Keeping her life had seemed to be more a burden than a relief. When she first came to Nassau, almost one year ago, she did it with the intention of retiring, yet she found it impossible. With each opportunity presented to her she was emboldened by wishes to get back into business. As Max had offered her a place to stay and opportunity for business, she was back onto it again, feeding a loop that was bound to eventually burst.

She happily lended money to all those who could not afford Max's wares, be them drinks, whores or other goods and services and Max happily took the gold from them. After all was spent, Max had gold in her pocket, Elisabeth had an interest to look up to and the indebted men found themselves doing anything to pay her back. But things as these are not as simple as they seem and reality often does not comply with plans. Just as she had ran from Port Royal, she found herself cornered in Nassau. Perhaps it was time to truly retire, as there was no way she could continue her way of life under such heavy surveillance and enforcement of the law. On one hand, she was glad that she was forced to behave, as lack of options often brings peace and throws away the burden of choice, yet on the other hand, she was left to deal with her own impulses.

She had been announced, just after her trial, that the governor wished to speak to her, so there she was, the next morning, waiting on a hallway, contemplating her future. She figured what sort of things the man would want to hear from her and she found the prospect of the meeting rather uninteresting.

"The governor can see you now" a soldier announced and pointed her to the door

Even before she touched the door handle, she felt herself emboldened. No matter how low she was, no matter how much existential dread she had, anything that took her out of a routine emboldened and almost transformed her. She always imagined that men must feel the same in battle, as they all seemed to tell her of a similar feeling, of behaving under different instincts when faced with an enemy. The difference was that she did not feel violent or physically strong when faced with such situations, but she felt her mind working faster and more efficient, the words flowing easier from her mouth and her spirits lifted.

"Good morning, miss Durand" she heard as she opened the door and realised that the governor was none other than the man who sat next to Max at the trial

"I am sorry, I saw you at my trial yet I never realised who you were" she said with a smile as she sat herself down on the chair in front of his desk

She was thrown off by the fact that the man looked absolutely impeccable, head to toe, making her feel a sudden shame for knowing that he had seen her in the unkempt and filthy way she looked when she had faced the judge. Her previous brushes with officials got her used to seeing plump men with smug faces, which only brought up instant disgust out of her.

"Mister Rogers, have you ever met sir Lawes, the governor of Jamaica?"

"No, I have not had the pleasure"

He was a stern man and barely any muscle moved on his face, yet despite his subtle manner, his face was very expressive. Right then, it seemed to express that he was not impressed by her attempt at small talk, yet that he somehow let her go on with it.

"If you ever come across him, you will understand why people would confuse you for an officer"

He did not seem to understand what she was suggesting, as she often found herself misunderstood and just then realised that her words could have been perceived as an insult and not a compliment.

"Miss Durand, I assume our mutual friend, Max, must have told you that the verdict of your trial was due to an agreement between me and her and not due to your defense"

"I have been told, yes. So I assume you called for me to tell me what I owe in exchange for it?"

He gave half of a slow nod, as if to show her that he approved of her answer, as if somehow it was expected of her to seek his approval. She found herself quite intrigued by how different he seemed to be from the other men she had dealt with, by how he was rather calm and neither boastful, nor threatening, though he did look arrogant.

"First of all, you will need to settle your remaining debts through lawful means. There will be no threatening or cutting of fingers, but you will sue your debtors and have them imprisoned"

"I will comply, though I have to admit that I find prison time to be quite an unfit punishment for people in debt"

She knew that the subject she just touched was delicate, as she had been told that what had previously defeated the man turned out to be his debts. She did not want to seem like she was sucking up to him, but he did ask for the truth, so she explained:

"Sitting around in prison is useless to both sides, as I think you would agree. I prefer to leave a man an opportunity to pay me back and I think any man would also prefer to keep his freedom and make an extra effort to rightfully redeem himself"

"Humour me with something then" he replied, breaking his stance, seeming rather interested "If you would have been my creditor three years ago when I lost to Jack, what would you have done instead of imprisoning me?"

She liked both the question and the prospect of telling her opinions on such matters.

"Sir, I would have marooned you on Skeleton Island with a shovel"

She saw him trying to hold in a smirk and she took it as a cue that she was on the right path and that he was not the kind to interpret her remarks as offensive, though the little annoying voice in her head kept pestering her.

"Apart from complying with the law from this day forward, I will need you to collaborate with me in my efforts to rid this place of pirates, their allies and their business"

"I will gladly help you mr Rogers, yet I don't know how. Apart from last year, I have lived for ten years in Port Royal and before that I lived for nineteen years in France!"

"I am aware of where you have spent your years, miss. I have been gathering information about you, among other people, since the day Max had named you. I have here" he continued, showing her a stack of papers "about fifty pages of information about you, gathered from various sources, yet what people say about you tells me more about them than they say about you, so I prefer to go straight to the source."

She didn't quite understand what he meant by that, but he seemed to pick up on her confusion and went on explaining:

"One woman named Theodora, for example" he said, going through the papers "says that you bathe in the blood of the men you murdered to keep your youth" he went on, as she could not help but chuckle at hearing the village nut being quoted in such a context "So as you see, this tells me more about Theodora than it says about you."

"And what other things do those pages say about me?" she inquired, still amused

She noticed how her question and her amusement did not offend the governor, but rather intrigued him. She took it as a good sign, as she figured that the man was rather testing her and her answers than he was actually expecting accurate information.

