But not once did I try to trap him or tie him down with marriage. He was the one who demanded commitment and monogamy while swearing off his profligate lifestyle.

I just want you, he’d said. Only you.

I’d believed him, joyously and blindly.

A year after we met, we’d made it official and exchanged matrimonial vows aboard Jade.

Since my love for him was my greatest liability, we kept our marriage hidden. Outside of Reynolds and a few other loyal members of my crew, no one knew.

In Charleston, I was Benedicta Leighton, granddaughter of the ninth Earl Leighton.

Everywhere else, I was Bennett Sharp, daughter of the notorious Pirate Edric Sharp.

The only living person who knew Benedicta and Bennett were one and the same was my husband.

He knew everything about me.

Every.

Vulnerable.

Weakness.

Exposing our relationship would’ve made both of us susceptible. Then and now. Didn’t matter that I no longer looked at Priest through the lens of blind love. If he were captured by an enemy and tortured as a means to control me, I would surrender to any demand.

Pathetic, wasn’t it? He’d hurt me in the worst way possible, and I would still exchange my life for his.

Even more pathetic, I’d gone as far as amending the Articles drawn up by my crew on board Jade to include: If any man shall harm Priest Farrell, whether in aggression or defense, that man shall be marroon’d or shot.

I stood by that code today. If he died, it wouldn’t be on my watch. I would protect him at all costs.

There was a time when I was certain he would die for me, too. But that was before.

Before he betrayed me.

“Have you broken our agreement?” A hot prick of resentment smarted at the base of my throat. “How many know we’re married?”

“I told no one. But I would’ve announced it to the world if it had aided my search for you.” He set the compass into a lazy spin on the chain, taunting me with it. “Turns out, I only had to wait for Charles Vane to hang.”

My chest tightened. “Go to hell.”

“Been there since the day you left me in Nassau.” His expression contorted with fury as he stretched out his arms. “I have nothing left, my love. You must know I’ve exhausted every resource at my disposal, coin in my purse, and tarnal breath in my body pursuing you.”

Irrational guilt tried to surface, but I shoved it down. “What about the breaths you dribbled upon the bosoms of tavern wenches? Were those for me, too?”

“Yes.”

“You’re a despicable liar. The biggest scoundrel of them all.”

“You’re angry.” His silver eyes flared in the moonlight. “You’re not alone in that.”