Sea of Ruin

by Pam Godwin

  I tucked myself against the bow, trying to remain out of view.

  “I’ve been here all day.” Ashley dropped his hand to my head as if making sure I hadn’t moved. “Is my ship firing at this one? Who’s attacking?”

  “It’s Madwulf MacNally, my lord. He and his men escaped the hold and overtook HMS Blitz. They’re attacking us, using the guns on your ship.”

  My face went cold, and my heart sprinted out of my chest. I wanted to deny what I’d heard, but as I took in the carnage and destruction, it made terrifying sense. Only a one-hundred-gun ship of the line could do this kind of damage.

  Ashley’s ship was the deadliest on the sea, and it was now under the command of a violent, deranged pirate.

  “May God be with you, my lord.” The sailor ran off to help a fallen comrade.

  Ashley didn’t move.

  Reaching out, I touched his leg and felt a tremor run through the muscle. “Ashley?”

  Was he in shock? Or was he thinking through a plan?

  Another boom barreled through the smoke, the horrendous sound ringing my ears. I hunched low as a cannonball careened across the deck and took out a row of starboard guns. Gunners exploded into meaty fragments. Some were still alive, still screaming and kicking as blood spurted from irreparable wounds.

  Beside me, a man leaped overboard as the ship burned around us.

  “Ashley!” I punched his knee.

  He tossed the telescope and crouched before me, his eyes wild and glowing in the shadows.

  “I can’t stop this ship from sinking. She’s mortally wounded.” He gripped my face, locking us together. “We must get back to HMS Blitz.”

  “How?” I jumped at a nearby explosion and hugged my ears. “How will we get over there?”

  “Longboat.” He gripped my hand, rising to his feet.

  And with a deafening boom, he was gone.

  Gone in a gale of fire and debris that hit so soundly it sucked him away from me and into the night.

  I screamed, arms reaching, scrambling in the direction he was blown. But I didn’t know where that was. I couldn’t see through the smoke. Couldn’t hear over the rage of battle. Couldn’t breathe beneath the horrific fumes of death. Oh, God, where was he?

  “Ashley!” Panic drove me forward, disregarding the dangers around me.

  A ball whizzed past my head, so close it singed my hair. But it didn’t halt my mad rush across the splintered deck, my tear-soaked eyes frantically searching the carnage of dismembered extremities.

  “Ashley! Where are you? Ashley, please!” My voice bled, cracking and raw, but I kept screaming. Kept searching.

  Another shot rang out, knocking me onto my back. As I pushed myself up, a terrible sound buzzed in the distance, growing closer, faster, louder. White-hot terror turned my limbs to seaweed.

  Overhead, the storm of a thousand fiery bees swarmed across the ship, smothering lanterns, snuffing out sounds, and spitting iron at the decks and rigging. The attack of gunpowder blew in and blasted over in a roaring fire, taking everything with it—sheets, spars, sailors, chunks of the mast, the entire forecastle, and most of the hull beneath it.

  I took cover under a bulwark as violence rained down like angry fists, hurling burning pieces of canvas, cables, and timbers onto the cracked and burning upper deck.

  Men cried out in agony, screaming for their mates. I was right there with them, crawling through rivers of blood and scattered bodies, searching for Ashley with shrieking desperation. Terror gripped me so brutally my insides became a single pulsing, ice-cold spasm.

  From the sky fell an armless corpse, and it landed beside me with a bone-breaking crunch. A severed section of a backstay tangled around the leg, suspending the body feet over head. Shielding my face, I followed that line up, squinting heavenward at what remained of the crosstrees.

  Nothing. There was nothing left of this ship. No one left to watch it sink. No one to hear my cries as I went down with it.

  Except Madwulf MacNally.

  If Hell existed after this life, I would find him and become his own personal devil, his eternal punisher. I looked forward to death if only so that I could revenge whatever had befallen Ashley.

  Returning my attention to the deck, I resumed my search for him. But there was no time left.

  The flagship heaved in a great groaning roar of snapping timbers and rushing water. The stern rose heavenward, tipping shoulders over the nose as it began a vertical dive into the sea.

