Epilogue

Surrendered Ambition

"But, Father, I don't understand!" Jennifer Scott was furious, and her eyes blazed in a way that was so very reminiscent of her mother, Caroline.

Edward leaned back against the chair and took a tiring breath, knowing that it was a fruitless gesture to return to the correspondence on the desk before him. These arguments with Jennifer had started after she discovered his Assassin past, and they had only grown in intensity every time she broached the subject with him. Now that she was sixteen, she had become much more emboldened in her arguments, speaking in the manner of an adult rather than a spoiled child not getting her way.

Briefly, Edward distracted himself by wondering just how long they had been arguing now, and as his eyes caught a flash of the clock, he saw that this battle had been engaged for nearly fifteen minutes. Certainly, it was the longest disagreement they had ever shared, and he feared as she grew older the fights would grow in intensity. She wanted to expand her wings and grow, and for reasons he refused to share with her, he had kept her wings clipped, confining her to her metaphorical cage.

"There is nothing for you to understand, love," Edward stated as calmly as his frustrations would allow. "Your safety is my priority, and I will not bring you into a life of battle and death."

Jennifer turned away from him, and her blue dress spun with the movement. Her long curls covered her back, floating with her movements, and there was a grace and elegance in her positional shift. Edward could not help but see how small her form appeared as she stood in the great room, her hands knotted into fists at her sides. Whatever fire that burned within her did not settle, and when she took a breath, he hoped it was to calm down. Unfortunately, that breath was to renew her anger instead. When she turned back to him, there was no mistaking the absolute pure agony in her irises.

"But, being able to protect myself will keep me safe," Jennifer reasoned with a cold tone. "Why should I depend on a man for my care?"

"Because you are my daughter, and I won't have you disfigured, or worse, killed," he shot back, forcing aside the image of a young Catherine Robinson and the scars upon her body that she needed to keep hidden from the world.

Jennifer shook her head and refused to give up the discord between them. "So, this has nothing to do with me protecting myself, does it? This is so I can remain your pristine, little daughter who every man in town fawns over so you can puff out your chest like a proud peacock. This is so you can boast about how you had your say as to who the perfect husband was for me and not give me a chance to become who I am meant to be."

Edward breathed tiredly, his intentions for her safety being entirely misconstrued. "You don't understand…"

"Damn right, I don't understand!" she shouted.

Standing up and feeling that anger just on the edge of snapping, Edward could not control his voice as he shouted in a way he never had before. "You will never use such language, do you understand, Jenny? You are a proper young woman, and you will remain as such."

Unintimidated, Jennifer kept her speech perfected with sarcastic pronunciation as she raised her chin. "Aye. Aye. Captain."

Edward slammed his fist onto the desk, realizing that his daughter knew exactly how to stir his anger in a way that no one else in his entire existence really had. She was far too much like himself, her charisma drawing others in when necessary and her blunt sarcasm rubbing against raw wounds that only festered the sores beneath.

"Enough!" he shouted. "I have my reasons for wanting you safe and protected, and I will not – under any circumstance – change my mind about your role in this society. We have been away from the lawless Caribbean for years, and I expect civility of you, not pirating around the streets of London."

Jennifer nodded now, as a realization dawned upon her angelic face, despite the wave of ire that radiated off her. With a strained voice, her words simmered, just waiting to release another explosion of fury. "So that's your fear, is it? You're worried I'll follow in dear, old father's footsteps and become his little pirate. This has nothing to do with the Assassins and their cause. This is because you don't want me to become you."

Stepping towards the desk and setting her hands on it, Jennifer leaned forward, her eyes piercing into her father. She had no fear of Edward Kenway, Assassin and former pirate captain of the Jackdaw. Where other men would reconsider their words or their actions under this man's kettle of over-boiling fury, Jennifer was not one to yield to her father's wrath.

Her words were smooth as velvet despite the dangerous flag of surrender that waved between them. "I assure you, Father, I will never become you."

Then, in a blur of fabric, Jennifer disappeared from Edward's study, and as her soft perfume lingered, it was the only reminder that she had been there.

Edward fell back into his chair and rubbed his hands against his face, feeling the roughness of his callused palms brush over the scars that lined his skin. When he brought his hands before him and looked at the mess they were, he could not help his thoughts returning to the young woman he had adopted for those few, short weeks during one of his many visits to Nassau.

An uneasy smile came across his face at the memory of Catherine Robinson and the night he stitched up that wound on her arm. She had told him about how she had been her mother's little pirate from the time she was young, and Edward did not want the same of Jenny. Even though he was certain Jenny could handle an injury with the same tact as Catherine, it was the thought of seeing his daughter – his last link to Caroline – blemished in any regard.

But, it was also more than seeing an injured and blemished Jenny that stopped Edward. He feared if he indulged in Jenny's whims, she would entangle herself similarly to the Templars like Catherine had, and right now Edward was working on a peaceful alliance. The last thing he needed was to reignite the war, and he knew that the fire that burned within Jenny would be certain to do just that. His daughter was consumed with a need to do right, and she would be certain to find way to justify the need she had to eradicate Templars who were not seeking a world in which the Assassins were allied with them.

Suddenly, Edward was overwhelmed with the fear that he was doing everything wrong with Jenny, but whenever he thought about bringing her into the Assassin world, Alexander Robinson's haunting words would echo in his memories. If you ever have a daughter, Captain, protect her fiercely as a father should, for the moment you don't, you will lose her. And, never indulge in her whims because she will break you to your very core.

Edward saw the broken man that Alexander Robinson had become under Catherine's ordeals, and he swore that the moment he met Jenny that he would not allow his daughter to break him as Catherine had done with Alexander. He understood now why Alexander had given in to his daughter, but Edward was a stubborn man who survived the life of a pirate and became an Assassin, rising up to become a respectable member of the Brotherhood and eventual master Assassin of Britain. He could not allow the whims of his daughter to break him, and he would die doing everything he could to keep her safe – regardless if it strained their relationship for a short time or the rest of their lives. One day, he was certain Jenny would understand, but until then, he would not cave in like Alexander Robinson had and lose his last link to purity in this world. Keeping Jenny safe was the only way he could keep himself from suffering the same heartbreak that Alexander Robinson had experienced.