Ace spread herself open for him, and he dropped to his knees.

“Come here, scoundrel,” she said, and he obeyed.

Zander had intended to take his time, to kiss every inch of her miraculous body, to make her cry out in pleasure as many times as he could before he sated himself. But as soon as their lips met, Ace made a desperate sound and arched her hips toward his, and he buried himself inside her so quickly he wasn’t entirely sure how they both ended up on the bed, her nails on his back, his hand braced on the headboard, moaning into her mouth as he took her bottom lip between his teeth and bit down gently. His other hand went to the pearl between her legs, and time lost all meaning as they rode a wave of ecstasy together.

Afterward, Zander rolled onto his side and pulled Ace against him, and they were both asleep within minutes.

***

They woke when the afternoon sun peered through the curtains, casting the room in an orange glow. Ace was still wrapped in his arms when Zander opened his eyes, her breasts pushed against his chest and her legs entwined with his. Zander kissed her face until she woke, giggling, and climbed on top of him, pinning his hands above his head and taking him once more.

When they finally left the bed, they found a note pushed under the door in Theo’s distinct hand that simply said, Here.

“They’ll be in their room,” Ace said, sauntering toward the plate of untouched food on the table. “Likely beat as well. No rush.”

She popped a small piece of cheese into her mouth. Chewing, she took the plate and the knife lying beside it and returned to the bed.

The two of them sat there, languidly eating, for a long while. Zander traced shapes on Ace’s thighs absentmindedly as he ate, listening to the sounds of people and animals outside, the roar of the ocean a distant noise in the background.

“Can I ask you something?” Zander asked after a while.

“Mm,” Ace said through a mouth full of bread, which Zander took as a yes.

“Why did you name your parents’ sloop The Valerian?”

Ace smiled widely, and Zander chuckled at the way her cheeks turned up when they were filled with bread and cheese, like a chipmunk’s.

“That’s right,” she said, “I can tell you now!” She sat up straighter, wiping her face and swallowing before she continued. “The day before my… well, my wedding”—she punctuated the word with a disgusted look—“I took a walk in the gardens by myself. I dug up one of the valerian plants and stuffed it under my skirt so I could take it back to my room. I screamed at everyone to leave me alone, that I needed a day of solitude before I became a Viscountess.”

Ace chuckled at her past self’s sense of humor.

“I broke a vase and used the sharper pieces to cut up the root, then I used the bowl of the vase and the toe of my boot to mash it, releasing what liquid was inside. I let the roots soak overnight in a glass of undrunk wine a servant brought to my room before bed, then I strained the mixture through a bedsheet the following afternoon. I kept it in a glass bottle that once held perfume—smelly, awful stuff Ignacio tried to get me to wear.”

She shuddered at the thought, and Zander leaned in to smell her natural musk appreciatively, making her smile.

“Anyway, the night of the wedding, I put it in Ignacio’s wine. I dosed him bit by bit at first, but once he was drunk enough that everything tasted the same, I dumped the latter half of the bottle in his cup, and he didn’t notice the difference. That night he brought me to the bridal chamber, closed the door behind us, and fell asleep while removing his pants.” Ace laughed suddenly, as if she were seeing the image all over again. “And I was gone within the hour. So, I named the sloop The Valerian as a reminder of my incredible fortitude—and because she puts my enemies to sleep.” Ace winked dramatically, and Zander chuckled at her theatrics.

“You are clever as you are brave, my love,” Zander said, pulling her closer.

Ace giggled wickedly and wiggled so she was flush against Zander, their noses touching.

“Who are your enemies, Zander?” she whispered. “I will ensure you see them with their pants down before the end.”

Zander laughed and kissed his fierce pirate’s nose. “No need, my love. Any enemies I’ve ever had I made this week, and I've already killed most of them.”

***

That evening, they met Theo and Yarrow downstairs for dinner. When Theo saw Ace, he jumped from his chair and ran to her. He hugged her silently for a moment, his eyes squeezed tightly closed. Then he drew back and examined her, his eyes lingering at her hair, likely looking for any more of those tiny needles.

