Chosen Path

Elizabeth woke hours before dawn the morning they were to depart Singapore. She slipped soundlessly from Hector’s embrace, tugged her robe on, and stood for a moment over the sleeping form of her son. Billy slept soundly, curled up with an equally slumbering monkey. Elizabeth shook her head. She had never precisely extended an invitation to the creature, but since everyone else who shared her quarters was so fond of Jack, she could hardly keep him out.



She smoothed Billy’s hair back and dropped a kiss on his forehead. She had never intended to allow the nickname to stick, but when it became obvious that she was the only one who called her son “William,” to the point that the boy hardly responded to his full name, she gave in to that as well.



She padded across the room, lit only by the moonlight streaming in the windows, and settled on the floor beside the chest she carried everywhere. Elizabeth drew the Dead Man’s Chest into her lap and rested her head atop it, listening for the soft pounding of her husband’s heart. Will’s heart.



She had promised to keep it safe. Would it be safe on the Dragon? Would any of them be safe on the Dragon? Whether they fought or managed to resolve the trouble with conversation, Elizabeth was under no delusions that she was in no danger. She didn’t dare trust Tai Huang, Mistress Ching had her own agenda. She needed to put her trust in Ming and Song Li, but the women, though seemingly kind, had only pledged to support her a week prior.



The only person she felt confident in was Barbossa, and even he had secrets. She was certain there were things he hadn’t told her, and though he detailed some of his private conversations with Huang, she caught more than a few shared glances between the two men, looks that spoke of bargains and accords to which she was not, and had never been, privy.



She planned to leave her son in Ming’s care, but she couldn’t help wonder whether that was a mistake. Billy was a treasure in more ways than one. The son of the Pirate King and Calypso’s own ferryman was a prize indeed. Jack, the pirate, not the monkey, had sought Jones’s heart for leverage against him. Surely Billy would offer excellent leverage to anyone who wished to bargain with Will, or herself, or both.



Or Barbossa, for that matter. Elizabeth lifted her gaze from the chest to the man sprawled on her bed. Hector Barbossa, who would never replace Will in her heart, for all that he had insinuated himself into Will’s place at her side, in her bed, and with her son. She would trust Barbossa, because she had to. In a world of thieves and liars, he was the only one who had ever been completely honest with her, the only one who had ever been so consistently honest, for all that his words tended to be a slightly twisted version of the truth he intended.



He stirred then, mumbling something into his pillow, reaching to the empty space beside him. She heard his voice again, then he suddenly bolted upright. “Elizabeth?” His head twisted about in the darkness, searching, and he threw the blankets off, reaching for the knife he slid between the mattresses at night.



Elizabeth smiled. Yes, she could count on his protection. “I’m here.”



She heard his relieved sigh as his frantic motions ceased. “Scared me.”



“I’m sorry. I just needed a moment with Will.”



“Well, ye’ve had it. Come back to bed.”



Elizabeth shook her head. “It’s late enough, we’d have to wake soon in any case. We sail on the morning tide.”



Barbossa stretched, joints cracking as he rose from the bed, rubbing sleep from his eyes and threading his fingers through his hair. He nodded to the chest still in her lap. “Taking it with you?”



She wrapped her arms protectively around the chest. “I’m not sure. Will it be safer here, or with me?”



“Where’s the key?”



“Will has it.” She looked up, suddenly suspicious. “Why do you ask?”



Barbossa rolled his eyes. “Relax, I’m not interested.”



“Are you certain? Jack was terribly interested. Sail the seas forever, no fear of death. It seems a rather tempting proposition.”



“Yeh trying to convince me?”



“No! I just thought – ”



“Yeh want to be free of the curse, get someone else to take Turner’s place. I won’t do it. Not my idea of immortality, and wouldn’t improve your situation any.”



She looked up suddenly. “What does that mean? Wouldn’t improve my situation?”



Something flashed across Barbossa’s face, but he shook his head and waved her away. “Nothing. Means yer husband be dead, and I’d not be here to protect ye. Or keep ye warm at night, save once every ten years.”



“Hmm.” Elizabeth frowned. “I’d be the woman for you as well then?”



Barbossa focused on tugging his boots on. “Don’t matter. Won’t happen.”



“You would! You’d have me be the woman who waits for you. One day on land, to be with the woman you…” she felt her voice grow very soft, “…love.”



Barbossa started up at her, boot laces abandoned. “Elizabeth…” His voice was laced with warning.



“Do you?”



