In front of her was Camilla. And standing over Camilla was Kara's brother. He didn't give her so much as a glance. Armed men were all about them, watching each other warily.

'There is an unforseen problem,' he told Camilla. 'My father's ship, the Morta, has been seen steaming in this direction.'

'How is that a problem?' Camilla asked, her tone belligerent. 'Just give me my money, and I will get off Isla Fiero myself.'

'You will not get past the Morta,' he told her grimly. 'She is a warship with a large crew. When she arrives here my father will take over the island.'

'Your Morta will be blown out of the water the moment she enters port,' Camilla said haughtily. 'Big guns ring the entire port. There are even guns high up on the hill, and atop the walls of the old fortress. Your Morta will never even get close.'

'Listen to me, you little fool!' he hissed, taking her wrist in a grip of iron. 'This is not a game! Those guns will never fire a shot! Do you hear me? My father's men will not allow a one of them to fire! Not once! You think he would blithely bring the Morta into danger? Regardless, the Morta's guns are new, and of far greater range and power than any of the primitive cannon on this rock. If my father's men cannot make their way ashore to disable the cannon, then my father will sit miles away and reduce your precious port to rubble at his leisure.

'And once his men land on shore there will be no stopping them! They have machine guns and repeating rifles, not the bolt-action museum pieces I've seen your islanders lugging about. Their guns shoot further, faster and far more accurately, and they are in the hands of professional mercenaries who kill for a living.

'So get this through your head, once and for all! They will be coming for our skins as well as my sister's!'

'Our? What do you mean, our skins?' Camilla shouted back. 'You mean I have to worry about your father now, as well as Roman?'

He shook his head, becoming exasperated, and took her by the shoulders. 'No! Listen to me! Stop your inane scheming for one moment and listen! The threat to both of us comes now from both Roman and his men, and my father! We need my sister as a diversion, to keep their attention off us at the right moment, if and when an opportunity arises for us to escape.'




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