Chapter 26
Twenty-Six
WILLIAM
Ispent a few days getting back on my feet until the movements were less painful and I was no longer out of breath after taking the stairs.
I still had some recovering to do, the doctor said I’d be back to normal in a few weeks' time, but I couldn’t stay in bed any longer.
I said my goodbyes to Daisy and to Jane after I saw for myself that they were okay.
Daisy cried when I told her I wasn’t staying, but Jane understood.
I’d miss them both, but I couldn’t go back to a life in service. Not after tasting true freedom.
Before I went on my way, I headed for the governor’s office. He took me in when I was a starving child, gave me shelter and food. It was the least I could do to let him know I was leaving. Not that I’d tell him why.
As I came down the hallway, I heard voices coming from the cracked door. I froze just outside, listening as Davenport and two others spoke.
“Have you heard anything from the royal navy? Have they caught him yet?”
“No, my lord. Because they came earlier than expected, the ship wasn’t ready for him. They got a lead and disappeared before the navy could catch up with him.”
They were talking about Damon. He knew it was a possibility that Davenport would try to arrange a trap. I guess my getting hurt had at least one positive outcome.
Davenport cursed under his breath and sighed heavily. “At least he didn’t get away with much. He didn’t notice the coin was fake?”
A softer, more timid voice spoke next. “No, my lord. I put real coin on top, so when he or his crew opened it, they’d assume it was all real. They didn’t realise.”
Davenport let out a hearty laugh, and I heard an oomph as he clapped the speaker on the back.
He’d always been heavy-handed, both in punishment and in praise.
Even Henry got knocked around a bit by his father’s excitement.
But was I understanding correctly? He tricked Damon and the crew and didn’t pay them what they were owed?
That didn’t sit well with me. I was the one who told them about the money to keep the three of them alive. I was the reason the crew held out so long and dealt with Henry’s attitude. Aside from making them do chores, the children were all treated well. The crew deserved that payment.
Irritation swelled, and I fought back a growl.
I always knew Davenport was a cheat, but I didn’t think he’d cheat the people who held his children.
They could have been killed if Damon had found out before they were already safely ashore.
And an honourable man would pay the debt after receiving his children unharmed.
It only reinforced my determination to leave this place.
Knocking on the door to the governor’s office, I waited for him to call out before I pushed it open.
Governor Davenport was as emotional as his son, so I readied myself for a battle when I stepped inside.
The group who had been meeting with him all brushed past me, ignoring me completely.
That was normal for servants in Davenport’s household.
It didn’t used to bother me. It bothered me now.
Davenport sat behind his desk, his powdered white wig curling around his ears.
I always wondered what the point of those things was, but I didn't say out loud how ridiculous it made him look.
I stopped on the opposite side of his desk, my hands neatly folded behind my back.
I knew better than to interrupt before he was ready, so I stood unmoving until Davenport deigned to look up at me.
“Ah. Will. I see you’ve recovered well.”
“I have. Thank you, my lord, for taking such good care of me. I am truly grateful.” And I was. While I didn’t like my employer or his entitled son, he could’ve ignored Henry’s demands and left me to recover like the rest of the servant class. He didn’t.
A flicker of a smile tugged at his lips. “You’re welcome. Are you recovered enough to return to service?”
The tightness in his tone made me think he didn’t want that, which made it a little easier for me to turn him down.
“I’m well, my lord, but I believe I’m better suited elsewhere.”
He raised an eyebrow at me. “Oh?”
“I will always be grateful for the position you provided me, but I found myself on those ships. I was thinking of joining the navy so I can better serve while returning to the water.”
An absolute lie, but he didn’t know that.
There was only one place I was going, and that was back to the Devil’s Revenge.
I decided while lying around healing that I wasn’t done with the crew or its captain.
Damon said I was free to go for what I wanted.
I wanted him. He would probably laugh in my face and toss me aside the minute I brought it up, but I wanted to at least try.
Damon gave me the freedom to truly explore who I was. I wasn’t willing to give that up yet.
The terseness in his expression fled, and Davenport gave me a genuine smile. “That is an excellent plan and one I support wholeheartedly. They always need good men in the navy. I was a navy man myself once upon a time. When will you leave?”
“As soon as I can afford passage back to England.”
Opening a drawer in his desk, Davenport pulled out a bag of coin, dumping out a handful and counting it. He offered me a small portion with a permissive nod.