"Three times married and three times widowed" he began reading "You spent nine years in Port Royal giving out illegal loans and taking illegal deposits from various outlaws, operating like a small underground bank. You had a romantic relationship with the pirate captain Bartholomew Roberts who also helped you murder your last husband, John Foxworth and his five brothers. Then the two of you split the money that you had and ran away, him to see, you to Nassau, out of fear of repercussions for the murders. What remained in your stead was a fight between the people who owed you and the people you owed. You left your books behind and they fought between themselves to recoup their losses, sometimes with multiple victims. Is this information correct?"

She just looked at him silently for a few seconds, after hearing what was nothing less but what people had understood about what had happened almost a year ago. The information was not exactly accurate, yet how could she explain in a believable way?"

"You are not on trial, miss" he added "I do not care if you murdered three husbands or six of them and I do not care about crimes you did in Jamaica. What I want is the truth of things, because I am most interested in Bartholomew Roberts"

The relief she felt came not from his promises, but from the fact that he saw right through her. Coming clean was always soothing, though a little voice in her head kept telling her that it was a trap, and that it will all go wrong. She had been warned last night though, that lying to him was not a good idea.

"Well, sir, I can begin by saying that I did not murder my first husband. He died away from home, in the Battle of Blenheim. I do have to say though, that the prospect of me travelling to that place would have been less surprising than the battle itself"

He gave another posh half-nod and she could hear him blowing air through his nose. Joking about battles aside, she went on with her story:

"I did have a relationship with Roberts, yet in the last years it had turned completely one-sided and I married my third husband, Foxworth"

"And what of his business? I understand he was a pirate and a smuggler and that he owned a ship that called the Crow. "

"He did. The ship had black sails and its wood was painted completely black, so he could sneak in port or close to ship without being detected"

"Wouldn't that ship belong to you now?"

"No, I let the crew have it and they elected themselves a new captain, a man named Oleg"

"That is one suitable way to make sure they would not be upset at you for their former leader's death"

"That is not the case. They were the only men close enough for me to know that Bart killed John out of jealousy and that he killed his brothers out of fear of repercussion towards me. I gave them the ship because they deserved it. I would have very much liked to settle all my accounts before leaving, yet that was impossible. Someone would have murdered me sooner or later before I could finish and my debtors would have just continued to fight each other on top of my corpse."

She watched his face with every word she spoke, yet she could not tell whether he believed him or not. There was nothing left but telling the truth.

"So before I ran, I gave Bartholomew fifty thousand pounds, foolishly hoping that if he could afford to retire, he would. I begged him to leave me and leave the account, yet instead he refitted his ships and continued to plunder to pay me back."

"That is most unfortunate"

It was, yes. She sponsored a madman.

"I was unaware of your return to Nassau" she said "And unaware of him following me here too. Had I known these things, I would not have given him anything"

"I was only recently released so, truly, you could not have been aware of that"

She breathed a little easier, knowing that she would not be further prosecuted and that there was enough room to assume that her life could go on peacefully in one way or another.

"But … " he said "It is rather odd that you stand to lose those fifty thousand pounds"

"Well, I consider that money to be lost. It is a risk I took"

"A risk you took? I'd rather say it is what I risk for keeping you alive"

"I-I'm sorry, I don't follow"

"It makes you his investor. If I manage to drive him far away from here or to execute him, you lose your money. If I fail to tackle the pirate problem in here and Bartholomew keeps on pirating, you stand to gain your money back "

It suddenly hit her that this was the place where he wanted to end up all along and that she got so carried on by the conversation that she was throw off-guard. The little voice in her mind was rubbing its victory in her face as she realised that this was not a simple scolding she was facing, but a new danger:

"Sir, I do not want to be perceived as Bartholomew's investor and I am not taking his side in this conflict. I am a collateral victim!"

"Miss, I find it hard to believe you a victim of any kind, but fortunately for you, I do not find any of this to be reason to not let you live" he replied, noting down and circling something on his papers "And I do have a way to make sure you will be on my side of this conflict and not on his or any other pirates'"

"What way would that be?"

"It's quite simple" he declared, letting down his papers in one swift move and smiling proudly "You will be my investor. Given the circumstances, I find myself in need of a loan of exactly one hundred and twelve thousand pounds." he went on, as her jaw dropped "Given your circumstances, I think you will find it generous to offer me a significantly low yearly interest"

And just like that, in an instant, the world turned upside down for her. There would be no retirement, no peace, not even a chance at running away.

"That way" he went on "I am sure that your efforts will go towards keeping me alive and well enough to pay you back"

" … leaving me with my treasury empty and completely dependent on your payments …" she found herself thinking out loud, defeated "... smart" she then concluded, trying to copy the half nod of the head

"I expect you to draw out the papers without me needing to list all the ways in which I could make your life unpleasant if you refuse."

"I will draw out the papers until tomorrow"

She slowly stood up, staring down the man who smiled at her and looked to be quite pleased with himself.

"But … " she stopped on her way back out the door "I will need something as collateral"

He raised his eyebrows, as if he had just heard a ridiculous proposition.

"I can't fathom how you could expect from me anything of such value from me"

"I don't. I only wish for something symbolic. Something pretty to remind me of our deal"

She made sure to smile in spite, yet her little condition was only a sorry excuse to look like she had a say in all of it. Even if only by form, she had to keep some semblance of an order.

She watched him as he opened a drawer and then handing her a small and delicate knife. It was a stiletto dagger and although it was quite a common one, it had its beauty. She unsheathed it and inspected its sharp point. This was not meant for cutting, it was meant for bleeding out whoever it went through.

"Is it not to your liking?" he asked in a tone which could have only been mocking her

"Quite the contrary, but I am surprised you'd give me a weapon"

"Miss … I could give you a two-handed sword and it would still not tip the scales between the two of us"