“He died too.”
At this, Alaric gave me a look. “Your mother’s husbands weren’t poisoned, were they?” I wasn’t sure if he meant this to be a joke, or if he was serious. I answered anyway.
“No. My stepfather died from a sickness that ailed him since youth. I was left with a stepsister.”
“Ah.” Alaric nodded, then let his head rest back, voice quieter. “So does any of this have to do with your secrecy? Why wouldn’t you tell me your name?”
I hesitated, the answer catching in my throat. “I just… don’t like people knowing,” I admitted. “It felt safer that way. Especially with you.”
His brow lifted slightly, but there was no offense in his tone. “Because I’m a whaler?”
“Because I didn’t know if I could trust you.”
He was silent for a long moment, the sound of the waves filling the space between us. Then, softly, “Do you?”
I swallowed, thinking before I answered. “Yes.”
His eyes narrowed, curious. “Why?”
A hundred reasons swirled in my mind, but one roseabove them all. “Because you saved my life,” I said. “And because… I think there’s more to you than the man you want the world to see.”
Something unreadable flickered in his gaze before his lashes lowered. “It’s a pretty name,” he murmured, like a secret meant only for the two of us.
My cheeks warmed as his hand squeezed my arm. He closed his eyes, his features softening into sleep. I watched him for a long moment. The light was dim, and I still had to look out the corners of my eyes, but being this close, I could get more details of his face.
I liked his rough tanned skin, dark lashes, and shadowed facial hair. He looked so rogue, yet so… calm.
I relaxed. Here was this man I’d sworn to keep at arm’s length, and yet I wondered how someone could be both storm and shelter in the same breath.
And I saw him… really saw him. He wasn’t just the whaler bloodying the seas.
He was a boy who was terrified of weakness.
Of the sea.
Who needed to be in control, to be the most powerful man the world had ever seen.
Because his father was not.
He was too young.Too young to witness what he did.
But no girl should have to endure what I did after my father died…For the first time, I began to feel something for myself that I never had before.
Compassion. It was warm, like snuggling in a blanket after being out in the cold.
I sighed and closed my eyes, dozing off until my head rested on his chest. His arm instinctively held me closer and I couldn’t recall ever sleeping as well as I did on that night.
CHAPTER NINE
ALARIC
“Are you sure you’re up for it?”
Her voice was gentle, but the question sliced sharper than I expected.
I turned toward her slowly, still seated at the edge of the settee where I’d been lacing up my boots. Malia stood in the doorway, sunlight crowning her like she belonged in it.
And she did. This was her world, after all. Quiet forest paths, sea wind in her hair, bundles of herbs in her arms.
