Chapter 4 An Unexpected Visitor
Chapter four
An Unexpected Visitor
Bash
The law of England calls them thieves, the sea calls them sons. Yet when the gallows take them, both sky and tide fall silent.
-Unknown Author
“Captain Edmonds, if you don’t mind,” Oliver Bailey said to his escort.
Edmonds straightened his jacket and eyed Oscar and me like we were vipers ready to strike. Truth be told, I probably didn’t have enough energy to throw a decent punch.
“Ten minutes,” said Edmonds before he turned on his heel, and the echoes of his boots declared his exit.
Prisoners hollered at him, demanding anything from water to sexual favors. No doubt he would go home and have his uniform washed several times to wipe away the stink of Newgate. Someone should have told him that it stays with you long after you’ve gone. At least that’s what Billy used to say.
“Have you come to rescue me?” Oscar asked, reaching through the bar and wrapping his brother in a hug.
To his credit, Oliver didn’t pull away even though his nose wrinkled in disgust. Her nose. Memory lodged itself in what remained of my heart, and if there had been anything in my stomach, I would have emptied it right there. There were rules.
“I just learned you were here. When I didn’t hear from you or Rose for months, I feared the worst, but yesterday these arrived.” He reached into his pocket and produced three letters.
My traitorous heart leapt into my chest. Throw it into the fire. It was better to have nothing than a piece of her. Even though I was of a self-destructive nature, even I didn’t hate myself enough for that kind of torture.
Oscar reached out for the letter, but his brother pulled it back.
“You were supposed to protect her. Last time I heard from you, you swore you would protect her,” Oliver accused, his eyes an echo of Oscar's.
He didn’t belong in Newgate with his polished suit and slicked-back hair. To be fair, even relegated to this state, Oscar didn’t either. It was in how they carried themselves. Sure of their role in the world.
“I did. She’s safe, isn’t she?” Oscar gestured to the letters. “Why do you think I’m in this shithole?”
“To hear Edmonds tell it, you are here because of him.” He jerked his head towards me.
Oscar rolled his eyes. “Yes, which was also protecting Rose. She’s lost her damn mind. If James had shot him, she would have thrown herself into the sea.”
Oliver gave a long sigh and nodded towards me.
“I would appreciate it if you could come closer,” he said, all gentleman.
“I would rather not,” I said.
“Don’t do it. He wants to hit you to defend our sister’s honor,” Oscar said with a grin. “Which he knows Rose would not thank him for.”
Her name again.
My heart constricted, and I wondered if this was what dying felt like.
“If it makes you feel better, she hit me hard enough to break my nose,” I said.
The memory tasted bitter in my mouth, constricting my lungs. Rules. There were rules.
“It absolutely does not,” Oliver said, nose pointed up.
God, it was her. The words, the mannerisms. This was fucking torture, and I much preferred Oscar’s incessant tapping to this.
“Let me have the letter, Oliver,” Oscar said, voice sobering.
We both knew it wouldn’t just be Rose’s perfect penmanship in there.
“Not yet,” Oliver said, tucking the letters back into his coat.
“We have problems.” Oliver’s voice dipped low, like the rats might report back to Edmonds.
“No shit,” Oscar said, gesturing to himself and our cell.
The eldest Bailey’s hands flexed at his side, and I knew this was more than Oscar being imprisoned. I could see in the way his nails were bitten down on one side. Malnutrition and dehydration were quickly forgotten as I pushed myself off the wall.
“What has she done?” I ground out.
It came out harsher than I meant it to, but I should have known. Should have known it wasn’t my father stalling this process, but her. That clever, stubborn creature I saw every time I closed my eyes.
Oliver swallowed. “Three ships in four months. All North Star Line sank to the bottom of the ocean with survivors to tell the tale and relay demands.”
“Rosamund,” I cursed her name.
I should have accounted for this. I was a fucking idiot.
“She goes by Hellcat Smith these days and is Captain of the Sea Wraith,” Oliver whispered, eyes darting down the hall.
My heart stuttered in my chest, forgetting what its sole purpose was.
Grief was a terrible thing and reared its ugly head at the worst moments.
That she would have taken my name and the name Billy gifted her–it was a special kind of torture.
She probably would have enjoyed knowing she was killing me slowly.
“That’s literally insane. Why would she do that?” Oscar said, mouth open for the flies that drew near.
“She’s been threatening Edmonds and James. Says she will sink any ship with a British flag if he hangs him and, for James, she has and will continue to sink North Star Line ships if he continues to send them out.”
I was simultaneously blown away by her capability and ready to tear down this entire stone hellhole for what she was doing. I wasn’t meant to be saved. This was always where I was headed, and she knew that. If she listened for once in her life.
“She’s going to get herself killed. The navy won’t allow this to keep happening,” Oscar said.
“They aren’t. The problem is the Wraith is hard to track down. She knows North Star Line and every weakness, but they don’t know how to corner her. Then there’s the rumors, which I suppose aren’t rumors at all.”
He fiddled with the letters in his pocket, mouth slightly agape.
“Tell me,” I demanded.
