“Good morning to you too, Louis,” Renaud said politely. He was sitting forward
over his desk with his hands folded, fingers entwined on the felt desk blotter. “Did you
perhaps omit a few pertinent details to me when you asked my help, old friend?”
Louis’ scowl deepened. “What pertinent details are you babbling about, Renaud?”
“Oh I don’t know,” Renaud said, sitting back, his folded hands now clasped over
his trim belly. “Like the fact that the man you sent me after—”
“The man I told you to bring back in shackles!” Louis shouted, swinging his gaze
from Alsandair to Kyle, not sure which man he should be glaring at but knowing it
wasn’t the middle-aged one sitting before Renaud’s desk. He knew that had to be the
captain of the Mary Constance.
“The man you sent me after,” Renaud continued as though he hadn’t been rudely
interrupted, “who had his wife stolen from him by your little brother?”
“That’s neither here nor there!” Louis snapped.
“Or that that wife was Joined to him on the high seas by a licensed captain?”
Dark brows speckled with a hint of gray clashed over Louis’ curved beak of a nose.
“What the fuck are you talking about, Renaud?” he growled.
“Captain Andelton?” Renaud said politely.
Andelton got to his feet with a slight bow. “I am Captain Drake Andelton, formerly
of the Mary Constance. If you will check my ship’s log, you will find that I married
Alsandair Farrell—” he turned to sweep a hand toward the man he’d named “—and
Rylee McCourtland on the twelfth day of December of this year. We were at
longitude—”
“I don’t give a diseased rat’s prick where you were!” Louis thundered. His enraged
glare was aimed at Alsandair who refused to lower his eyes to the man, even when
Louis jabbed a stubby finger toward him. “You are a dead man, Farrell!”
“I would remind you, Captain Corsair,” Renaud said in a voice devoid of
politeness, “that you are onboard the Perdu and not one of your ships. I will not have
you speaking to one of my officers in that manner.”
Louis took a step back, his mouth dropping open. “One of your officers?” he
repeated, his face taking on a red hue that did not bode well for his health.
“Commander Farrell has signed on as my chief tactical officer,” Renaud said
smoothly. “With his many years of service as an Anlusian Guard—”
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“Are you listening to what the fuck you are saying, Renaud?” Louis demanded, his
face redder than ever. His hands were opening and closing into meaty fists at his side.
“This man has insulted my family honor and you hire him to some trumped-up post
I’ve never heard of?”
Renaud smiled pleasantly, tilting his head to one side in question. “How, may I ask
you, has he insulted your family honor, Louis?”
Louis sputtered, unable to answer that question. He swept his rage over Alsandair
in an effort to cower the younger man but Farrell simply held his gaze with no
expression on his face whatsoever.
“Who dared sponsor that whelp into our trade?” Louis managed to ask.
“I did,” Renaud answered, though he knew damned well Louis had already figured
that out.
“You are a traitor, Noel Renaud,” Louis flung at him.
“Have I now been added to the list of those who have insulted your family honor?”
Renaud asked.
“You know fucking well what it is you’ve done, you sorry little shit!” Louis hissed.
“I put forth to you, Louis,” Renaud said, drawing Louis’ attention back to him, “as I
will put it before the Brotherhood, that it is your family—Andre in particular and you to
a certain point—who have insulted Commander Farrell’s honor. If anyone should
demand redress, it is he.”
“What?” Louis bellowed.
“Andre took this gentleman’s lawful wife from him and brought her here to the
Cay, asking—at your demand and under threat of taking the lady from his custody
until he did as you ordered—the Brotherhood to set aside her high seas Joining before
the gods of the deep and wed her to himself. But you were not satisfied with that, Louis.
You went after Farrell with the express intent of murdering him.”
“Damned straight I did,” Louis snarled, “and I would have had not that bastard son
of mine come yipping at my heels like a lovesick terrier to blow a hole in my fucking
ship!”
Captain Andelton and Kyle exchanged a look. They knew Corsair had not realized
what deep, dark secret he had unwittingly revealed in his anger. Renaud though did
and quickly changed the subject.
“Farrell has signed on with me and will go before the Brotherhood and take his
Oath to them before the day is out. He will then be setting out with me tomorrow on the
morning tide to make his first run as one of us. When we return, he will go before the
Brotherhood again and ask that his Joining to the lady in question be recognized.”
“Won’t happen! Won’t fucking happen!” Louis bellowed. “The Brotherhood will
never set aside Andre’s Joining. Never!”
“Perhaps not, but as his sponsor I will accompany him to the Council and advise
him as I see fit.”
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No one had noticed the man who had slipped quietly into the cabin until he spoke.
“Is he going to strike for Se Tenir Conjointement?” Andre Corsair asked quietly.
Every eye turned to Andre. Every man there—including Alsandair—winced at the
battered sight the man presented.
