“Technically?”
“While we can’t be killed the way a person can, we can be deported back to where we came from.”
“Meaning?”
“Remember what we told you about Thorn? How he could revoke our pass and return us to the hells he saved us from?”
“Aye.”
Valynda drew her brows together into a deep fret. “He’s not the only one who can do that. Other creatures have that ability, too. Problem is, we don’t always know which ones we’re fighting against what can do it. Until it’s too late for us.”
William sighed as he pulled the covers over Captain Bane. “And sometimes the process of being pulled back looks an awful lot like this.” He jerked his chin toward Devyl.
Bart nodded in silent agreement.
“Is there anything we can do?” Cameron asked them.
“Pray,” they said in unison.
Marcelina entered the cabin and quickly shooed them out.
Cameron hesitated in the doorway. She wasn’t sure why, but something inside her was unsettled. “Mum? Why did you wait so long to help the captain fight against the water sprites?”
“I thought he had the matter well handled.”
She narrowed her gaze on the older woman. For reasons she couldn’t quite name, she wasn’t sure if she could believe a word of that.
Mara arched her brow as she sensed a change in Cameron. A darkness inside her that hadn’t been there before. A sudden mistrust. “You have something more to say?”
“Why do you hate him so?”
“For reasons you’d best be glad you can’t fathom. I’ve seen a side of him that is inconceivable to one of your inexperience.”
“I’m not near as naïve as you be thinking, mum.” Cameron glanced back to the bed and frowned. “None is perfect. ’Tis what me mum always said. When first she met me da, he was hiding from the law. ’Twas what brought us to America, after years of living in terror of being found, and their fear of what would become of me and Paden should the law find me da over there. They’d have hung him in England as sure as I’m standing here. So they changed their names and left all they knew to protect him so that we could start fresh.”
“Is there a point to this story?”
“Aye,” she said sharply. “He got his own brother and me mum’s killed during a robbery what went bad in London. For that, she hated him. Yet she knew her brother had loved him as his friend and so she didn’t turn him in when he came wounded to her to hide.”
Cameron paused a moment before she continued. “As me dear father used to say, we can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark, but the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. When we refuse to see the truth that lies before us because facing it is too hard and scary for us. Because when we acknowledge that light, then we see the monsters the dark no longer hides and we are honor bound to do something to stop them. It’s easy to lock your heart with hatred. But only when it’s free will you be able to move forward without pain anchoring you to a past that’s holding you back.”
Grief filled her eyes. “Like you, mum, I’ve lost many what were dear to me. But were I ever lucky enough to find one who could love me, one who looked at me the way the captain stares after you whenever he thinks no one’s watching him … that I’d hold on to with a white-knuckled grip.”
And with those words, Cameron left her alone with her Bane.
How Mara wished it were as simple as the girl thought it to be. Unfortunately, Duel had a way of complicating the simplest of matters. He always had.
Her heart heavy, she went to the bed to inspect his injuries. The good news was that he’d heal. But he was rather battered.
And it was her fault. As Cameron had said, she’d let her indecision go on far too long and delayed helping him when she shouldn’t have.
He would never have withheld his protection of her. No matter their quarrel.
Grimacing at the bruises and cuts, she gently pulled his shirt over his head, then used her powers to manifest a towel so that she could dry him off.
Yet as she began to clean and dress his wounds, she became aware of the scars that marred his perfect physique. The roadmap of battles he’d fought for his people.
And for his sisters.
