Chapter 12
The following morning, Alister searched his ship for Rosetta and found her sitting on one of the eating benches in the kitchen, talking with Glen.
She was peeling potatoes, the skins falling into an empty barrel, while he was frying up meat.
“I’m surprised you’re already up,” Alister commented, since he’d first gone to her cabin to wake her. He’d found Naeem and Mr Smith in their hammocks, but not her. Since she wasn’t there, he’d gone to search for her, untrusting and worried about what she was up to.
He wasn’t expecting to find her already doing chores.
“Thought Mr Darkley would need help making the boys’ breakfast.”
Sure, but someone needs to be awake to have a thought.
“Come, he can take care of the rest for now. We have much to discuss.”
He walked out of the kitchen area and down the long hallways. Eventually, he heard her footsteps tapping behind him to catch up, right as he was reaching the stairs to the surface.
He led her to his chambers. Sitting behind his desk, he gestured to the maps she’d organised when he’d been gone.
“Explain your plan because right now, I can’t see it.”
He’d gone through what was on the desk by lantern throughout the night, but he couldn’t understand a thing.
What he did notice was a rough diagram of a ship that looked drawn by someone who’d been inside it: roughly how many levels it had, what kinds of rooms there were. Information like that was invaluable and would help them greatly.
From the other side of his desk, she stood to pick up the smaller maps and random assorted papers.
“That’s because you’ve made a mess of it!”
Revealing the map of the northern hemisphere below everything, she pointed to Tempest Island, their current location. She explained the route they were taking while placing down smaller maps of the locations they’d be passing, so they had a better gauge of the surroundings.
She showed the route she’d originally set up, then the information she’d picked up on the Laughing Siren’s sailing route – from its original port for its current voyage, all of its stops, to where it was currently heading.
To have such updated and new information meant she must have paid a pretty penny for it and been in contact with someone who could get it for her.
“I was hoping to intercept it here.” She pointed to a small collection of islands. “We were going to lie in wait for when they passed and surprise them so they couldn’t run.”
He looked over everything with a careful gaze. “You’ve put the Howling Death in a position of destruction with your plan.”
Which is probably why he hadn’t understood it.
Alister reached into one of the drawers and pulled out his measuring compass and a ruler. He changed the length between the two needles and started walking the route of the Laughing Siren and the places they could intercept it.
“I hadn’t particularly cared for the state of this ship once I abandoned it.”
“Duly noted, but not something I will allow,” he answered, eyeing her for a second with a disgruntled expression. “The two accompanying ships will attack mine and try to sink it. I want to avoid that possibility as much as possible.”
Placing his elbow on the table so he could fold his arm and cup his chin while he walked the points of the compass, he furrowed his brow in concentration. She leaned over closer in front of him to watch what he was doing.
“We’ll have to figure out how to approach it oncoming rather than from the sides or rear.” He nodded his head to gesture outside the door. “I have front cannons, they won’t.”
“Try not to put too many holes in it.” He heard the grimace in her tone and began to look up at her. He didn’t make it far with the way she was bending forward.
His gaze found the gaping opening of her tunic; he had a near perfect view down it. He returned his gaze to the table before she noticed where it had trailed.
The woman’s got a sinful body.
The way she wore her clothing left extraordinarily little to the imagination.
Her tights hugged her all the way up past her navel.
They revealed every curve she had, every outline of bones and taut, toned leg muscles.
Her tunic was always precariously unbuttoned, so low that he’d often caught peeks of those round mounds as he towered over her.
Even when he’d been trying to shoot her yesterday, he’d still found her tantalising.
He’d hoped fucking her would ease some of his desires, but unfortunately, he’d enjoyed it so much, he found himself constantly fantasising about doing it again.
“You don’t have a map of the Kou Pelin Islands.
” He tapped his finger against a place directly on the fleet’s path that would be perfect.
“We can direct the fleet and cut the Laughing Siren off from assistance for a short while. By then, it will be too late, and hopefully we will have boarded enough men that the Howling Death can back off while we take over.”
