“Aye, but we are also used to more strenuous conditions, I assure you.”
“Even so, Gus’s cabin is unoccupied at present.”
He canted his head. “Gus. Your friend on the island.”
“Yes, well, he no longer has need of it.”
“Thank you, my friend.”
“Have you any personal belongings that still need retrieving?”
He chuckled, placing his hat back on his head. “I think you are like me in that regard.”
“Nothing then,” I smirked.
“The clothes on my back and the woman at my side. And weapons of course.”
“Of course. Speak to Addison about outfitting you.” I glanced at Aeris, looking over her small frame and wondering if she’d ever picked up a blade in her life. “And you as well. Everyone is to be armed, both with a weapon and a silentium. Lyla has proven that sirens are not immune to the voices.”
Aeris gave me a nod, her hand sliding down into Nazario’s. Not out of fear. Out of a need to keep him close.
As wild and unpredictable as Dahlia often was, I was finding my need to keep her close growing with each day, especially when the threat of losing her was now breathing down my neck like a hungry bear.
Behind Aeris, Meridan was staring out into the waters through which we were about to sail. When Nazario and Aeris left to tendto other things, I made my way to her, joining her in gaping into the open sea.
“Are you well?” I asked.
She took in a deep breath, bathing in the cool, ocean breeze that swept across the deck.
“I am…” She paused a moment. “Thinking.”
“About?”
“About why you’re here talking to me when plenty of other tasks require attention.”
I chuffed. “Fair point. But I am here because I need to know—”
“That I forgive you? For killing Dahlia?”
“No, I don’t care if you forgive me or not. I will continue to do the hard things if others cannot stomach it. I need to know that you will protect Dahlia with as much ferocity in the days to come. She will need it.”
Her brows pulled together as if the statement was too absurd to fathom.
“Of course.”
“I thought as much.” I took a moment to let the wind soothe my thoughts a little before I continued. “Did she speak with you? About any of it?”
“No, but that is not a new trait. She so rarely confesses her greatest wounds to anyone lest they be used against her. Much like you, I think. We cannot show the world we are bleeding when the world is populated by sharks.”
“Aye. Much like you as well.”
“Aye, captain. Much like all of us,” she said, mimicking my accent. “We are, no doubt, sailing toward our deaths.” She stood up straight, taking her hands off the railing to face me. “Thank you, Vidar Woelfson, for everything. I believe our time would have been up a long time ago were it not for the two of you finding each other again. And… finding whatever it is between you.”
Her eyes, though it was often hard to tell where they were going when she had no irises, shifted, peering past me. Slowly, Iturned to glance over my shoulder and find Mullins hopping up the steps from below deck, rolling the sleeves of his dark blue blouse up to his elbows as if getting ready to do some hard labor. I quirked a brow at Meridan, leaning against the railing and crossing my ankles.
“You think I don’t see the way you look at him?”
Meridan quickly tore her gaze away. “What way?”