Oliver Bailey, parliament member and aristocrat, snapped his mouth shut and leveled me with his worst stare, which was rather tame all things considered.
“You are not in any position to demand anything from me. First, you–you know what you did and then took my brother, now my sister is on some destructive course I can’t see the end of. You are single-handedly destroying my family,” he said.
While I might argue the merit of individual free will, in many ways, he was right. The worst part — the part that reminded me I was exactly where I was meant to be — was that I didn’t regret it. That I would do it all again if it meant having her.
It was a sickness, this thing inside me. Passed on from father to son as easily as eye color.
Every word Oliver Bailey spoke was as true and real as this lice and flea-infested prison.
If he expected me to offer up a defence, he would be waiting a long time. Unfortunately, he had the answers I needed. If Rose was scheming, I needed to know as much as I could.
“What are the rumors?” I tried to be less demanding, but it came out gruff and harsh.
Oliver Bailey shook his head, a sardonic smile on his face.
“Rose has the absolute worst taste in men,” he said.
“Undoubtedly,” I said.
“Without question,” Oscar agreed.
Oliver stared from Oscar to me and back again, trying to unravel the layers of our relationship. Friend or foe? Most days, in the gloom of cloudy mist climbing in through the outside into this cell, it was hard for me to tell either.
“They say she has a sea monster at her disposal,” Oliver whispered.
Rosamund Bailey. Only she would be able to spin a rumor like that. If I weren’t so mad at her for impeding my plans, I would have been impressed.
“The letters?” Oscar asked, holding his hand out through the bars.
The eldest Bailey hesitated, fidgeting with the letters and glancing down the hall.
“Listen, Edmonds is in a bad place. Yes, he caught Flynn, but he let the Wraith go, and whatever he bargained with you to do so has led to zero gain. Now he can’t even hang you to regain his standing because ships are sinking like rocks.
I think I can use this to our benefit. I’ve been working on passing a new bill in parliament, and it’s close, but doesn’t have enough support.
With a little more time, I can make it work. ”
“Well, good thing for Rose then,” Oscar said.
I huffed out an irritated breath that earned a glare from Oliver. It appeared we would not be quick friends.
Oscar jerked his head toward me. “Bash is very excited for the gallows, and this has all been rather inconvenient for him.”
Instigating little shit. Oscar grinned at me like this was all exceptionally amusing.
He didn’t know why this was my path. No, Rose was the only soul now who understood, except for my father.
I never accounted for his not caring, that he would have set his own plans in motion when this day came.
Now I could see how short-sighted I was.
“We need to figure out what Edmonds wants and exploit it. Everyone has a price,” Oliver said, tapping his lip.
“Ambition,” I said.
Oliver nodded to himself, considering before he eyed my arm.
“Did you always have only one arm?” he said.
Oscar let out a laugh that was light and airy, wrong in a building that carried death in every crevice. There wasn’t a single spot here that death hadn’t visited. It was in the screams and the walls, holding secrets that were better off buried at the bottom of the sea.
The thought of the sea left a pang in my chest. I missed her. Her untameable waves and mercurial moods. When the rest of the world went to shit, she was always there with her promises and destruction. Maybe that was why I was drawn to Rose in more ways than one; she and the sea were of one mind.
“It’s new,” I said, raising what was left of it.
I could still feel what should have been there. My hands ached bone-deep with invisible scars. Not that I was ever in a position to barter, but I wouldn't have minded the loss of my arm if it weren’t for the phantom limb still attached.
“How?” Oliver asked, sober.
“Wraith,” I answered.
“Ironic, don’t you think?” he said.
I shrugged my shoulders. It didn’t matter much what it was.
“He used to be fun,” Oscar said.
“I bet.” Oliver grimaced. “I doubt either of you is going to like what I’m about to say next.”
Oliver stepped closer to his brother, hands balled into fists. It was killing him not having the letters, but if prison taught us anything, it was to savor the small moments and make them last.
“Then maybe don’t say it?” he asked.
“James thinks Rose is dead,” Oliver said, holding up one of the letters.
Oliver tilted his head. “Why would we not like that? It’s actually a point that brings sweet dreams in this hellhole.”
I braced for the impact of the words written across Oliver Bailey’s dark eyes. It was in the way his brow pulled down along with his shoulders and the worry in the creases by his eyes.
“James is telling everyone they are engaged once more.”
For the first time in four months, I realised I wasn’t ready for the gallows.
I should have killed him before leaving London last year, but I was eager to put distance between the Wraith and London before my good sense kicked in and I lost Rose once more.
He was a loose end that I couldn’t leave her with.
Sinking his ships and undermining his influence within the company he stole was a tactic, but not a solution. Insects like James Allan always returned to plague the rest of humanity.
Of course, he would see this as an opportunity to repair his name after Rose scorned him.
No doubt he would let the ruse go on and then announce Rose had taken ill.
He would be a grieving fiancé with a clear name.
The Bailey family would not be able to counter it, having not spoken to Rose, who they believed to be in Paris with Oscar.
“You need to write everything I say and relay it to Rose,” I said, hating the way my heart pumped out warm blood with a new fervor. “I have a plan.