Chapter 21 #3
I wonder if she’s thinking about the kiss—or whatever she wants to call it. My weight shifts under her gaze. I’m trapped between wanting to reach for her here in front of everyone, or darting from the room and pretending like nothing happened.
I flick my gaze to the serpent tattoo on her left wrist. In all honesty I should do the latter.
It’s what’s expected of me. Bounty hunters and pirates don’t mix.
And if I had my way I’d have her captain and the rest of her crew rotting in the deep already.
Yet the last thing I feel like doing is running away from her and there’s no way either one of us can deny what happened in the water, the moment our lips touched.
Her brow raises, a silent challenge to see who will look away first. I vow to myself that it won’t be me—
Tavi clears her throat, and I glance her way. Damn it.
Both she and Elio are staring at Odi and I. Warmth unravels up my neck under the scrutiny of being caught staring at the woman I’m supposed to loathe.
The scent of pear and honey carry past me as Odi shuffles off the table. “I think it’s about time I go freshen up.”
I nod as Otto stumbles back into the room with an armful of glass bottles and bandages filling the atmosphere with his chatter again.
Odi slips from the room like a ghost, yet the absence of her presence is felt deep in the soft part of my chest. The place I hadn’t allowed to see the light for some time.
My hand finds the necklace in my pocket without thought, turning it over and over.
It’s a habit now. A ritual. And still, the damn thing keeps its secrets from me.
Bear chatters as he tends to Elio’s wounds, voice running quicker than the ship's clock. His words bounce from poultices to mudalik bile to how he’ll stew something later that will taste like food from a rich man's parlor. Whatever that means. Then he starts rattling on about brewing more tonics for the few crew members who’ve been up late with wet coughing.
Elio humours him with the occasional grunt.
Eventually, Tavi straightens, wiping her hands on a rag before she releases a gentle sigh and faces me.
“I should bathe too,” she murmurs, her voice soft.
“We’re only six hours from the next island, though I doubt we’ll be ready by then?
” She phrases it as a question, but we both know the answer before I nod.
“Once we’re there we’ll anchor and rest a couple days. No point in rushing.” The marks on the map had been so close together I thought perhaps they were related somehow, but nothing in the temple confirmed that. It’s strange, when all the others required long stretches of travel.
She leaves me to ponder with an injured first mate, the creak of wood, and Otto’s endless ramble.
The silence inside me is loud. Too loud.
The water in that temple had aimed to weed out the weak and the unlucky.
Both challenges so far had required an infinitely deep respect of its power.
The water elemental symbol floats in my mind again and for a moment I let the memories fall away, allowing myself to simply be the boy who lost his mother, who clings to the impossible hope he might find her, before I force myself back into the captain I’m supposed to be.
I step forwards, peering over Otto’s shoulder. “You have everything you need?”
“Yes, Cap.” Bear finishes wrapping Elio’s leg. “Just need to keep it clean.”
Placing a hand on his head, I ruffle his hair. “Good. Then make sure dinner is a feast tonight. A full one. Tonight, we remember the lost, but we also celebrate the living.”
Otto’s pearly white grin reaches all the way to his ears. “Aye, Cap.”
My gaze moves to Elio. “Have we heard from Killian?”
He nods, and I don’t know whether to feel relieved or concerned.
I’ve been hunting Ivor’s ship for so long that knowing its whereabouts on a regular basis gives me mixed feelings.
He’s like a specter, the thought of him haunting me.
There’s no way he can threaten us from so far away, but I’m uneasy all the same.
I can only imagine the peace I’ll feel once the sea scum is finally off my ocean.
“It arrived two days ago, but we were at the temple. The note said, ‘Ivor’s ship cut north past the Isles. Sails patched but holding. His crew looked mean enough, but half were drunk off their own rum. Less scary than a bull shark scenting blood. Idiots.’ his words,” Elio says with a lopsided smile.
I huff, shaking my head. “They’re further than I thought they would be, but until all of this is over, I’m glad for the distance.”
I turn to leave when boots scuff behind me.
“Rune,” Elio gently calls, pushing himself off the bench to follow me. “Reid had a point earlier. We nearly died today.”
My gaze flicks to Bear, who’s already busy prepping vegetables, before I return it to Elio. The words sting because they’re true. With a sigh, I fold my arms across my chest. “So, as my second in charge, what would you suggest I do?”
His lips purse. “The crew . . . they need a morale boost. A break.”
I nod in agreement. “They’ll have one. Dinner tonight will lift their spirits, and I’ll announce that no one is coming with me onto the next island. I won’t risk them again.”
He stiffens. “Rune that’s not what I meant—”
I cut him off, steel in my voice, though it’s for myself as much as him. “I have to do this, Elio. I can’t rest until I know. But no one else will bear the burden.”
His jaw works, but when he speaks it’s softer, almost pleading. “She wouldn’t want you to die.”
The words cleave something raw inside me.
Elio gives me the same look my sister Serene did the day I left the kingdom and took to the high seas.
No one understood mother like I did. No one saw the pain in her eyes every time she talked of the world beyond our castle walls, like she feared she’d never see it again.
What kind of son would I be if I let this chance go? A cowardly one . . . that’s what. And I refuse to be like my father. Ignoring everything and everyone in hopes that one day the pain of losing her will go away. I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t at least try.
I look to the floor, scuffing one of my boots on the wood. “Well then, I guess I’d better live.”