lot of you. Her cunt is mine.” He strolled through the room, scratching his whiskered jaw. “You like a little fight in your women? Some fearful, virginal resistance? You’ll find that with any number of the daughters on this island.”

Oh, Jesus, Priest. Please, stop.

“I claimed the right to break this one when she killed my father.” He flung a scowl in my direction. “She’s my prize. And her lover, too. It’s a fair trade, Madwulf. If not for me, you would still be locked up on HMS Blitz.”

“If nae for my attack on HMS Ludwig,” Madwulf said, “she would still be in the admiral’s custody. The lads and I will be taking our turns with her. Then you can haul her anywhere you want on horseback. The commodore stays with us.”

Fear, cold and sharp, penetrated my gut and chilled me to the bone. I expected to see something similar materialize in Priest’s expression, but he remained calm. Confident.

He had a plan.

Some of the tension loosened in my shoulders.

“No.” He stalked across the room and lifted an object from a small table. “There’s only one way to settle this.”