13. Anne
I adjusted my engagement ring as I followed Ross, my assigned guide, down the torchlit hall. Despite the horseback ride I’d taken to get here, my heart was racing. Pull it together, Isabelle. I couldn’t believe how nervous I felt. Maybe it was due to how dank and disgusting this prison/ dungeon was?
Then again, Anne and I hadn’t parted on the best of terms.
I know what I did. I did what I did. I would do it every time.
I had neither forgotten nor forgiven, but that didn’t mean I wanted her to starve and rot in some ancient dungeon.
With Ian’s permission, I’d been allowed to bring in a basket of items. They’d searched it, of course. I smiled and waited patiently while they looked over the food, water, alcohol, soap, and bandages. I’d stashed medications, feminine hygiene supplies, and coins in my pockets so Anne could bribe the guards for whatever I’d missed.
We rounded the corner and I got my first glimpse of her cell. Like the rest of the place, the room was dark, but at least there was a small window. It cast enough light to make out some parts of the room. A covered bucket in the corner; a candle stub on a scrap of a ledge; a pile of...something? I didn’t see Anne anywhere.
As our footsteps neared, the pile moved slightly. Oh. That was when it dawned on me that the cell didn’t have a bed. And I was pretty sure I knew what the bucket was for. I shuddered. It was even worse than the chamberpot I’d been forced to get used to. The hell with sliced bread - clean running water was the best invention of all time. God, I had really, really taken clean running water for granted.
It smelled awful down here.
“Anne?” I stepped up to the bars. “Anne?” The pile moved with startling speed, and suddenly my sister was at the bars, reaching for me. A cloud of unpleasant odors reached me before she did. I would also ask Ian to get her some washcloths and buckets of clean water to go along with the soap I’d smuggled in. Maybe he would let me send someone down here to clean her cell--
Ross hit her hand with a cudgel, and Anne, understandably pissed, flipped out.
“Come closer you little piece of shit and I will show you where you can stick that! I will ram it up your ass so hard you’ll be shitting out your eyebrows.” She shook the bars, daring him to come closer. “Get back here and try that again! You better hope you don’t pull the short straw again or I will be on your ass, scalping you! You tiny brained, buck tooth, pot bellied --”
Ross - who wasn’t nearly as hideous as Anne was making him out to be - was only getting angrier.
“Anne! Would you stop it and calm down?” She calmed, still scowling, and I turned to the guard. “That was a bit much, Ross,” I snapped at him. He was still standing there glowering at her and I was getting impatient. “You are going to open the door, yes? I can’t exactly check on her through the bars, can I?”
“Lady Isabelle, the Lieutenant Commander--”
I rolled my eyes. “The Lieutenant Commander ordered you to keep me safe and do what I asked.”
“Yes, my lady.” Ross banged on the bars with his weapon again, shouting for Anne to get against the wall. Anne moved like lightning, reaching out for his arm and mashing him into the bars hard enough to rattle them.
“What are you going to do now, chump?” She yanked him against the bars again, then grabbed his cudgel away. Ross froze, terrified. I didn’t blame him; Anne looked like she was going to eat him alive. “I told you not to try this again and here you are. Now bend over --”
And scene. “Anne! Would you please do as he asks?”
After a moment, she let him go, grimacing as she moved into position. She did throw his bludgeon out of the window first, though.
“Thank you.” I turned back to Ross. “Some privacy, please? We have a number of sensitive, female matters to discuss.”
He was sufficiently horrified to withdraw after unlocking the door, and I breathed a quiet sigh of relief. I entered and brought in the stool Ross had carried down for me, trying to keep the hem of my riding habit out of the filth. Once seated, I set the basket in my lap and started pulling out things. Anne was still standing in the back corner, looking perplexed. Maybe even dazed.
“Are you alright? I’ve been sending food, but I couldn’t get in to see you before now. Here,” I handed over a linen wrapped meat pie. “Do you need any medical treatment?” Anne was still standing there looking between me and the door and frowning strangely. I paused to study her. “Anne?”
“Food?” She repeated. “You’ve been sending me food?”
Well, duh. “Who else would be feeding you in prison?”
She hesitated a moment. “No one.”
I stared at her, then shook my head. “So, are you okay? I know you were involved with the explosion and everything. Did you get hurt?”
She was being so much weirder than usual, I was starting to wonder if she had been knocked in the head. Or maybe this was just what happened to people if they were locked in a disgusting cell for days on end. This place looked like a breeding ground for a bevy of diseases you would find illustrated in a health book.
“What are you doing here, Izzy?”
“Obviously, checking on your well-being. I know it’s been days, but I couldn’t get in before now. I’m sorry.” I really did need to say something to Ian about the level of cleanliness in here.
