He didn’t need ten minutes to give me a release. He could do it in two. But outlasting the clock wasn’t my aim.

With his breaths crashing against my mouth and the impossibly long, swollen length of him pressing against my inner thigh, it was time. He was mindless enough, his guard effectively compromised as he closed his eyes and drove his finger deep into the drenched folds of my flesh.

My throat constricted as I put my lips at his ear and whispered, “Let this be a lesson in betrayal.”

“Wha—?”

I shoved his chest with all the strength in my arm and smashed the bottle of rum against the side of his head. Through a spray of liquor and glass, the world stood still as he stared at me in disbelief.

Then he slumped like a sack of grain. His back hit the mattress. His body went limp between my legs, and blood spurted from the jagged wound near his temple.

He was unconscious.

The rancid taste of grief flooded my mouth. My sinuses burned, and fire scorched the backs of my eyes. What kind of woman hurt the man she loved?

“I’m so sorry.” I lay my cheek on his chest and released a choking cry of relief and agony.

I cried for the marriage I’d bungled so miserably. For the man whose faithlessness had taught me a hard lesson in trust. And for the love I was letting go after so many years of holding on.

It was time to move past this. Time to find the compass, lock my demon in the bilge, and hold him captive until he was as finished with me as I was with him.

Wiping away tears, I stretched toward his face and kissed his slack lips. It hurt to do so.

It hurt to climb to my feet and not kiss him again.

It hurt to turn away and straighten my undergarments. But I did it.

I put him behind me, pulled in a deep breath, and shouted for my quartermaster.

11

“Strip him.” I cleared the nervous jitter from my voice and gave Reynolds my back, leaving him to deal with Priest’s unconscious body. “I want him naked and defenseless when we lock him in the hold.”

Where did I put my favorite shirt? Ah! There. I snatched it from the floor and pulled it on over my linen corset.

“Naked?” Reynolds asked behind me. “You sure, Captain?”

“Yes.”

Was I? Seeing Priest without his breeches wouldn’t exactly help me let go and move on. But I wanted his humility. I needed it.

“Nudity doesn’t affect my brother like normal folks.” He shifted, creaking the boards with the sway of the ship. “If anything, it gives him more confidence. Especially around you.”

“He hid my compass, Reynolds, and you’re going to search every crease and crevice, starting with the ones on his person.”

“He did what?”