Chapter 21
It was in the dark of night when Rosetta and her men left the mansion they’d desecrated, a place she had once called home – and a place of suffering.
They were following her back to the pier where the Laughing Siren was currently being guarded by Queen Mary Anne’s soldiers.
When they first arrived in Luxor, she’d abandoned her ship and headed straight for the vile Briggs mansion. It hadn’t taken much to infiltrate it, not with the number of brutal killers she had following her.
Theodore’s family thought he was dead and had decided to settle in. They stole his coin and used the power he held for themselves. When they saw her, they were shocked and very much disgruntled about her return. They were obligated to release the mansion to her as his widow.
Their anger quickly turned into fear as she commanded her crew to massacre them all.
Women and men. There were no children, but if there had been, Rosetta would have spared them. Still, she hated this family. They all knew what Theodore had done to her, and they had never intervened. For that, they deserved their ends.
For five months, she claimed the land the mansion resided on as a safe place for herself and her men. She wore a dress and answered the gates when anyone came to speak with them, thinking the Briggs family was still alive, playing games to trick them into leaving.
She knew how to act noble, sound noble. No one batted an eye.
She gave the servants the option to die or join them. All of them had sworn their fealty if it meant they could escape their servitude. The men would join her crew when they set sail, the women released to hopefully start their own lives on this continent. Banksia was a large country.
Until then, they weren’t allowed to leave the mansion.
Naeem had a big hand in helping her do all this. A few of them remembered him, since he’d been one of them. The others who first escaped with her were no longer with them.
Her men had lazed around the mansion. Some often went to the town to buy food and water for them, but other than that, there was no reason to leave.
It was on the top of a hill surrounded by iron fences, sat two stories high, and was nearly the size of a small castle.
The grounds allowed them space and luxury while they hid from the outside world.
Not that they did much to upkeep it. The gardens fell to ruin without maintenance. She and her men trashed the place, ripping paintings from walls, smashing vases, leaving rubbish on the floor. She used the portraits of Theodore for knife throwing practice.
No one was ordered to clean, and the filthier the place became, the brighter Rosetta smiled.
What did it matter the state of the Briggs mansion when she intended to abandon it? She didn’t care, so long as it wasn’t unsanitary whilst they were there.
Once they were done with it, they took everything valuable they could carry, including everything in the treasury. Without Theodore to guard and watch over his own money, his family had been draining it when word of his ship’s takeover arrived.
No one yet knew it had been her who killed him.
It had taken her over a month and half to decide where she wanted to go after leaving Alister, eventually making her way to these shores.
Now, a little over five months after docking, she was pleased she was finally able to return to the sea.
Her men were prepared for the small fight they knew would greet them when they walked up the boardwalk of the pier to the Laughing Siren. The rotating soldiers had thinned out after so many months of her ship being abandoned.
It was silent at first. Men stalked their way up to quietly slit throats from behind until someone shouted an alarm. A bell rang in the distance.
It was too late. With darkness covering them like a blanket of shielding comfort, they killed over half the soldiers present.
With the new additions to her crew, Rosetta now had over ninety men.
Turning her head to the side as she walked behind her men, killing their way through the pier, she peeked at the woman walking beside her. Rosetta now had her first female crew member.
She was a pretty redhead with freckles almost as wild as hers. Her eyes were a light amber, skin nearly as white as freshly fallen snow.
It would take her a long time to adjust to life at sea, but she had offered to stay with Rosetta instead of trying to find her freedom with the other women.
“Nervous, Elizabeth?”
The young woman gave her a curt nod, curly, unruly hair bouncing. Around small, thin lips, she softly said, “I’ve never been on a boat before, ma’am.”
“Please, I’ve told you not to call me that a thousand times.” Rosetta sighed heavily, stemming the urge to roll her eyes. “You’ll understand better when we’re out at sea. Call me Rosetta or Captain.”
“Y-yes, my apologises,” she stammered.
Rosetta knew she was used to being punished if she didn’t speak formally with someone of a higher class, which she no longer was. She was a commoner; she didn’t deserve such elegant titles.
