They stood upon a wooden plank spanning the gap between two of the jetties at Somers Quay. Nooses had been tied round their necks, the ropes slung over a scaffold and tethered to a pair of workhorses. A small, curious crowd had gathered to watch the early-morning execution, their interest piqued at the sight of the two foreigners and their dishevelled English friend being hanged on the gallows that was normally set aside for pirates. As the docks gradually came to life, more and more people joined the throng. In the middle of the front row stood Sir Henry, dressed in his finest suit and ruff, a gold-topped walking stick in one hand, a fancy rapier on his hip and a haughty sneer upon his fat lips.

‘Well …’ gulped Yori, wobbling on the unsteady plank, ‘at least I got to see the Tower of London.’

The oppressive drum-towered castle loomed behind them and Jack glanced sideways at Yori, astonished his friend could muster any humour at such a time. Following their arrest, and on Sir Henry’s insistence, the three of them had been escorted across the city and thrown into the infamous Tower, a prison offering no hope of escape. For a day and a night, they’d been holed up in the pit: no light, no food, no water. Their trial had been brief and its outcome a foregone conclusion. The sentence: death by hanging.

‘Forever bound to one another,’ whispered Akiko with a tender look at Jack. Her eyes were pools of both sorrow and eternal love.

Jack desperately wanted to reach out, to hold Akiko one last time, to feel her gentle touch upon him … but their hands had been cuffed behind their backs. ‘Forever bound to one another,’ he replied, the five words expressing everything he wanted to say and more – his lifelong promise to her and his deep regret at bringing her and Yori to England … his unending apology for their present fate; his hopes for their future and his sadness at their loss. But, above all else, his love for her.

A court official pushed his way through the swelling crowd.

‘S-s-sorry, I’m late,’ he mumbled to Sir Henry, who shot the diminutive and balding man a fierce glare. The court official busied himself with a piece of parchment, shakily unrolling it before taking up his position at the edge of the quay.