Christina noticed him coming, and she pulled away from Anne's embrace. "Anne's injured. It's my fault. I'm sorry, I—"
William held up a hand. "Bring Alexandre to the ship, most of his supplies are there."
Anne's face had blanched from blood loss. "I am well," she protested. "I simply need some assistance walking at present." William scooped her up, lifting her off her feet. "This wasn't what I had in mind."
Christina wiped tears from her face, took a breath, and nodded at William before running off to find Alexandre.
William took Anne to the shore where the longboats had landed. He gingerly placed Anne inside the boat, taking care not to bump her leg. Despite his diligence, he noticed her wincing and stifling a cry of pain. William thought the only thing keeping her awake was the pain.
After Anne was secure, William rowed the longboat back to the Queen Anne's Revenge. The two of them were silent for the ride, neither broaching the nature of the horrific injury she had received, nor the battle which was finishing inland. The noise of crossed blades, shouts, and pain had faded away to a whisper on the wind by the time they reached the side of the ship, replaced by the soft whistling across the weather deck, and the lapping of waves against the side.
William secured the boat to the side of the ship and then picked Anne up again. "Apologies, Captain," he said as he hoisted her over his shoulder.
Even at this, she didn't say a word, which told him that she knew the severity of her own injury. This made his heart race even faster.
William climbed up the side of the ship, his muscles burning with the effort. After a careful few minutes, he had her aboard, but he dared not put her down now. He took her below deck and into the surgeon's room and placed her on the long table in the centre. He helped her lie down and went to work before Alexandre arrived.
William was no surgeon, but he knew a concoction that would be useful for pain mitigation. He grabbed a bottle from the storage cabinets, one of the only bottles in the bunch clearly labelled, which William thought dangerous, and gave the liquid a sniff to be sure.
William handed the bottle to Anne. "You must drink this, Captain."
Anne cocked her brow. "What is it?" she asked, but she began drinking before he answered.
"Gin," he replied as she took a large drink and reeled back at the sharp taste.
He thought of cleaning the wound with the gin and dressing it, but he knew how particular Alexandre was. He didn't want to risk his ire, nor the possibility of making the situation worse. Instead, he wrapped a cloth just beneath her knee and tied it tight to stanch the blood loss, sat down in a nearby chair, and then they waited.
After a moment of silence, Anne spoke. "William?"
"Yes, Captain?"
"What kind of a man was my uncle-in-law?"
Anne spoke of William III, the king before her mother took the throne. The question caught him off guard, as they had not talked much of their lives before joining Edward's band of pirates.
William looked away from Anne as he reminisced. "I loved him," he said. "He was more than a king to me. He was like a father."
"He must have been a great man to have such high praise from you."
William still didn't know how to respond. He settled on a nod and "He was." It felt… insufficient.
There was another pause, then after another drink of gin, Anne said, "Why didn't you save him in the Triangle?"
It took a moment for William to understand just what she was referring to. William had been a kingsguard and had been framed for his king's murder, so he'd fled. Years ago, the Queen Anne's Revenge had entered the Devil's Triangle, where the crew had experienced strange events. William, along with Sam Bellamy and a woman they'd thought was their enemy at the time, were seemingly transported to the time just prior to the king's murder. It was thought to be a dream, but dream or real, William had chosen not to change what happened and let his king die again.
"How…?"
"Sam told me. He told me that you didn't want to risk changing history but never told me why. He said to ask you, but I never did because I thought it was too personal."
William rose from his seat to look into Anne's eyes. Her pallor hadn't improved much, but the gin seemed to be helping.
"I didn't stop his murder because of you," William said.
Anne arched her brows, a question unuttered but implied.
"I've never seen you happier than aboard this ship. Yes, there have been some hardships"—he cast a glance at her leg—"but you have made friends here, shared laughter here, and you were even married here on this ship."
William took his chair and pulled it closer so he could sit next to Anne. He sat a moment, staring off at nothing, then looked Anne in the eyes again.
"I remember meeting you when you were twelve," he said. "I was a new kingsguard then, just a few years before your uncle-in-law's death. You didn't scowl, but you never smiled. You smiled in the way that they trained you to, but you never truly smiled. Except once, when you were with the ladies in the kitchen, and you started a fight with the food they were preparing." William took Anne's hand in his. "If you would have stayed royalty, I have no doubts you would have made a wonderful ruler, a wonderful queen. I'll admit that that was what I had hoped would happen at first. I hoped I might bring you back to take your place in the palace, but I realized you belong here with these people. This is where
