I put thepearl back and returned the box to its place next to my bed beforeI yanked the heavy quilts up around my neck and laid down to go tosleep. At first, I thought I’d never fall asleep. But withinseconds, the weight of the day came crashing down and my eyesforced shut, spinning me into a deep, and dreamless rest.
It wassometime later when I awoke again. How long, I had no idea. But myhead protested as I opened my eyes to the slight noise that wokeme. Henry had entered the room and attempted to quietly shut thedoor behind him. I watched with one eye fully open as he turned andlooked at me, his face sullen and defeated. Slack from drink.Swiftly, he removed his coat and slung it over a chair.
“You’reawake?” he asked softly.
Not moving, Ireplied against the pillow, “I am now.”
He sighed andslipped off the new black vest and white shirt, adding it to thepile in the chair. “I’m sorry to have awakened you. Although, I’m ashamed to admit I’m relievedyou’re not asleep.”
“Why’sthat?”
He looked atme with an expression that begged understanding. “I was hoping totalk to you. That’s… is that not what we do?”
Damn it. Hewas right. We’d made a pact, back aboard The Queen, to always behonest and talk our way through anything. It’s how I helped himdeal with the PTSD and the darkness which haunted him each day.It’s how I got over what happened to me aboard The Black Soul. Italked it to death in the days following. Henry never wavered,never grew tired, and always accepted the way I felt about it all.How I cared for Benjamin, because he was my friend. How Pleemangave his life to save mine and the guilt I carried back to shore.Henry helped me through it all.
I at leastowed him the chance to speak.
Carefully andtiredly, I pulled myself up and leaned against the woodenheadboard. “So, talk.”
My eyes rakedover his body and how the exposed skin of his chest moved over thelithe muscles. How it rose and fell with quick, nervous breaths.With empty palms upturned, he said, “I came to beg yourforgiveness. I was a fool to withhold the details of my past withRoselyn. And I was cruel to let you think there was nothing toworry about.”
I raised myeyebrows and folded my arms over my protruding belly.
“Christ,” hespat in frustration and rubbed his forehead. “I’m still no good atthis.” Henry took two quick steps toward the bed then. “Thereis nothing for you to worry about. I swear. I just meant, Ishould have told you then and there. That I was once with Wallace.But that it means nothing today.”
I chewed at mybottom lip as I let his sincere words sink in. I searched his face,void of any sign of deceit, and only saw a man riddled with guilt.Just not the kind I thought he should have. He didn’t feel bad forbetraying me, because he didn’t. I could see that now.
With greatwillpower, I shifted over and patthe area on the bed next to me. “Come, sit.”
Henry did ashe was told, and took a seat next to me, his back to the door so hecould face me head on.
“Dianna–”
“Tell meeverything,” I demanded.
“What do youmean?”
“You areeverything to me. My life here in the past has no purpose withoutyou.” As I spoke the words, Henry’s face became awash in confusion.“But I cannot be here if I’m left in the dark. I won’t allow it.Open books, remember?”
He nodded.
“We promised.Never to withhold anything from one another.” I paused and slippedmy hand in his and Henry clenched tightly, desperately, as if hethought he’d never hold my hand again. “So, I need you to tell meeverything about you, Roselyn Wallace, and how you’reconnected.”
He seemed toaccept that wholeheartedly but shook his head. “Don’t you care toknow what happened tonight?”
“I do. I mean,I will,” I replied and recalculated my thoughts. “I want to knoweverything first. Then tell me what happened tonight.”
Henry adjustedhimself into a more comfortable position, kicking his boots ontothe floor, but still held his grip around my fingers.
“It allstarted years ago.” He guffawed. “Christ, so many years ago. It’donly been a few months after the witch and I cursed Maria and hership. I was a free man. Careless. Gettin’ into all sorts oftrouble. That’s when I found Wallace.” Henry stopped and widenedhis dark eyes.
“WallaceSenior, I mean. Roselyn’s father. He ran the port, colluded withboth sides of the law, while also running a prestigious brothel. Iwent to him one day to pay the duty for the ship I was on. With thecaptain, of course. But Wallace took a particular interest in me.To this day, I’ll never know what it was. But he chose me. Took mein, taught me the ins and outs of real piracy. How to do it and notget caught. How to work both sides. He put me on the path to getThe Devil’s Heart.”
“So, how doesRoselyn come into all this?” I asked.
“She’s hisdaughter. An illegitimate child he had with one of the housemaids. But the mother died in childbirthand, for some reason, he kept Roselyn as his own.”
“He must havebeen a decent man, then,” I say.
Henrychortled. “Hardly. Wallace was a hard man. He ruled with an ironfist, and people feared him. No one dared miss a payment, or slighthim in any way. He had nobility in his pocket and piracy wrappedaround his finger. He raised Roselyn until she was a… ripe age andthen forced her to work in the brothel.”
I gasped. “Youcan’t be serious!” I did the rough math in my head. Roselyn seemedclose to my age, younger, if anything. And if this was as manyyears ago as I’m told… “My God, she must not have been much olderthan–”
“Fourteen,”Henry finished for me. “I was only a young man myself, but I knewthat it was wrong. Profiting off his own daughter’s body