“Take it. It won’t get you your own room, but it’ll be enough to get passage to Port Royal. You don’t need to get all the way to England to join anymore. They’ll train you up there. The weather is better here anyway.”
Well, I needed coin to get where I was headed anyway, so I stuffed it into my pocket with a nod. “I appreciate that, my lord. I’ll head there instead.”
Pushing to his feet, he rounded the desk, heading for a table near the door.
“Here. Take this as well. It was going to be a gift for Henry once he arrived, but he’s been difficult since he returned.
I’ll make him another once he can act more like a man.
” He offered me a beautiful sword with a decorated guard.
Definitely the sword of a rich man, and would probably get me mugged where I was going if I wasn’t careful.
It might sell well, though. I was fine with something more simple.
The door opened and one of Davenport’s advisors poked his head in. “Governor Davenport? Colonel Hallow has arrived.”
Davenport dipped his chin once to acknowledge him before turning and clapping me on the shoulder, in a much better mood now that I was leaving. “You’ll need that sword more than Henry will, so put it to good use. And good luck, Will.”
He walked out without a backward glance, leaving me alone in his office.
After years of working for his family, it didn’t even cross his mind that I would betray him.
I maybe should have felt guilty after he gave me a roof over my head as a child, but I was loyal to the crew, not to the man who gave me lashings when Henry was out of line.
Now that the girls were safe, I had no loyalties here.
Once I was sure he was gone, I tied the sword to my belt and headed for his desk.
Lord Davenport always kept his coin in his desk.
I was going to get as much of it as I could for the crew to make up for what he cheated them out of.
The little pouch he’d given me my passage coin from was pretty much all I could find in actual money, but I knocked a pile of papers down while I was looking and when I picked them back up, my eyes landed on a handful that made my heart thud in my chest.
Bank notes. With sums I’d never seen in my life.
Quickly, I glanced around before taking the notes and stuffing them in my shirt.
My bag was already packed, I could hide them in there until I got on a ship and on my way.
Ducking out of Davenport’s office, I bit the inside of my cheek to hide my grin.
This was the stupidest thing I’d ever done in my life, and it would either gain me infamy or land me in jail.
Only time would tell.
DAMON
“Storm approaching, Captain,” Darrow murmured.
He was uncomfortable with his new position.
Never wanted to be quartermaster. I’d need to replace him eventually.
But I lost half my crew when I refused to attack Port Antonio after Davenport cheated us.
I didn’t want to risk a ruckus causing Will not to get the help he needed.
Lockhart was on my side, but I gave him and the crew that no longer wished to follow me Larry’s old ship.
He was tough enough to manage them, and I trusted him not to stab me in the back later.
They set off on their own, leaving me with a skeleton crew and a reputation to rebuild.
I grunted in acknowledgement to Darrow’s warning. With a full crew, I wouldn’t have worried. We could handle storms. But not with who we had left. It wasn’t safe.
“Head for Tortuga.”
“Aye, Captain.”
I’d been avoiding replacing my crew. I wanted to prove that I could do it without them.
And we’d been successful in that. Gained a few along the way, workers on merchant ships who were tired of following the law only to be tormented by pirates.
Our loot wasn’t the haul we were supposed to get from Davenport, but it was decent enough.
Enough to entice a few more to join our crew. We’d address that in Tortuga.
Pulling on my jacket, I pushed down the memory of Will helping me into it the night it all went to hell.
I refused to think about him. If I did, I would only be reminded of the pain that radiated through my chest whenever he came to mind.
He had to go. He wasn’t planning on staying anyway. I didn’t need to pine.
Maybe a trip to the brothel would help clear him from my system.
Mad Eye was at the helm, with Trumble not far from him. Those two had been attached at the hip since the attack. Almost losing the people you care about puts things quickly into perspective.
I growled to myself, startling a newer crew member as I strode past him. The new ones were all afraid of me. I didn’t dissuade them from that way of thinking.
“Captain,” Mad Eye greeted when I joined him at the helm. “Wind is with us, with the way the storm is moving. We’ll make good time to Tortuga.”
Another grunt. I was in no mood to chat. I studied the sky behind us, the black clouds billowing and threatening to rain hell on all those foolish enough to chase them. I loved a good storm. If I had my full crew, I’d head straight for it, just for the adventure.
I couldn’t admit, even to myself, that it wasn’t just my crew that was missing.