The truth comes out and it doesn't end well.

Because they were being **** to leave at a faster speed than they had planned, Tir was kept busy for the next few days and had relatively little time to spend with the girls. Kara had been taken to the kitchen the second day of the voyage to help with the cook, but Carmine had been left alone in their room. After two more days at sea, she finally cornered him as he came below deck to escape the sun and stay out of the way of the people still milling about and working.

"Tir, what's going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean why am I here? Kara in the kitchen I can understand but I'm not doing anything yet. When I do go out of the room, I see how the guys look at me. For now I've been stuck here with a horny teenager who apparently can't keep her hands off me. That reminds me, she keeps giving me these big lovey eyes when she thinks I'm not looking. I'm not into that and only allowed it before because you were there."

"I'll talk to her then and try to get her to back off. She's still learning all this and I think she just trusts you and looks up to you. Besides with your rack it shouldn't be hard to figure out why a bisexual teenager would stare and want to touch."

Carmine sighed and shook her head, looking angier than before.

"That just brings us back on topic. Why am I here? What exactly did you challenge me to a drinking game for?"

Tir didn't want to say it, but knew that he had to be honest. This was the moment he hadn't wanted to come.

"I challenged you because I was looking for a woman I could convince to be the ship's whore. Getting you as a **** was the easiest and cheapest thing I could think of."

Carmine's eyes grew wide from shock, but quickly narrowed back to anger. She took a step towards him, now only a foot from him. The young pirate worried for a moment that she would strike out at him but instead she started to tremble as she looked into his eyes.

"So that's all I am to you? A cheap piece of ass for you to share with your friends? So what we did, you, Kara, and me, it didn't matter to you at all did it? I should have known!"

"Carmine its not like that I swear," Tir tried to reason with her. He wanted to tell her that he was starting to regret having won her for those reasons, that he wanted her to be more to him than just that, but but the woman stepped closer, now their faces just inches appart as she jabbed a finger into his chest.

"Oh don't worry, I understand completely how it is. You have my contract, Master, so I'll do what you want. I'll be a good little whore for you to toss to your friends and crewmates for a treat. Don't worry about hurting my damn feelings at all!"

"Carmine please just listen! I don't-"

"I don't care! Get out! I need to be alone for a while."

She turned away from him and walked over to one of the two beds and sat down, keeping her eyes on the floor. Tir wanted to go to her and hold her, but he knew she wouldn't listen. He turned and started for the door and heard her first sniffling sobs. He closed the door behind him gently and cursed himself for not knowing how to fix things.

She didn't speak to him the rest of the day, and the next morning she came on deck to report to the captain without even looking in Tir's direction. The conversation lasted only a few moments before she turned and walked off. After she was back below deck, the captain shook his head sadly and then came over to Tir.

"Look lad, by now we all know how things went down. Half the ship heard her crying last night and the other half heard her yelling at you. I can see it in your face you don't want this, but she's determined now. She said she's ready for duty."

"What do I do," Tir asked in earnest, unable to meet his captain's eyes.

"Personally I say let her cool down. She'll let a few of the crew have their fun and the fire of anger will dim as she works it out. Then you can move in and say what's on your mind."

"And what will happen when I do? With her and the crew I mean?"

The big man shrugged.

"That's between you, her, and them. Also, Kara came to me earlier and said that if Carmine decided to go through with this, she would be willing to start as well. I told her to remain in the kitchens for now, but honestly I think she will only heed that a short time before she too is doing more work on her back than standing at a cook pot. If I didn't know any better I would say she has feelings for Carmine. Sort of like you do."

The captain's eyes were twinkling with mischief as he spoke, but he let that matter hang in the air without being fully addressed. Tir closed his eyes, not liking the idea of the girls being used in such a way, but knowing that with how things stood between Carmine and him now that he couldn't very well stop it. Before he could say anything more to the captain, a shout rang out from the crow's nest.

"Captain! Ship closing on us fast from the west! It's the Vertigo and she looks in bad shape!"

"The Vertigo," Tir asked the captain, not recognizing the name.

"Aye lad. It's the ship I put one of my finest officers in charge of. Rufus was on that ship until recently, but I needed him closer to me until we were finished with this voyage. The captain is Joshua, your brother."

Tir was in stunned silence as he turned to look in the direction indicated by the watchman. The ship was of similar make to the Peregrine, but it was sailing odd. Part of the sail was torn and the ship was leaning slightly. Closer inspection when the ship had pulled alongside would reveal a large hole had hastily been patched and that the lower decks had taken on quite a bit of water. As luck would have it, the cannon ball that had torn into the side of the ship had struck a cannon that had been in the belly of the ship so that it's stand on deck could be repaired. This had stopped it from going straight through the bottom of the ship and allowed for a hole that could be repaired quickly.

Once the two ships were connected by a plank of wood, Tir and Jean were called to stand with the captain. The three men watched as Tir's brother Joseph lept upon the plank and walked across. His face was set and grim, his cloths stained with blood. The rapier at Joseph's side was both longer and thicker than conventional rapiers, so even with it's length it still remained strong and flexible. Tir had learned knife fighting and hand to hand combat, but his brother had always been the swordsman. Why his brother chose such a small blade was beyond him, but he had seen how deadly his brother could be on several occasions.

Joseph barely spared more than a glance to his younger sibling before bowing to Roland.

"Sir, I'm afraid that we've run into a bit of trouble. Good news and bad I'm afraid."

Roland nodded.

"Alright. We'll speak in my quarters. Jean, Tir, you two should come too. Its time you lads learned what we're really after."