“I assure you I’ve never crossed your path, sir.” Sam was fast developing a dislike for the arrogant aide. “But there is a reason I might seem familiar.”
“Never mind, Delacost. I’ll tell Kain later. You need to keep your mouth shut. Like we discussed.”
Sam went cold. Could his own brother betray him? Would he work things so he came out smelling of roses while Sam spent the rest of his life in a dungeon? “You better take great care, Admiral. Unless you send your lackey to slit my throat one night, I’ll not stay silent forever.”
“What the blast is he raving about, Niko?” Kain asked.
“I said I’d tell you later. Let me get him bedded down and I’ll meet with you.”
Sam’s gut churned. He had no control over events now, was like a piece of driftwood on the ocean. The Wildecoast currents would swirl around him and he’d have no influence. He had to depend on Nikolas and Esta to see him through this. In his world, trust was a scarce commodity. He knew he could depend on Esta but what of Nikolas?
Chapter 21
Esta entered her chambers to find Merielle reclining in her sitting room. Her friend was a sight in breeches and a cream blouse. She stood slowly, eyes wary.
“It’s good to see you, Merielle,” Esta said, closing the gap and dropping a kiss on her cheek. She swallowed down sudden nerves. “Tell me what has come to pass with Reid?”
Merielle let out a long breath. “I do not know whether to hug you or strangle you,” she said, her hands clenching at her sides. “Leaving the way you did…leaving me to deal with your impulsiveness…” She took a long gasping breath, tears in her vibrant green eyes. Esta’s heart broke at the sight of her friend in such distress.
“I’m sorry for causing you trouble, Merielle.” She clamped her teeth down on her bottom lip, her own tears close to spilling. Was this another loss she would have to bear?
Merielle studied her for another long moment before embracing Esta. “Oh my friend,” she said. “Are you well? The stories I have heard!”
Esta relaxed into the hug and a sense of calm came over her. This was a friendship she couldn’t afford to lose. Her first close female friend and she had almost lost her over a man. “I’m well and so is my sister.”
“I am glad.” She drew back and studied Esta, her brows drawn down. “I do not know what has passed on the ocean, my friend, but I must tell you that everything has changed here. Reid is furious and will not take you back if that is what you want.” Merielle took a deep breath as if battling her anger again. “He has paid off all the workers and said he will not ask for the money back for the work on your estate. I think that is very generous of him.”
“Yes, it is.” Until that moment, Esta hadn’t thought of the debt she might owe her betrothed. Another debt! Well she would not rest until Reid had all of his money back. She reached for Merielle’s hand. “I never intended to hurt you or Reid.”
Merielle gave a delicate snort. “I will recover, but Reid will not, I fear. I do not understand how you could have thrown his heart away like that!”
Esta drew herself up. “When I knew Nikolas planned to find Samael I couldn’t sit here and wait for the outcome.”
“And what did you think you could do?”
“Be the voice of reason? I don’t know. Anything was preferable to sitting here when Sam’s entire future was at stake.”
Merielle gasped. “You’ve fallen in love with him. A pirate! Is that wise?”
“Yes, I love him. What choice do I have but to support him? I thought you would understand.”
“I understand love,” Merielle said, “but Nikolas is, well, magnificent.”
“Careful, Merielle. I value your friendship. I wouldn’t want you to say anything I couldn’t forgive.”
“But how can it ever work, Esta? Samael is in prison and will stay there if the King has anything to say about it.”
Esta wrapped her arms around herself to stem her panic every time she thought of Sam in a damp, dark cell. “Nikolas will get him out. He has to.” She hated the pity in Merielle’s eyes.
“Yes, of course,” Merielle said. “Nikolas will help if he can.”
Sam sat in the dank cell humming a tune his mother had used to settle him as a child. The gentle words of the song pulled him back from the brink of panic—his heart slowed and finally he could relax against the stone wall. The stench of the slop pail hit him anew as he took a long deep breath. Two days confinement and still his mind and body refused to accept what he had become—a captive. He tried not to think about everything he’d lost in the last few months but, deprived of light, cold and hungry, it was impossible to be optimistic.