“No!” His voice, loud against the night’s quiet, made her jump. His eyes rolled in some twisted apology. “Told yeh to let Turner keep yer heart. You made yer choice long ago. Said my name, but that somehow meant yeh chose Turner.” Barbossa threw his hands up and set about finding his hastily discarded shirt.



His admission hit Elizabeth with the force of a blow. She slid the Dead Man’s Chest off her lap and rose. She was at his side in two steps, taking his arm in her hand. “You thought I chose you.”



Barbossa shrugged her hand away. “Yeh say a man’s name when yer asked to make yer life’s choice, what else should he think? Course I thought so. Don’t matter now.”



Elizabeth felt a senseless smile spread over her face and she chased his retreating back, wrapping her arms around his middle. “Would you have?”



“Would I what?”



She rose to her tiptoes to rest her chin on his shoulder. “Married me.” She pressed her lips to his neck and slid around to face him. “Hector Barbossa,” she slid her thumbs along his cheeks, drawing his face down to hers. “If I chose you, would you marry me?”



She felt his body tremble against hers as his eyes widened, searching her face. “Why?”



“I want to know.”



“Would my answer change anything?”



Elizabeth felt her mouth move, but no sound came out. What could she say? There was nothing to change. She couldn’t marry him now, even if she’d wanted to. Even if she’d loved him, she still had Will to think of, and she truly loved Will. She never would actually choose Barbossa, but she couldn’t help wanting to hear that he might want her to.



Her thoughts must have shown on her face. His eyes clouded and narrowed and his hand on her arm tensed. “Yer a spoiled brat to ask a question such as that. Yeh want yer ego stroked, find someone else. Don’t taunt me with hypotheticals.”



Elizabeth stumbled back as he turned away from her. She drew in a breath. This was no way to start the day, not with an important venture ahead. She and Barbossa had to form a united front; they couldn’t bicker now.



“You’re right, I should never have asked you that. I’m sorry.” She turned her attentions to gathering her own clothes from the pile she had made as she stripped the previous night. As she sat, tugging her boots on, he slid along the bed beside her, his arm squeezing her against him.



Barbossa dropped a kiss in her hair, and his breath tickled her ear. “Course I would have. Be a damned fool not to.”



It was senseless, but she couldn’t stop the smile from spreading over her face as she leaned into his shoulder. “Well, I’m still here. Charting my path, same as you.”



His mouth claimed her fiercely, and it wasn’t until Billy and Jack bounced out of bed that she extracted herself reluctantly from his embrace.



“Hi, Mama!”



Elizabeth wrapped Billy in a hug. “Good morning, my Billy, my treasure! Are you ready for breakfast?”



“Yes. I play with Jin today?”



“Yes, darling. Let’s get you dressed.” She glanced at Barbossa, who was welcoming Jack with all the affection she had shown her son. “Hector?”



He read her every thought. “Leave him here. Yeh can trust Ming.”



“How can you be sure?”



“Huang hates her. She’s against him, count on it.”



“The enemy of my enemy is my friend?”



“Best you can hope for around here.”



Elizabeth sighed. “Not so. I have you, don’t I?”



“Aye, yeh do. Do you trust me?”



“Of course.”



“Then give me the chest.”



“What?” Her eyes darted between the chest that held her husband’s heart, and the man who threatened to steal hers. What new game was this?



“I’ll take the chest on the Pearl, secure it in me cabin. Pearl’s more likely to survive this encounter than yer Dragon.”



Elizabeth frowned and tugged Billy’s arms through the sleeves of a clean shirt. “What aren’t you telling me?”



“I need you to trust me.”



“I’d find that considerably less difficult if I knew what your plan was.”



“Yeh know the plan. Hasn’t changed. Don’t trust Tai Huang, don’t trust Ching. But trust me.”



“I trust Hector. I’m not so sure about Captain Barbossa.”



He gave a soft laugh as he pulled his coat on and Jack scrambled up to his shoulder. “Clever girl. But seeing as you don’t have many options, I think yeh best trust me.”



She pulled the last of Billy’s clothes on and found her own hat. “Take the chest.”



After leaving Billy in Ming’s watchful care, Elizabeth reluctantly allowed Barbossa to pull her away. “No good to be fretting over babes, Majesty.”



Elizabeth drew a shaking breath and lifted her chin. “You’re right. Again.” She didn’t miss Barbossa’s smug smile as she smoothed her clothes and fell into step beside him, matching his long, proud stride.



When they met the Pearl’s crew and the Dragon’s new crew at the docks, Tai Huang finally saw fit to return their weapons.



