Read Online Revenge of the Siren Song (Rogues of Sea and Sky Book 1) by Michelle Stinson Ross - Free Book Online Page B

Captain O’Shea, then?”
    “Aye, that’s correct.”
    “I have a letter for you, then, sir. That should explain things well enough.”
    The man trotted off to a nearby hut and returned quickly with a long handwritten letter for Liam. The contents drowned the last of Liam’s hope. Grace was gone and had no intention of returning.
     
     
    * * *
     
    First Mate Hawkins launched the longboat as soon as they heard the signal gun from the little ship beyond the reef. He had no doubt that Captain O’Malley was aboard. It was her signal that was fired, but he was not certain if she was in control or being held under duress. He and the crewmen with him were armed in case of the latter circumstance.
    To his relief, Captain O’Malley was aboard the Ocean’s Whore and absolutely in charge. Lizzie’s rag-tag crew operated with an efficiency they had never before thought possible. Under her command, the Ocean’s Whore slipped through the eye of the needle that protected the cove from intruders. As soon as Hawkins was aboard, command was given over to him, and Grace was ferried back to the beach aboard the longboat.
    Bartolo had been waiting anxiously for his captain’s return. His heart broke to see how weary and forlorn she looked. He offered her a steadying hand as she disembarked from the boat, but she refused without a word. He had no choice but to follow silently behind her as she made her way to her private cottage.
    “Draw the curtains and leave me be for a while,” she addressed him as soon as they were inside. “I am bone tired.”
    Bartolo dutifully did as he was bidden and left her to rest. He would have to get his information from among the crew of the Ocean’s Whore . Various members of the crew gave him piecemeal details about Captain O’Malley’s kidnapping and the skirmish with the Navy, but none of it added up to an explanation of the melancholy that gripped his captain. As certain as the tides rise and fall, his captain’s heart had been broken.
    The next morning, Bartolo could hold his tongue no longer.
    “If I may speak freely, Captain,” he began as he set out a simple breakfast, “there is an old proverb my sainted grandmother often quoted that I would like to share with you.”
    “You may speak,” she answered, albeit half-heartedly.
    “Las fortuna non sempre comportare danni…not all misfortune results in harm. My grandmother always liked to remind us that there are many things in life that we cannot control and do not like, but very little of it can truly break us. Most pain is temporary. I do not pretend to know what it is that has caused your heart so much pain, but it is not good to continue to wallow in it, my lady. The crew is beginning to talk about your ability to continue to lead.”
    “And what, oh man of wisdom, do you propose?” she sniped sarcastically.
    “Perhaps a change of scenery? We have all become too complacent in these easy waters.”
    “I have no wish to go anywhere, Bartolo. Leave me be.”
    “But mistress,” he began, but the object nearest her reach came hurtling at his head.
    “I said leave me alone,” she bellowed.
    Bartolo left her, knowing there was no reasoning with her until her fury had passed.
    As soon as he left the cottage, Grace rolled herself in her blankets and sought to escape her pain in sleep.
    She slept like the dead for days, losing all track of time. The brief waking moments were so steeped in heartbreak that she would immediately roll over and begin the descent back into nothingness. If it were not for an incessant tapping upon the glazing of her cottage window, she would not have had the will to rise from her bed at all.
    “Go away,” she growled, but the random tap, tap, tap continued.
    “Get away from my window,” she shouted from under the pile of covers.
    Still the noise continued.
    “I swear if I see the face of the fool at my window, I will blow it off his worthless head,” Grace threatened as she hauled herself out of her