He kept running through the choices he’d made and doubting them. He’d been happy roaming the high seas, living off other people’s success, not thinking too much of anything deeper.
But the niggling feeling of being an outsider had long been there. It had been there because he was an interloper in his own family. But that had been better than this—stuck in the dark and fighting panic! He liked to think he was as sane as the next man but the last two days in prison had taught him how tenuous his grip on sanity really was.
Sam could trace his slump back to the moment he decided to find his mother. Ever since then he’d been on a downhill slide. And now here he was, deprived of freedom and dependent on others for everything. He may as well be dead. The anger that boiled in his gut kept him from believing death would be preferable. That’s it Delacost, stay angry. It’s the only thing that will keep you sane!
So deep was he in his doldrums that Sam didn’t hear the approach of the guard until the man appeared at the cell bars with a lantern.
“Visitor for you, Delacost.”
Sam squinted at the dark figure beside the guard and sniffed the faint perfume on the air.
Esta! He stood slowly, muscles screaming at being asked to move, and limped over to the gate. Her perfume reminded him there was sunshine and fresh air somewhere out there. And love.
“Five minutes.” The guard lit a brand that was shoved into a holder near Sam’s cell and stomped back up the hallway.
She threw herself against the bars. “Are you well?”
Sam laughed—the sound halfway to insanity. He stepped closer until he could lay his forehead on hers. “I will prevail.” It was the best he could do but not as reassuring as he had hoped.
“I had to see you, dearest. I was losing my mind not knowing.” He heard her swallow. “It’s horrible here.” Then a sniff as if she forced back tears. “Has Nikolas been to see you?”
“You are my sole visitor apart from when the guards deliver food and water. “
“What is he doing? I must see him, beg him to do something!”
“Hush, my love.” Sam’s heart pounded at the panic in her voice. He could not be strong if Esta fell to pieces. “Can you tell me anything? When is the trial?”
She gave a sharp intake of breath. “The day after tomorrow. At dawn. You didn’t know?”
The hair on the nape of Sam’s neck lifted sending a shiver over his scalp. He was literally being kept in the dark.
“I’m sure Nikolas is scrambling around trying his best to get me off the hook. If you see him, please ask if he can visit me?” Damn it, that was too much like begging. He had never stooped so low.
“I’ll do everything I can, Sam, and I’ll work on my own plan if all else fails.”
He broke out in a cold sweat at her words. “What plan?”
“It’s better that you don’t know, my love, and I’ll only use it if I’m desperate.”
“Tell me, Esta.”
“Hush.” She drew him toward her, small fists bunched in his shirt. Her lips met his between the bars and he savored her sweet fragrance, sank into her lush warmth until his troubles started to fade. He groaned when she moved back.
Esta took a deep breath. “Have courage, Sam. I’ll not fail you.” With one last kiss, she was gone, striding away until she was lost in the glo
om of the passageway.
As Esta hurried away from Sam she battled for composure. She had never seen him so undone and it terrified her. Pull yourself together woman! No sense giving into the desperate fear that ate at her. Fear would lead to weakness and she could not afford to be weak when she might be Sam’s only hope. She must be the spider, devious and hidden, hatching her plan for the day when it might be required. Cold reason must be her strength but oh, how she had needed the time spent with him, the kisses shared!
The conditions he was kept in brought tears to her eyes that she brushed away angrily. That cell was suitable for the lowest of the low and her love was certainly not that. Not in her eyes and hopefully not in the eyes of his brother. Surely Nikolas had a plan that would save his last remaining brother? He could not turn his back just to save his pride and position. Could he?
Esta did not know the admiral well enough and while he had shown some signs of wanting a connection with Sam, his brotherly love had not been overwhelming.
As she passed the last of the cells before the stairs, a hissing drew her attention. She looked to the left and five sets of glowing eyes made her pause. Elven eyes!