“About time,” Barbossa muttered, shoving his pistol into his belt and hanging his cutlass at his side. Elizabeth smiled to see him looking like his usual self again. Once her own weapons were in place, they parted company for the first time in nearly a year, her to the Dragon, him to the Pearl.



She’d been apprehensive about taking her own ship for the first time, but once she took the helm, all her fears dissipated as she focused on doing what needed to be done. She led the trio of ships, charting the course Tai Huang had recommended. She still didn’t trust him, but since she and Barbossa suspected his motives required a confrontation with Ching, they followed his route.



After a day and a half at sea, she heard a cry from the crow’s nest. White sails on the horizon. As they drew closer, they saw there were but two ships. Elizabeth lowered her spyglass to look to the other two Captains, who acknowledged her smile with nods of their own. Ching would have to acquiesce; they were stronger. At least, assuming that was still the plan.



As the ships drew ever closer, Elizabeth steeled herself for confrontation. Once they were in full view, she called out her command to her crew and across the sea to Barbossa and Huang. “Hoist the colors!”



Her pride surged to see her own colors lifted high on the mast. The sight of Barbossa’s jolly roger always pinched the inside of her stomach. His was the first she had ever seen, and for many years, what she’d assumed all pirate flags looked like. His colors had figured more prominently in the dreams and daydreams of her youth than she would ever tell him.



To her right, Tai Huang’s colors rose on the mast of the Empress, and she watched as Mistress Ching’s ships followed suit.



The ships readied for attack. Elizabeth had hoped that no such force would be necessary, but when Ching’s two ships positioned themselves against the Dragon, Elizabeth prepared for the inevitable.



It soon became clear, though, that rather than a fight of three against two, it was two against one. Ching’s ships attacked the Dragon, but left the Pearl and the Empress alone. Those ships hung back, waiting behind the Dragon.



According to Tai Huang, the battle would have been the three of them against Ching, but Elizabeth had been prepared for his betrayal. She had expected the Pearl to fight by her side, though, and as she jumped on the rail, shouting “fire all” to her crew, she turned back to see Barbossa simply watching the action, not meeting her eye.



“Barbossa!” Why wasn’t he backing her? He didn’t turn, didn’t acknowledge her. This was not in the plan!



It wasn’t long before the Dragon was being boarded. Her girls were well-equipped to dispatch the men and women of Ching’s crew, but when the men of the Empress joined the fray, the battle became more personal.



Elizabeth herself fought a few invaders, and after she tossed one particularly strong opponent overboard, she turned to find herself surrounded by three Captains.



Tai Huang stood with Ching and aimed his pistol at Elizabeth. She pulled her only remaining unused pistol from her belt and pointed it between the two of them. Ching had no pistol, apparently, and Barbossa, surprisingly, left his in his belt.



“What’s your game?” Elizabeth shouted, unsure whether she expected a reply from Huang or Barbossa.



Barbossa stepped between them, palms up. “Surely there be no need for such violent measures.”



Elizabeth’s eyes darted from him to Huang and Ching, who were also sizing up the other Captains. “Parlay?”



“Parlay,” Ching agreed.



“Parlay!” At Barbossa and Huang’s combined shout, the action around them died down. A cursory glance told Elizabeth that the crews were well-matched. Although some of her girls were held by Huang’s men, as many held their own knives to the throats of one of the Empress’s crew.



“Mistress Ching!” Elizabeth decided to start with her own reasons for being here. “We have come to request that you withdraw your claim over the South China Sea. I am Lord here, and would not be opposed.”



“Captain Swann, did you really think that was the plan?”



She turned to Huang. It came as no surprise that he had an agenda beyond what he had told her. “It is my plan to remove those who would challenge my authority.”



“And it is my plan to remove that authority from you. Would you give up your title, Pirate Lord Swann?”



“Never!”



“Very well. Captain Barbossa, if you would uphold your end of our bargain.”



She turned, aghast to Barbossa, her heart suddenly constricting in her chest. He had never mentioned bargaining with Tai Huang. She knew there were things he hadn’t told her, but she’d felt so sure he was on her side. Had he truly betrayed her? She had trusted him so much, with her own life, and that of her husband and son. She searched his face desperately for some clue to the truth, but he didn’t meet her eyes.



“What bargain?”



“Surprised, Captain Swann?” Tai Huang’s smug smile only furthered her doubts. “You did not expect your lover might keep secrets? Shame.” She felt her eyes narrow at both Tai Huang and Barbossa. Huang knew they were lovers? She shuddered to think of that conversation, the men surely leering over talk of her, like she was a common whore!



