Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
LILY
I had to wait three days.
Three days. Not "tomorrow" like I'd promised. Not the next evening, slipping away at sunset, diving into their arms the way I'd dreamed about all through the sleepless night. Three agonizing, endless, torturous days.
The first day, Brennan assigned me to inventory duty below deck, hours of counting barrels and crates and supplies in the cramped, airless hold where I couldn't even see the water.
By the time I emerged, covered in dust and sweat, the sun had already set and the crew was gathering for the evening meal.
Too many eyes. Too many people who would notice if I disappeared.
I went to the railing anyway, just for a moment, and I saw them, four shapes hovering just beneath the surface, waiting.
Kaelan's pale hand pressed against the hull of the ship like he could reach through the wood and touch me.
Riven's crimson tail lashing with barely contained impatience.
Thane's amber eyes finding mine through the darkness, soft with concern.
And Vale, whose voice I still hadn't heard, making gestures I couldn't understand from this distance.
I pressed my own hand against the railing, as close to them as I could get, and mouthed the words: I'm sorry. I can't. Tomorrow.
The look in Kaelan's eyes, the disappointment, the longing, the fierce restraint—made my chest ache like something was breaking inside it.
The second day was worse. Cort cornered me at breakfast, his bulk blocking the narrow passage to the galley, his small eyes fixed on me with that calculating hunger that made my skin crawl.
"You've been distracted lately." His voice was deceptively casual, but his nostrils flared as he spoke, scenting the air around me.
"Spending a lot of time at the stern. Staring at the water.
" He leaned closer, and I pressed myself back against the wall, my heart hammering.
"What's so interesting out there, little mouse? "
"Nothing." The lie tasted like ash on my tongue. "Just... I like watching the sunset. It's peaceful."
"Peaceful." He repeated the word like he didn't believe it, like he was turning it over and examining it for cracks. His hand came up to rest on the wall beside my head, caging me in. "You know, if you're feeling restless, I could help with that. Keep you company. Make sure you're not... lonely."
I ducked under his arm and fled before he could say anything else, my stomach churning with nausea and fear. That evening, when I tried to slip away to the stern, I found Decker lounging against the railing, his pale eyes glittering with malicious amusement.
"Looking for something?" His thin lips curved in a smirk. "Or someone?"
I retreated to my hammock and pressed my face into the rough fabric and didn't cry. I wouldn't give them the satisfaction of crying. But I thought about Kaelan and Riven and Thane and Vale, waiting in the water below, and I felt like I was being torn in half.
The third day, I was desperate enough to take risks.
I volunteered for the dawn watch, the shift no one wanted, the cold and lonely hours before sunrise when most of the crew was still asleep.
I thought I could slip away in the darkness, dive into the water while no one was looking, steal even a few minutes with them.
The sea was rough that night, waves crashing against the hull, wind howling through the rigging.
Even if I'd managed to get into the water, I wouldn't have been able to find them in the chaos.
Wouldn't have been able to hear them over the roar of the storm.
I stood at the railing anyway, drenched with spray, shivering in the pre-dawn cold, and strained my eyes against the darkness.
Looking for any sign of them. Any flash of scales, any gleam of pale skin, anything.
Nothing. Just the endless, angry sea.
By the time the storm passed and the sun rose, I was exhausted and heartsick and so frustrated I wanted to scream.
Three days. Three days of waiting, of watching, of wanting something I couldn't have.
Three days of breaking the promise I'd made, of seeing the hope in their eyes turn to confusion and then concern and then a kind of patient resignation that somehow hurt worse than anger would have.
They kept coming. Every evening, they rose from the water and waited for me, and every evening I could only give them stolen moments at the railing—a wave, a smile, a mouthed apology. It wasn't enough. It would never be enough.
But finally—finally—the opportunity came.
The storm had left the crew exhausted and irritable.
Most of them had retreated to their bunks to sleep off the long night of battling wind and waves.
