Enjoy an excerpt from Daughter of Hades

Daughter of Hades

Mack Little

Black & African American Historical Erotica

Dinny and her brother make their escape from slavery on the pirate ship the Hades. It is the last place in the world Dinny imagined she’d meet the love of her life. Lei, a Chinese exile, recognizes Dinny as the woman of his destiny. But their new life is shattered when her former owner seeks his revenge. With the help of their friends, family, and colleagues, Dinny and Lei will face the challenges of finding love and happiness in the Caribbean world of the 17th century.

Enjoy this erotic historical romance with true-to-life relationships of both heterosexual and LGBTQ partnerships.

Excerpt

20th May 1649

Cove Bay, Barbados

The Hades was a small sailing ship. Dinny heard Lei refer to it as a barque. It had, according to how the Chinese man described it to Jimmie, three tall spars to which the sails were attached. What made the Hades a ship was those three masts. Anything with less than that was merely a boat. However, what made it a barque was rather nuanced. “Barque is the general name given to small ships,” Lei said, “and usually to those with no mizzen topsail.”

Dinny listened to Lei speak. The sound of his voice quelled the anxiety of running away. Concentrating on his words kept her from worrying about what was to come.

“In ancient Egypt,” Lei rowed the jolly boat toward the Hades,

“the pharaoh, when he dies, journeys to become a god, in a barque.”

“That sounds rather odd,” Dinny said. “How would they know such a thing?”

“A boat is built for the pharaoh, and a model of it is placed in the tomb with him, as well as anything else he might need. It is quite elaborate.”

Dinny wanted to ask about Egyptian burials, but the subject at hand was boats.

“They had these ships in ancient Egypt?” she asked.

“A version, yes. Though they kept slaves in the galley who rowed the boats—”

“Row a ship as big as the Hades?” said Jimmie.

“Aye, fourteen oars—long oars on each side,” Lei said. “Three slaves to move each oar.”

“Where did they get the slaves?” Dinny said.

“Prisoners of war, mostly.”

As they drew closer to the Hades, the nondescript blotch on the argent horizon grew more defined. The bow of the ship had the shape of a flute, and toward the rear, the hull bulged.

“Why is the Hades shaped so oddly?” Dinny asked Lei.

“It’s a Dutch fluyt. It was built to transport very large and bulky cargo. So the hulls tend to take on a bulbous shape to create maximum space in the lower decks.” Jimmie nodded. He seemed engaged with Lei’s discussion of ships. Dinny simply enjoyed the distraction.

The stern of the rowboat butted gently against the elongated and bulging hull of the Hades. Dinny’s heart sank a little. She’d enjoyed the intimacy of the smaller vessel. The sound of Lei’s voice soothed her.

Dinny looked up at the tall, dark, ominous Hades and felt anxious as she floated toward an unknown future. Lei let go of the oar and grabbed the rope ladder. He pulled the boat about so that broadsides touched. Jimmie, who couldn’t wait to sail off to his future, grabbed the ladder and scaled it eagerly. This, despite the limitations his African blood presented. As a man, he had more promising prospects than Dinny. He could sail or farm—perhaps with his fair skin and light-colored hair, he could even pass himself off as white if he cut his hair short. That way, he could buy land… buy slaves. Well, Dinny could tame her curls, for that matter, and marry a wealthy landowner. But she could not—would not—abide any person in that evil service.

“Dinny?”

She startled at the sound of her name. Lei held the boat to the ship as he looked on her with concern. His dark eyes twinkled in the waning starlight. He was beautiful in a way that moved her—not sexually. She didn’t think she would ever want such an intrusion on her person in that way ever again. Lei’s comeliness moved her in the way a sunset might, one with colors and patterns she had never seen before. Every aspect of him entranced her. His eyes, so lovely—of course, she had seen striking eyes before, but none seemed to really see her. Dinny felt sure, when he looked at her, that Lei could gaze into her very soul. She felt laid bare by them. It wasn’t just his eyes. She could spend endless hours contemplating the cut of his jaw and the angles and planes of his face, how they met to form such an unusual yet absolutely exquisite visage. Her gaze fell to the hard sinews of his body, which looked as unyielding as cut marble. The candied amber hue of his skin fascinated her. Lei, she decided, was a being crafted by God—a strange and singular version of the human form, as if God were suddenly inspired in the creation of Lei.

“Are you okay?” Lei said. “Yes…yes. I’m fine, truly.”

Lines unfurled as they fell over the edges of the rail of the ship. Lei tied one end to the stern. Dinny grabbed the other rope and attempted to tie the knot as Lei did. When he finished his side, he moved to the bow and helped her tie her side off. “This is called a bowline.” He guided her in making the loops. “It never slips or jams.” Lei yanked on the rope, and the slack in the lines disappeared. The boat began to rise as sailors hoisted them from above. A slight vertigo overcame Dinny, and she sat on the rower’s seat. Lei smiled as he stood. One foot rested on the rail, the other in the hull. He appeared to Dinny as some heroic figure standing there, even as he held the line for balance. Dinny couldn’t help but return his smile. Such a thing of beauty was the mirth upon his face. When they reached the rail of the ship, Lei jumped agilely onto the deck and extended his hand for Dinny. She took it and held on tight as she climbed onto the narrow deck of the Hades. Her first step aboard was greeted with cheers from the crew who crowded the rail. With the many lines and shrouds all sharing the limited space with so many people on the main deck, Dinny felt overwhelmed. Trapped.

The crowd parted as a man of average height stepped forward. He had the swarthy complexion of a Spaniard. His dark hair framed his face with gently tousled waves. He approached Dinny with arms outstretched. Her eyes were drawn to the white cuff on his right wrist. It encompassed the man’s thick wrist and forearm, digging into the skin a little.

Dinny recognized Gregory Duff straightaway, though she was a small child when she’d first met him. It was the time before Owen Craig took Dinny from her family to be his daughter’s pet. Duff had gotten his first ship, and wanted to show it to Badu. In retrospect, Duff may have wanted to rescue Dinny’s father. But Dinny understood very little in those days. For her, it seemed natural that a white man like Duff would seek Badu’s approval, because other white men showed deference to her father. Badu worked as a ranger on the Craig plantation. He had a large, imposing figure. That, along with his intelligence and brawn, gave him an air of authority that allowed him to facilitate plantation business with neighboring landowners. If slaves had grievances with overseers, his mediation settled the matter.

Dinny didn’t know all the particulars, but she knew that Duff had served on the slave ship that brought her father to Craig. In spite of this, Badu called Duff friend. Something significant had happened on that journey which forged a strong bond between the men. Badu and his brother, Jojo, were captives on that ship. Duff kept track of the bothers, who were sold to masters on different islands. Through Duff, they had kept in touch, especially after Jojo escaped slavery in Jamaica and started living with other Maroons in the belly of the island. And now that Dinny was in trouble, Duff would deliver her to her uncle.

Standing before her now, Captain Duff bussed both Dinny’s cheeks and announced, “I am Gregory Duff.”

“I know!” Dinny cried. She couldn’t help but match his exuberance.