Free A Wedding by Dawn by Alison Delaine

surely as her childhood rooms had been.
    Her stomach twisted. She needed to do something now— tonight. But the only person who could possibly save her now was William.
    Yes. Yes—she could talk to William. Tell him everything—make him see how imperative it was that she be in charge of her own destiny. She would promise anything in exchange for his forgiveness. Then perhaps he would let her and Millie join his crew, and then they would have protection instead of needing to make their way alone. And it would be just like before when they’d sailed with Katherine—
    “India!” Millie’s voice hissed through the darkened passageway.
    India turned. “Millie?”
    Millie hurried from the darkness and grabbed India’s arm. “Come—come quickly!”
    “What’s happened?”
    Millie didn’t answer. India practically ran after her down the corridor to William’s cabin, through the door, and—
    Oh, God. “What have you done?”
    “I don’t know—I don’t know! ”
    India fell to William’s side, where he lay motionless on the floor.
    “It isn’t as bad as it looks—”
    “How can it not be as bad as it looks?” Oh, God. Oh, God. India shook him.
    “No! Don’t try to rouse him!”
    “We have to!” She listened for breath—yes! He was breathing.
    “No, we don’t.” Millie grabbed her arm and tried to pull India to her feet. “India, this could be our opportunity. I didn’t mean to do it—I didn’t—but we won’t escape any other way...you know we won’t. And even if we do, what then? But if we take this ship back to Malta now, we can retake the Possession— ”
    “We can’t return to Malta. When William’s crew finds him like this, we’ll be killed.” She felt behind William’s head, encountered a bump wet with warm blood. Pain fisted in her stomach. “Mutiny? How could you? He’ll kill us himself when he awakes!”
    “Not if we lock him in here.”
    “We can’t do that! Not to William! ”
    “Have you forgotten he came here on Katherine’s orders?”
    “You know bloody well the crew will never accept our leadership.”
    “Did you not hear their complaints as we boarded? These men are not loyal to William. They were hired two months ago. They thought they would be a week at Malta, but instead they’re back at sea after only a day. Believe me, the promise of returning to Malta will have them in the palm of our hands. But in case it doesn’t...”
    She held out a pistol, shot and powder.
    The metal glinted in the moonlight through the windows of William’s cabin. India looked at the pistol. At Millie.
    “I can’t do this. Millie, you should have told me first.”
    “It wasn’t something I planned!”
    “We’ll be pirates. Real pirates.”
    Millie’s hands were trembling. She quickly set the pistol and shot on a chair. “He’s come to no real harm.”
    “Aye,” India said sarcastically, “That is precisely the definition of piracy. As long as nobody comes to harm—”
    “We shan’t be stealing William’s ship.” Millie sounded terrifyingly determined. “We shall merely divert it back to Malta and then return it.”
    “If we return to Malta with William and Nicholas Warre aboard, there will be no way to keep them secured until we make our escape. We’ll be apprehended before we can weigh anchor out of Valletta.”
    “Then we shall leave them off somewhere before Malta.”
    India’s breathing turned shallow. Leaving them off was different from keeping them safely aboard.
    “What are we going to do when William awakes?” India asked.
    “There are things I can give him to keep him calm—”
    “Millie, we can’t do that.”
    “Do you have a better solution?”
    Yes. They could wake William and beg for his mercy. But even William had limits, and they had already exceeded those limits by taking the Possession from Katherine.
    Now there was no turning back.
    Millie hurried to dress William’s wound while India held his head with shaky hands. “Is there any