Elissa looked at the tankard in front of her for a moment before sliding it over in front of Joseph. “No thank you. I told you I don’t drink scotch. It’s too strong for me.” She said to Rhea, wondering why the woman hadn’t listened to her. Elissa looked over at the captain with a small look of surprise on her face. “You told them about me?” She asked. She had been certain that he didn’t believe a word she had said about her adventures, why would he tell the men about them? Unless he wanted to try trapping her in a lie. Well they weren’t a lie, she’d had every adventure she had told him about. Elissa looked around at the members of the crew that sat at the table.

“Go on, miss. Tell us what sort of adventures a lady of your standing has.” Adam encouraged as he took a drink. “Tell us about Spain? We know you are wanted there, Joseph and I both saw the mark on your neck so there is no denying it.” He saw her hesitation, saw the change in her eyes when he mentioned Spain. What had this girl been through?

When Adam fell silent a few other members at the table began to try encouraging her. A few tried to connect with her and commented how they weren’t fond of Spain, it was too unwelcoming for pirates.

“Well, I’m not really a lady of high standing. True my father is wealthy, but he has worked for that money, we weren’t born into it. Most of high society in England shuns us, which honestly I’m fine with, they are all too stuck up for me.” She said with a small smile. “I like sailing and working for a living. I sail for my father’s company and enjoy seeing the world. For one order they wanted some goods from Spain, we tend to cater to anyone who will purchase from us, this customer was a rather high up nobleman. Since it wasn’t a large order I was allowed to go, taking my ship The Rose. Unlike most places Spain doesn’t seem to mind female merchants, so I didn’t disguise myself.” Elissa went on with the story, telling how a man in the market place wouldn’t leave her alone and when he grabbed her arm she turned and punched him. It turned out that the man was the king of Spain in disguise. She was immediately arrested and taken to the prison in the castle, where she was whipped and branded with the mark Adam and Joseph had seen on her neck. “I didn’t think I was going to escape. My crew was down at the docks waiting for me, not knowing I was in any trouble.” She continued to tell them of how she escaped by picking the lock of the cell. “I managed to reach the stables undetected, but I feared that wouldn’t last long. I knew I needed a distraction, so I released all the horses and set some of the hay on fire. That kept everyone busy while I got out of there and back to my ship. Well almost back to my ship, I was hurt rather badly and blacked out halfway to the docks. Thankfully my crew had noticed I was gone and were searching for me. Phillip, my first mate, was the one that found me. He got me back to the ship, got the rest of the crew and we got out of there. I’ve never gone back and if at all possible I’ll never go back again.” Elissa had gone into more detail with the story this time than she had when she had told it to Joseph. She’d described parts of the city and the palace, something she couldn’t have done if it had been a lie.

Adam sat starting at her with a mixture of shock and wonder on his face. “Why would your father let you do something so dangerous?”