“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“You’ve stolen all my words.”
“Mmmm.” He tightened his hold. “You, Penelope, are the embodiment of words I’ve never understood.”
“What words?”
“Enchantment.” He’d kissed her forehead. “Quite possibly, love.” He kissed her temple. “Would you marry me—?”
“My goodness, you must be mad. Of course not!”
“Let me finish. Would you marry me if I court you properly?”
“Still no, you goose. I don’t belong in your world. You do not belong in mine.”
“Why does everyone dwell on impediments? If I don’t belong in your world, and you don’t belong in my world, we’ll simply invent a new one.”
Foolishly, she allowed him to court her, falling further and further under his spell,knowingno one had the power to invent a new world, knowing all anyone had was the broken mess their parents gave them.
And then, she’d discovered she was with child, and she’d wanted to give that child his shiny new world.
When she told him about the baby, Cheverley had whooped as if he was thrilled. In that moment, he’d sparkled. She changed her answer to yes.
Yes to love, to transformation, to the new world he promised.
She teared.
“Lady Cheverley?”
“It was unwise to come here.” She sniffed. “Unwise to speak of the past.”
“Are we finished trading truths, then?”
“What more could you possibly want to know?” If the song played last night had opened a wound, the captain’s questions sliced open a vein. “Cheverley was brilliant. Infuriating. He made everything seem possible. And, if it weren’t for Thaddeus”—she pushed away from the stone—“I would dearly wish we never met.”
That night, in the darkness, every instinct then had told her to run.
She hadn’t listened.
She would not make the same mistake again.
~~~
Red dots gathered once again, blindingly bright.
Loss.
It hung in the air. Moved with the shifting winds. Whistled within the unheard, ancient tones resonating from the stones.
Hismonster had a face, a name—Calypso.
Penelope had her monster, too—his absence. A wraith-like silhouette that had sucked the air from her life like a hungry storm. And, if there had ever been a chance he might atone, that chance had passed.
She was angry at the captain and she was angry at him.
So angry, she practically frothed.
