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“No, Kat. Please.” I had been reduced to begging. A deep despair wormed its way into my breaking heart, eating me alive.
“You’re making a fool of yourself, James.”
“Please, please. Don’t leave me. We can make this work. I can be better. I can love you better. Please give me another chance.” Tears fell freely, wetting my cheeks, and I did not care that my men were witnessing me fall apart. The rest of the world had fallen away. Right now, it was only Katherine and me.
“I can’t. My heart can’t take it anymore. It has to end here.”
“What about mine? You’re ripping my heart out.”
Katherine ignored me. Fishing into the folds of her dress, she pulled out the Heart of the Divine. The flawless ruby glinted in the last vestiges of light as it sunk into a blood-red sunset.
“It doesn’t matter.” She shook her head. “Your heart is empty. There is no love there. It’s empty, just like this ruby.” She chucked the stone at me, the ruby landing solidly in my lap. A crack of thunder filled my ears and shook the air around us. All the pieces began to come together. Her curious words, the new relic around her neck. But my mind wouldn’t allow me to believe that she would have meddled with such power. My fingers shook as I held the stone up to the light to confirm what I was trying so hard to deny. The core, which had once swirled with an ethereal power, was now a simple spectrum of crimson. The magic was gone.
The skies opened, and the smell of petrichor filled my nostrils. Rain poured down all around us. “Katherine, what have you done?” My hand trembled as I held the useless relic. My eyes lifted, settling on the glowing magic that was now tied around her neck.
“A parting gift,” she said, fingering the delicate necklace. “The magic of the cosmos is the least I was owed for all that you’ve put me through. Edward, it’s time.” She motioned to Teach, and he sidled up to her, offering his arm. I winced as she wrapped her delicate fingers around him and reached up to kiss his cheek. “I think he finally understands where my loyalties lie. I’m done here. Take me away so I never have to lay eyes on him again.” She turned to look at me one last time, her haunting emerald eyes piercing through me. “Goodbye, James.” Her words dealt a death blow to my heart, and the useless organ stuttered and faltered in my chest until my vision spun. The pain was excruciating. I couldn’t move. The shackles of fate tightened around me. Forcing me to watch as she snapped her fingers and shimmered out of existence with my enemy by her side.
The woman I thought I loved, no longer existed. My tears mixed with the pouring rain, soaking me to the core. I was numb to everything except the decay that was spreading within me. It felt as though a part of my soul was dying, and I mourned for the woman I’d lost.
Maybe she was right, and revenge was my one true love because my only solace at that moment was that she hadn’t left me to become Pan’s mother. Katherine had seen me for who I truly was—a broken man. A villain in my own story. One who was not worthy of redemption. I remained on my knees, defeated in every way possible. The Divine had forsaken me.
Three days, that’s how long I stayed locked in my cabin. Smee tried on several occasions to lure me out of isolation, but I’d have none of it. My entire world had shattered, and all I wanted was to be alone. I cried. I turned my room upside down. I pleaded with the Divine to send her back to me, and at the same time, I wanted her to pay for making me suffer. She never truly loved me. She couldn’t have. She was fully aware that her abandonment would break me, and yet she did it without flinching. She never even shed a tear. The one person I trusted to never hurt me ripped my heart out and stomped on it.
I’d numbed myself with rum and tinkered with the various poisons left behind in Katherine’s apothecary, secretly wishing they would end my suffering only to find no solace. The wretched bitch left nothing behind but a few harmless weeds and pain elixirs. Nary a toxin strong enough to snuff out the life force that insisted on pumping through my body. In my frustration, I made a promise to myself to continue my training and master the art of alchemy. There was an entire universe of useful plants and compounds at my fingertips. I didn’t need Katherine anymore. I didn’t need anyone anymore.
My life was nothing but a timeline of betrayal and hurt. Time and time again, I’d allowed people into my heart, only to have them leave me broken and bleeding alone. My parents, Peter, Edward, Henry, and Katherine, all of them, in one way or another, chipped away at my humanity, stealing bits and pieces of my very soul, leaving nothing behind but an empty husk. I was a shell of a man, and no one, ever again, could hurt me. My heart was gone, my soul hidden behind a wall of stone. The Divine broke me. They put me on this path of anguish. They do nothing without warrant. That’s what Tiger Lily had said. If the Divine wanted a monster, a villainous counterpart, to balance the scales, then they succeeded. From now on, the only person I’d ever care for was myself.
“Captain,” Smee’s voice seemed small from behind the door. “It’s been four days, sir. We have news. Please come out and take your rightful place as Captain of this ship.”
I pondered for a moment. What news could they possibly have? Did I care?
“We have found something. I think you’ll want to see it.”
I cracked the door and winced as I peered out at Smee, the sun being altogether too bright for my mood. “What did you find?”
“Come out and see for yourself. The crew brought it back to the ship. I think you’ll be most pleased. Besides, we can’t keep it here. We need to… ahh… dispose of it quickly.”
Now he had my interest. I closed the door and pulled on my breeches, fumbling with them as I struggled with my hook. Opening the door, I left behind the refuge of my cabin and emerged a new man.
“Show me this thing you found.”
“Aye, Captain. It’s on the main deck, and it’s causing quite the stink. Prepare yourself; it’s… pungent.”
The crew huddled around the thing in question, their noses pinched. “What is it you found? Move out of the way.” The smell was familiar—putrid, sickly sweet, rotting flesh. I’d smelled it countless times while sailing with Blackbeard. It’s a scent one never forgets. “Move!” I ordered.
“Is it?” Cookson asked, looking at me as I stared in disbelief.
There on the deck in a pale, lifeless, bloated heap was none other than Edward Teach. “Where did you find him?”
“We found him tangled up in the rocks along the northern shoreline of the Viridianwood. Drowning, I suspect?”
There was no blood to be seen. His clothing appeared to be relatively intact. No evidence of stab wounds or gunshots. Nothing to indicate how he had died. He’d been reduced to nothing more than a foul-smelling lump of decaying flesh. A gift from the Divine, perhaps? Atonement for all they’d taken from me? Katherine had been right. I was always meant to be the villain, and the Divine was pleased that I’d finally realized my path in this life.
“Was he alone?” I braced myself for the answer. I hated Katherine, but I didn’t want her dead. She deserved to suffer.
“Aye, Captain,” Mason croaked. “She was nowhere to be found,” he answered, getting straight to the point. He knew exactly what I had been asking.
“Good. Fuck her!” I growled. “I hope she spends her days alone and miserable.”
