Page 24 of Scourge of the Shores
Sweat rolled down Danna’s neck as the humid air did not quench her lips. Her leg wobbled, and the world around her felt like it sank into a well.
His arm looped around her waist before she could fall.
“Don’t need yer help,” she snapped, stumbling.
His breath tickled her ear. “Aye, you do.”
The quiet certainty in his voice unsettled her more than the pain in her leg.
“I’m fine,” she gritted, but knew he was right. “Call Ervin.” She gestured to the door.
“Was he a friend of your father’s?” Robert asked, holding her upright against the table. “He seems a little soft on you.”
“Do it.” Her head dipped to keep it from swimming. “Prove I can trust ye.”
Robert backed up to the double door, leaving her alone. “I thought I already had.” He turned around, opened one, and yelled, “Captain Ervin, Captain Chadwick needs your assistance.”
Robert chuckled and looked inside. “Your old man is coming.”
“He’s not that old.” She grimaced. “He’s a hair over thirty.”
“My father died at not even double his age.”
Danna stood expressionless. The conversation no longer made sense to her, so she insulted Robert in an attempt to defend herself against whatever he said. “All of ye Pirate Kings are young and livin’ off yer fathers’ names.”
Robert nodded, unfazed. “That we are.” He backed up with his hands raised. “Easy there, matey,” he said before Lucas appeared in the doorway with a pistol pointed at Robert’s belly.
“What do you need, Captain Chadwick?” Lucas asked.
“Lucas, I,” Danna said as she stumbled to a nearby bench. “Cain . . . me leg.”
“Danna?” The concern in his voice made her collapse. Lying on the floor gave her clarity.
She held up her hand to stop Lucas from shooting Robert before pulling her belt off. A groan escaped her lips as she tied the belt around her leg until it hurt. “I’m gonna need needle and thread. How’s yer leg? Are ye able to go to Ma’s and get some?”
“Me leg is fine.”
“Leave Jaymes and yer gun with me, Lucas.”
Lucas shot a wary glance at Danna’s pistols.
Robert whispered, “They’re empty from the fight with Cain. And no, I haven’t touched Captain Chadwick.”
Lucas yanked the two flintlocks from Robert’s belt, put them in his own belt before handing his gun to Danna.
“Ye can get these back when ye leave,” he told Robert, and then he turned to go.
Robert sat on the bench next to Danna and gestured to her leg. “I can look at that, you know. I’ve tended to many wounds.”
Danna gritted. “Keep yer word to Ervin, and don’t touch me.”
He leaned back against the wall. “How can you live here?” he asked. “I would want to sail away. Feel the sea spray on my face, live on the sway of the waves.”
Danna pictured her time on the Northern Boulder, feeling the same. “Ma needs me.”
His head rolled, so he peered at her. “Why does she need you?”
“Cain took her arm and legs.”