  I tumbled downward along the sharply sloping deck, shoved by gravity and banging into debris. The descent was unpreventable, terrifying, stealing every ounce of breath from my lungs. Even so, I swung my head left and right, looking for Ashley, desperate for a last glimpse of him.

  The waves rose up and grabbed my legs, drenching me in salt water and tossing me into the flotsam of netting, chunks of wood, dead bodies, and chaos.

  I tried to stay afloat and evade the line of cannon fire coming from HMS Blitz. My lungs seethed with smoke. Busted casks slammed into my head, and the ocean rolled over me, pulling me under.

  Warm currents surged from every direction, driving water into my nose and eyes. Pieces of shipwreck arrowed through the water like bullets. I pumped my arms and legs, trying to avoid the volley while swimming toward the surface. But I was too deep.

  Far above, the ship exploded in orange balls of fire, lighting up the sea. The hull’s broken skeleton dove into the abyss, clouding the water in boils of smoke as it dragged canvas, spars, and cables down with it.

  Ashley’s shirt fluttered around my upturned legs, contorting my view of the devastation. As the warship plunged to its death, following me into the nether world, it felt dreamlike. Fantastical. Beautiful even.

  But it wasn’t. I’d lost Ashley and Priest.

  All had been taken from me, and soon my last breath would be taken, too.

  My lungs began to give out. Something crashed into my head from behind. Pain shattered. My heartbeats slowed, and the inevitability of the end fell upon me.

  I wasn’t ready.

  I wasn’t ready.

  I wasn’t ready.

  I was floating.

  Not in water.

  Not on a ship or a piece of flotsam.

  I floated in the air, held up by an unseen heavenly force.

  It must have been a dream. Certainly not death, for when I departed, my destination would be far below the seabed, down in the infernal regions of torment for the bad and the worse.

  A breeze kissed my face, warm and briny. It felt so unreal I didn’t want to open my eyes to reality. But my lashes lifted on their own, pulling against the weight of a strange drowsiness. My head felt achingly heavy, my lungs bruised and eyes bleary.

  Sprinkles of light filtered in, dominated by one brilliant color.

  Blue sky.

  Blue water.

  Blue eyes.

  My heart missed a beat.

  I struggled to sit up, but there was nothing beneath me.

  Except arms. Strong, masculine arms.

  Salt stung my skin and burned my nose. I gulped in air, coughed, and blinked rapidly, trying to focus past the daze. Then I saw him.

  “Welcome back, Goldilocks.” Ashley smiled down at me, his full lips tipping wearily amid a glow of blinding light.

  “What?” I wiggled and twisted, unable to find purchase, swimming in confusion. “You died.”

  “Did I?” He was standing, cradling me against his bare chest and controlling my movements with his hands. “Calm down. You hit your head rather spectacularly.”

  “We’re alive?” I squinted against the brightness of the sun, trying to see where we were and who was with us. The light tortured my eyes, igniting agony in my skull. “Are we safe?”

  “For now.” He glanced around, his expression tired and perplexed. “I believe we washed ashore on the southern coast of Eleuthera.”

  We escaped the battle? And Madwulf? And the murder of the admiral? How did we not drown or get blown ap
art by gunfire?

  My vision blurred with tears. Through the wet sheen, a pink sandy coastline took shape, stretching left and right.

  This was real. He was alive. We were on land.

  My heart took flight, bursting from my chest and soaring over the sea. I threw my arms about his neck, inhaling his clean scent. He was breathing, standing, sweating, alive!

  “I thought I lost you.” I kissed his throat, his hard jaw, his beautiful mouth. “I watched you get ripped away from me. I couldn’t find you. I looked everywhere. The ship, the bodies, so much blood and—”

  “Shh.” He kissed me back, his lips soft and chaste. “You’ve been in and out of consciousness all morning. I’m concerned about your head.”

  I touched the back of my skull where it throbbed and found a swollen bump amid the salt-encrusted tangles. “No broken skin? Are you hurt?”

  “Not one open wound between us. Do you have any pain?”

  “Just a megrim. I’ll be fine.” I hugged him tighter, afraid to let go, terrified this wasn’t real.

  He seemed reluctant to release me, too. How long had he been standing here on this beach, cradling me in his arms?