“There she is.” A smile spread across her tired face when her feet met the gangplank to her ship. “This is the Laughing Siren.”
“It’s a lot bigger than I thought it would be.”
“She’s a big boat.” Rosetta stepped away from Elizabeth so she could board, giving them some space before she started to shout. “You all know what to do! I want us out of this bay before anyone notices we’re gone!”
“Aye, Captain!” they all shouted back.
Men started climbing shrouds, others yanking on anchor chains. Others were carrying barrels they’d procured over the last few days to supply the ship with good food and water.
It wasn’t a lot, but she hoped it would last.
“Naeem, I want you at the helm.”
With a nod, he made his way to it and stood at the ready.
“Mr Andrews, you and I will count the stocks after I take Elizabeth to her quarters.”
She turned to the girl still standing on the pier, like she’d lost the ability to move her feet.
“Come now, don’t mess about!” Rosetta shouted, making her jolt forward and hurry across the gangplank. “Follow me.”
Rosetta led her up the quarterdeck steps. Unlocking the door to the navigation room, she opened it and led her inside.
She took a deep inhale, breathing in the space she’d missed like an ache. When she heard Elizabeth’s light feet patter up behind her, she walked to the left.
There were two sleeping cabins attached to the navigation room. One was for the captain; the other was for the first mate – both were required to be close to this room.
Rosetta claimed the one on the right long ago. She was giving the second to Elizabeth so that the girl was close and safe. For the first time since she’d acquired this ship, she finally opened Theodore’s old sleeping cabin.
“It isn’t much, but you shouldn’t need to be inside other than to sleep.
” She showed her the small bed inside with the little table at its foot, and the decent-sized cabinet mounted on one wall.
“You’ll be allowed the use of the navigation room the rest of the time.
There is a second desk, but make sure you never touch mine or the safe, got it? ”
With a nod, she answered, “Yes, I understand.”
“Thank you for coming with me. I appreciate it.”
Finally, Elizabeth gave her a warm, sweet smile, her soft personality shining through.
“Of course. I’m thankful to be free of being a maid, and you have been so nice to me. I knew the moment you told the men you were going to sail away that I wanted to come.”
“You’ll come to regret that,” she said with a laugh. “The sea is rough.”
As soon as she turned away from the woman, any pleasant emotions in her features died. She immediately grabbed Mr Andrews to go below deck to make sure everything was shipshape.
Rosetta didn’t feel the need to play pretend for her crew.
They all knew she was torn up inside, that she was in pain. They all knew to leave her in peace and not question her about her sadness, her heartache, the confusing and tormented emotions she constantly bore.
Riddled with guilt, with shame, with regret she would never dare try to rectify, Rosetta didn’t feel like she’d taken a proper breath in nearly seven months.
I have made my choices. Now, she must stick with them – not that she thought Alister would have cared that she’d left.
She’d given him his supplies. Other than the ring she’d stolen, which she knew he had a replica for since she’d seen it in his desk plenty of times, there was no reason for him to chase after her.
She’d sailed the other way.
To him, she was done. The prideful and arrogant man wouldn’t have taken the rejection well.
She knew they’d both expected it to be him, but when she’d realised what had been growing inside her, she knew she had to leave. She loved Alister, but she wasn’t willing to bear the pain of the result if he found out the truth. So, tucking her feelings away, she ran.
Scared and afraid, Rosetta fled.
Without a word of why. Without the opportunity to stop her. Without a chance to find her, just in case.
What point was there in remaining?
She didn’t think Alister had the capability of returning her feelings. He’d once told her he didn’t have a heart, and he’d even admitted he didn’t have the ability to be lonely.
He was a cold-blooded murderer, a man as rough and unforgiving as the storm that had once tried to kill her and sink her ship.
He could be cold, merciless, cruel.
How could someone like that fall in love with her?
Even if he was out there chasing her, she knew it was because of some kind of vendetta that she’d left, not because he cared for her.
He’d showed her he desired her, that he wanted to keep her alive, but he’d never done anything to show her he felt anything tender for her. Not once had she felt free enough to show her inner pain and sadness – she didn’t think he’d care.