[ He'd maintained then, as he would now, that he made his choices deliberately and would make the same ones again; Jack Rackham lived to fight another day because of it, and he was satisfied with the bargain. If Daphne had done the same, maybe he'd feel differently. Instead, it was simply a careless turn of events that might have cost her life if one of those bullets had found a better mark.

Then again, he probably wouldn't feel differently at all.

Charles has never been one to overstate his feelings, but he wouldn't disguise them from her. They know each other; he wanted that so badly, to be known deeper than his legend by someone he could trust with it, and of the very few people who have managed it, Daphne is the only one who never betrayed him afterward. So why hide anything from her now? ]

I don't fear my death. But I fear yours. And I'll never stop trying to protect you from it - even if you slaughter an army of elephants.