British Empire

The Price of Paradise

By Edward Langford, Gentleman of His Majesty's Service

Saint Lucia, 1785

When I first set foot upon the shores of Saint Lucia, I was a man bound by duty, hardened by war, and untouched by love. I had seen the savagery of men in battle, had charted the unknown seas, and had tasted the finest luxuries of London. Yet, it was here, in this place of fevered air and emerald waters, that I would find the only thing that could truly unmake me.

Her name was Mariette.

The island had already bewitched me with its unnatural beauty—the towering Pitons rising like twin sentinels, the scent of wild orchids clinging to the wind, and the sea, ever restless, ever calling. But no wonder of nature could compare to the fire in her eyes, the defiance in her voice, the untamed spirit that burned brighter than any sun that ever shone upon the West Indies.

I met her on the eve of a storm. The air was thick, the sky bruised with the promise of chaos. I had come ashore with my men, sent under orders to establish a new outpost for His Majesty's crown. The island had changed hands too many times—French, British, French again—and now we sought to claim it once more. I had been raised to believe in the righteousness of empire, in the burden of civilization upon the so-called savage world.

And then she proved me a fool.

We found her in the jungle near the village, surrounded by men who bore muskets not of their own making. Slavers. The kind that prowled these islands like jackals, preying on the defenseless, selling souls for gold. My men were ready to move past—after all, what was one more lost soul in the West Indies? But something in me rebelled. Before reason could stop me, my pistol was drawn, my sword unsheathed.

The battle was brief. The slavers fell, their blood swallowed by the hungry earth. And there she stood, unafraid, her eyes locked on mine, fierce as the sea in a gale. She did not thank me. Instead, she spat at my feet and called me by the same name as the men I had slain.

"Colonizer. Conqueror."

I should have left her there. Should have turned my back, let the wild have her. But I was a man cursed with curiosity, and she was an enigma I could not ignore.