Eden's Pass Read Online Free

of his crew.
    She shuddered despite her best effort to remain still. Nay, it was most definitely in her best interest to remain a boy for as long as she could.
    She glowered up at him, the way she would at Beauregard when he would hurl his vicious insults at her. “And what are my duties to be—” she almost choked on the word, “—sir?”
    “Ah, we will discuss that in a bit.” He gestured toward his ship’s quarterdeck. “For now, you need only concern yourself with getting settled in your new home.”
    Those words sent fresh irritation burning her innards. After nearly three months of serving Captain Beauregard, she knew him—his moods and his habits, as well as how to handle them—and it would one day pay off. Now she’d have to start afresh. It was more than a mite unsettling. Still, she shrugged as if she hadn’t any concern. “Very well, then.”
    Iñigo looked surprised, as if he’d expected a bit more fight, a bit more argument. “I am glad we understand one another, Finn.”
    She waited for him to continue, but he said no more. Instead, he marched her across the open deck and toward a stairway leading down into darkness. Without being told, she knew he was steering her toward his cabin. Another flash of apprehension, followed by a silent prayer that she’d not give herself away. It’d been too simple, fooling Beauregard, but this man would not be quite as gullible. What she didn’t know was how he’d react, should he learn her secret.
    A final look over her shoulder at the Smiling Jack brought forth a surprising pang of sorrow as she watched the ship’s death throes. The tattered, grayish sails snapped back and forth in the wind, which had picked up considerably. The masts were splintered wreckage, one toppled over, the others leaning haphazardly as the ship listed wildly to her port side.
    She turned away, whispering, “Bloody hell,” and dropped her head as sudden tears stung her eyes. When one of Iñigo's men approached to ask his captain something in Spanish, Iñigo replied in kind and she lifted her head. “What did you tell him?”
    He shrugged. “Francisco asked what I wished to do with the ship.”
    Finn held her breath. She didn’t like feeling on edge, didn’t like not knowing what to expect. She especially disliked the captain speaking a language foreign to her.
    Iñigo looked as though he awaited a response. Unable to think of anything of substance, she shrugged as if it was of little importance to her. “And what did you tell him?”
    “I told him to let it sink. I’ve not enough men to spare to bring in a worthless wreck of a ship. And I have what I wish from her, and so I am finished with her.”
    What could he mean by that ? Mayhap there was something of value in the Smiling Jack’s hold. As Beauregard's cabin boy, she’d spent precious little time in the hold, and what few ships he did attack, she was always ordered to remain behind. Curious, to say the least.
    Gray smoke billowed forth as flames devoured the Smiling Jack. The acrid stench of burning wood stung her nose, only fading away as Iñigo directed her down into the shadows of the stairs. Should she be more afraid? Should she dread each step into those shadows? Fear was difficult to muster. Certainly the captain could hardly be more of a monster than those she’d already encountered in her score and three years.
    She couldn’t halt herself from saying, “Ah, of course. How silly of me not to think of such a thing. What you wished was a few more men and a cabin boy?”
    “You should be thankful I was in need of both. You do know I could have run you through and not have thought twice about the matter, don’t you? It wouldn’t have troubled me a whit.”
    Fear trickled through her veins at how emotionlessly he spoke of ending her life, and she didn’t doubt he meant each word. Lifting her gaze to meet his, she almost shivered at the menacing glow in his unusual eyes. The trickle grew into a full-fledged