Anne fell silent, her face pensive. “Days.” She paused again. Did she have brain damage? “Days. Why do I hear that congratulations are in order? That you are taking a husband?”
I fidgeted with my engagement ring, suddenly very conscious of its weight. How the hell had Anne found out down here in a fucking dungeon? Had Lady Alice taken out an ad? I stared at her, torn on how to respond. I hadn’t even been sure I was going to tell her yet, let alone how to say it. It was kind of a relief that now I didn’t have to.
“Well... yes.” How the hell had she heard? “I’m getting married.” It felt different, here and now, telling this to Anne. She wasn’t Lady Aaoka or Lady Wallington. My sister was not going to shriek with delight about my news. But I hoped she would at least listen to me.
“Why would you do that?” She looked disgusted.
I stiffened; it felt like she had punched me in the stomach. “Why do people usually get married, Anne? What a question.”
“Because they’re stupid and naive. Are you stupid and naive, Izzy?”
I glared at her, clamping my mouth shut. Just like that, Anne had rudely snatched me out of my warm, happy cocoon; nothing good could come from me talking right now.
“I didn’t think so.” And then she changed the subject, like that was the end of it. “Listen, I didn’t leave before now because I figured you’d be in danger. Now you’re here and it makes this easier. Be at the ship tonight. Wait till sunset and make your way over. We’ll head straight for home – or Portugal if you’d still like to go. I know I would.”
I gaped at her. Silly me, here I was thinking she hadn’t left because she was fucking imprisoned! But Anne’s level of confidence in her ability to escape was frightening.
And I wasn’t ready to leave yet.
“No.”
“We will probably have to resupply in the Azores. But we can definitely --”
“I said, no, Anne.” It was like she had lost her hearing.
“No what?”
“No, I’m not leaving.” I exhaled. It felt really good to say it.
“Leaving where?”
“I am not leaving the Somers Isles.” That felt even better.
“The who?”
“Here? This island? Later known as Bermuda?” I whisper-hissed. “I’m staying.” I’m staying.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Of course we’re leaving.”
I know what I did. I did what I did. I would do it every time.
“No! I’m building a life here!” I exclaimed. Why wouldn’t she listen? “I own a hotel, with a kitchen and everything. I sold your guns, Anne. I traded them for a vast quantity of land--”
“You did what?” I blinked at her. To say that she didn’t seem pleased was a massive understatement. “Tell me you’re lying, Izzy. I needed that money. I needed that gold.”
“What? You wanted to sell the guns and clearly you weren’t in a position to do so,” I gestured at her surroundings. I got 200 acres, Anne! 200! And bonuses--”
“You sold my cargo for dirt!” She screamed. Anne was livid, and I was getting worked up too. “Why not magic beans?”
She would bring the guards back in here with all of her shrieking. “Keep your voice down!”
“I killed for that cargo and you’ve thrown it away. Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
She was angry with me for selling the guns? She already had enough money on the ship to buy a planet, and now we were land-rich too! “You are truly unbelievable. Regardless, I am not leaving yet.”
Anne got into my face, boiling over with rage. She had some fucking nerve. I was ready to explode myself, but unlike Anne, Lady Isabelle had to keep her composure. “The fuck you aren’t. I will be on that boat tonight and I will be leaving and you will be right next to me. That’s a promise.”
I clenched my fists at my sides, my nails pressing in my palms. “Oh, is it, now? Regardless of what I want, you’re just going to drag me away, again? Do I have that right?” I’m kidnapped and I’m going to stay that way?
“What the fuck do you want, Izzy?” She grabbed my wrist, drawing my attention to the scar I had from the vow we’d made on the boat.
I shivered. “Have you been listening to anything I’ve said?” I twisted my arm against her thumb, breaking her grip.
“All I hear is that you threw my hard won cargo to the winds and are planning on marrying a ghost. No, Izzy. I don’t understand. All I know is that tonight, within the hour even, you and I will be on our ship safe and free.”
I know what I did. I did what I did. I would do it every time.
I would do it every time.
I would do it every time.
I would do it every time.
“Ross!” I screamed out as I jumped up from the stool, slamming the door behind me.
I was Lady Isabelle, and I didn’t have to take this shit.
Ross ran in at breakneck speed. He spent a millisecond looking between Anne and myself before exiting and quickly returning with four additional guards - as well as a pair of manacles.
Shit.
“Izzy,” Anne called. “Izzy, call them off.”
“Wait,” I said. “Don’t hurt her!”
They were all beyond listening to me. The five soldiers set upon Anne, determined to bind her wrists; my sister was giving as good as she was getting but there were too many of them in too close of a space. I heard myself scream, and then Ian was there practically carrying me out of the room.
The sounds of struggle continued behind us, along with Anne’s ever-continuing stream of threats and curses. And screaming for me.
