Solo pressed his steel into my hand. “I’ll grab another, you may need this.”

Jack and the men of The Black Otter had the rum ship boarded in seemingly no time. “Poison Lightning,” Jack called. “Tie them up, the entire lot of them. Ankles and wrists.”

Poison Lightning’s expression didn’t change as he carried out his orders.

“And Poison Lightning,” Jack added.

The tall African turned to face his Captain. “Beware of stowaways.”

Poison Lightning nodded as Red Legs joined him with a handful of new ropes. They lashed each man at the wrists and ankles, as Jack commanded, while Solo managed the transference of the rum from their vessel onto The Black Otter. Jack paced the deck before them, like a hungry dog before a feast of fresh meat.

After each man was tied, Poison Lightning pushed him down onto the deck in a kneeling position. I stood off to the side, Solo’s steel in my hand, in case I was needed. The young girl had in fact been tied to the old man. As soon as Jack set foot on their rum ship, he’d strode over and cut her loose. Now, she stood behind the men, her red hair blowing in the thick sea breeze, her hands and feet untied. And she hadn’t taken her eyes off me.

Our eyes met. The emotion that flashed in hers was no longer one of fear. It was one of pleading.

When Poison Lightning and Red Legs tied the last man, they marched across the deck and took their place behind Jack, who immediately stepped forward. “A simple rum ship you claim to be, eh?” My husband’s eyes flashed black. “Then I say you are a boat of liars!”

The tied men hung their heads.

“How about someone tell us who you really are.”

The hairy man spoke in a wavering voice. “We are but a simple Spanish rum ship, Captain Jack.”

Jack let go a roar. “The truth, man!” His cutlass was pressed to the man’s neck in an instant. “Tell me you’re a slave ship.”

Surprise lit the man’s face. Ignoring the cutlass, he looked up at Jack. “A slave ship? No sir. That we are not.”

Jack stood in silence but didn’t move his blade. “Then why was the woman bound to you?”

Finally, the redhead tore her gaze from mine. “S-sir? Captain? May I speak?”

Jack didn’t look away from the hairy man. “Yes madam. I pray you do.”

“Funny you say that, Captain. I pray, too.”

A quizzical expression flashed across Jack’s face. “Pardon?”

“It’s just that, once we reach England, I am suppose to marry the man that you are about to relieve of his head.”

“Marry him?” Jack sheathed his cutlass, The man kneeling before him exhaled hard.

Jack ignored him and stepped in front of the girl, who had respectfully sat down when Jack began speaking. He extended his hand and helped her to his feet. “Tell me, do you love this man?”

She didn’t even flinch or look at her intended. Instead, she looked directly at Jack. “No sir, I do not. His name is Sir William Appleby and he took me in place of my father’s gambling debts.” She blinked big, green blinks. “You can call me Rusty.”

Jack looked at me, bemused. “Red, come talk to this young lady. This Rusty.”

I sheathed Solo’s sword in my belt and stepped to my husband’s side. “Rusty. I’m Red.”

“Back from the Dead Red,” Jack corrected.

Rusty’s eyes brightened. “I’ve heard of you, Back from the Dead Red. You were thought dead when your pirate husband, Calico Jack Rackham, murdered you to save you from a ship of Chinese pirates. But you came back to him!”

I was speechless. And apparently, famous.

“However, the legend says you’re a murdering savage. You don’t look like a murdering savage to me.”

I exchanged a look with Jack. His lips were tilted in a half-smile. I ignored it, lest I break into a grin to match my husband’s. “Rusty. Are these men carrying any slaves aboard, from the Caribbean back to Spain?”

She shook her head. “The only slave aboard is me.”

My eyebrows shot skyward. “Rusty. Why were you tied to Sir William?”

She didn’t balk or even stop to think. The words flowed off her tongue as quickly as they came into her brain, it seemed. “When he saw your ship approaching, he was afraid you were pirates. We were told to act friendly, perhaps you’d pass us by. Nobody else had to be tied up. Only me, so you couldn’t steal me, he said.”

“So he tied you up to protect you?”

Rusty’s stared hard at me. “He thinks I’m stupid, Miss Back from the Dead Red. Probably because I’m a girl. He tried to make me believe that being tied to him was to keep me safe. But he tied me up to get me on this boat in the first place. He would creep down into my quarters to spend the night with me.” She closed her eyes and made a disgusted face.

Sully’s smug face flashed into my mind without provocation. My blood heated to a low boil. I walked over to Sir William.

He didn’t look up at me.

“Tell me, sir. Would you keep her tied when you were away from the house, too? Once you’re married, I mean? Perhaps you might shackle her up so she couldn’t slip away when you weren’t looking?”

I drew my sword in a swish.

“Red,” Jack warned.

I ignored him and plunged the sharp steel through his shirt, knocking him backward on the deck, and pinning him there. “Now you’re the one who’s tied up.”

“Captain Back from the Dead Red, please.” Rusty’s voice gave me pause. “I prayed, you know. Prayed for a way out of this—this life of slavery. Then you appeared.”

I turned and looked at her.

Her face was contorted in planes that made something twist in my chest. “Please don’t make me go to Spain and marry a man my grandfather’s age.”

I shifted my gaze to Jack. He was smiling. “Reminds me of a younger version of someone we both know,” he said.

A chuckle escaped my lips before I could stop it. I extended my hand to Rusty.

“Come on, Rusty. Sail with us aboard The Black Otter. I personally guarantee your safety—” Before I could finish, Rusty flung herself into my arms and wrapped her arms around my neck.

“I promise, I’ll help out and do whatever’s asked of me. I know it will be a more fair life than I was going to live.”

“Fairer,” I corrected. “A fairer life.”

Rusty giggled. “Fairer.”