The Swashbuckling Yarn of Milady Vixen Read Online Free PDF

Mother?” Violet asked when the captain walked up beside her.
    “Lively as ever,” he quipped.
    “I can’t believe it took all this time for her to get used to ocean travels.”
    “You’re looking a bit old, Cap’n.”
    “I do have more gray hair than when we first met, but I still feel lively enough to dance a jig on your grave.”
    Violet chuckled at his bravado. But she knew his leg, wounded six months ago during a run-in with the Effingham frigate The Intrepid Eagle, wasn’t as sea-worthy as he bragged it was. Running away after plundering a fat galley, the faster pirate escaped taking only a single volley from the better-armed ship. It was a ricochet cannonball, with most of its power spent as it smashed into his left thigh. It had taken months before he could walk once more, but he still hobbled and always would. During the dandified man’s convalescence, a romance of sorts had grown between her mother and Guy. Their relationship had been brewing for many years, and she’d hoped she wouldn’t live to see it. But she had.
    He’ll never replace Papa in her eyes, Violet thought, but she softened when she thought he was going to lose the leg. I’ve never seen Mama so worried, she mused; I guess after ten years, her mourning for my father has finally come to a close. Then again, Guy has been like a second father to me. He taught me to read navigational charts, duel with a rapier and doted on me like I was his own daughter. I can’t begrudge the two of them the slim chance of happiness, no matter how I feel about their being together.
    Still, thinking back over the past few weeks, she doubted she’d ever forgive Mama and Guy for what she perceived as a dishonor to her father’s memory.
    “Vixen, I have to talk to ye,” he muttered.
    “Spit it out, Cap’n.”
    “You’ll be putting me ashore after this particular voyage. Your mother and I have decided it would be for the best—for all concerned. The crew is starting to look to you over me, and I’m just in the way now. “
    “What?!”
    “Don’t give me that look, young lady; surely you saw this coming? Your mother wants to return to a port near her homeland, and I, well, I’m tired of the sea. I’m getting too elderly for this business.”
    “The terror of the seas is retiring ?”
    “Aye, to a peaceful tropical isle with a beautiful woman—maybe I’ll die in bed.”
    “You’re incorrigible. That’s my mother you’re talking about, you old sea-dog. Take the easy way out if you must. But for me, I hope to die in battle—going out with a blaze of cannon fire, that’s more my style.”
    “I doubt it. There’ll come a day when you will do the same as I. Sooner or later you’ll find some handsome pirate and settle down to raise a litter.” He laughed, his voice still shrill after all this time.
    “Not until the ghost of my father can rest in peace after I’ve settled my score with the King of Effingham.”
    “You harbor a hate bigger than ye, Vixen. I doubt a sea of Effingham blood will be enough to quench it.”
    “Belay that talk,” she said, dismissing his concerns. “We have a prize to capture.”
    The Red Hand ’s crew worked like clockwork, and Violet took up her position and readied to lead the boarding party. She stood with her rapier in her hand, her pistols tucked into her black belt, and her sight misted over with red haze, for the flag flying on the main mast was that of an Effingham mercantile company. The privateer vessel swung across the bow of the ship, its gun roaring and pouring white smoke over the side, clouding Violet’s eyes. The thrill of battle pounded in her mind with the same powerful beat as her wild heart. The thick smoke cleared, and her warrior spirit exalted; the anticipation of combat shuddered through her frame, sharpening her vision and clarifying her course of action.
    “She’s heaving too!” Captain Pinsetter roared.
    “Shit!” Violet swore as the craft struck its colors.
    “Maybe next