I was the worst sister ever.
Her voice cut off mid-syllable. “No,” I gasped, looking up at Ian.
“She is alive,” the Lieutenant Commander told me confidently.
“You don’t know that!” Anxious, I turned back the way we had come. He stepped in front of me, easily blocking my path as he gently took me by the shoulders.
“Lady Isabelle,” he said, his voice was calm yet commanding as he wiped my face with a square of white linen. I hadn’t even realized that I had been crying. “Listen.” He put a finger to his lips and gestured towards Anne’s cell.
Frowning, I strained to hear. The guards were talking; they were bitter about Anne. Why did the bitch captain get such special treatment, such luxuries? Why did the Lieutenant Commander order them to be so precious with her?
And then Ross: “check again, to be sure.” Someone scoffed. “Ya, she’s breathing.” “She had better be. Your feelings don’t matter none,” Ross said, “Lieutenant Commander Coventry’s given strict orders...”
“Would you allow me to give you some wine?” Ian was looking down at me with a worried expression.
I sniffled. “Do you have anything stronger?”
We were allowed to sit in his office, as long as the door was open - though Ian seemed to think even that was pushing it pretty hard, as both he and Thomas Charles were working in the space. He had summoned one of the washerwomen from downstairs to serve as a chaperone; she was sitting in the corner of his office folding laundry and I was irrationally irritated at her presence.
I paced the front space while drinking like a fish, wishing I could toke, and absently admiring the cedar furniture that filled the room. Ian’s setup in the fort was similar to my own in the inn. The front space served as an office and parlor, and his bedroom was through the rear door.
He sat at his desk, eyeing me warily. I had never noticed how much pacing I did before now.
“Are you quite certain that you are uninjured, dearest?”
I dismissed him. “Anne wouldn’t hurt me.” He and Thomas Charles exchanged looks. “I saw that. You don’t know her like I do. She wouldn’t.” My sister, my best friend, my ride or die.
Thomas Charles cleared his throat from his chair. “It sounded as though there was a conflict, Lady Isabelle.”
“My captain and I have many spirited discussions. They do not come to blows.” Before this trip, at least.
“You heard Ross, Thomas,” Ian interjected. “The woman listened to Lady Isabelle’s directions without delay.” He shook his head. “You do seem to have an uncanny ability to control her, my lady.”
I set down my empty glass, and to my surprise, Thomas Charles sprang up to refill it. I murmured my thanks, taking a healthy sip. When I looked up again, Ian was studying me with one of his trademarked piercing gazes.
“Yes?” I met him easily.
“You are unsettled,” he stated. I nodded.
“Yes. I am.” He waited patiently. “Anne doesn’t approve of me marrying you. She wants to take me home.”
Ian frowned deeply, while Thomas Charles sputtered and scoffed.
“You could have her banned from the Somers Isles,” the valet suggested.
“No!” I exclaimed, turning on him with a dirty look. “Why would you even suggest that? Is that what everyone does here? Just ship people off when they become inconvenient?” I looked at Ian pointedly, and he flushed. “Please, don’t. In fact....I’d like to collect my favor.”
“What sort of favor, Lady Isabelle?” Ian gestured at the chair in front of his desk.
I sat down, leaning forward. “She’s living in the most squalid conditions--”
He sat. “It is a prison,” he replied wryly, and his valet nodded in agreement.
“No, it is a human rights violation!” I stared at him in horror. “I had always heard about how civilized the English are, so imagine my disappointment to see how you house your prisoners. I can’t imagine that floor has seen a scrubbing in years, if ever. Where we’re from, even the most despicable prisoners are given access to soap and water and clean living facilities. I wouldn’t be surprised if the grime on the wall was developing sapience. The muck on the floor probably has a well-established system of government--”
Ian sighed heavily, dropping a stack of missives he had been attempting to read onto his desk. “My lady, what would you have of me?”
“Lieutenant Commander, while inside, I witnessed two rats fighting over the remains of a third rat. And it was not for burial purposes!” Behind me, Thomas Charles snickered, and Ian fought back his own amusement. Undeterred, I continued. “At least allow me to send someone in to clean the place. Please.”
He looked stunned and offended. “You are jesting, surely.”
“I am not! Have you ever been inside of one of those cells? It is disgusting down there. Please. It is inhumane.” I shuddered. “And - you did make me a promise.” I turned to the woman in the corner. “Excuse me, what’s your name?”
The room fell silent and everyone stared at me.
“I am Leah, my lady,” she replied in a quiet voice.
“Hello, Leah.” I smiled at her. “Could I perhaps offer you a job later this evening?”
The woman looked back at me for a long moment, then looked at Ian, who gestured that it was alright for her answer.
“Could always use more coin, my lady.”
