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Chapters (64)
  1. Cover
  2. Copyright
  3. Author's Note
  4. Dedication
  5. Epigraph
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. 18
  24. 19
  25. 20
  26. 21
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  28. 23
  29. 24
  30. 25
  31. 26
  32. 27
  33. 28
  34. 29
  35. 30
  36. 31
  37. 32
  38. 33
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  40. 35
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  42. 37
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  46. 41
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  48. 43
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  50. 45
  51. 46
  52. 47
  53. 48
  54. 49
  55. 50
  56. 51
  57. 52
  58. 53
  59. 54
  60. 55
  61. 56
  62. Other Books by Pam Godwin
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Moments later, he returned and lifted me into his arms. I’d never felt so weak and lifeless. I didn’t even have the will to struggle as he carried me into the sea.

Muscles flexed beneath me as he lowered me into a jolly boat. My father’s boots and cutlass joined me.

And I wasn’t alone.

Two dead bodies lay at my feet, and the sight of them together breathed life into my heart.

“How?” I crawled toward my parents and gripped their cold hands, lacing their fingers together in the squeeze of mine.

“I stole his body from the gallows.” He climbed into the boat behind me. “Captain Sharp deserves a burial at sea.”

“Thank you.” I lay down beside them and wrapped my arms around my father’s chest. “What will happen to me?”

“That’s up to you.” He stabbed the oars into the black water and pushed out to sea. “Jade is yours. The captain was very clear on that point the night he took her.”

“I’m only fourteen.”

“I’ll captain her until you earn the crew’s trust.” He tipped his head, studying me. “I was younger than you, orphaned like you, when I chose this life. I have no regrets.”

“I’m a girl.” A broken, empty girl. I tightened my hand around my parents’ entwined fingers. “The crew won’t accept me without my father.”

“Don’t give them a choice.” His gaze flitted over me, and a smirk touched the corner of his mouth. “I saw a fearless fire burning inside you yesterday. Get that back, Bennett, and naught will stand in your way.”

I felt it. A spark of something beneath the cold, heavy weight of pain.

Something to live for.

My hand fell to the compass that hung from my waist.

When you’re ready, you will follow it and claim what’s rightfully yours.

I closed my eyes and cried.

6

March 1721

Port Royal, Kingston Harbor Jamaica

Seven years had passed since I lost my parents. I still felt it, the deep gnawing pain in the torments of my soul. I tried to shake it loose, tried like hell to pretend the damage wasn’t there. But it clung.

Especially tonight.

The mantle of twilight shrouded me in desolation as I stood before another corpse hanging from a noose.

Another buccaneer.

One day I might find the hempen halter around my own neck. Pirates never died in their beds. But today wasn’t my day.

A reminder that I shouldn’t be here.

I’d been on the run since I was fourteen, constantly looking over my shoulder. Even now I subtly tilted my head, probing the empty alleyways around me, my senses on alert for the one thing I couldn’t outrun forever.

Death.