Born of the Sea by Kate Castle

Author:Kate Castle [Castle, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dark Horse Publications LLP
Published: 2021-05-29T05:00:00+00:00

9

New Providence looked nothing like I remembered.

There were no beaten-up, filthy pirate sloops anchored haphazardly in the bay. Only pristine merchant navy ships, smartly tethered to newly constructed jetties in Nassau Port; Saint George’s flags fluttering brightly overhead; sails gleaming white. Gone were the rickety old market stalls along the harbourside, selling stolen booty. Instead, half a dozen painted horse carts were neatly lined up, offering baked goods, milk and eggs, fruit and vegetables, woven baskets and the like. No prostitutes and pirates lurked in the tavern doorways or on street corners, only King’s Guards who marched the streets in pairs, stopping to talk with gentlemen in suits and ladies in bonnets and pretty summer dresses. The cobbled streets where I had spent many a drunken day were clean of barrels, bodies and bottles, and I could not spot one fight spilling out of the newly whitewashed taverns. I could not detect even the slightest whiff of sulphur, alcohol or tobacco in the air.

It seemed Governor Rogers’ clean-up mission had been a success.

“Isn’t Nassau a pretty sight now, Anne?” James said, cautiously edging closer to me on the deck.

On our approach, he had asked Alasdair to dress me in an ivory silk robe and tie my wrists to the foremast to stop me from lashing out, as I had on many occasions over the past few days. Underneath his perfectly pressed dress shirt and tunic, I suspected James was black and blue.

“Yes,” I replied. “I hate it.”

He ignored me and rocked on his heels, puffing out his chest like a proud frigate bird. “I think you’ll be most taken with Governor Rogers’ mansion. He converted the old wooden fort on Fitzwilliam Hill into a beautiful residence. He had the quarried stone shipped all the way from Kentucky! It’s even bigger than your father’s was in Charles Town.”

James pointed up to the hill behind Nassau Port where a huge stone house with four stout white columns stood. The windows were framed with white wooden louvre shutters and the exterior walls had been painted a bright conch-pink. It made me think of Mary.

“You’ve been careless in forgetting I don’t care nothin’ for life on land, James. You have wasted your time and mine by bringing me back here. My life is at sea. Back where you found me.”

“Nonsense. I am convinced there is a lady in you. You come from good stock, Anne. You need pulling back into line, that’s all.” He put a careful arm around my waist, and I twisted, jamming my elbow as hard as I could into his side. He yelped in pain and stepped quickly away from me.

“I’ve told you before,” I spat. “Get your filthy, traitorous snitch-fingers off me.”

With that, James turned on his heel and marched away to join Alasdair, who was overseeing our docking harbourside.

“She’ll come around,” I heard him say, with what sounded like a little less conviction than before.

***

In the crowded courtroom, I saw Woodes Rogers right away.

He sat in an ornate high-backed chair at the very front, behind a huge raised wooden desk.

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