When Kalder started away, she caught his hand in hers. “He’s not me father, Kalder. No one controls me mind save me, and I’ll not have the likes of Paden or anyone else dictate me life.”
He lifted her hand to his lips and placed a tender kiss to her knuckles with a savoring longing that brought an ache to her chest.“Don’t alienate him, mephearse. Not for the sorry likes of me or anyone else. Take it from someone who’s lost and buried every member of his family. Blood means something, and is particularly precious once it’s gone. What you two share is far more special. He is your brother, lass. Better or worse, and all infighting included. This anger between you will pass. Don’t trade the solid foundations of the past with him for a future with me that is likely to destroy us both. I have nothing to offer you, but your brother is a good man. He has a home and a business waiting for you in Williamsburg. I have nothing but the ragged clothes on me back and the hammock below, where I sleep.”
And with those words spoken, he let go and walked away.
Tears swam in her eyes and choked her as she watched him go. Part of her begged her to run after him and to tell him that none of that mattered. She’d been raised with nothing more than a cold tick mattress in the drafty attic room of the Black Swan Inn in Williamsburg. She wasn’t used to finery or better things.
Yet “used to” something didn’t mean that she liked it. While shecouldlive that way, she didn’twantto live like that. Not anymore. And she damn sure didn’t want to raise her children the way she and Paden had been raised.
Hand to mouth. Watching every farthing. Saving every rag. Praying to hold on for one more day. And to live in fear of dying and leaving her babes as orphans the way she’d been left with Paden.
Nay, she wanted to ensure her children had a decent life. A happy home and full bellies. With someone who could watch over them should something happen to her and their da. Give them plenty to sup on, and an actual wardrobe of clothes—at least three dresses forthe girls, and three suits for the boys. Proper clothes that weren’t frayed and patched at the knees and elbows. Coats not made of old blankets or donated rags.
Two pairs of shoes, and two pairs of stockings. One of cotton for daily wear, and one of fine silk for church.
Thatwas her dream.
She saw it all so clearly. In fine details that were etched along in her mind, cast from years of bitter misery and hunger. Mockery and abuse. Of aching for things she couldn’t have, and of doing without.
As the ship’s striker, Kalder didn’t make the kind of money she needed for that life. And he was right, this was no place to raise a family. Constant danger. Unpredictable weather.
She wanted solid ground beneath her feet, and he was a creature of the sea. It would be unfair to ask him to give up what he was.
A mermaid.
He had to have water in order to live and stay healthy. It was required for his species that he have water the way she needed air to breathe. Which made her wonder, what kind of children would they produce?
Tadpoles?
Minnows?
The very thought chilled her as she realized just how little she understood about him and his people.
You are a fool, Cameron Jack. There is no hope for anything with Mr. Dupree.
“Cameron?”
The sound of her brother’s voice rattled her to her bones and sether fury off to an even higher level. “Don’t even start, Paden. Mood I’m in, I’m likely to deck you where you stand.” She raked him with a hostile glare. “Or worse… gut you with me rusted spoon. So I warn you now not to tempt the beast within me that’s salivating to use you for the scapegoat of me current distemper. Best you run, big brother… run fast. Run hard. Run long.”
***
“Prince Kalderan?”
Coming out of a sound sleep while he lay curled in his swaying hammock, Kalder froze at the whispered voice in his head. At first he thought it a dream. Or a noise conjured by the creaking sounds of the ship.
Until he heard it again. Only louder this time.
Clearer.
A voice from the past he hadn’t heard in so long that it took him several heartbeats to realize it wasn’t his imagination. Or some strangeness coughed up from the bowels of his mind.
It was real.
His heart picked up its pace as he threw his covers back from his body, and checked to see that his brother was still slumbering in the bunk beside him. As were most of the crew. Equally asleep, they lay in their bunks and hammocks while the ship swayed quietly on the waves in the wee hours of the night. Only a handful of them were up and about. On watch duty at this hour, they would be scattered about the ship, doing various chores.
Yet he knew he wasn’t alone in the darkness of this cramped space. The presence was there and it was demanding.
Licking his lips, Kalder slid out of his hammock and snuck up to the deck to follow… well, honestly he wasn’t sure what was pulling him toward the port stern. Just a strange sensation in his gut that wouldn’t be denied.