Tai Huang voice brought her abruptly back into the present. “You see, Captain Swann, you have something I want. And I can give him something he wants. I wish to be a Pirate Lord. He would be the Pirate King. All we must do is remove the one thing in our way.” Tai Huang’s smile was decidedly unfriendly. “Our present King, Lord of the South China Sea. You, Captain Swann.”



The hand holding her pistol shook. Perhaps it served her right, daring to think that because she took him to her bed, she was somehow special in Barbossa’s eyes. But wasn’t she? Hadn’t he said, just this morning, he’d have married her, given the chance? Or was it all a lie, a scheme to gain her trust, just to stab her in the back at the opportune moment?



“About that bargain, Captain Huang.” Elizabeth though she heard the sneer in Barbossa’s voice, but she kept her face fixed in a mask of anger. She wasn’t ready to trust him again.



“I agreed to let yeh make me a King, if Elizabeth could be persuaded to make yeh a Lord. Since she would appear to be disinclined, I must do nothing.”



She felt herself breathe again; this turn of conversation was promising. Elizabeth looked from one to the other. Tai Huang wasn’t finished yet.



“Oh, no, Captain Barbossa. You agreed you would help me persuade her. You cannot talk your way out of this one, Barbossa. Your words were very specific. I sail under your colors for one year, and in exchange, you help me dispose of Swann.”



Her heart plummeted to her toes. She would never survive this encounter if she stood alone. “Hector?” Elizabeth’s voice was soft. “Is this true?”



She watched as a range of emotions flashed across his face. “Well, I…” Was he searching for an excuse still? A loophole, some deception he could grasp? Or did he simply not have the words to tell her he had betrayed her? He spoke through clenched teeth. “It would seem that you be correct, Captain Huang.”



Tai Huang rounded on her pistol in hand. “Bad luck, Captain Swann.” He leaned forward, smiling wickedly. “Never trust a pirate.”



When the shot rang out, she felt the world drop from beneath her. She closed her eyes and waited for the physical pain to match the pain in her heart.



When after a moment, it didn’t come, she opened her eyes. Tai Huang lay before her, blood pooling from his side. Beside her, Barbossa’s pistol smoked. Wide-eyed, Elizabeth let her gaze drift between the two men.



“Barbossa.” Tai Huang managed to speak between labored breaths. “You reneged on your promise. You have never gone back on your word.”



“True. But as I said, you be correct, Captain Huang.” When Barbossa’s arm slid around her waist, she wasn’t sure if it was possessive or protective, but at least he was standing with her again. “Never trust a pirate.”



When Huang’s head fell back, Elizabeth turned on Mistress Ching, confident now that Barbossa would be at her back.



“Mistress Ching, as your King, I demand that you leave the South China Sea at once. I intend to be here for some time, and it will not go well for you if you remain.”



“Very well, Captain Swann. But know this. If you abandon her again, I make no promise that I will not return.”



“Fine. We have an accord. Now call off your forces.”



She did, and those crew members who had fought for Ching returned with her to her own ship. Elizabeth became suddenly cognizant of a fact that, though not unexpected, required immediate attention: the Dragon was sinking.



She jumped on the rail and grabbed a rope. “Abandon ship! I shall take the Empress! Any who wish to sail under my command may do so. Any who do not may stay with the Dragon, join Ching, or die as you please.”



Elizabeth flew across to the Empress, glad now that the ship had stayed out of the battle. The Dragon had done some damage to Ching’s ships, and they limped away in obvious need of repairs. Both the Pearl and the Empress, however, sustained no damage, and they sailed away easily.



After Elizabeth spoke, she pretended not to notice when a few throats were slit, reducing the number of Huang’s crew that remained. All of her girls joined her on the Empress, along with Murtogg, Mullroy, and a handful of Huang’s men.



The two ships drew up beside each other, and a gangplank was spread between them so Barbossa could return one of Elizabeth’s treasures to her. She relinquished the helm to Mullroy, and met Barbossa as he stepped onto the deck, plucking the chest from his arms.



Elizabeth spoke through clenched teeth. “A word? Captain?”



“Aye.”



She tucked the chest under one arm and led him to the Empress’s cabin, now her own. Once the doors clicked behind him, she rounded on him, temper flaring.



“What in the name of all that is holy and unholy was that about? You didn’t tell me you had bargained with Huang!”



She could see Barbossa fighting to keep his own temper in check. “No. Couldn’t have yeh givin’ it away.”