“By the gods he’d better not!” Louis roared. He took a step toward Andre. “You let
me handle this.”
Andre could barely walk and the wagon ride into town had all but taken its toll on
him. He felt as though he’d been rolled down a high escarpment of jagged rocks to land
in the middle of a field of broken glass. Making his way to the chair beside Captain
Andelton’s, he sat down gingerly, holding a hand to his side where his ribs were
throbbing brutally.
“You should be in bed, Andre,” Renaud said, putting his hands on the desk once
more. “I’d no idea Louis beat you this badly or I would have insisted we come to you to
settle this matter.”
“He got what he deserved,” Louis snapped.
Andre ignored Renaud and Louis. He was looking at Alsandair. “Will you?” he
asked. When Louis would have protested again, he cursed at the man the world
thought to be his older brother in their native language. “Damnez-vous à l’enfer. Laissez-
moi manipuler mes propres affaires. Je suis un homme pas un enfant!”
“Damn you to hell too, you evil little fuck!” Louis threw at Andre. “And aye you
are a child and certainly not a grown man acting the way you’ve been acting!”
“And how is that, Louis?” Renaud inquired mildly.
“Like a mewling schoolboy sniffing after his first cunt!”
Almost in unison both Andre and Alsandair said the exact same words, “My wife
isn’t a cunt!”
Both Andre and Alsandair flinched. The two men stared at one another and
something passed between them of which no one else in the room was aware. In that
&nb
sp; moment they each defended the woman they loved, a tenuous truce was laid down, an
unspoken understanding grudgingly given and reluctantly accepted, one to the other.
“You didn’t answer me, Farrell,” Andre said. “Are you going to seek Se Tenir
Conjointement?”
“How would he even know of it?” Louis demanded then narrowed his eyes,
growling like a cornered beast at Renaud. “Unless you told him.”
“I would like to speak to these two men in private,” Renaud said, and when Louis
opened his mouth to shout, he shook his head. “This is not your decision, Louis. This is
Andre’s.”
“Go home, Louis,” Andre said in a tired voice. “Renaud’s right. This doesn’t
concern you.”
Kyle came from behind the desk and both he and Andelton headed for the door.
Neither man looked back as they left. For a moment Louis stood his ground but after a
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prolonged glare at Andre, threw his hands into the air and stomped out, slamming the
door savagely behind him.
“That man would try the patience of a saint,” Renaud said as Louis’ heavy footsteps
crashed up the companionway.
“I am fully convinced he was put on this earth simply to torment me,” Andre said
and put a hand to his aching head.
“You want some water, Andi?” Renaud inquired.
“Please.”
It was Alsandair who went to the sideboard and poured his rival a tumbler of
water. He glanced at Renaud who declined the silent offer then brought the tumbler to
Andre.
“Thank you,” Andre mumbled.
Alsandair didn’t reply. At Renaud’s urging, he took the chair vacated by Andelton.
“I want the two of you to just sit there and hear me out before you speak,” Renaud
said. “What is decided here today won’t be cast in stone but it needs discussing and
you’re both intelligent men. You can discuss this as adults.”
Andre nodded, leaned his head on the chair back and closed his eyes.
Renaud leaned back in his chair. “I have never had the pleasure of meeting the lady
in question, but for her to have two such powerful men fighting over her, she must
truly be a beauty.”
“She is,” Alsandair said.
“The most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” Andre agreed.
“And you both must love her beyond all that is holy to put yourselves through
this.”
“I’ve loved her for seven years,” Alsandair admitted.
“I loved her the moment I saw her through my spyglass.”
Renaud let out a long breath. “How does she feel toward you, Sandair?”
Alsandair’s hands were clenched on the chair arms. “When last I saw her, she loved
me as I do her.”
“She still does,” Andre said, opening his eyes and turning his head so he could look
Alsandair in the eye. “But she has come to love me as well.”
“In less than two weeks’ time?” Alsandair challenged.
“Would you have me lie to you and say she hates my guts?” Andre asked.
“It would make me feel a helluva lot better if you did.”
Andre smiled wanly. “Sorry, but I’m afraid you’ll have to suffer along with me.”
“Have you…?” Alsandair began and couldn’t finish.
“You know I have,” Andre answered, and closed his eyes again to the blinding pain
ripping at his skull.
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“Are you having one of your headaches?” Renaud asked.
“It doesn’t matter,” Andre replied. “Let’s just get on with this.”
“You have migraines?” Alsandair inquired.
Andre opened one eye. “You?”
“Aye.”
“Figures,” he said, and closed his eye again.
“Se Tenir Conjointement, ” Renaud said, “is the only solution. The lady will never be
allowed to leave Wicklaw Cay and if you were to attempt to abscond with her, Farrell,
the entire might of the Brotherhood would fall on your head.” He smiled at Alsandair.
“That’s a headache you certainly don’t want.”
