We had been about to ride out of the manor house when Edric had stopped us. He’d handed Marek a small, glass bottle, asking him to carry it to the village. He’d received word the midwife needed its contents to concoct some sort of remedy and asked us to take it to her. I gave him the handkerchief to wrap around the bottle to keep it safe on the journey.
And he’d kept it.
Why? Perhaps he had forgotten he had it? Or had there been another reason?
Knowing it was likely the first, I quickly grabbed it, along with clothing for Marek, and hurried above deck. The rain had long stopped, and darkness, fallen. Though the sea was fairly calm, I spied Marek behind the wheel.
When he noticed me, he smiled.
That smile would have me forgetting the duty I held to my parents. My people.
That smile would be my undoing.
Climbing up the ladder, I didn’t give him a chance to speak but thrust the handkerchief in front of him.
“I brought you dry clothing, and found this.”
He looked at it and then up at me.
“Why did you keep it?”
Marek reached out, and taking the slip of cloth from me, he brought it to his face, inhaling deeply. “It smelled like you. But no longer. I’m unsure when it lost your scent, but that was probably around the same time I lost hope to ever see you again.”
“You could have seen me any time, Marek.”
“I know. But what would I have said?”
“The truth?”
“That you deserved more than I was back then? More than I am now?”
“You don’t believe you’re… worthy of me?”
“I know I am not, Issa.” He glanced down at the clothing. “Are those for me?”
Not knowing what else to say, I handed them to him. Marek took them and immediately began to undress.
“What are you… You cannot undress here.”
He waved an arm around to the open sea. There were no vessels within sight.
I cleared my throat. “I believe you are ignoring one person who can see you very clearly,” I said as he removed his boots completely.
“The very same person who is still watching,” he said cheekily.
“Ugh.” I immediately spun around to his chuckle, trying not to imagine what was happening behind me. Instead, I made my way to the railing, the only light from a dim moon partially covered by clouds. The sea at night was both a peaceful, and terrifying, thing.
“Sure you don’t want a peek?”
I didn’t give him the pleasure of a response. A flash of Marek’s bare chest and arms in his cabin came back to me.
“All finished.”
Still, I didn’t turn.
“Don’t trust me?”
That was a question I wasn’t prepared to answer. Instead, I waited a few moments longer and spun around. He was, indeed, dressed once again.