“You don’t trust me?”



“You’d have changed the plan if I told ye, and yeh know it!”



Elizabeth sniffed. “You agreed to betray me. To persuade me, how? To kill me? Why would you agree to that?”



“You’ll notice I didn’t kill yeh. My bargain kept the Pearl safe. And the Empress. And now we’ve got two good ships. Was never going to betray ye.”



Elizabeth kept her face hard. “Never trust a pirate. You’ve betrayed before. Why should I trust you now?”



“Perhaps you shouldn’t. But know this. I’ve betrayed pirates, ‘tis true. But never,” he leaned closer, “have I betrayed a lover.”



“But I’m both. A pirate and your lover.”



“Then I guess you’ll have to take yer chances.”



She trembled before him. He was a dangerous man, and though she knew she played a dangerous game by courting his affections, she hadn’t expected the game to grow deadly.

“You’re a right bastard, Hector Barbossa.”



“Ne’er claimed to be otherwise.”



A smug bastard to boot. “Damnable fiend.”



“That makes two of us.”



She felt her blood beginning to boil. “You wretch!”



His smile was wicked. “Minx.”



“Vile beast!”



“Black hearted scoundrel!”



Elizabeth’s eyes widened. “Not hardly!” She poked his chest. “Mutineer.”



Barbossa leaned into her face, voice suddenly soft. “Murderess.”



“Pirate,” she corrected. “And so are you.”



“Pirate?”



“And murderer.”



Barbossa offered a crooked nod and wrapped his fingers around her neck. “Aye. Kiss me.”



Elizabeth let her mouth hover just inches from his, denying him the kiss. “Fuck me.”



His eyebrows shot heavenwards. “That an order, Captain?”



“King.”



“As yer Majesty commands.”



* * *





The Empress and the Pearl made a leisurely start towards Singapore, while their respective Captains made peace in each other’s arms. Lying beneath Hector on the bed that was now hers, Elizabeth clung desperately to him as her body struggled to find release. As the moment gripped her, her head fell back, turned towards the small window in her bunk.



Had her vision not clouded over, had her eyes not squeezed shut, she might have seen beyond her lover, beyond her cabin, her ship. But she didn’t see the tattered sails in the distance, didn’t see the ghost ship as it rose from the depths to collect the dead.



Elizabeth Turner shuddered and gasped, whispering “Oh, Hector” as her mantra, never knowing her husband, not a hundred yards away, diligently worked to complete the duty he was charged with, that after ten years, he could be with his love again...



* * *





“Does the title mean so much to you then?”



Hector tugged his boots back on and rose from the bed. “Title?”



“King.” Elizabeth pulled her chemise over her head and set about re-plaiting her hair.



Hector sighed as he slid into his own shirt. “Not worth yer life.”



“But you did want it. You voted for yourself when the Brethren met.”



“Aye, I did. I thought it a fitting end to a fine career, to be King.”



“End?” She turned to him, suddenly worried. “Your career isn’t over, not by any means. You promised to take me to Will in seven years, you can’t retire before then!”



Barbossa raised an eyebrow. “But you have yer own ship now. Take yerself to Turner; you don’t need me for that.”



She pulled her boots on and fetched her hat, placing it on her head as he did the same. “I suppose you’re right. What will you do now then? Return to the Caribbean? To the Caspian?”



Barbossa settled into one of the large chairs that adorned the Empress’s cabin. “Hadn’t given it much thought. Perhaps I’ll ask the crew.”



“You’re lying. You always have a plan.” She drew up the chair beside him and studied him for a moment. “Sail with me.”



He quirked an eyebrow. “That an order, Highness?”



Elizabeth shook her head. “A request. I need to stay in the South China Sea, on the Empress, for a time. The Pearl could sail with us.”



“Yer more than capable now, yeh don’t need me - ”



“But I want you.”



“Me, or the Pearl?”



“Both. The Pearl, for her speed and strength and reputation. You, for obvious reasons.” She nodded toward the bed. He caught her implication easily.



“Under whose colors? Would ye be a Commodore as well as King?”



“Both colors.” His head tilted as his eyebrow rose. “A partnership. No Commodore. It’s my territory, but I would not ask you to sail under my command. Sail with me as my equal. We’ll split the take evenly between the ships. What say you, Captain Barbossa?”



“Why should I? I’ve always sailed alone, done just fine.”



“Because I’m asking nicely?”



“Not good enough.”



Elizabeth rolled her eyes and offered him a half smile. “King Barbossa.”



