Page 31 of Breath From the Sea
“Well, ’tis a good thing we need not worry over it then,” she muttered.
“A good thing it is, daughter, for I saw an English ship sailing along the coast just now.”
Antónia felt all the blood drain from her face, pooling in her toes and making her dizzy. She reached out to grab on to something, only finding the shoulder of the woman carrying the whiskey.
Was it possible? Was it Titus? Had he come for her? Or had he come to betray her?
Her stomach flipped, eyes wide.
A horn sounded from the battlements, a warning.
The English, indeed, were upon them. She could hear the sounds of men shouting and then a cannon booming. TheLady Hook! They were attacking.
Oh, heavens no! If he had come, even if he’d come to fight, she couldn’t allow him to die before she spoke to him.
Antónia pushed past her father, rushing from the great hall, the sound of him shouting after her following, along with the sound of Granuaille’s laughter, her call of, “The Theodosia curse is upon us! True love in the form of an Englishman.”
Ignoring them all, Antónia raced up the battlement stairs, taking the looking glass from the guard on top. A ship. Painted boldly in gold and shining in the sunlight was its name,Theodosia…
“This cannot be…” she murmured.
TheTheodosia? It was a sign. He had come for her. Had named a ship for the legend behind The Lucius Ring.
“Signal our ship to stop firing,” she ordered the guard on the battlements.
When the guard hesitated, she shouted, “Now!”
They signaled through blowing a horn to cease fire, and waving a flag in just the right pattern, and she was grateful to see that the cannons that had been discharged had missed their mark.
An Englishman stood at the helm, but he was not dressed as a naval captain, but rather a lord.
“What in bloody hell?” she muttered to herself. Perhaps it wasn’t Titus after all. She had to investigate.
Her finger tingled as she descended the stairs and ran through the gate, down the path toward the docks.
“Row me out!” she ordered.
“Nay, my lady, ’tis too dangerous.”
“Then I’ll do it myself.” She started to shove a row boat to the shore.
“Nay, nay! Granuaille will have my head.”
“I will have your head, for when Granuaille is gone, who do ye think will rule? And who do ye think will remember that ye weren’t very good at following orders?” Antónia hated to pull on that vicious hat, but it needed to be done to be heard, to be obeyed.
“Aye, my lady. Aye. Allow me.”
Several guards pushed the boat into the water, with her inside. They climbed in surrounding her like a human shield and rowed her out to theLady Hook.
When she arrived, she started to climb the rope ladder only to see Sweeney’s smiling face at the top.
“I see I don’t need to make good on my promise to bring the English sot to ye, Annie, for he’s done a good job of finding ye himself.”
“TheTheodosia?”
“Aye. A grand statement, if I ever saw one.”
Sweeney pulled her over the side as theTheodosiasailed closer and then she could hear Titus’ voice carrying on the wind.
