Epilogue #2
So, from just below his calf muscle, Pierre, who was still his first mate, had hacked it away with a cleaver. His mother had helped to heal the wound as best she could afterwards.
She hadn’t been right for a long time after.
Neither of them had been.
Rosetta had manned the helm of the Howling Death for the months Alister had been unable to walk. She spent every other hour of the day looking after him and helping to rehabilitate him until he could walk on a peg.
Once he was able to, despite his pain, he was an irritable asshole until he’d grown accustomed to it. His mother took it in stride, no matter his temperamental attitude, and eventually, they were back to their usual selves.
“Speaking of your mother, where is that woman?” He watched Alister turn his head to look for her, showing him the back of his head. His hair was still thick and was half plaited rather than in a half bun, meaning Ma had gotten to it recently. “She was out of bed before me.”
“Doesn’t she always do that?” Adrian laughed. The early morning sun had only just finished rising.
“Aye, but I always wish she wouldn’t.”
“I don’t know where she is. Last I saw her, she came out to speak with me before going to Maddox.”
She’d woken up to check on her children.
Today, she’d greeted Adrian before lightly tapping him on the cheek for saying ‘aye’ and ‘nay’ and speaking similarly to his own da! She didn’t want them speaking like they were morons, even though she’d wedded one who did.
She often confused him. Adrian didn’t understand his own mother and had never met a woman like her.
I consider her more insane than Da. Still, he loved her dearly, and she loved him just as much back, perhaps even more.
He hoped he found someone just like her for himself.
“Then where is Scarlett?” Alister asked. “She’s probably with her.”
Adrian shook his head. “Nay, Scarlett is in the crow’s nest on the Laughing Siren having a tantrum because I wouldn’t let her man the helm.”
Scarlett was his younger sister. She looked nothing like him.
Her hair was a dark brown, her eyes brown with a touch of auburn, and she had freckles peppering her pale skin. She looked more like their mother, which meant she was a pretty thing. She also acted like her, which meant she bickered with everyone.
“Aye, good. She’s too young.”
“No, she’s not,” a feminine voice said from the quarterdeck steps as his mother came up them.
“Aye!” Alister argued. “She isn’t old enough to man the helm by herself.”
With a squinted glare, her lips thinning in irritation, she stood before them with her hands on her hips. Her attire had barely changed as Adrian grew older, but she’d recently bought herself a navy-blue doublet coat and wore it most of the time. She was always cold, even in summer.
She gestured her hand towards Adrian. “If he and Maddox were allowed to man the helm at sixteen, then Scarlett can at sixteen.”
Alister stepped forward to point his index and middle fingers at her. “She’s not strong enough!”
“That’s because you never let her do anything!
” She grabbed his fingers and held them in her small fist to direct them away from her face.
“Just because she’s your daughter doesn’t mean you have to be so protective of her.
The only reason I don’t let her man the helm on her own is because Adrian doesn’t have his own ship and Maddox is still learning. ”
Soon, Adrian would be allowed to commandeer a ship of his own and become a captain. He was just waiting for the right one.
I want a warship, just like Da. He wanted a smaller one, a faster one, one that could hold almost the same number of cannons.
He wanted it so he could protect his brother and sister, and his parents when they were too old and useless.
A small grin formed across his face.
He could picture it: he and Maddox manning a frigate each while they sailed on either side of Scarlett on the Laughing Siren. An unstoppable force. A family that killed and raided side by side.
He was excited to become a captain under his father’s fleet. With the guidance of his parents, he knew he could do great things. He was just like his father, but Adrian was also cunning and intelligent like his mother. Not even his siblings could measure up to him.
“I let her climb the shrouds and work the sails!” Alister yelled back at Rosetta. “I’ve seen her, and I know she can’t do it yet.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes, she can. I’ve been with her on my shift and let her. She’s good at it, just like me.”
“She can’t touch the Howling Death until she’s got experience.”
“And she won’t get experience unless she gets to steer the Laughing Siren, but Maddox is currently at the helm.”
They were all learning the same way. They would start with the Laughing Siren, since it was bigger and able to cut through the waves rather than being knocked around like the Howling Death. It was easier to control, even though it required more manpower.
Adrian’s grin grew. Hearing his parents squabble like they usually did brought him entertainment. He also knew a secret, one his mother didn’t know, and one his father didn’t think he was aware of.
While they were all sleeping, with Naeem at the helm of the Laughing Siren, and Pierre steering the Howling Death, Adrian often came to stare out at the stars, hidden away somewhere on one of the two ships.
Alister would sneak onto the Laughing Siren once he thought everyone in their family was asleep and wake Scarlett from her sleeping quarters in the navigation room.
Then, he would shove Pierre out of the way, stand behind her, and let her man the helm of the Howling Death. He’d guide her while standing behind her, his hands holding two of the wheel handles while she did the same with a different two.
He’d tell her how to map the stars, instruct her when to turn the wheel into an oncoming wave.
He’d done this with all of them.
He didn’t often show it, but his father was proud of all of them and their capabilities. He was rough, often threw them into the deep when it came to learning, but he was hands-on.
He wanted to make sure they were all ready if they wanted to sail by themselves. He refused to have his children die before him and often told them he didn’t plan to die anytime soon.
Alister came to put his arm around Adrian’s shoulders once more. “Well, when he gets his own ship, she can man the helm of yours and Maddox can come here.”
“Fine.” Rosetta folded her arms across her chest and turned her head to the side. “But I’ll still be letting her learn with me. None of this ‘she can’t man the helm because she’s a girl’ bullshit.”
“She’s too much like you for me to have those kinds of thoughts.” He sighed back, removing his arm from Adrian and stepping closer to her. “Where you been, anyway? Woke up in a cold bed by myself.”
Her arms tightened further.
“Was checking the stocks of both ships. I don’t know why we’re going to port when we have more than enough to last.”
Adrian and his father shared a wary look between them.
“It just doesn’t sound like you,” she added, a hint of suspicion in her voice.
Shit, she’s catching on. He tried not to let his face fill with humour. She’s too smart for us.
Adrian could see the wheels turning in his father’s head. He was trying to figure out how to distract her.
Alister reached forward and turned her head to face him again by pinching her cheeks with both hands. He yanked on them with harsh pulls. “When did you start turning into a wrinkly bitch?”
“Right when you stopped being a complete man.”
She kicked Alister in the peg leg, making it slip back. He stumbled forward, having to grab a handle of the helm to stop from falling flat on his face. Adrian helped him by having a good strong hold on the wheel to hold him up as he righted himself.
“I’ll show you a man!” he bit, grabbing her around the nape of the neck and forcibly pulling her to him. “Come here, you annoying little devil.”
He kissed her while grabbing her arse and pushing her hips against his. As she usually did when he acted like this, she responded by crossing her arms over the back of his neck and kissing him back just as deeply.
It was Adrian’s turn to roll his eyes as he watched his parents stumble. Alister was leading them back into the cabin on the Howling Death that they shared.
Before long, he knew he would hear things he would much rather not.
When the door slammed behind him, he threw his head back with a laugh. This wasn’t an odd occurrence, nor strange behaviour between his parents.
His mother didn’t care that his father’s appearance had turned monster-like. She loved him just as he loved her, and neither cared who knew it – even their children.
It was normal to them, to their entire family. Sex was not a foreign ideal, and it wasn’t shunned.
But I still need to hurry and get my own ship. Then he could perhaps find a woman to be the same with. Someone beautiful, reckless, but perhaps a little bit easier to deal with. He gave a singular snort of laughter through his nose. Now wouldn’t that just be ideal?
The End