“Beg yer pardon?”



“I don’t suppose it matters which of us is King, as long as we stand together. So if you promise to stand with me, no more secrets, no more lies, you have my vote.” She met his eyes, letting her sincerity show. “I’ll make you King.”



He considered for a moment, then began to nod slowly.



“One condition.”



“What be that?”



“You cannot call the court for the sole purpose of obtaining my vote.”



Barbossa let out a laugh. “Agreed.”



* * *





After a brief sojourn in Singapore to collect Billy and drop off any members of the Empress’s crew who wished to stay, the two ships set forth into the South China Sea. Elizabeth had found a few charts detailing local trade routes, so they charted their first course along one.



For three months, Elizabeth kept the Empress, and she sailed side by side with Barbossa and the Pearl. She hadn’t given much thought to pirating with two ships, but Barbossa had done so once, when he’d sailed with Morgan, years ago. It proved to be an incredibly successful process. The Pearl’s reputation was known the world over, and when a merchant ship found itself flanked not only by the Pearl, but the Empress, the Captain was nearly always more than willing to turn over everything the pirates requested.



They were successful enough that they rarely needed to make port. They were able to steal enough food to keep themselves well-fed without starving the ship they left behind. On the occasions that they did port, selling off stolen goods from merchant ships, they ate even better. They had no compunction, however, with cleaning a ship out of her stores of rum and wine. And the women of the Empress had been so taken with the men of the Pearl that even the need for pleasurable company didn’t drive them to land.



Elizabeth found her own pleasurable company with Hector, as often as she could. After a year on a ship with him, she felt his absence as she commanded her own crew. They managed to steal at least a few hours most nights, but she was surprised how often she turned to him, only to realize he wasn’t there.



They anchored the ships of a small slip of island one night to restock their freshwater supply. Elizabeth walked with Billy along the beach, laughing with him at the sandpipers and fiddler crabs. They returned to the bonfire and the crew, where Hector sat sharing a coconut with his Jack.



He distanced himself somewhat from the crew, and must not have heard Elizabeth’s approach. He only ever used baby talk with that monkey when he thought no one would notice.



“Who’s my good boy? Who’s Daddy’s boy?”



Billy ran ahead and fell upon Hector’s knee. “Daddy?”



Elizabeth felt time stop as her eyes met Hector’s. She had asked him to help her with the boy, but they hadn’t discussed this.



Hector found his voice first. “That alright?”



Elizabeth nodded and settled in the sand beside them. “You’re very lucky, Billy. Most boys only have one father, and you have two!”



“Daddy, can I have some?”



Elizabeth prompted him. “What do you say, William?”



“Pleeeaase?” Billy drew out the word.



“No, yeh don’t say please! Pirates don’t say ‘please can I have some.’ Yeh say, ‘give me that coconut, yeh stinkin’ bilge rat, before I run yeh through!’”



“Stinking bilge rat!”



“There yeh go.”



Elizabeth laughed, wide-eyed, as her son gobbled the piece of fruit offered to him. “Hector! What are you teaching him?”



“How to be a pirate. No son of mine’ll go around sayin’ ‘please’ and ‘may I.’”



Elizabeth pulled Billy into her lap and slid into Hector’s arms. She let herself grow entranced by the dancing flames of the bonfire. They would sleep on the beach tonight, and wash their clothes, sheets, and selves in the freshwater stream tomorrow. Hector offered another piece of coconut to Billy, then to Elizabeth.



She popped the fruit into her mouth. “You do realize he’s not really your son.”



“Think the blood matters? Don’t matter. I raise him, he’s me son.”



“I’m not sure that’s enough.”



“What else is there? Yeh think I’ve the blood of a Spaniard? Look at me.” True, he didn’t look like any Spaniard she’d ever seen, with his blue eyes and fair skin. His hair was nearly red in the firelight.



“I thought you were a Barbossa by birth.”



“Story goes, mum had a lover in Ireland who left her with a babe in her belly and no ring on her finger. Well, no man would have her after that, save a dirty Spaniard sailor, and a lucky thing, for her. Took her to Spain, married her right off, called the baby his. Had six more, every one of them dark as he was. Still, he called me his own, kept me and did right by me. Blood don’t matter.”



“Until someone comes along asking you to pay a blood sacrifice in your father’s name. Then it matters.”



Barbossa gave a low chuckle. “Aye, then it does. Lucky thing that island sank.”



“Lucky.” Elizabeth smiled. “He’s still a Turner.”



