"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I thought once I'd like to be the last of the pirates. I learned differently. I learned the opposite, actually, Annie. The dead opposite. The life was the thing." He twisted his hands together and then let them fall to his sides, palms open. "I'd rather that piracy died, love---died as I know it---than to not be from your world. And I'm a lummox. Did I mention that yet?"

There were still so many questions: did all the pirates die out at once, during a decisive battle? Or had they been picked off one at a time? How long had the Court lasted? How long had they held out in Shipwreck Cove? But he tried to still them for now, because there was a larger truth eclipsing all that.

"I'm sorry."