“I was a little worried there too,” I answer honestly. His face and neck are lined with scabbed red where the selbie attacked him, but he grins brilliantly and nods before heading down the beach, his earring waving farewell as he goes.
Rune is walking up the opposite way and stops him to point at who needs supplies before catching my eye. He’s unshifted but shirtless, most of his torso and arms wrapped in bandages. My stomach flips, thinking how differently this day could have gone. He catches my eye and my heart nearly leaps from my chest to meet him. All I want to do is fall into his arms, but there’s so much to do here. Relief washes through me as he angles my way.
I meet him in the middle, and he pulls my hand into his and tugs me away from the commotion, away from the captive Vipers, and down towards an untouched part of the beach, where warm white sand stretches into the water. He sits, and I lower myself beside him, trying not to stretch the skin of my ribs any more than I have to.
“What now?” I ask. We came for the treasure, and we found the Vipers. But we don’t have enough space to keep them all in the brig. My heart aches at the thoughtof leaving empty handed, after everything. I expect Rune will want to take Ivor to the nearest port, but the thought of being aboard the same ship as him again makes my insides crawl.
“Once we’re aboard, I’ll send word to some friends of mine, let them know where they can find the infamous Viper Captain.”
“You’d give up the bounty?” I say, surprised.
He shrugs. “I could discuss a share, but I’d be surprised if any of the crew want coin for him. It would feel tainted. Plus they’ve waited as long as I have to get him off our ocean.”
A short silence settles between us. He keeps his eyes on the water, watching the waves sweep in and recede.
“I can’t believe you won,” I say quietly.
“I didn’t beat him, little doe. We all did. None of us could have done it alone.”
The words cleave through me. I’d been terrified, but he and Elio had moved like dancers. Tavi and I fought to keep weapons clear of Otto while he’d used his slingshot from above, yet none of Ivor’s men had gone tohisaid, well aware of how easily his blade slipped while he was enraged. Loyalty was irrelevant so long as there was victory.
And Ivor had been on the losing side.
“I just . . . didn’t think it was possible.”
I wait for some kind of emotion to sweep in, but all I feel is steady. Quiet. Like the animal in me rests. Like Nisse might sheath her blade. Both parts of me, making way for something new. Something . . . hopeful.
But guilt creeps in at the edges of my relief. We should have been safe. Those that fought today hadn’t expected to. “I’m sorry he was here. I should have—”
He shakes his head and tips his head sideways to peer at me with those bright blue eyes.“You couldn’t have known, little doe.”
“I should have.”
“So should I. I knew something was off about Killian’s last message. But we won. We’re safe. I was always going to take Ivor down, he just pushed up our timeline.” Rune loops his arm around my waist, drawing me to lean into his chest. I try to keep my touch light, but he squeezes us together, no matter how it must hurt. “I’m sorry about the map,” he says. “The treasure.”
I shake my head. “I’m sorry we’ll be left wondering if there’s anything of your mother behind that door.” I’m not sure it’s the right thing to say, but he was counting on answers. He gave up so much for us to make it to the end with pieces missing. The key doesn’t fit. And I don’t know where to go from here.
“I’m done chasing ghosts,” he murmurs, tracing his fingers over my back, the touch combining with the warmth of the sun and the sand. The words are soft but not mournful, and my heart seems ready to claw out of my chest to meet his. “She would want me to let go.”
I say nothing, just trace a finger over his forearm, following the scarred, twirling pattern left by the thrall squid. Sunlight glitters on the water, tricking the eye with shapes in the sea foam. Down the beach, Tavi returns from disarming theSea Baneand shouts for the crew to gather. She’ll need help if she’s to begin ferrying the injured back toThe Gilded Hart.
He sighs, the sound so affected that my lips turn up a smile before he speaks. “The real tragedy,” he says, holding me tighter as if he knows I plan to stand, “is that you won’t have the coin to start that new life.” I laugh and shove at his chest. He smirks at me, and as always, the look pins me to the spot.
I give him my best doe eyes, softening my expression into pure innocence. “Oh that? Turns out I won’t need it after all. I’m sharing a bed with an incredibly handsome, entirely humble ship’s captain—”
His lips crash into mine and we go down in a tumble of sand and laughter. The world disappears as he rolls us so his hips rest between my legs. Slow heat builds low as he pins my hands over my head with one of his own, but the twinkle in his eye tells me he’s thinking of the last time he held me like this.
“Oh, look,” he says, brushing the sand by my head. He pulls up a shimmering piece of smooth sea glass. “For your collection.”
My heart swells, but I cock an eyebrow. “Keep that in your pocket for me and I’ll make sure to get it later.”
He slips it into his pocket with a wink before leaning down to nip at my lips. “I love you, Odelia,” he says, blotting out the sun with his massive body. His hair has come free of its tie, hanging loose to drag the sand as he looks down at me.
My heart beats hard, almost painful with the strength of the feeling that’s near to bursting free. He lovesme. All ofme. He’d coaxed out parts I’d smothered, and run his fingers overmy sharpest edges without a fear. Somehow, that fearless, impossibly gentle man saw through every lie I’d told myself to survive, and fought for the woman I am underneath. I would endure a hundred temples to get where we are now. To love him with everything I am. Free. Together. “I love you too,” I finally say. “I think . . . I think part of me has loved you since you caught me that day. Since you ran with me.”
He grins, then presses a soft kiss to my forehead. “Then let me run with you again, Odi.” He murmurs, moving to press a kiss to my eyelid. “Let me chase you, forever.” He kisses the other, his hand cupping the back of my neck. “Until I can’t run anymore. Until I can’t walk anymore.” Water wells in my eyes and spills towards the ground as he presses his lips to a new spot with every pause. “Until I must be still. And then, let me lay with you, in a meadow, where wildflowers kiss your cheeks as eagerly as I will, until the end.”
NO SPACE FORHIDDEN TRUTHS