I turned back to the Lieutenant Commander. “And perhaps I could inquire among some of the other women as well?”
Ian cleared his throat. “Lady Isabelle, your kind, compassionate spirit is a wonder. However,” he paused. “Your continued attachment and dedication to your captain baffles me.”
I stared at him blankly.
But of course it baffled him. To him, she was the Bitch Captain of the Seven Seas, a dangerous, violent criminal. Even I was having a hard time seeing past that these days. How could I possibly explain everything Anne meant to me?
“Lieutenant Commander...” I paused.
“Lady Isabelle?” He prodded.
“I wonder if I might have a word with you. Privately.”
That, of course, was asking to move mountains; the only way we could speak in any relative privacy was to step outside of the fort. Fine by me. It was a great place to continue pacing.
I was definitely getting all of my steps in these days.
“I want to talk to you,” I started, setting my riding helmet under my arm. “About my captain.” He assumed the ‘parade rest’ position and cocked his head at me patiently. I took a few deep breaths while I paced, trying to gather my thoughts. “You remember that I told you I lost my parents in an accident when I was young?” He nodded. “I told you I was adopted by another family, and that I gained a sister.” He nodded again and I looked him in the eyes, waiting for it to click. After a long moment: “...Do you really not see where I’m going with this?”
Lieutenant Commander Coventry stared back at me, his expression going through a dozen stages. “No,” he whispered. His face had gone pale. “It cannot be.”
“Anne is my sister.” I reached out for his hand. “You understand, now? My loyalty and dedication, my determination to ensure her safety and well-being?”
“That... woman is your sister?” He looked as though the time-traveling part would have been easier for him to accept.
“She is.”
“My God, Isabelle.” Now it was Ian’s turn to pace anxiously, though he managed to look refined and composed while muttering unintelligibly to himself.
“Ian?” He shook his head, staring off into the distance; he wouldn’t meet my eyes. Ouch. “I imagine you’ll need some time to process this?” I asked delicately.
“Yes. Yes,” he repeated. He still wouldn’t look at me. I felt sick.
“Okay...” It had only taken one brief visit with Anne for my storybook world to come grinding to a halt. Anne, the tempest, just like mom always said.
I wanted to scream, have a full-fledged tantrum, but I was Lady Isabelle (not a tempest) and that wasn’t allowed. Instead, I put on my helmet, calmly adjusting the strap under my chin.
“My dear?” Ian paused in his pacing, suddenly taking me in.
“Yes?” I could feel him staring at me, but I was busy pulling on my gloves. Very busy. It required all of my concentration.
“Are you leaving?” He asked, and I gestured at my attire in response. “What, now? Alone?”
“Yes.”
“Allow me to provide you with an escort,” he said.
“No, thank you.” My reply was firmer than I’d planned, and he blinked at me. I sighed. “The only person I’d want to ride with is you, and we can’t go without other people. This fucking sucks,” I added as a stream of people went by.
“Lady Isabelle, I believe you are distressed.” Ian stated. “I think it would be ill-advised for you to venture out unaccompanied, particularly in such a state.”
“I really need to take some time to clear my head. And I think you could probably use the same,” I offered, forcing a smile. “You’re clearly upset--”
“Upset?” The Lieutenant Commander caught my elbow, and I looked up to see an acute ferocity in his eyes that actually took me aback. “I am beyond ‘upset’, my lady. I am astounded at your revelation, and I do not understand why you kept this information secret.”
Well, Lieutenant Commander, it all started when my sister lured me onto her boat and then took me through a magic portal.
There weren’t even words. How was I supposed to explain anything?
“...It’s complicated,” I said lamely.
Lieutenant Commander Coventry stared down at me, those intense blue eyes of his narrowed in doubt? Cynicism? He had never looked at me like that before and I didn’t like it. Especially because it felt deserved. I was a liar. I was a fraud. I was a con artist. Anne being my sister was the least of it.
He cleared his throat. “Could you make it uncomplicated?”
I wanted to. But I couldn’t. I swallowed. “We haven’t known each other very long, Lieutenant Commander. I imagine that there are a great many things neither of us have revealed to the other at this point. Maybe you should take the time to consider that before walking down the aisle with me.” He nodded but said nothing, instead resuming his pacing.
I meant it, but his ready acceptance still cut. I made for the horse hitch.
He started once he noticed, but I was already on the palfrey’s back, reins in hand. “Lady Isabelle--”
I’ve always found that it’s really, really hard to argue with or yell at someone on horseback when you’re on the ground, something I’ve used to my advantage a number of times. It appeared it was just as unsettling here in the medieval ages as it was at home. Feeling much more confident, I looked down at Ian with a calm smile. “I’m going. I won’t be long, I’ll send a messenger when I’m back,” I said, and left him in my dust.