“He’s as much right to the name Barbossa as I have. He can decide, when he’s older.”



It was a gift both wonderful and terrible. Had she truly been a widow, she would have accepted and gratefully. She was grateful, but she was also not a widow. “Will is coming back.”



“Yeh said two fathers. Let him have the choice.”



Elizabeth smoothed her son’s hair back as he dozed in her arms. She nodded at Hector. It was safe enough to agree. He wouldn’t choose Barbossa.



A few days later, Mullroy and Song approached Barbossa, giddily and grinning like adolescents. He agreed to perform the wedding that very night, and Elizabeth and the other girls of her crew helped Song prepare, combing her hair for her and finding a beautiful red dress among the spoils of a recent attack.



The wedding was held on the deck of the Pearl, under a thin crescent moon and a sea of endless stars. It was as her wedding should have been. Elizabeth held a restless Billy as she watched the ceremony, unsure whether her tears were in happiness for the new couple, or sorrow for her own loss. When Barbossa’s eye caught hers, she tried to smile, but there was something strange in his expression, something she could almost read, but he turned away before she dared form the thought.



The ceremony was brief, but the revelry lasted into the night. There was rum all around, Murtogg found a fiddle and played a few tunes, the two crews danced and drank, laughed and toasted the newlyweds. Even after Elizabeth sent the couple to her cabin to have some privacy on their wedding night, the merriment kept up without them.



Elizabeth forced herself to join in for a time, swinging Billy around in her arms as she skipped across the deck, but she couldn’t shake the sorrow that had come upon her. She couldn’t help being glad when Billy started yawning and she could find a quiet corner to sit with him. She wasn’t the least bit surprised when, despite the darkness, Hector found them easily.



He wordlessly eased himself down beside her, not touching her for once, but offered her his bottle of wine. She accepted it, and they shared the bottle as they had so many nights on the Pearl, before they became lovers. She wasn’t sure she could have a lover tonight, and he didn’t press.



“The wedding was nice. I’m sure they’ll be happy.”



Barbossa took a swig of wine. “Yeh miss Turner.” It wasn’t a question.



She nodded, trying to bite back her tears. When his arms came around her, she buried her face in his neck and let them fall. “I miss him so much.”



He held her until her tears slowed, not speaking, not drinking, but sliding his hands along her back in a manner that was only comforting, and remarkably not amorous. “Hector?”



“Elizabeth?”



She sniffled. “Have you ever been married?”



He shifted in his seat. “Nay. Came close a few times. But never did the deed.”



“Came close? What does that mean?” She had come close more than once herself. She had nearly married James, then her first attempt to marry Will had been decidedly foiled. What did “close” mean to Hector Barbossa?



“Well. First time was an Irish lass named Mary. T’was but a week before the wedding when she discovered the precise nature of my mode of employ. Suffice it to say she disapproved.”



“You didn’t tell her you were a pirate?”



“I did tell her. Hence the cessation of the pending nuptials.”



“You should have told her sooner then.”



“Or later.”



Elizabeth laughed. “Alright, that was the first. So there was a second?”



“Aye. Second was a working girl in Nassau. Told me she’d marry me when I made Captain. I did. She didn’t.”



“Why not?”



“She left Nassau while I was away. No one knew where for. Spent the better part of a year trying to find her. Never did.”



He eyes were fixed on some point on the horizon. Elizabeth gave his knee a squeeze. “I’m sorry.”



He shrugged. “For the best.”



“Were there any others?”



A slow smile spread over his face. “The third was quite the prize. Beautiful, intelligent, cunning, and fierce she was, and is. More than made up for the first two.”



“She knew you were a pirate?”



“Aye, she did. Was already a Captain, too.”



“So what went wrong?”



“Turned out she was a thief and a liar.”



Elizabeth frowned. “I still don’t see the problem. She sounds perfect for you.”



“Agreed.” His smile broadened. “Didn’t feel that way at the time, though, did yeh?”



Elizabeth blinked. “What? Me?” He had never been that close to marrying her, even when she’d said his name…



He slid his thumb across her left palm, over the scar he’d left there so many years prior. “Waste not.” Oh. Then.



“You were going to marry me when the curse lifted?” At his nod, she studied his eyes. He was sincere; he had truly intended to make her his bride, not to rape her, not even just to seduce her. Elizabeth Barbossa? She shivered. That was just too many syllables to wrap her head around.



“Too bad yer a liar and a thief. And presently married.”



“Hector.” His eyes met hers. “I chose Will, and I love him, I always will. But I cannot have him now, and under those circumstances…well, it would appear I’ve chosen you.”