“You okay?” he asked.

“I’m okay,” Ace said, nodding. “Thank you, my family.” She looked from Theo to Yarrow as she spoke, addressing both of them.

Yarrow put their hand over their heart in response, and Theo clapped Ace’s shoulder affectionately.

“No need to thank us,” Theo said. “You’d do the same.”

“Aye,” Ace agreed as she sank into a chair across from Yarrow. Zander sat next to her, and the man who’d received them earlier approached with two more drinks.

“I’ll be honest,” Theo said after they’d taken a drink. “I can’t believe all of us are still alive. Did your man here tell you he nearly blew himself up before hanging off the side of a moving ship for an hour in the dark?”

Ace whipped her head toward Zander, a surprised smile on her face.

“He didn’t. In fact, I know very little of this adventure you three had without me.” She slammed her mug on the table authoritatively. “Spill.”

Over the next several hours, they told Ace everything. The four companions took the threads of their lives over those past few days and braided them together again, laughing, gasping, crying together. They cried particularly over the loss of their fellow pirates, both to death and to capture. And in the end, they shared a bitter celebration over the story of Ignacio Sanz’s long-awaited defeat.

After they’d cheered over the death of the fake husband/pirate and drained their cups, Zander asked Yarrow what happened after they parted ways near the storehouses.

“When I got to the stables and realized half of the pens were filled with sleeping men, I guessed the two of you would have your hands full as well. I snuck past the men, quietly unlocking the pens of the horses as I did, and took a single horse for myself. After I mounted, I screamed like a banshee to wake the men up, dared them to come catch me, and bolted out of there. Once they’d all mounted their own steeds and they came streaming out, I lit the grenadier and tossed it to the stables.”

Zander let out a sharp breath, and Yarrow looked at him questioningly.

“I was afraid you’d killed the horses.”

Theo laughed, but Yarrow looked affronted. “Of course not. The beasts did nothing wrong. I couldn’t get them all out on my own without waking the men though, and then I would have been shot. So, I let them release the horses for me, and then I led them away from the estate and toward Almogia. There’s a sharp turn about a kilometer from the Sanz estate that leads behind a hill. You remember it, right?” Yarrow looked to Theo, who shrugged. “Anyway, I lost them there, then I backtracked while they continued looking for me. It bought a little time.”

“And then Theo found you?” Zander asked, looking back and forth between them.

“I ran for the storehouses after I left you,” Theo explained, jutting his chin toward Zander. “I thought maybe Yarrow had gone there straight away. I was on my way back to the stables when I saw them riding up the main road.”

“It was around that time men started spilling out of the Sanz estate like ants.” Yarrow emphasized the final word as if they could crush the ants using their voice. “I heard Theo whistle and I went to him, and we intercepted the group of men sent to the storehouses with the second grenadier. We didn’t know Ignacio was among the group. If we had, I would have presented his head to you when you emerged from that tunnel.”

Yarrow looked pointedly at Ace. Ace wore a touched smile at the kind gesture.

“It was shortly after that I saw you both,” Yarrow said, spreading their hands as if to indicate their presence together was the next and final piece of the story.

Zander sat back in his chair. He felt light, not just from the wine, but from unburdening himself of the previous week’s experiences.

“I guess that’s it then,” he said. “That’s the whole adventure.”

He looked at Ace and smiled, then looked back at his friends, who were smiling at each other, and a piece of him knew that no matter how long the four of them lived, it would never be the end of their adventure. And he was right.

“What now, Captain?” Theo asked, wrapping his arm around Yarrow’s shoulder.

“Well, it would seem we have another rescue to conduct,” Ace said, placing her elbows on the table. “I heard word about the men who paid Sanz a bounty for our crewmates while I was there. They were fellow privateers.”

Theo scowled, silently mouthing the words “fake pirates.”