Dinesh used a towel to dry his hair and got into the bed beside me.He pulled me against him so my head rested on his chest.
“There we are.Better?”
“Aye,” I said, comforted by his closeness, his scent, and his strength.
“Now look.I don’t know what exactly is happening, but I do know that I am as involved in the haunting as you are.Because we are one, Rooster.What’s mine is yours, and what’s yours is mine.That’s the definition of marriage.”
“Aye, but since I have nothing but strange dreams, unpredictable powers, and a penchant for humiliation, you are seriously disadvantaged, I fear.”
He kissed my forehead and smiled at my words.
“Ah, Simon.My little rooster.You have brought so much excitement, love, and satisfaction into my life, I can’t even tell you how…”
His voice cracked, and he didn’t speak for several moments.I tightened my grip around his waist.
“I love you, Dinesh.”
“I love you, too, my rooster.So no more talk of all of this.Let’s go back to sleep.”
He reached for something from the table.
“Give me your hand.”
“What?Why?”
“Give over.Either one.”
I held up my left hand.
He circled my wrist with a length of rope, the soft ones we used for our lustful games, and tied the ends in a knot that was snug enough I couldn’t slip my hand out, but not so tight as to be uncomfortable.Then he wrapped the other end of the short rope around his own wrist.
“Here.Tie it for me.As snug as you can.I’ll tell you if it’s too tight.”
I smiled and blinked up at him as I made a knot at his wrist.
“There,” he said, when I’d finished.“Now I’ll know if you so much as turn over.There’s enough play in the rope that we should be able to move around a bit.”
“Aye.”I gazed at the rope tying us together and blinked back emotion.“Are we going to sleep like this every night?”
“If we have to.Hopefully things will settle down once we’re past these waters.”
“When will that be, do you think?”
“Hillier thinks we’ll be near Jamaica soon.”
My home.
At least, where I’d been born and had grown up.
TheArrowwas my home now.Which made the place a more upsetting location in which to be assailed upon by mysterious forces.
***
Thecaptain’sbrilliantideaworked, and kept me from putting myself in danger again that night.But I was groggy and tired in the morning as I made my way to the galley for extra coffee when the captain left to take care of actual ship’s business.
Domingo and Squid were there, sitting at the table with coffees in front of them, engaged in a discussion.They looked up when I came in.
“Sorry.Do you want me to go?”I asked, gazing from one to the other of them.