“I’ve seen it happen and it ain’t a pretty sight,” Andre asserted.
“Six months with him and six months with you,” Renaud said. “But then there is
one other alternative.”
Andre forced his eyes open. He could barely see out of his right eye anyway, Louis’
right cross had taken care of that. “We could duel,” he said.
“You could and if by some strange quirk of fate and odd alignment of the planets
Farrell should win, Louis would gut him before the day was out and the lady would be
fair game to any man who lusted after her. And if she is as lovely as you two say she is,
that might well be three-fourths of the Cay, myself included.”
“You don’t have much faith in a man you’ve hired on as your chief tactical officer,”
Andre said with a chuckle that made him wince as he felt the sting of his split lip.
“I’m good with a blade, Corsair,” Alsandair said. “He’s never seen me fight.”
“Mayhap, but you forget I’ve already fought you once and you were only fair to
middling,” Andre reminded him. “I can take you easily even with two broken ribs.”
“I tripped,” Alsandair defended himself.
Renaud shook his head at the exchange. They were like little boys, but he liked
them both and he didn’t want to see either lose his life over a woman.
“We’ll leave on the morning tide tomorrow and when we come back, Sandair will
petition the Brotherhood for Se Tenir Conjointement.” He looked from one man to the
other. “Is that agreeable?”
“Shouldn’t you ask Rylee?” Alsandair asked.
“I mentioned that ancient law to her last night,” Andre said. “She thought it sinful.”
“That sounds like Rylee,” Alsandair sighed.
“She thinks she’s sinful for wanting the both of us.”
Alsandair nodded. “Aye, that she would.”
“Do you think she would accept the law?” Renaud pressed.
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Andre shrugged, wishing he hadn’t for his ribs grated on one another. He pressed
his palm tighter to them. “She was more concerned that I not go after Farrell and just let
him be. She wanted him kept safe at all cost.”
Alsandair smiled. “That sounds like her too.”
“It’s the only way, gentlemen,” Renaud insisted. “Is it to be Se Tenir Conjointement?”
Andre had already decided to strike for the old law even before Devin Boucharde
had arrived to tell him he was needed on Captain Renaud’s ship. He wanted to take the
shadows from Rylee’s eyes, the pain from her heart. The moment he saw Boucharde, he
had a good idea what was happening down at the Perdu.
“I see no other way and I’ll not cause her any more grief,” Andre said. “I will agree
to it.”
“Sandair?” Renaud inquired.
“Do I have a choice?” Alsandair asked, his jaw tightening.
“Not really,” Renaud replied.
Alsandair asked Andre if Rylee knew he was on the Cay.
“Not yet. I didn’t tell her why I was being ordered to Renaud’s ship. I left her and
Gaston playing chess on the veranda. Gaston must have known what was up but he
won’t have told her.”
“I’d like to see her befo
re this is done,” Alsandair said. “This is her life we’re
deciding.”
“You’re right,” Andre agreed. “She should be told and allowed to—” He stopped,
putting his hand to his temple. His head suddenly felt as though an elf was inside his
skull picking away at his brain with a dull blade.
“You need to lie down,” Renaud said, coming to his feet and around the desk. He
wasn’t in the least surprised Alsandair was right beside him. “Help me get him over to
my bunk.”
“I’m okay,” Andre protested, but made no attempt to keep the men from helping
him to his feet and over to the bunk. He sat down and leaned back, letting Renaud lift
his legs up to the mattress.
“Look in the top drawer of my desk on the right side,” Renaud told Alsandair.
“There is a vial of tenerse there.”
“By the gods I hate that shit, Renaud,” Andre complained.
“So do I, but it serves its purpose,” Alsandair told him.
It was after Andre had been given a fairly stiff dose of the purple-colored liquid
that Louis burst through the door, his eyes wide and his teeth clenched together.
“She’s gone,” he said without preamble, his attention going immediately to Andre.
“What the fuck did you do to…?”
“Migraine,” Renaud said. “Who’s gone?”
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Alsandair didn’t have to ask. He started toward Louis but came up short when
Renaud put out a stiff arm as immobile as a tree branch. He ran into it and bounced off,
cursing as he stumbled back.
“Rylee?” Andre murmured, the tenerse already taking fast hold of his
consciousness. He tried to get up but the room cantered off to one side and he pitched
headlong into darkness, sinking down into the soothing waves of the drug.
“Where is my wife?” Alsandair shouted, trying to get around Renaud to Louis.
“She’s been taken,” Louis said, and turned his eyes to Renaud. “And Gaston is
dead.”
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Chapter Eighteen
It was only a quarter of a mile from the docks to L’endroit Sûr and the men who
made that short trek ran full-out the entire way. It had not occurred to any of them to
take time to find a horse to take them there. With Louis and Renaud leading the way,
Alsandair and Kyle close behind them, it was a grim-faced, frightened and angry
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