My mouth opens. For a heartbeat, I am certain that I will fight him on this. But one look at his face makes the protest stall somewhere between my lungs and my throat. His eyes swirl like smoke in a glass sphere, an inner storm, glistening on the surface like the faint flashes of lightning amongst the clouds. His turn to compel me.
I close my mouth again.
“Okay,” I whisper instead and give a single nod.
His eyes linger on me as I make my way to his cabin. The last thing I see before closing the corridor door is the cave widening around us instead of closing in, and the water carrying us deeper into something ancient and unknown.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Iwakeuptotheclinking of metal. Blinking, a man’s silhouette comes into focus, pulling his shirt over his head. A lantern now stands at his feet, painting the room in a soft, golden glow.
My eyes widen as I watch him push his breeches down too, revealing strong, muscled thighs. The shadow that he casts looks faint and stretches unnaturally wide against the other side of the cabin. I cannot get myself to look away, keeping my lips sealed, I start to pull the sheets over my face.
“I know you’re awake,” he says in a low voice, making me jump. “You were snoring when I came in, now you’re dead quiet. I tried not to wake you, but—”
“It’s okay.” I interrupt him, my voice nothing more than a whisper. I prop myself up upon my hands and pull the blanket against my chest. Neither of us says anything, the moment between us thick in the air like honey.
The mattress dips where his weight settles as he climbs into bed with me. There’s only one sheet, but he doesn’t tug at what covers my body. Instead, he lies on his back and stares at the ceiling, with his body draped with a sliver of the sheet.
“You’re being silly,” I say while lifting the blanket, before throwing it over his chest.
Sable moves his head to the side with a huff and sets his eyes on me.
“I’m trying to be a gentleman.”
“You’re a pirate,” I argue. “Isn’t that against your nature?”
“Isn’t sleeping in a bed with a pirate against your nature?”
A smile tugs at my lips as I shrug. He’s right. We’ve stopped letting what we are define our actions, our feelings towards each other a long time ago. My back softens against the mattress at the thought, the warmth of the thought wrapping around me as we grow more comfortable with one another.
“So, what do you think is out there?” I ask, my voice low.
Sable swallows. “I wish I knew. I don’t think the passage will open up or bring us somewhere else. There’s nothing here, besides water. It looks like—“
“The womb of the sea?”
“I wanted to say a giant cave,” he says with a light laugh. “But yes, that describes it pretty well.”
I bite my lip. “What about the Glim?”
“It stopped moving. It’s…there, but faint and pulsing. We’ve set anchor for the night, the crew is exhausted.”
“We have arrived? We’re in the Sea of the First Song?” I try to contain my excitement at the thought of it, but a smile pulls at my lips anyway.
It would make sense, considering how well the walls of the cave echo every sound. If I were to use my siren song in here, I’m sure the echo would multiply it, and with that, my powers.
“Aye,” he sighs. “But we can’t stay long. We’re running low on supplies…and I have to sail home.”
“Home?” I whisper, my voice thin as the truth settles heavy in my chest. I know what sailing home means. I have seen it with my own eyes.
“The curse. I’ve run out of time, darling. The sea has been calling me back home since we woke up from the dream. I tried to tell you that I am too far gone.”
His words land like a punch to my gut, knocking something loose inside me, and suddenly I remember the words of his shadow as if it were yesterday, along with the splash of water as the bodies of the pirates broke the surface.
Some try to outrun it. But none of that makes a difference once the sea decides it is time. They sail home to follow its call.
“I don’t have enough power yet, I can‘t— I mean, I don’t know if I can. I can take another salt bath, I can—“
