she said nothing for some time. it was certainly true that she knew jack better than anyone else could ever claim to. she and jack had been at each other’s sides since she was thirteen; it wasn’t possible to be that close for so long and not completely understand one another. and yet, anne currently found herself at a loss. his quest for recognition, his desire to make a name for himself — she hadn’t always understood that, but it was relatively simple to grasp. but this… she could not begin to account for what thoughts had led him to raise the white flag.
but anne wasn’t entirely sure that she wanted to share her ignorance on this particular topic with the man before her. it was difficult enough to share the same room with him after all that had transpired. more and more, she found her skin crawling, the desire to leave his presence almost overwhelming. it wasn’t that she feared him; anne bonny didn’t fear much, if anything. she was disgusted by him, and there was no telling if that feeling would ever go away, knowing what she now knew.
❛ don’t expect it makes much difference either way. ❜
the why of it was something that she hoped to eventually get to the bottom of, but she had no desire or inclination to discuss the possibilities with woodes rogers. let it play on his mind. let the details of that day haunt him in the darkness. but more importantly, she wanted him to know that even though jack had surrendered, anne bonny would never do the same.
❛ if it’d been me, all your fuckin’ men would’ve been at the bottom of the ocean. might’ve even found a way to drag you back to nassau, make a spectacle out of you. ‘cept i’d be sure to do it right the first time. ❜
His patience was worn thin. If it were not obvious by his behavior on the deck after Edward Teach had failed to die by keelhauling, it was obvious now in the pallor hue to his skin, the tight clasp of his lips, and the twitch which jumped over his jaw from time to time. Those blue eyes regarded her, dark with anger rather than alight with curiosity, but he knew the day was done. There was no more reason to parade deaths which would be pointless and only insight rage and reaction in the pirates below. He’d nearly lost them all before he’d put a bullet in Teach’s skull. He couldn’t risk it now.
“It’s amusing to me how likely you’d have been to do the same to me, if not worse, to make a message, yet when I do the same to one of you, I’m the monster you’re disgusted by.” That mouth, already pressed thin though it was, quirked at one corner as if to turn in a bemused smile.
His eyes leveled to hers again. “Make no mistake, I’m very aware what you’re capable of.” Woodes allowed for a pause, the words settling hard into the air between them. He took in a breath before clearing his throat - he could still taste the burn of gunpowder in his mouth and nose. “Now, if that’s all the help you’re going to be, I’ll see you escorted back to the brig. There’s no reason for you to be up here alone with me, less I want Jack Rackham to worry a moment longer.”
He wondered what Rackham was thinking now, with Anne having been taken some time ago and only having been told the Governor wanted to have a word with her. Nothing more, nothing less. Each rock of the ship as a wave pushed against it, each second that crawled by, he wouldn’t have known whether they were actually having a conversation or not.
