Blackheart (30 page)

“
Lochlanaire’s
blood that I should have spilled at Simone’s death,” Zore spat, his teeth gnashed.

“Simone died for you, Zore.” Twirling, Siren turned to Lochlanaire but still brandished the knife on Zore. “And she died for you, Lochlanaire. She cared for
both
of you. She must have been devastatingly torn. Zore, it was not her fault that she fell for Lochlanaire, nor was it his. The heart aches for love. Simone stepped between you and Lochlanaire that night upon which you tried to shoot him, halting you, Zore, from slaying your brother. Why? Because he’s
your
brother. She was guilty for the offense that ripped you apart. After you shot her, Simone never swore out a warrant for your arrest, Zore. Why?”

Zore scowled at Siren unable to answer, his fists clenched by his sides.

“She couldn’t allow you to die because of your jealous rage that taunted you to try to slay your brother. Simone wanted Lochlanaire to live, that’s why
she
shielded Lochlanaire and took the pistol ball destined to end his life. She wanted
you
to live, too, Zore. It is why she feigned to kill herself, knowing you would be executed if she admitted to anyone of how she was shot. Simone
died
for you both.” Siren challenged Zore, her tearful eyes pleading. “I beg you to see the truth. Your rage and vengeance are unjust, Zore. If you kill Lochlanaire, you’ve seized a noblewoman’s honor, a woman whose only failing was that she loved two men. See the tragedy for the sacrifice it was. Please, let my husband live so his child may love him as he deserves. Lochlanaire’s death assuages nothing of the past. Simone is forever lost. But at her death, she wanted you
and
Lochlanaire to survive, as brothers, united. The beats of your hearts are
her
legacy. They were Simone’s final wish.” Siren implored for Zore to comprehend the truth.

Zore roamed his glance over Siren, who ridiculously wielded the knife on him, encumbered by the babe filling her womb. He staggeringly witnessed the love she enfolded for Lochlanaire. His rage dispersed, Zore’s fists unclenched.

Glancing around his brave wife, Lochlanaire looked sideways at Zore, who shook his head and smiled. “Well, brother, do we decree a truce or resume an eternal conquest as starved wolves?”

Zore laughed. Sauntering to Siren, he rose the palm of his right hand, slicing the flesh. Lochlanaire soldiered to Siren and slit his left hand. Smacking in mid-air, the bleeding palms of Zore and Lochlanaire locked in an everlasting bound with Siren standing between them, witness to the end of their bloodshed.

Zore removed his knife from Siren’s grip, her eyes spellbinding. He confessed, “It was the love of a woman that broke us apart. It is the love of a woman who has healed those festerin’ wounds. I bow to you, my princess. May you and Lochlanaire live as insatiable lovers evermore. I surrender.” Zore bowed and approached his tied horse, sheathing the knife. “Though you’ll not regain your title, Lochlanaire, or the manor,” chuckling, he amusingly shouted. “Or the gold…” his voice strayed off.

Lochlanaire yelled, “All I need is this woman’s love.”

“Which you possess,” Zore chirped, leaping astride his spirited horse. “Where’s Grayson?”

“If you wait, we’ll lead you to him,” Siren shouted.

While Zore slyly observed the couple, his horse pranced.

Lochlanaire whooshed Siren off her feet, and greedily kissed her lips. He whispered, “I love you, Siren Blackheart. God, I bless the day on which King William favored me with that painting of you for me to hunt. On that day, I drowned in love for you. I shall never love another. I swear by all that is just, holy, and wicked. You’re the reason for my heart to beat, the enchantress of my beastly soul.”

Siren smiled and admitted, “I’ll love you forever, Lochlanaire. I shall never love any but you. You’re my life, and my heart beats for only you. You’re my enslaver, my hunter, my love.”

Lochlanaire and Siren were only seduced from their savage kisses and lusty embrace when Zore admonished, “Bleedin’ pirates. Come
on
, you two. We’ve celebratin’ to embark upon.”

Lochlanaire lowered Siren to the ground, threaded her fingers between his, and together they strolled to Zore, their hands swinging as they were enamored by loving eyes, enchanted, beguiled, bewitched.

Epi
logue

The child, a squawking baby boy named Lanaire by his parents’ accord, was delivered aboard the
Royal
days after Lochlanaire’s escape of King William’s death sentence. Aboard ship, Zore, Grayson, and Aynore impatiently awaited the birth while Shevaun attended Lochlanaire in delivering his own babe. Mother, father, and son were all immersed in a magical web of celestial bliss. The pirates aboard the anchored vessels celebrated for days, drinking, gaming, and dancing.

