Ankyra Sound promise overkill

he touched her, and not for the first time at the brush of him did erzulie feel peace. for all his faults, he had not hurt her, and there seemed a devotion in firefly's regard of the harlot she had noticed. why the cruelty toward rosalyn, then, she wondered? perhaps he feared the pirate in a way that he did not hold terror for her.
"for what it is wor't, firefly," she began, quietly, lying back against the sand. "i do not t'ink you would have been a poor leader. i simply do not feel dat rusalka needed to lose its head right now." perhaps he would understand the sentiment behind her words: old and savage as caiaphas was, she had no senility that would have made her a poor leader for another handful of moons. the witch would not always lead, but for now she deserved the respect that had been lost her.