“Of course, I knew.” She fumbled in her urgency to mount the horse, her skirts tangling around her legs. “He always sent two hounds. When one passed, the other showed the replacement how to find us. They were his couriers.”

“That’s how he sent you his letters?” My eyes bulged. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I needed you to fiercely guard that secret. As long as you hid it from me, I trusted you could hide it from those who would harm him.” Her slipper caught in the stirrup, and she swung up onto the saddle, her features distorted with an emotion I’d never seen there before.

Fear.

“When was he arrested?” She turned the horse about, facing the opposite direction.

“Before dusk.” I floundered after her, my pulse tripping in my veins. “There will be a trial.”

“Not for a pirate, you foolish girl. And certainly not for Edric Sharp. Don’t you get it, Benedicta? We made him weak.”

“No, he loves us!”

“And I gave him up because I… I couldn’t be the reason for his demise.” She turned away and signaled the horse to move. “Go home and burn that gown.”

“Mother, wait!” I grabbed the bridle, halting her. “If there’s any love for him left inside you, you will save him!”

She bent down and slapped my hand away, her lips pulling back in a sneer. “I love him so viciously I would die for him.”

Her declaration slammed into me, knocking the wind from my lungs. She lunged the horse forward and dashed into the gloom of shadows.

I staggered after her, but she was already gone.

My father would be in the town gaol, so that was where I needed to go. But not drenched in blood. And not without a horse.

Stripping out of the gown, I found only a few stains on the petticoat and bodice of my stays.

I stuffed the dress inside the hollow of a dead tree, retied my father’s compass to my waist, and turned in the direction where the sky was the lightest. East. The beach. Once I reached the sea, I could follow it south to the port of Charleston.

As I walked, I pushed through the pangs in my body and listened for the neigh of a horse.

Thirst was the most gnawing ache. And hunger. The throbbing in my face, backside, and feet dulled in comparison. But when I spotted a horse through the trees, all physical pain gave way to exhilaration.

It took me several minutes to mount Grisdale’s horse, and several more to race to the beach. When I emerged from the woods, the sun was already cresting the horizon.

My father’s boots and cutlass still lay in the sand, but I didn’t stop to collect them. I galloped south, eyes on the water, searching for his ship as I followed the shore to town.