  Behind him, nothing but dense wilderness was exposed to my view. I didn’t know what inhabited this island other than a few farmers. Were there wild beasts within those woods? Other extremities likewise? If there were a weapon left between us, I would be shocked.

  I shifted in his tight embrace, following his gaze to the sea. Floating wreckage and cargo scattered the rolling waves. A great many bodies and busted barrels bobbed amongst the flotsam.

  I looked up and down the shoreline, scanning for signs of life. “Are there survivors?”

  “Just us.”

  The admiral’s flagship was gone. I’d watched it burn and sink and take hundreds of men with it. But what about HMS Blitz?

  “Where’s your ship, Ashley?”

  “Besieged.” His jaw clenched. “She’s an unthinkable prize for a pirate like Madwulf. I imagine he’s on his way this very second to plunder every treasure ship on the high seas. With one-hundred guns at his disposal, it’ll take an entire fleet to stop him.”

  Madwulf would offer Ashley’s crew democratic freedom and a share of the spoils in exchange for their loyalty. No one in their right mind would turn down an opportunity to be rich and free. Most pirates were, after all, deserters from one navy or another. Those who refused to convert to piracy with Madwulf would be put in the hold or killed.

  While Madwulf turned Ashley’s soldiers into outlaws, Priest would still be pursuing that ship. Only death or capture would prevent my husband from hunting me.

  “I’m sorry.” My heart constricted in terror for Priest and sadness for Ashley.

  “Yes, well, I’ve proved to be a rather incompetent commodore. I allowed the heaviest ship in the Royal Navy to fall into the hands of a pirate. For that, I shall be the target of mockery and ridicule for an entire nation and will never again be able to show my face in society.” He paced along the shore and set me down. “But I’m not sorry.”

  Reeling with dizziness from his words and the haze in my head, I realized I was sitting on the bow of a beached longboat. I wore the tattered remains of his shirt and nothing else. On that thought, my hand flew to my throat.

  “You didn’t lose it.” He crouched before me, his gaze fixed on the jade stone beneath my fingers. “See? Still there.”

  I released a breath. “My father gave it to me.”

  “When you said you stole it, I knew better. I don’t think you realize how often you touch it.”

  “It’s scary how perceptive you are.”

  “Not perceptive enough. My men were extorted by Madwulf right under my nose. It’s the only explanation for his escape. He must have bribed my wardens into setting him free.”

  “Recruited them more like. He would’ve offered them a share of the spoils if they joined his band of thieves. You’re not sorry for that?”

  “If Madwulf hadn’t escaped when he did, you would still be in the custody of the Royal Navy.” His eyes locked with mine, the depths rotating with hot, resolute emotion. “You’re free, Bennett.”

  “We’re both free. No one will ever know you killed John Dycker and his lieutenants.”

  “I don’t care about that.” He looked away, the muscles tensing in his gorgeous face. “I’m losing my mind thinking about what Madwulf will do with a weapon like HMS Blitz.” His stare returned, harder and brighter than ever. “But I can’t regret Madwulf’s attack on the flagship. The admiral’s soldiers knew about the depravity happening to you and those women, and they did nothing.” His accent thickened, growing deeper. “They deserved to die.”

  “The sum of a man’s actions determines his future, right? The same can be said about me. I’m a pirate. A thief. A murderer.” I gripped his flexing fist and held it on my lap. “I went down with that ship. By English law, that’s a fate I deserved. So how did I get here?”

  “I was blown toward the stern, and that’s where—”

  “The longboats were stowed.” I glanced down at the one I sat on, unable to imagine how he’d deployed it during a battle.

  “This boat found me. It was just…there. Then I found you. Christ, it took an eternity in the smoke and chaos, and I died a million deaths thinking I lost you. But when I saw you going down with the ship, I knew my purpose, my fate.” He squeezed my hand, his Adam’s apple bouncing. “I was meant to be on this longboat exactly where I was when you fell into the sea. It was as if every decision I ever made led up to that moment when you fell, and I dove in after you.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous.” My chin quivered, ruining my scolding tone. “You risked your life.”

  “A life that’s worth nothing without you.”

  “Ashley…” I leaned forward and rested my brow against his. “Was I breathing?”

