With a fierce grimace, he bit back his groan and headed for the cabin where he’d left her. He ignored the men who tried to explain the events he had full knowledge of.
Marcelina had reached out to Mona and the Blackthorn bitch had taken advantage of it.
As was Mona’s Deruvian nature. They were treacherous to the end. Why was Mara in such denial when she had to know that even better than he?
His vision blurring, he found Mara on the floor with Belle standing guard over a jubilant Mona.
Growling deep in his throat, he issued orders as fast as he could. “We’ve a hull breach! Death? Meers? Gather the men and find it! Sancha, head us toward land before we sink entirely. Get every man on the pumps!”
They ran to obey him.
Mona gave him a twisted smirk. “You won’t make it.”
“You best pray we do. Otherwise your heart is the last thing I’ll be feasting on.” His breathing ragged, he turned to Janice. “Guard her, and if she so much as belches in your general direction, set her ass on fire and burn her to ashes.”
With those words spoken, he picked Mara up to carry her from the cabin toward her own chambers. But that was much easier said than done given the amount of pain he was in. Which told him how severely the ship was wounded.
“How much water are we taking on?” he gasped as he struggled to carry her.
Marcelina groaned as she clung to him—an action that betrayed the depths of her injuries. Otherwise she’d die afore she touched the likes of him. “I’m trying to close the gap.” Tears glistened in her eyes. “Thank you, Du.”
“For what?”
“Not rubbing my nose in this.”
He answered with a grimace as he kicked open the door to her room and carried her to her frilly bed that looked more like a cloud than a place of rest. With a gentleness he resented, he set her down and staggered back, intending to leave. Unfortunately, he only made it to the opposite side of the small room before his own misery drove him to his knees. Damn … it’d been a long time since anything hurt him this much.
Glowering, he grimaced at her. “What hit us?”
“Not sure. I told William to keep Kalder from the sea, lest it kill him. Whatever it is, it’s a foul beast that has ripped me asunder.”
With a bitter half laugh, he met her gaze. “Well then, ’tis high time I met him and thanked him personally for this stomachache.”
Mara gaped as she watched Du push himself up. “You can’t be serious?”
Yet against all odds, he managed to stand. “He wants a fight … I’ll give him one.”
And with that, he was gone.
Mara shrieked in frustration as she called him back, knowing it was futile. Duel listened to no one.
Ever.
“You stubborn, stubborn fool!” What was it in him that he could never back down from a confrontation of any kind? She’d never seen anything like it.
Coughing and choking, she rolled from her bed and tried to go after him. What good would it do if he got himself killed?
Again.
He’d take her with him to the grave. Then what would become of their crew?
Of the world they were sworn to protect?
Then again, what did she expect from someone who’d been born of such a violent race? All he knew was bloodshed and killing. Mayhem. Chaos.
Yet she couldn’t quite forget the gentleness of his touch as he’d carried her to her bed. Even while he’d been in pain, and though it must have galled him to come to her rescue after he’d warned her of Mona’s treachery, his touch had been as gentle as a fairy’s kiss.
Just as he’d been kind to Cameron even though he’d known her origins. As much as he hated the Seraphim. As much as he hated Menyara.