“I hope you have said your goodbyes, Lady Moonlight.” That voice belonged to Sam’s second in command, Nande. “He will pay for his alliance with the Lenweri just as we will pay for his betrayal of us.”
Esta clenched her jaws so tightly she heard something crack. “You chose your fate when you attacked the admiral. Samael had a plan that would have saved you all or at least given you a chance.”
Nande snorted. “No plan would have sufficed save the one I counseled. We should have found a vantage from which we could have been victors over the kingdom sailors. Instead he chose to negotiate. I knew we were doomed unless we fought. Better to die fighting than go meekly to the gallows.”
Esta shook her head. She had liked the Lenweri leader in a different time. “I’m sorry this has come to pass. I see no hope for you and your men.”
He lifted his head as his companions hissed again. “I need no pity from you, lady. Look to your own troubles and your past and be afraid.”
Esta backed away from the cell and hurried up the stairs, hissing and cat calls chasing her. She met the guard coming down.
“Wait at the top of the stairs, lass. I’ll quiet this lot and be back to unlock the door.”
As she waited, Esta couldn’t settle the trembling that beset her entire body. The elves hated her and they would expose her for the lying, stealing woman she was. When that happened, she and her family would lose everything. She couldn’t let that happen, but how would she prevent it?
Katrine awaited her outside the prison. She took one look and drew Esta into her arms. “Tell me,” she whispered, steering her older sister toward the coach they had hired. They entered the carriage and Esta told Katrine all she had experienced.
“It’s far worse than I imagined for Sam,” Esta said. “And what of myself? I can’t undo the things I’ve done in the past and neither can you.”
Katrine chewed her lip. “We could run—to Brightcastle. Hetty would take us in.”
Esta shook her head. “You run if you like. I have to be here for Sam.”
Katrine’s eyes blazed. “He wouldn’t want you to suffer! And you don’t have the protection of being the sibling of the admiral. What if Nikolas makes you the scapegoat?”
Esta shook her head. “Merielle wouldn’t let him do that.”
Katrine chewed her fingernail. “It’s the Lenweri word against ours. Our crew will be loyal. I’ll travel back to the estate and make sure there is nothing to link us with smuggling. We have no ship and the estate is as poor as a church mouse. We’ll deny it. As long as there is no proof.”
A small chink of hope pried its way into Esta’s heart. “Do you think so?”
Katrine nodded. “I will make it so. You worry about your pirate and I’ll cover our backs.”
Esta launched herself off her seat and embraced her sister. “You always know what to do in a crisis, Kat. I love you so much.”
“Don’t think this means I approve of you and that man,” she said. “I’m doing this for you and for our family.”
Esta nodded. “I know that. I intend to show you Samael Delacost is worthy of my love.”
“I hope for your sake he is and you get to show me how worthy. There is much water to flow under that bridge, sister.”
Esta nodded again and settled back beside Katrine for the trip back to the castle. She closed her eyes and prayed that the Goddess would deliver salvation for Sam—prayed that she wouldn’t have to enact her plan.
Chapter 22
Samael Delacost was led into the chamber in chains. The day suited his mood. Charcoal gray clouds rolled in across the sea bringing with them driving rain and howling winds. Even here in the King’s audience chamber, the crash of the waves on the rocks below was an ever-present reminder of nature’s fury. The wind forced its way into every small crack and the room was bitterly cold. Sam was even colder, soaked to the skin after his trip from the prison. But it was no worse than many occasions at sea.
By the look of the crowd gathered, all the nobility and guild masters were in attendance. He cast his eye around for Esta but didn’t see her. Despite the cold, he broke out in a sweat. The possibility that she wouldn‘t attend his hearing hadn’t occurred to him. In all this madness that was his new reality, Esta was a beacon of hope and light.
