“The men killed a boar yesterday. Boil will have plenty to give you.”
“Have you figured out where we are?”
“No, but we will replenish what we can here and when we are rested, we will set sail again.”
“And go where?”
I turned my head into her hair, breathing her in. “Wherever we want.”
“And… Lyla? What about her? Did I imagine her being there or was that real?”
“That was real, as strange as it is to admit.”
“How?”
“Aeris let her out.” She looked up at me, brows furrowing. “I’ll let her explain her reasoning. Something about ‘feeling her intentions.’ Let us just be thankful her hunch was correct. Lyla cut my binds when I was unable to do it myself. And then, for some ungodly reason, trusted that I could slay four xhoth when half of my blood was in a pool around me already.”
“How did you manage that?”
“It was amazing the amount of strength I was able to find when I realized you were still alive, Dahlia.”
She smiled at that, longing in her eyes. “I am proven wrong again. I thought I was weakened by my affections toward you. But you do indeed make me stronger.”
“As do you. As for Lyla, she left before we even reached the island. She seemed terribly confused.”
She exhaled loudly, tucking her face against me as if troubled by that thought.
“I do not want to think about anything right now,” she said. “I only want to be grateful that we are here. And hopeful that the waters will begin to heal now, even if we do not live long enough to see it.”
“In time, perhaps. But you are free of that monster and that is all I ever wanted. You are… aren’t you? Free of him?”
“I feel as if I am. There is a part of me that is missing, but I do not mourn it. It is like a disease that has been slowing me my whole life has finally been burned away. I pray that he is truly gone, for all our sakes. And if he ever returns, I pray it is long after we’re gone.”
“Either way,” I said, bringing her hand to my lips and kissing her knuckles. “We have survived against impossible odds. We will face impossible odds again, but we will protect each other.”
“We will protect each other,” she echoed.
We are the silence after the storm
And the darkness after you close your eyes.
~Neve Ellison
Inside the tent with the candles burning, I did not feel the familiar dread I once felt among so many shadows. I watched them dance along the fabric of the awning, my fingers drawing slow lines across Vidar’s naked chest. He said he was not tired, but it seemed his body had finally betrayed him. He slept peacefully, breathing like he had no cares in the world, his dreams unburdened by mine.
I could have listened to that for hours, but as the breeze outside began to fade and was replaced by the faint sound of the ocean lapping at the beach, I felt a tug in my chest like an invisible string was pulling. I lifted my head, looking at the lightly swaying tent flaps as if I would see a wraith traipse through them. There was nothing, but the strange feeling did not subside.
Quietly, I rose from the bedding on the ground and reached for one of Vidar’s oversized shirts, sliding it over my head. I stepped out into the night, eyeing the dim firelight a little further down the beach where the rest of the men had clustered into a couple smallcamps. A few were awake, keeping watch as they would on any other night. The dangers of the ocean were still ever present, after all.
Camped a bit closer was Mullins, Aeris, Meridan, and Nazario, all sitting around a small flame and engaged in quiet conversation. I started to approach them, my feet silent on the soft sand. As expected, Meridan was the first to notice me and stood with excitement.
“Dahlia,” she smiled.
I took her hand and sat down beside her on the ground.
Nazario passed a small bottle toward me that smelled of sweet rum. “It is good to see you walking around.”
I took the bottle, giving it a sniff. Realizing it was hemsbane free, I took a small swig, letting the burn chase away my fatigue.
