Author's Note

I'm sorry for the late, late, late update.

I've been working two jobs, and going to school so I've been damn burnt out!

I hope to have more for you soon,

Until then,

Review, and let me know what you think!

-gianna

For this chapter listen to: Silver and Cold by AFI

"You seem to think that I have some say in what is to come with this endeavor, Master Kenway."

Edward wanted to roar, and pull the very hair on his head from its roots. He was half convinced that it would give him far less of a headache than Liete was at the moment.

Not only was he having to deal with her obstinate disregard, but even as she drove him to the brink of insanity he wanted to grab her, make love to her with the sea brine coating them, the wind whipping against their bodies.

He knew better than to grab Liete in a fit of anger, he'd needed to learn that lesson only once for it to stick.

Slamming his palm into the mortar cannons that were fixed to the front of the ship, creating a small ring, and leaving his hand numb for several moments, he then flung his hand out towards the impending fog, his prize within somewhere.

"Retreat to the cabin Liete, this was not a request. This can end badly, and more likely than not we'll have gun and cannon fire rained upon us at some point! You are not safe on deck!"

"Dear, dear Edward, If my safety was so upsetting to you, you'd have left me with Thatch's ship. You didn't and so I am neither safe here on this very deck or within a wooden wall which gives very little protection from an onslaught. I am not a doll needing to be placed within glass, I knew as did all these men you are dragging towards this fight the dangers of being aboard a pirate ship."

Liete could care less what Edward wanted to tell her to do. She'd been done with men making her choices the moment she'd put two gaping holes in the Devil's face with his own guns.

He had no idea what was running through her head, and she was sure it was what caused most pirates to choose this lifestyle. Angry at the disregard of those in power, she hungered for retribution. She felt blood-thirsty and had been fighting her inner demons that screamed for Death and excitement all in one from the moment she'd heard Thatch speak of taking the ship they now were on their way to find.

In these moments she felt the same heat that had encircled her when she'd killed the Devil, and she let her cold madness run wild.

Edward scoffed and determined to make Liete see reason through her silver madness opened his mouth to petition her once more.

Before her lover could speak again Liete leaned her body against the mortar he'd just slammed his hand into, reaching forward till her own hand held the center of his body in a vice grip that immediately made Edward's eyes widen, and his body to instantly harden even underneath her painful grip.

Pinning him with a glare that held him transfixed with the lack of sane thought within, Liete whispered sharply, her words reminiscent of throwing knives slicing through him.

"Leave me be now Master Kenway, you've said your part. Return to your post." Liete tightened her grip on the man making him flinch before quickly releasing him to lounge innocently against the large cannons, her look that of a sweet summer dove.

"You don' needa worry bout Lady Liete Cap'n, I'll be 'ere makin' sure nary a splintar be touchin' 'er!" Edward wanted to gut the man, who'd seemed damn near attached to his woman's hip since the day before, if only for the soft gaze she then offered the huge man and kind smile that actually reached her eyes breaking through the lunacy they'd held for hours now.

Edward didn't bother saying a word as her whirled away from them muttering darkly underneath his breath in anger as he trumped his way back towards the helm.

"Fine, be blown to blood bits you daft temptress, take a cannon to your pretty mug and see if I blink."

"Oh and Captain?"

Edward had the childish want to either ignore her call or snap a nasty reply to her, but managed to remain in the guise of a grown man and simply turned his torso to find a different kind of smile just for him upon Liete's lips.

Wicked and inviting, his arousal already at its head, his entire body could have been used as a hammer as she licked her lips slowly, the swirling silver moving as fast as the first time he'd come face to face with her, those eyes making him nearly shiver in front of his men.

"Thank you for the compliment."

Her gaze shifted to his breeches which ill hid his arousal, before turning her wicked gaze away once more.

Letting out a slow breath, Edward forced himself to turn away from her as he half limped the remainder of the way to the staircase leading to his post at the Jackdaw's helm thankful his breeches were as loose as they were or he'd really have to take a moment to himself.

Her turns of lunacy and normalcy were jarring, arousing, and maddening in their frequent visits and turns on the drop of a pin. It confused him greatly, unsure how someone who was so damn frightening, threatening, could literally make him so hot and heavy he could hardly see straight.

