“I promise,” I whispered.

He looked to Rossetti. “Watch her.”

Rossetti put a delicate hand on my shoulder, but I pulled away, taking a step to the side. José took a few men with him and went about the business of setting fire to the Republican. When he jumped out of the small rowboat again, he stood next to me watching the funeral pyre put the sunrise to shame. I reached out and clasped his hand. He squeezed mine in return and we watched in silence as the ship burned.

Part Two

Rio Grande do Sol, Brazil

Fourteen

January 1840

Our navy was decimated and over half of our men were dead. The battle of Laguna was a devastating loss to the Farrapos. As we rode away to safety José told me the fate of Griggs and the men on the Republican.

“They took the full force of the cannon fire.” He steered his horse closer to mine so that only I could hear his words. “When I found Griggs, I didn’t know he was dead; his back was to me. I called to him to evacuate. It looked like he was leaning against some crates. His arm was up, like he was in the middle of giving an order. When he didn’t respond I walked up to him, grabbing him by the shoulder, but he was already gone.” José shook his head. “He was frozen in the look he had in life, but a cannonball had cut him in two.”

“Oh God,” I said, breathing in sharply. “At least it was a quick death.”

“It was a soldier’s death. The only way he would want to go.”

My mind drifted to Ruthie. There was no cross to mark Griggs’s grave. No place for her to mourn the man she loved.

Would there be a cross to mark José’s grave? Where would I go to mourn him when he died? My heart hurt for Ruthie and Griggs. Neither of them deserved this fate. I didn’t get to see her to say goodbye, but I knew she would go back to General Gonçalves’s estate. Once a favored servant in the household, she would be welcomed back with open arms.

My thoughts drifted. When you are awake for well over twenty-four hours, your mind can make you believe just about anything. I could see the faces of every sailor we lost in the foliage of the trees we passed. At the turn of the bend, Griggs was there, his roguish smile on his face. He winked, then put a finger to his lips before disappearing. I shook my head and looked back over the path.

My limbs felt heavy. Keeping my eyes open became my sole focus on the trail leading from Laguna to the untamed northern border of Rio Grande do Sul. If it weren’t for the angry rumbling of my empty stomach, I’m not sure I could have stayed awake.

“We should be moving faster,” Rossetti complained loudly from two horses away. His long face shone with sweat. The perfectly tailored black suit that he always wore was tattered. He pulled sharply at his horse’s reins, making the animal swerve sharply to the right. “We don’t know whether or not the Imperial army is following us. I swear I could walk faster than this beast!”