On the day at which word spread that Zore was proclaimed an outlaw hunted for treason procured against King William for his lies decreed regarding Lochlanaire and his sedition, Zore decided to abdicate the title Marquis of Braighton previously gifted to him. He cast his lot in with Grayson and Lochlanaire, enfolding himself in a pirate partnership of three. The blackguard brothers, thereafter, engaged their fleet into a piratical force few could dismiss, as their ships, the
Royal
, the
Vengeance,
and
Satan’s
Victory,
magnificently bore down upon the countless conquests they’d pillaged thus far without burden of a bloody affront by the conquered vessels, warship, merchant or otherwise.

Months lapsed and upon capturing a merchant vessel off the African coast, Lochlanaire and Siren learned that King William’s quest for the holy grail of King James II’s fortune was all for naught. Neither William nor his indentured scholars could unravel the mystery behind the ruby signet Siren messengered to him. Siren giggled at the king’s folly, for, of course, she knew William would never unravel the secret. She’d only bestowed to him the one signet, the jewel her mother gave to her and, therefore, he never would unlock the treasure’s tomb. Even should he somehow untangle the riddle that half the signets paint, the gold-crested ship, the
Royal
, was already entrusted to villainous pirates.
Her
pirates.

King James II took sanctuary from William’s hunting sentries in France, where he was aided by King Louis XIV. With a paltry assemblage of troops, James landed, attempting to regain his British throne. But alas, he was defeated in the Battle of Boyne and scampered back to France. He remained in seclusion and exile until his death.

King William’s reign was tarnished by constant plots derived for which to restore King James II to the throne, and he was embroiled in numerous wars on the Continent. After a skillful alliance, and under the terms of a treaty, France’s Louis XIV surrendered, finally recognizing William as England’s rightful sovereign. At King William’s death in 1702, his wife’s sister, Anne, succeeded to the throne.

Shevaun Rain, much to her dismay, found herself falling for an extremely handsome pirate rogue, Grayson Blackheart. Lochlanaire married them aboard the bridge of the gold inlaid
Royal
weeks after its sailing from England. Soon, they were gleefully entrenched aboard
Satan’s
Victory
.

***

This day, Lochlanaire stood aboard the
Royal
with his beloved wife, beside the falcon spirited in flight figurehead, their cooing son swaddled between his mother’s loving arms. Lochlanaire braced his arms around Siren and drew her to him, kissing her lustfully, grateful for the day on which he’d been pardoned of his death sentence and threaded in a hunt for this temptress who sprung him from Hell’s gates with her undying love. His lips teasing hers, Lochlanaire smiled, wanton to drown in her seductive raven black eyes as he said, “You spared me of my nightmarish Hell, healing a barbaric assassin’s wounds. No word I utter may ever prove my love for you, Siren. With your love, no longer am I a monstrous killer enduring a black heart.”

Smiling, Siren replied, “The day you captured me from Zore’s prison, I was yours. You surrendered to me love that I shall cherish forever, Lochlanaire. Our love can never be renounced by man, pirate, king, or god.”

Lochlanaire’s memory never fully regained its stronghold. Somehow he was not all that burdened by its desecration, although he suffered nightmares, phantoms which reigned bloody butchery. He felt remorse for those lives he must have destroyed at the ordaining of two kings. He accepted that his guilt would never be absolved, no matter how much time expired.

No longer was Lochlanaire’s conscious drowned in the death song sung in torment by Thorn. That lost, icy vacant gaze of a tortured stranger, beholding one black eye and one gray, possessing little memory of his vilified past, was vanquished. He knew exactly who he was. Captain Lochlanaire Blackheart, lover and husband to a vivacious sorceress named Siren Blackheart, proud father of a son, christened Lanaire, roguish brother to Zore, Grayson, and even Thorn Blackheart. Once he was an indentured assassin, now he is a cutthroat pirate.

The End

About the Author

Raelle Logan

Raelle Logan has been writing since she was very young, beginning around ten years old. Back then, her interest was Westerns. Long ago, her facination became pirates and their stories. She wanted to write about them in a more realistic fashion than is usually portrayed in books and film and became a voracious reader of their history. Today, she lives in Littleton, CO with her husband, Ron, and one spoiled cat, Ransom.

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