Chapter 15
Rosetta was seated in a small rowboat along with Naeem and four others rowing the oars. She could see Alister and Pierre in a boat just in front of them.
They had finally arrived at Dead Man’s Island, and no one wanted to wait to find out if it was Dustin’s trove or not. They instantly dropped anchor in the shallows and headed out.
They knew this must be the island on the map she’d stolen in Tortaya all those months ago. After circling once, they mapped it as the exact shape from the drawing. Even the cliff that had been vaguely drawn was the same.
It had taken three months to get here after going to the other two locations of maps that could hold booty. Neither did, but one looked as though it had, at one point, been dug up by other treasure hunters.
They’d seen a speck on the painted map on her navigation room wall that looked like the parchment. It was close to the Sthrill Islands, where she’d stolen Alister’s ship from him.
After a long discussion between herself, Alister, Naeem, Pierre, and Derek, they’d decided unanimously to come here first. It appeared their gut feeling had been correct.
But is this Dustin’s trove?
It was out of the way, far from any trading sea routes. This island was in the middle of nowhere. The fact that it had been on her wall at all was a surprise.
It looked like a giant hill of sharp rocks that eventually ran up to a long, deadly cliff. It was relatively small and lacked a sandy bank for them to row up to in order to hop onto land. They would’ve needed to take their rowboats to some rocks and try to climb out without falling into the water.
Luckily, they weren’t doing that.
The map didn’t say they needed to set foot on the land, but rather go through or under it. With the midday sun shining directly against the cliff, it lit the way as they started rowing.
She expected a wall to stop them, that they would have to turn around and deem this a failure, but the closer they got, the more she could see a shadow. She watched Pierre point to it. Alister patted him on the back and directed his men rowing the oars in that direction.
It was impossible to tell from afar, but the shadow led to a small cave with ocean water running through it.
They lit torches with flint and steel so they could see in the darkness. Eventually, it became so narrow that the men brought their oars into the boat and started pushing against the walls of the cave to steer them.
“We’ll need to watch out for the tides,” Naeem commented when they turned around a sharp bend. His voice echoed against the walls, as did those from the boat in front of them. She couldn’t hear what they said, since they were too far away to be distinguishable.
“I don’t think so.” She looked up at the high, rocky ceiling. “We’ll know when it’s starting to rise, and we’ll have plenty of time and room to escape.”
Silence fell, and it gave Rosetta time to quietly reflect on the last three months of their journey.
Not long after they’d left Tortaya, they’d gone through a tough storm. The Laughing Siren and the Howling Death separated during those few days, but had always been within spyglass distance of each other.
It hadn’t been as dangerous as the one that damaged her mast and they’d been able to navigate through it relatively close to each other. Still, they had chosen a location to meet if they were truly separated.
After that, they’d raided a trading boat and sunk one fleet ship weeks apart from each other.
They’d tried to raid the fleet ship first. It had added to their supplies, but had mostly been unnecessary.
Rosetta was adamant about destroying the queen’s fleet ships, blaming her for putting a man like Theodore in a position of power to hurt someone vulnerable.
Now that she trusted her crew completely, Rosetta felt comfortable crossing between their two ships at will and had no fear of spending an extended period away from her own.
Before Tortaya, she could have cut the tension between herself and her envious crew with a knife. There had been obvious unspoken spite and jealousy brewing.
As time crept on, she’d seen the way they acted or looked unhappily at her, and it had always been worse after she spent any time with Alister.
Now, months later, the tension on her ship was almost non-existent. They’d appreciated what she had done for them, understood she knew it was unfair, and had acknowledged that she’d gone out of her way to make amends.
They also knew she would most likely take them to a port to satisfy their needs again.
She wouldn’t wait so long to do it, and she definitely wasn’t paying for it this time.
Madame Lillian’s girls had made sure their one night had been spectacular and worth every penny, with Alister’s help, of course.
Now, she had freedom.
