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“We don’t know that for a fact”

Courtney’s head came up “What do you mean?”

“Lexley wasn’t killed on the spot He and the eight other crewboats and taken beyond Cornwall to Raven Island”

“They were left there…alive?”

“Yes” Oridge held up a restraining palerness “IRaven Island are very slied rocks, so the prospects of a chance rescue are nil There is also little to eat and nothing in the way of shelter”

“Then what hope is there?”

“The fact that I’ve arranged a planned rescue The instant I wrested the details of what had occurred froue ofwith five associates of his, happen to be aland I didn’t receive word back froue until just before you arrived, as he lives far west in Cornwall In any case, he and his boats, food, and medical supplies They left from Falmouth, so they’ll probably have reached Raven by now Letyour crew alive are remote but, in their favor, it’s been a rather mild May And, should Lexley and the others have discovered any source of food—be it nuts, berries, or an unlikely fish or two—there is a slim chance they could be alive We’ll soon know”

“Thank you,” Courtney said gratefully “I pray your efforts, and the efforts of your men, are successful”

“As do I” Oridge gestured for her and Slayde to follow hiuard Once you’re finished with therinned “I took the liberty of providing them with a few rounds of ale at the local pub By now, theyquite renewed”

“I hope I can make the same claim once I’ve faced Armon’s men,” Courtney muttered, suddenly shaken by the fact that she was about to confront the fiends who’d destroyed her home and killed her father

“You will” Tenderly, Slayde enfolded her fingers in his, his warht beside you”

Courtney could actually feel his strength seep through her, renew her faltering courage “Thank you, h I must warn you that once this ordeal is over, I’ll want to join my father’s crew at that pub, where I intend to consu brandy”

Slayde’s smile wrapped itself around her “My pound notes are ready”

It was like reliving a night the cluster of surly, foul-sazes of those who’d boarded the Isobel with Ar those horrible days of her imprisonment; in fact, the only ones she’d viewed up close were the tho’d joined Ar the quarter-deck Yet it ant sneers had engraved themselves in her mind forever—an indelible horror that no a at theut clench and her blood run cold

And, God help her, to remember