Looking up as he ascended the stairs, he caught Thatch giving him a look of pure amusement, his arms crossed over his chest standing to the left of the ships wheel.

"I don't want to hear what you're about to say Thatch."

Giving a shallow laugh, Thatch scuffed his own leather boot against the Jackdaw's wood turning his gaze to watch the woman still clad in her gleaming white dress withdraw slightly from the mortars to rest her back against the foremast her puppy-lad keeping watch from his post on the mortars.

Against the drab and filthy clothes of the crew, she was impossible to miss in all her brilliance, and he'd taken the guilty pleasure of watching her move around the deck for hours as she watched each man take up a task.

As he'd watched Kenway suddenly stride towards her determination in his step wishing to do the same, Teach had known he himself been taken in by the witches spell.

The men around them whispered in quiet tones of fear of being the next to be taken in, some claiming they'd already felt her draw like a waterspout spinning within their minds and souls prying everything they were from its moorings leaving them adrift in their very skins.

Teach had heard of such woman, he'd read of them in books and poems. Women made up of the very essence of Mother Nature, born from sea foam, and gifted by gods.

They'd created wars, death, and havoc wherever they'd stepped foot.

Aphrodite, Helen, Eurydice, names now synonymous with Liete caused Thatch to wonder if she'd been born of the very sea as Aphrodite had once been, Kenway having simply plucked her from the waves for his own.

"Kenway, everything I endeavor to say should be listened to." Edward grinned beside himself as he took possession of the Jackdaw's wheel from Adewale who bowed his head for a moment before moving to descend the steps and turned sharply left heading to rap on the door to Edward's quarters.

As he silently readied himself for the fight to come, it nagged him the fact that his own bed had been sacrificed for Liete and her hand maiden whom he'd found sleeping soundly facing each other once he'd managed to lift his heavy body from the white sand upon waking.

He'd been allowed for only a few minutes to enter as Julle stood outside by the door, him allowed in his own damn cabin, to use a small basin of fresh water and a rag to run over his face and neck before pulling his vest and such back into place.

All the while Liete stayed perfectly still on his bed, her hair in a long braid, her chemise the only thing she'd worn to sleep, her white dress neatly folded next to the small diagram he'd commissioned of the Jackdaw upon first landing in Nassau.

He wanted so badly to speak to her at length, to say anything of worth now that they'd had the first opportunity in nearly two days to speak without prying ears.

Instead all Edward could muster was a gruff warning.

"'Stay Inside today lass. I'll tell Ade to find a set of pistols for you, in case we're overtaken. To give ya' a chance.." He trailed off feeling foolish. Edward half expected the very ocean to rise up her defense if she wished it.

Liete seemed akin to stone as she'd laid against his mattress, not bothering to react to his words at all.

Edward felt as foolish as a colt first learning to walk, and refusing within himself to stand like a eunuch any longer, began to tug at the straps keeping his leather armor and his overlarge tunic in place. The buckles refusing to budge, and feeling heat rise to his face every second as he struggled with his own clothes, Edward finally reached over his own head yanking the jerkin and tunic off.

His armor made a loud thud as it hit the side of the ship above where a large set of drawers stood throwing it in exasperation. Only then did he take notice that the previously haphazard drawers, having been slightly ajar, and overflowing with different clothes, papers and utensils was now neatly closed. The different bottles, and other miscellaneous things that had been lying about now tidily arranged on the top giving soft clinks as his clothes landed on them.

Bare-chested and feeling even more irritated than before, his skin itching with a sense of wrongness, Edward had neared Liete, intent on regaining a sense of semblance, of sense and control out of this whirlwind this women had thrown him into.

"Wary an eye, Kenway. Here we be trespassers." Jolting out of his memory, the vision of Liete and her child like braid fading to be replaced by waters drenched in fog, the crew silent all facing forward to peer into the dampening chill.

Forcing himself to focus on the task at hand, less he put all the lives on board at risk, Edward flexed his hands softly before taking a deep breath filling his lungs to capacity as he ignored the flashes of white that nearly blinded him.