Even Cort had disappeared below deck, his usual vigilance dulled by fatigue.
Decker was nowhere to be seen. The ship was quiet, subdued, everyone too tired to pay attention to one small stowaway slipping away to the stern.
I moved through the ship like a ghost, my heart pounding so hard I could taste it in my throat. This was it. This was the moment I'd been waiting for, dreaming about, aching toward with every breath for three endless days.
They rose from the water as I reached the railing, four shapes breaking the surface in perfect synchronization.
Water streamed from their hair and shoulders, catching the golden light like liquid fire.
Kaelan in front, his dark eyes finding mine immediately, relief and hunger warring in their depths.
Riven at his shoulder, massive and bronze and beautiful, a growl already building in his chest. Thane hanging back, his amber eyes bright with unshed tears of joy. And Vale—
Vale, whose sharp smile curved his perfect lips as he opened his mouth and spoke.
"Little human," his voice was like music, no, like the memory of music, like the echo of a song heard in dreams. It was silver and silk and moonlight made audible, and it washed over me like a wave, leaving me breathless and trembling. "We've been waiting for you."
"Vale," I breathed his name like a prayer, my fingers white-knuckled on the railing.
"Your voice—it's back. It's—" I couldn't find the words.
Beautiful seemed too small. Perfect seemed insufficient.
His voice was the kind of sound that made you understand why sailors in stories walked willingly into the sea.
"It returned at the second moonrise, as promised.
" Vale drifted closer to the ship, his silver hair floating around him like spun moonlight, his blue-green eyes bright with amusement and something deeper, something warmer.
"I must admit, I was impatient. There were so many things I wanted to say to you, and I couldn't say any of them. "
"You can say them now." The words came out before I could stop them, eager and breathless.
His sharp smile softened into something almost tender, something that made my heart stutter.
"I intend to. But first—" He tilted his head, studying me with those shifting blue-green eyes, and something like wonder crossed his perfect features.
"First, I find myself realizing something rather important. "
"What?"
"We don't know your name." Thane's gentle voice carried the confession like it pained him, his amber eyes wide with sudden distress.
He pressed his hand to the cream ribbon at his throat, fingers tightening on the fabric.
"You know ours, we gave them to you, and hearing them on your lips was.
.. it was everything. But we never asked for yours.
We've been calling you 'little human' all this time, and we don't even know—"
"What you're called," Riven finished, his rough voice thick with something that sounded almost like shame. His golden eyes burned with intensity, his massive hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. "What name belongs to you. We should have asked. We should have—"
"Lily." The word tumbled out of me, interrupting his self-recrimination. I leaned further over the railing, my heart pounding for reasons that had nothing to do with fear. "My name is Lily."
Silence. All four of them had gone still again, that predator-stillness I was beginning to recognize, the way they froze when something important happened.
Kaelan's dark eyes had widened almost imperceptibly.
Riven's breath had caught audibly in his throat.
Thane's lips were moving silently, shaping the syllables.
"Lily," Vale said my name like he was tasting it, savoring it, learning its shape and weight. His voice turned the simple word into something beautiful, something precious, something that belonged in poetry and songs.
"Lily," Riven's rough growl wrapped around my name, made it sound fierce and wanted and claimed. He pressed the pink ribbon to his lips, his golden eyes never leaving mine. "Our Lily."
"Lily," Thane breathed the name like a prayer, like a benediction, his amber eyes bright with tears. "That's beautiful. You're beautiful. Your name is perfect."
Kaelan said nothing. He just watched me with those dark, fathomless eyes, and his pale hand pressed against his chest where my blue ribbon was wrapped around his wrist. His lips moved silently, shaping my name over and over, like he was committing it to memory, like he would never stop saying it.
"Lily," he finally spoke it aloud, and his low voice made my name sound like a vow. "Our Lily." Something warm bloomed in my chest at hearing my name on their lips. Something that felt like belonging. Like home.