But of course she wouldn’t be here. She had a life and a reputation to uphold and being associated with him wouldn’t help her one bit. She said she had a plan which would certainly involve her throwing herself on Nikolas’s mercy or that of the King or Queen. Much good that would do her. Still he longed for a glimpse of her beautiful face, the sound of her honeyed voice.
The King and Nikolas stood together on the dais, overlooking him as his chains were tethered to a ring in the stone floor. Sam closed his eyes and sought that inner place of calm he usually possessed. Today it deserted him as it had since his imprisonment. Inside, all was a-churn, like the restless ocean outside. He fought harder, imagining the sea as a mill pond, blue and calm, but the gray and the cold and the restless energy would not be banished. He swallowed hard and opened his eyes.
King Beniel’s icy gaze greeted him. Cold and blue and as hard as granite—no mercy. Nande and the other Lenweri would receive no clemency from the monarch, especially with the recent battles the kingdom had faced against the dark elves. But he was Samael Delacost and his father had taught him never to give in and never to show fear. So he looked the King in the eye and then bowed as well as he could in chains. The monarch was unmoved but Nikolas frowned. Damn him!
The prosecutor stepped forward. He was a tall, thin man in black robes with an oiled black moustache and goatee beard.
“Samael Delacost,” he said, “you stand accused of piracy and murder, of failing to uphold the King’s Law and of associating with the enemy.” The man turned to the King. “I think you’ll agree, Your Majesty, that these are the most serious of crimes.”
“Indeed, Counselor, I do. I intend to see justice for the kingdom of Thorius in this matter.”
Sam tried to keep any feelings from his face, tried to find that tranquil core as the prosecutor spoke again.
“I intend to prove that this man before you did, in fact, commit all the crimes listed and incited others to aid him. He was the captain of the ship from whence these Lenweri scum we house originated.”
His crew were still in the cells then?
“Call your witnesses, Counselor,” the King said.
“Your Majesty, Admiral Cosara and members of the court. It has long been the case that a scoundrel named the Singing Pirate roamed the oceans from south of Shawmere and far into the north. The deeds were done at night with the help of the night vision of a Lenweri crew. I believe this man before you, Samael Delacost, is the Singing Pirate. I call Lord Cosara to the stand.”
Nikolas stepped forward, not l
ooking at Sam.
“Lord Cosara, you are admiral of the King’s fleet and as such, your word is beyond question. Was this man, Samael Delacost, found in the company of Lenweri?”
Now Nikolas looked at Sam, just a glance as if to check who the prosecutor was naming. “Yes, Counselor, this is the man I found consorting with the elves.”
“Did it appear they had been aboard his ship?”
“I believe that to be the case,” Nikolas said.
Sam cleared his throat. “The admiral never saw Lenweri aboard my ship when under my captaincy,” he said.
The prosecutor glared at him. “You will have a chance to defend yourself when I have finished, Delacost.” He addressed Nikolas. “Admiral, tell those assembled of the events that led up to you taking ship in search of the scoundrel, the Singing Pirate.”
“I knew of the Singing Pirate rumored to lead a Lenweri crew in night raids on merchant ships in the area. I had also heard the name Samael Delacost and now know they are one and the same person. The night raids recently escalated, more of them and increasingly bold. They also became more deadly. Sailors were being killed and wounded and trade was being affected. The matter was sufficiently serious for me to mount a mission to find and detain the person or persons responsible for the crimes. I believed, because of the night raids and reports from affected ship’s captains, that the perpetrator of most of these crimes was the Singing Pirate.”
“So you tracked him down?” the prosecutor asked.
Nikolas nodded. “It wasn’t easy. I finally found his ship, Silver Lady, at anchor in a bay on one of the central reef islands. It is an ideal refuge and very difficult to enter and leave.”
“But you found it and there you found this man, Delacost?”
“I did. His crew, the Lenweri—,”
“I object, Your Majesty,” Sam said. “The admiral assumed they were my crew.”
“Perhaps you had better avoid assumptions, Counselor,” the King said.
The Lady and the Pirate Page 17
