Page 178 of The Pirate Queen

“Bloody hell, no!” he snorts. “I’ve never set foot on the damned things.”

“Then why are you so intent on acquiring them?”

“I do not want a summer home, I want the real estate. Whoever controls those islands controls the entire shipping route into and out of Galway Bay.”

“As I was saying—” Sidney clears his throat with a level of authority that shuts LeStrange up immediately. “Thank you for agreeing to this meeting.” He nods at each of them. “Richard. Grace. It is rare that I get to meet the heads of two powerful clans at once.”

This gets LeStrange’s attention immediately. She can feel his gaze settle on her profile, can almost hear the rusty grinding of mental gears as he changes his assessment of her.

The door is suddenly thrown open and a younger man flounces in. He looks so much like Sidney that Grace whips her head back and forth thrice to note the similarities.

“Forgive my tardiness!” the younger man says, and drags a chair over to join them at the table. He straddles it backward, his chin resting on the spine “I was just at the quay, reading the most interesting inscription on the seawall. It says, ‘From the—’ ”

“ ‘—ferocious O’Flahertys, Good Lord deliver us,’ ” Grace interrupts.

“You’ve read it?”

“I knew the family who inspired it,” she tells him. “I do not recommend their company.”

A stunned silence settles into the room and Grace can feel the shift happen within a breath. The balance of power. It now belongs to her. And one reason that she loves—and will always love—Richard Bourke until the day she dies is that he doesn’t feel threatened by this new development. Instead, he sinks deeper into his chair. Crosses his arms over his chest, as if watching a sporting match.

“My son, Philip,” Sidney says, at last breaking the silence. “You must forgive him. He is a poet. And therefore inspired by the dramatic.”

“What did I miss?” the son asks.

“Nothing. We were just getting down to business,” Sidney tells him.

“I do hope it involves piracy,” Philip says to Grace. “I am told that you are somewhat notorious for that.”

She ignores him, looking to Sidney instead. “It was my understanding that we now refer to it as privateering, given that it has been sanctioned by your queen—under certain circumstances, at any rate.”

Sidney flinches. “A strong naval…fleet…is something Her Majesty considers important.”

“And yet she has none in Ireland,” Grace says.

“The threats of a Spanish invasion require that we keep the bulk of our resources closer to home,” he tells her.

“Then I’d wager your queen is in need of a partner?”

Sidney leans forward, placing his elbows on his knees. “Of what kind?”

“The kind that has a fleet at her disposal, along with two hundred fighting men. Which—’tis important to note—is a quantity that outnumbers your own. The kind,” she adds, “who is married to The MacWilliam tánaiste, who leads the O’Malleys, and who has great influence over a large sept of the O’Flahertys.”

“And what would such a leader require from Her Majesty?”

Grace smiles. “Only one thing.”

“Which is?”

“That there be no attempts to remove my husband from his rightful place as the future MacWilliam.”

“I can assure you that—”

“I have seen your queen move chess pieces before, Lord Deputy. My first husband was Donal O’Flaherty, tánaiste to The O’Flaherty, before your queen handed the title to another man. So you will forgive me if verbal assurances are not enough.”

“I cannot speak for the Queen.”

“No. But you can speak to her. And you can negotiate on her behalf.”