“We’re there.” Priest stooped at the bottom of the twenty-foot hole—as deep as it was wide—and swung a pickax at the layer of rocks. “I can feel it.”

The dozen pirates around him shook their heads and kept digging.

“You said that a week ago.” I strode along the topside of the hole toward Ashley and Jobah, where they were repairing a pile of broken shovels. “I can take over here if you need a break.”

Jobah nodded, wiping beads of sweat from his brow. I passed him a bladder of water and knelt beside Ashley, jumping into the repairs.

“What do you think attracted Edric Sharp to this island?” Blue eyes met mine, sparkling in the dappled sunlight.

“I don’t know.”

This was an ancient place, rich with the history of indigenous people long gone. Massive boulders marked the land with symbols of religious worship, and trenches in the earth indicated the worn tracks of humans from another time. Who had come and gone here? How had my father learned about it? Had he stumbled upon the island during his travels? Perhaps those answers had been in his letter.

A fingertip stroked along my cheek, pulling me from my thoughts. I looked up to find Ashley rubbing a smudge of dirt from my face.

I daresay his emancipation from English nobility suited him. He would always carry himself with the bearing of a lord, but his posture had lost its uncomfortable rigidity. Since leaving England, he moved freely and naturally in his skin.

“I hit something!” Priest bellowed from the bottom of the pit. “Bennett, get your arse down here.”

I was already moving, tumbling down the embankment and ripping my trousers in my hurry. At the bottom, I stumbled toward Priest and knelt near his pickax.

“That’s timber.” I clawed away dirt and clay and ran my hands over the wooden surface beneath. “Man-made. Some sort of hatch. Throw me an ax!”

Three hours later, we broke through a wooden fortification that stretched six-feet wide and two-feet deep. As the last of the shelf was ripped away, everyone gathered around, breaths held, the very air silent and waiting.

I expected to descend into a cave the likes of a royal palace that overflowed with treasure chests, carved silver, gold jewelry, baubles, Chinese porcelain, ivory, rich fabrics, and rare paintings. We all anticipated that.

But instead, we uncovered a shallow grave lined with dozens of identical sacks of the same size and shape. Sacks of seed? Bullets? Or something much greater?

No one moved as I slid into the hole and tore open one of the bags.

“Gold doubloons.” My lungs crashed together, my heart laughing. I scrambled to the next sack. “Pieces of eight.”

Priest and Ashley jumped in, helping me open bag after bag. They were all filled with coins, gems, and pearls. The value was unfathomable.