He rose and walked off, patting them both on the back as he disappeared. Seb turned his head. “What do you think, Cook?” he asked.
Cook stared at Teach, who was loudly holding court in the center of the tavern, waving his pistols in the air as he spun a fanciful and wholly self-serving version of their latest encounter. The mad gleam in his eyes had intensified, and Cook suddenly realized that Teach was rapidly losing touch, wrapped up as he was in promoting his own escalating legend. Morton was right: their world was on the brink of change, and only those who could adapt would survive.
He reached down and covered Seb’s hand with his own, not caring who saw them. “Will you come with me?” he asked softly. “To Nassau. We could make a life together, just the two of us.”
Seb raised an eloquently skeptical eyebrow, and Cook shrugged. “I can change, mi querido,” he promised.
Seb’s mouth twitched into a smile. “Sí, Teo,” he said. “As easily as the wind.”
Epilogue
Nassau, New Providence Island - December 1718
COOK shaded his eyes against the brilliant sun and scanned the clear waters, clutching tightly to the crumpled pages of the Boston News Letter. The newspaper was over a month old, but its contents were no less painful for being weeks past.
As he watched, the lone figure swimming strongly against the current turned, and Cook raised his arm, waving his friend back to shore. Seb swam back easily, and Cook’s breath caught as he rose out of the water. After months of nothing more strenuous than fishing and swimming, Seb’s lean body was still tightly sculpted, his olive skin was now darkened by the sun, and his wild black hair fell halfway down his back. Being a landlubber clearly agreed with him, and Cook wasn’t surprised that Sebastiano was all he had needed in the last blissful months.
Seb walked toward him, water dripping from his naked limbs, and he cocked his head in question at the sorrowful look on Cook’s face.
“More bad news, mi amor?” he asked gently, concern clear on his expressive face.
Cook nodded. “Teach,” he croaked.
“Madre de Dios!” Seb breathed. He reached for the newspaper, his hands trembling as he read. In the early hours of November 22, Edward Teach, Blackbeard as he had come to be known to the public, had been killed by the Royal Navy’s Lieutenant Robert Maynard in a fierce battle off Ocracoke Island. After a year of relentless plunder and mayhem, he’d finally pushed his luck a step too far.
“What of Morton?” Seb asked, his eyes hastily scanning the article for more details.
Cook shook his head, surprised at how much the loss hurt.
Seb’s eyes grew wide. William Howard, Teach’s quartermaster, had been hanged in Virginia mere months before; with this latest devastation, most of the old crew was now gone.
“Teo?”
Cook looked up into gentle brown eyes and tried a smile. “It’s a good thing we got out when we did,” he said, grateful all over again for Philip Morton’s foresight and encouragement. He glanced around, taking in their small house, little more than a beach hut but perfect for the two of them, and Sebastiano, happy and whole before him. He reached and pulled Seb up against him, knowing that they were safe here, far enough from the growing port of Nassau to avoid prying eyes. Governor Woodes Rogers, the man who had accepted their surrender and issued their pardon, had tamed this place, turning it into a profitable and lawful trading post. It was still full of pirates, but these days they kept to themselves and led careful, if not entirely exemplary, lives.
Seb’s cool, wet skin was like a balm. Cook closed his eyes, recalling both Morton’s face at the moment of release and Sebastiano’s, transported by bliss as he trembled in Morton’s arms. Both images tugged painfully at his heart, although for entirely different reasons.
He shivered as the wind began to pick up, blowing in from the northeast. Soon the trading vessels lining the dock would be slipping anchor and taking to the seas again.
Cook slung an arm around Seb’s shoulder and guided him toward their cabin. “Vámonos a casa, mi corazón,” he said, still surprised at how deeply he relished the newly learned words.
MAGGIE LEE discovered historical fiction when she was in her teens, and soon after stumbled across the world of M/M romance; she now takes great delight in combining both passions in her writing. Her interest in history is wide-ranging, from medieval Europe to America’s Old West to the ancient worlds of the earliest civilizations.
When not reading or writing, Maggie enjoys traveling and watching movies, and she’s never met a musical she didn’t like!
Look for more adventurous tales from
DREAMSPINNER PRESS
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com
Cross Bones Page 39