Freedom she used to be entangled with Alister whenever she pleased on either ship.
Some nights, she’d have dinner with her crew, others she’d eat with Alister so they could spend the night together. She often slept alone, but sometimes, he’d be in her bed. Other mornings, she woke in his hammock.
As though they were inescapably drawn to each other, he’d swing over to her ship to talk to her while she was manning the helm before going back to steer his own.
He’d let Pierre take over so he could talk to her about an island they were passing, about where they were in the world – any excuse to come and interact with her.
She would often do the same.
When he could see she was tired, he convinced her to let him man the helm for a few minutes. It allowed her to take a break and rest her arms, get a drink, eat, until she was ready to take over.
It was common for those who manned the helm to do this regularly throughout the day, but Alister had begun to involve himself in her rotation. He occasionally allowed her to do the same for him, since her shift was shorter than anyone else’s on both ships.
He trusted her, as she trusted him.
Rosetta lacked his endurance, so she often did short morning and afternoon shifts, making Naeem do the peak of the day. It had always been that way between them. Mr Thomas had taken over John’s position at night.
Alister also forced her to help count the stock and supplies regularly, getting her to learn despite how much she tried to annoy him when he did.
There were days they didn’t see each other at all, except from a distance. It was a silent truce of quiet and peace.
But as the months drew further into the year, the colder the winds became. Since they had entered the cold, bitter months of winter, she sought Alister out at night.
Rather than crawling her way into Naeem’s hammock, she found it more comforting to crawl into Alister’s. So, even if she didn’t see him at all throughout the day and well into the evening, she’d find him to soak in his warmth while she slept.
Not once had he seemed to mind.
She thought it might be because he could easily get her under him before they crawled into their chosen sleeping arrangements. Warm, naked, and curling into him with the blanket thrown over them, Rosetta often woke next to him and watched him sleep.
He’d stopped wearing his eye patch while he was alone with her, and she’d take in the heat and sight of him for a little while. It was often accompanied with having to encourage herself to abandon his hammock to dump herself into the winter air so she could man the helm of her ship.
Alister woke every time, would let her free before rolling back over to sleep, calling out some sort of oath for waking him. She’d giggle at him for it.
If she woke in her bed with him, he never stirred when she left it at all, so she often tried to convince him to come to her instead.
Although the days were broken up by different small events, a routine had formed, one she was comfortable and content with.
It also sent dread through her.
When she’d originally set sail alongside Alister, she had expected the passion between them to fizzle out by now.
He hasn’t grown bored yet. Neither had she.
She’d never intended to sail with him for this long, and as every day passed, every week, every long month, Rosetta knew she was growing more and more attached to him, and to a life filled with security, safety, comfort, and pleasure.
The oceans were rough. It was a torturous element to have to live on, but she’d found happiness for the first time since she was a teenager.
It frightened her.
She never thought she’d ever experience something like this. To have a wonderful crew who shared their laughter and entertainment with her. To have a second ship with a crew who would swing over to talk to hers, sharing memories and chatter.
Close friendships were built over games, food, drinking, and general roughhousing. To see the two ships integrating closer together was joyful.
Naeem and Pierre were an insufferable pair who seemed near impossible to separate if they weren’t on duty. There was a joke they were now married with how much time they spent together.
She didn’t want to destroy that, didn’t want to rip them or their crews apart, just as much as she knew she didn’t want to part from Alister.
Those emotions and feelings were swirling, and she grew saddened by them. Rosetta didn’t want them.
What do I do?
At first, they only swelled up when he was sweet to her, when they were intimate. It made her heart warm or made her feel crazy, depending on the intensity of their passion.
Unfortunately, they were starting to pang even when they argued.
She refused to recognise them completely, refused to even think about what they could mean. When she felt them, she turned away from those feelings because there was nowhere for those sparks to grow.
Like sparking flint and steel against sand, no matter how much she tried, it would never light.
It was a hopeless endeavour, and she refused to even try.