Hector cocked his head. “I’d rather not be second best.”



She quirked a half-smile. “You could not have me at all.”



“True.” He smirked. “Could find meself a woman who would put me first.”



“A woman who would sail with you? Be your first mate, and your navigator? Good luck with that venture.”



“Who said anything about sailing with me?” Hector stretched his leg out, rubbing his knee. “Maybe I’d settle down, take me share of the Pearl’s hold and find a nice little house and a nice woman to keep it for me. A woman who doesn’t already have a husband. Maybe one with breasts.”



Elizabeth felt her jaw drop. “I have breasts!”



When he turned back to her, his smirk had returned. “Have you? Hard to tell under all that armor.”



She folded her arms. “You’ve never complained before.”



His hand snaked under her layers of clothing to squeeze one of her breasts. “Ah, there it is. Bit small, but I suppose it’ll do.”



“Served Billy just fine. You should have seen them when he was a baby. Easily twice their current size.”



“That so? Too bad we can’t have one of our own.”



“A breast?”



“A baby.”



Elizabeth felt her stomach twist. Something in his voice made her wonder if the thought behind that statement did extend beyond the size of her breasts. Did he actually want to have a child? And with her?



“Hector.” She adjusted Billy in her lap. “You don’t want to find another woman, do you?”



“Can ye put me first?”



“You know I can’t.”



“Then ye’ll not argue if I turn my attentions to someone who can.”



Elizabeth stiffened. “You’re bluffing.”



“Am I now?”



“Yes. If you want Billy to call you Father, you won’t go around looking for a wife elsewhere.”



“Is that so?”



She swatted him in frustration, earning only another laugh for her trouble. “Hector! Stop being impossible. You wouldn’t have spent six months trying to get me into your bed only to give me up as quickly as that.”



“Yeh make a fair point.”



“We’re pirates, Hector. We take what we can and are happy with it. Can’t you be happy with what I can give you? You said you didn’t want my heart. Isn’t it enough that you have everything else?”



His kiss was slow and soft. The merriment on deck had quieted, and he lifted Billy from her arms and led her to his cabin. After tucking him into the small bed that he had learned to share with Jack, Hector turned his attentions to taking what Elizabeth had to give.



Lifting his shirt, though, Elizabeth was startled to see his waist bandaged. “The same wound?”



“It’s fine, just acting up again.”



“Again. Does it ‘act up’ often? It should be healed by now! Let me see it.”



Hector stilled her hands and bent to kiss her again. “Cariño, it’s fine. Leave it, look later.”



Elizabeth kissed him, but untied the bandages as she did so. When they fell away, she saw that the wound had opened a bit, his flesh surrounding it ashen. “Someone needs to look at that.”



He sank onto the bed and sighed. “Who? Can’t very well find a doctor.”



“I’ll ask Song in the morning. She might know something, or someone.”



As it happened, Song knew more than Elizabeth could have hoped for. After they described the battle, and the nature of the blade that had pierced his skin, Song gasped, but nodded fiercely.



“I have heard of such curses. Living stone, walking death. You cannot leave this wound alone, or you will become one of them.”



“Done that. Not doing it again.”



Elizabeth felt Hector’s hand move towards hers and she gave it a squeeze. “Well, how do we treat it?”



Song was silent for a moment. “I have heard of only one antidote. But it is extremely rare, and very well hidden. To my knowledge, there is but one set of charts that leads to the cure.”



“Please tell me you know how to find these charts.”



“I do. There is a temple in Singapore in which Sao Feng kept them.”



Elizabeth exchanged a glance with Hector. “Sao Feng’s charts?” Could they be the same charts they had used to find the Locker?



Hector cleared his throat. “What precisely be this antidote?”



“The Elixir of Life. Also called the Agua de Vida.”



Hector’s eyes squeezed shut, and he released a low, frustrated growl. “What’s wrong?”



“The charts we need be not in any temple. We borrowed them, if yeh will, some years ago.”



“That’s good news, then!” Elizabeth squeezed his hand again. “We still have them, don’t we?” Hector shook his head. “Well, what happened? You didn’t return them, where are they?”



Hector’s teeth clenched. “Sbro.”



“Beg pardon?”



“Sparrow.”



“Jack? Took the charts?” Hector nodded. “Well, then. He’s been missing for quite long enough. It’s high time we find him.”



“And where do you propose we start looking?”



“Where else? Tortuga.”



Hector sighed. “Tortuga.”