“We don’t have bath towels aboard,” Dilys told her. “They aren’t something Calbernans need, but the sheets should work almost as well.”
“It will be fine, thank you.”
“There are cleanshumasin my dresser that you can use when you’re done. I’m sorry. I don’t have robes or gowns. I’ll put a call out to the merchant vessels in the vicinity.”
“It’s fine. I can just wash what I have on and have you dry it for me when I’m done. It’s what Amanu did after fishing me out of the sea.” They were being so polite to each other, so stilted.
“If that is your wish.” He started for the door, then stopped just as he reached it. “Gabriella...”
“What?”
He regarded her from the doorway, a rare look of indecision on his face, but then he shook his head. “Never mind. Have your bath,moa haleah.We will speak when you’re done.” He left, closing the door behind him with a soft click.
Gabriella’s fingers curled into fists. She thrust them into the cool water in the copper tub. She’d hurt him. He’d felt her withdrawal as clearly as she’d felt the wound it dealt him. She would hurt him even more once he realized that her kidnapping had left her more resolved than ever not to marry him. Everything she’d feared and fought against her whole life had come to pass.
She regarded the now-steaming water in the tub, gallons and gallons of water that she’d heated to near boiling without even thinking about it.
To free herself from slavery, she’d freed the monster.
There would be no caging it ever again.
“What’s wrong, Dilys?” Ryll asked. “You do not look like a happyakua-to-be, just reunited with the love of his life.”
TheKrackenwas under sail again, its course set for Calberna. Ryll had left his own ship to join his cousin on theKracken.
“I wish I knew. She isn’t speaking to me.”
“She needs to.”
“I know.” Pain held within, unshared, festered. “She’s bathing now. When she’s done, we will talk. I’ll know better how to help her once we do.”
“Do you think they—” Ryll broke off, looking shame-faced.
Dilys’s mouth thinned. “Do I think they raped her? I don’t know. Possibly not. Virginity is highly prized by those who would pay to have a princess stolen from her home. But if she was, we will get through it. Whatever she needs, so shall I provide.”
“And whatever you need, so shall I provide,” Ryll vowed, his voice rich with compassion, “and Ari, too, once he’s done at the Kuinana.”
“I know.” Dilys laid a hand on his cousin’s shoulder. “And I thank you. You are my brothers in every way that matters.”
“Is there anything we can do for you now—or for her?”
“No, I—” Dilys started to refused, then broke off. “Wait. Actually, there is one thing. You’re handy with a needle, aren’t you?”
A knock sounded on the cabin door, making Gabriella jump.
“Just a minute!” She was still in the tub, where she’d been for over an hour, and the water was just as hot as it had been when she started. She’d had to add more water, in fact, to replace what had steamed away.
Not that the bath had truly helped. She’d all but boiled herself and scrubbed her skin raw, but she still didn’t feel clean.
She climbed out of the copper tub, snatched up one of the sheets Dilys had left for her, and wrapped it around herself before calling, “Enter.”
The latch lifted. Dilys stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. He was carrying a small parcel. “Ryll and several of my crew made you a few things to wear while you were bathing. I’ll just set them here. You don’t have to wear them if you don’t like.” He handed her the parcel and watched while she opened it.
The first item Gabriella pulled out of the parcel was a robe sewn from white silk. The second was a sleeveless gown in a beautiful shade of sea green, the skirt slit up the side to reveal a pristine white underskirt. Strands of large, perfect pearls hung in graceful arcs at the waist. There was another, simpler gown, too, blue and sleeveless, that laced up in the front.
“It’s beautiful, beautiful—they’re beautiful.”
“The crew considered donating theirshumasfor the cloth, but one of the merchant vessels nearby offered some of the fabric in their hold instead.”