The Kou Pelin Islands weren’t accessible because they were nothing more than cutting rock formations hundreds of feet tall. From a distance, a sailor could see the tops of their trees and greenery, but the rocks couldn’t be climbed.
Alister grabbed a blank piece of paper and opened the square glass ink bottle. Dipping his quill, he started drawing a rough sketch of what the four islands looked like; two sections of four towers connected with an archway.
“If we come around from the topmost island, we might be able to push the Laughing Siren through the middle of them, which means the other two would have to back off to go behind it or around the other towers.”
Rosetta came around the table to get a better look at his drawing, so she didn’t have to look at it upside down. He felt one of her knees knock against his own.
“Wouldn’t that mean we’d have to go around as well?”
Alister shook his head at her thoughtful face before looking back at his sketch.
“My ship has a shallower hull and is narrower. I can go through the gaps of the two islands clustered closer together, whereas the fleet ships will have to go all the way around to avoid the sand banks if they don’t go through the middle. ”
He looked at her once more, unable to stop his good eye from roaming over her as she bent over the table, taking in the side view of her.
Shit... why does she have to smell so good? He slyly covered the bottom of his face and nose to hide from her aroma, then cleared his throat to bring himself back to their conversation.
“There is a much wider gap between the two outer islands. Commodore Briggs will probably try to go through the very centre to flee, since it will be deep enough for his ship. We will be coming at him in a way that would force a collision if he doesn’t. He won’t sink his ship that way.”
“He also wouldn’t be able to turn the ship sharply enough with them so close.”
“Exactly, he either has to go through them or could get stuck on the banks turning next to them.”
She tapped her fingers against her lips in a thoughtful gesture, before bringing her hand down and trailing her pointer over the route of the galleon ship she wanted.
“If we fail there, there’s no other opportunity to commandeer it before it makes port in Oklay.”
Oklay was a city in Banksia, where the prisoners were taken. They would be given a trial and hung in front of the queen and her consort.
Queen Mary Anne was a powerful and stony-hearted ruler. Alister admired her for it, while also wanting absolutely nothing to do with her. He knew she’d hang him for his crimes before he even opened his mouth.
“We can’t attack it on its way back; it’ll have no prisoners for us to take.” Her brows drew together once more, this time in concern. “I also don’t know how long it’ll be before it embarks on a similar voyage. It’s usually carting cargo for the queen or being used for trading.”
She really does know a lot about the ship. She knew where it was going, the places it might go, why it might go there.
“It doesn’t matter if that’s the last spot to commandeer it.” Her eyes slowly trailed to him at his stern tone. “It’s the spot we’ll most likely succeed. Like I said, this is a suicide mission, but it doesn’t have to be. I’m not really interested in courting my own death.”
“I might be, though,” she whispered, low enough that he barely even heard it.
“Here, then.” He handed her the compass and grabbed her arse by squeezing the side of his hand between her cheeks to turn her. She gave a small yelp of surprise at his touch. “You figure out a better spot.”
He folded his arms with irritation as he leaned back in his chair, slumping in it. She immediately dropped the compass to the table like it was a hot metal rod sitting in the fire.
“No.”
“Nay?” He gave a mocking laugh. “Don’t be defiant just because you aren’t getting your way. Have a look and tell me a better option.”
He gestured to it with an aggressive shove of his hand.
“I’m saying I can’t.” He noted that her gaze flickered everywhere but his face, almost like she was avoiding meeting his good eye. “I understand the use of the compass, but...”
There was only one reason why she couldn’t do it.
His arms loosened but didn’t unfold. “You can’t count.”
“Mr Smith does it for me. I’m a woman; I was never taught how to do complicated math. I can do small amounts, but the use of a compass and the spaces in between need to be accurate. If I’m even slightly off, it could put us off course.”
He gave a sigh, suddenly feeling terrible for making her feel awkward. He ran his hand over the top of his hair, pulling on the loose half bun at the back.
He should have known better than to think a commoner woman could count in this day and age.
“I’m not surprised. The fact that you can even read is a miracle.”