  “No.” One syllable wrought with anguish.

  “Did you put your beautiful mouth on mine like Lieutenant Flemming showed you?”

  “Yes.” His hand slid into my hair, bringing our lips together. “After I pulled you into this boat, I gave you my air over and over until you breathed again. It was the longest hour of my life.”

  I smiled against his frown. “If saving drowning women is your way of soliciting female companionship for dinner, you’re trying too hard.”

  He choked on a laugh. “I fell in love with you that day.”

  “You say?” My head jerked back, and I scrutinized his expression, finding the bluest, most honest eyes I’d ever seen. “That was the first thing I said to you aboard your ship.”

  “I remember it well. If you only knew what was going on in my head…” He cleared his throat. “And in my breeches.”

  “Now you must tell me.”

  “I was equally terrified and aroused by you. The intensity of feelings you stirred in me was unlike anything I’d experienced. I wanted to strap you to my bed, redden your arse, climb inside you, and confess my deepest desires. What really tormented me was that I knew you could handle my unseemly manners—the indecency I hid from the world. I knew you would enjoy every form of immoral pleasure ever invented, welcome it even, if you trusted me. I met my match the day I met you, and it took every ounce of training and self-discipline to keep those sentiments off my face.”

  I touched his steely jaw, foundering beneath the fire in his eyes.

  “Had I taken you to my quarters straight away,” he said, “every man on my ship would’ve known I was compromised. Putting you in that hold with Madwulf…”

  “I was your enemy. You were doing your job.”

  “I regret it. Listen to me, Bennett. I will never forgive myself for allowing Madwulf to touch you and…” His hand clenched in my hair. “The admiral. What you endured in that monster’s custody—”

  “Cracked but not broken. That’s what you said.” I kissed his seething mouth. “I lived, Ashley, and I’m stronger for it. Thank you for coming for me.”

 
; An angry sound vibrated in his chest, and he leaned back to caress his thumb around the shape of my mouth. “Your lips are dry. You’re dehydrated.” He shoved to his feet and stepped a few paces away, probing the trees that fringed the shore. “We’ll find fresh water in those woods.”

  His white breeches, now brown with dirt and sand, frayed at the waistband and calves. Bloody gashes glistened through ripped holes. Scrapes, gouges, and other reddening bruises marred his muscled torso and arms. He donned no shoes or weapons. Nothing but the breeches and all that carved brawn. I couldn’t imagine the strength and balance that was required to pull my limp body into the longboat without oversetting it.

  Stripped down to his skin and tattered rags, he looked like a warrior of the Roman Empire. Fashioned of iron and ferocity, his masculine beauty alone would excite a hungry crowd. He needed naught a weapon, for he was one. The breadth of his shoulders and the well-thewed power in his arms and legs attested to his competence in battle.

  The man had pulled me from the ocean, right out from beneath a burning, sinking warship. He’d more than earned my respect.

  Gradually, I dragged my gaze from his magnificent physique and found him regarding me. “What?”

  “You’re staring.”

  “I’m admiring.”

  He took my hand, and my body shivered from the heat of his touch. Then he bent to lift me.

  “Wait.” I pushed against his chest, stopping him. “I’ll walk.”

  “You have a concussion.”

  “You’re not a doctor, and besides, while I slept for the past however many hours, you didn’t shut your eyes once. Am I right?”

  “I’ll sleep when we find water and food.”

  I stood, fighting a sudden onslaught of vertigo. With a hand shielding my eyes, I marked the location of the morning sun. “We’re on the eastern side of the island. The southern tip, you said?” I started the walk toward the tree line.

  “Yes.” He drifted right up against my side as if expecting me to fall. “Where are you going?”

  “Eleuthera is quite long and skinny. Less than two-hundred kilometers from end to end.” I picked up my pace to escape the burning sand underfoot. “If we head straight through these woods for three or four kilometers, we’ll arrive on the western shoreline. There’s a small farming hamlet somewhere on that side, and if we’re nice…” I gave him a pointed look. “The farmers will feed us and give us a place to rest.” I stepped into the shade of the woods, instantly relieved by the drop in temperature. “What I don’t know is if there are poisonous creatures or man-eating predators here.”