All the men were silent as the fog fat with droplets of water left their clothes and hair heavy and damp. Most men went about their duties softly and some has forsaken movement all together, weary anticipation riding heard on any songs that might have been sung. One brave soul had climbed to the railing, standing high an arm wrapped tight within a few rigging ropes, an empty bottle clasped sharply in his hand. Edward, having forbade any drinking this morning in preparation, sensed that the simple act of having a hold on something left most men grounded.

Scanning the open area, as muddled as the vision gave him, Edward held one palm out towards Adewale. The question unspoken, Ade placed a rather large leather bound spyglass in his hand and stepped forward to place a palm holding the Jackdaw on its present course while Edward lengthened the glass peering into the abyss.

Liete wrapped an arm around the foremast, watching as Drew stood tall, his legs that were reminiscent of tree trunks held the large mortar cannon balls in place his arms spread wide one hand on each cannon.

His expression had gone hard the moment the mist had settled around them, and his consistent chattering had fallen silent, his words lost among the waves that lapped against the wood below their feet.

She'd admit to herself that she may have been a bit vainglorious as the bitter chill of violence and expectancy flowed within her bones until she was full with the cool calm. She, and no one else she suspected wished to be the one to break the calm the very sea had blanketed them with.

Liete wanted nothing more than to be off this ship, the thought taking hold within her mind the moment Edward had stomped his way into the cabin, and had ordered her to stay inside like a simpkin.

She'd never been so furious in her life, not with Edward mind, but with herself. He lit her blood like a damn bonfire, he was the first taste of freedom she'd had since she'd been born, and she basked in his very breath of life. Although she couldn't quell that need within her own stomach, she had let it control her actions and now here she was yet another's man to control and order.

Liete might as well have gotten down on her knees like a common whore, she'd feel exactly the same as she did now… She felt like property once again.

So the drive of anger kept her planted at the bow, refusing to move a damn step if Edward wanted it.

She'd rather die than listen to his half asse'd flittering of safety and concern.

Drew shifted from one foot to the other, glancing once behind him at Liete. She was the prettiest damn gal he'd seen since Elizabeth, the maid for the Abney family whom owned a plantation in Kingston town. She'd been gentle as a breeze, and she'd never once made fun of his stutter.

He knew he wasn't the most intelligent man, and although his speech left those around him with the impression of an idiot, Drew understood the world around him just fine.

Watching the woman out of the corner of his eye, he knew she was no witch. She mumbled no spells, and threw no rune stones, she was like Gerald.

Gerald had been his dog that he'd found lying in the mud and muck down the hill from the farm he'd been a hand at. He'd seen the cur frequently skulking about, running the moment any footstep was heard to close. Drew had only ever wanted to give the dog an ear run although its fur was filthy and matted.

One evening the guards, drunk on superiority and cruelness shot the dog in the hind leg, kicked the mutt, and left it to die whimpering as the sky cried for the innocent soul.

Drew smiled goofily to himself remembering Gerald.

The damn dog nearly bit his finger off as he'd come upon the thing and tried to pick him up, no matter the damn filth. Scared to leave the thing alone and scared, Drew sat with the dog for hours as rain fell, passerby's cursing him for being simpleminded telling him to leave the thing to die.

Just a bit before the sun rose, the dog placed his head to Drew's palm with eyes full of pain.

He'd held the hound like a mama does her babe back to his modest hovel.

Placing the dog on his hay cot, he'd dug the bullet out of the hind of that dog, which whimpered softly the while. He'd made sure to get the thing good and drunk first before he'd used a needle and thread to clumsily stitch him up.

He knew it wasn't perfect, but he'd only left that dog's side to work and piss, until Gerald had been walking around his small room before he knew it.

Never once did anyone see Drew without Gerald again, and it never let anyone pet him.

Not a one but Drew.

Liete's skin felt sticky, her hair unbound limp, moved softly only by the wind, and as she peered out into the wide expanse, like a terrible vision out of the gates of hell, a dark mast nearly fifty meters high jutted into the sky, sails seeming to swallow the entire field of her vision, and even though she'd been aboard a similar vessel on her voyage to this place, she felt her breath catch and her eyes widen.

If only for what the implication of finding the giant had meant.

As if her thoughts had been read, a soft call came from the stern, swallowed by the mist and the hearts of all around her.

"Hold fast men, hell's waitin' for it's prize."