Page 1 of Crossbones

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“Menhave forgotten this truth,” said the Fox.

“But you must not forget it—

you become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.”

T H E L I T T L E P R I N C E

JAMES

I’velearned a lot from the sea. It takes what it wants without care or subtleness. It storms and rages with violence, letting me know it’s a privilege to be carried by its tides. It keeps life, spits out death and guards its secrets closely—second only to the untouchable stars above. It answers to no monarch, no pirate, no merchant or man. No matter how much I want to be embraced by the freedom it whispers, I will always be surrounded by water I cannot drink, depths I cannot explore.

I’m a ghost in a world I can’t truly be a part of.

I’m filled with the urge to race towards the horizon with wild abandon but on dark days, the whispers say it is nothing more than the delusion of running from the nightmares I don’t want to drown me. The stain on my soul creeps through my blood until my veins run black. Some days I don’t want to face the truth—that I’m more monster than man.

And who would ever be reckless enough to give their heart to such a creature?

Not that I want that, let me be clear.

And yet…

As I watch my crew disembark onto the beach and rush into another’s arms—lover, whore, wife, husband—the loneliness tugs gently at my chest. An annoyance and weakness I can’t afford. Luckily, it’s a dull feeling—nothing rum and a quick fuck won’t remedy. I had those frivolous desires stripped from me long ago and if I have a heart, it only beats to keep my dark soul alive, nothing more.

I walk up the sandy shore and into the loud, grating streets ofWrothnar—the pirate stronghold of the south. We don’t have kings. We have codes and rules that we all enforce together and trade lines that don’t ask questions. It’s a system of organized chaos underneath a world ruled by the monarchies that make up the Seven Landings.

Whispers and stares follow me as I cut a wide path through the crowd, people stumbling to get out of my way.The Stormbreaker.

A reputation that is annoying at times even if I did earn it. I’ll admit it has its uses though—it gets me what I want, usually fast and without hassle. I shove open the doors leading to the breezy courtyard of theSiren’s Call—a tavern and brothel in one. I see my mark across the room and my attention narrows only to him, my jaw ticks in irritation seeing him lounging at a table with a whore on his lap.

This bastard.

He sees me coming and at least has the brains to look worried. Grabbing him by the throat I shove him backwards so hard the chair lifts, depositing the whore on the ground. I shove my pistol under his chin. The fear shining in his eyes is fuel to my fire.

“Whoa, whoa—Blackwell—”

“Money for a whore but not enough to pay me back?” I snarl. “Your priorities are fucked, Hall.”

“I have it,” Hall chokes out. “I have your coin!”

My awareness prickles and I glance up to see the Madame’s muscle walking over to me with her scowling in the middle of them.

“Blackwell, don’t you dare spill blood in my establishment,” she barks.

Hall’s heavy breathing is the only sound as the entire place goes still, waiting to see what I’ll do. It won’t take much effort to take this outside so I grab a fistful of Hall’s shirt and drag him towards the door. He yelps, scrambling to get his feet under him. I shove open the double doors and we spill out into the road. I barely clear the front porch before I drop Hall and point my pistol at him again.

“Money. Now.”

He pats his pockets, frantically pulling out spare coins and pouches of gold and dropping them at my feet. I watch him gather it all up and hold it out to me, panting from the effort. Collecting it, I shove it into my pockets. I back up a step and sneer at the brief flash of relief that crosses his face before I bring my pistol up and pull the trigger.

I’m walking away before he even hits the ground. I shove my gun back into my belt. It’s not really about the money but about a past I want to eradicatefrom this earth and then forget entirely. He was just one of many who had wronged me and unfortunately for him, that meant he was onthe list.

A presence falls into step with me and I glance at my quartermaster, Harrison, out of the corner of my eye. He’s frowning, but that’s nothing new when it comes to me. He’s used to cleaning up my messes.

“Thank god you didn’t do it in the brothel,” he mutters. “We’d be owing Madame a fortune and after last time we don’t really have the funds for that.”

Yeah, the last time…

The last time there had been more than one man. Part of a crew I used to sail with—I mean that loosely because they were actually slavers and I was a slave. Regardless, I’d kind of lost it. A personal vendetta will do that. The blood rage takes over and I lose track of the here and now. That time it unfortunately happened in theSiren’s Call.Harrison and my navigator, Lan, had to step in and calm down Madame who was about ready to shoot me herself. Mountains of gold later, I was forgiven but forbidden from stepping foot in her establishment again—a technicality I’d conveniently forgotten about today.