Kate knows. For a moment, Talon couldn’t move. He saw his dreams of a future shatter like a fragile piece of crystal. Then his shock turned to rage. “You told her, didn’t you? I can’t believe you’d do this to me. You miserable son of a bitch!”
Daniel shook his head and backed away. “I didn’t tell her. I swear, I didn’t. I never wanted her to know.”
“Then how did she find out?”
Daniel had the grace to look embarrassed. “She found a letter I was writing. I wanted Philip to know I’d be returning to him soon.”
“Ah, shit.” Talon shook his head in disgust. There was no use arguing about it. He needed to go to Kate, try and explain things to her. He wanted to tell her about the decision he’d made this afternoon.
Daniel said something else, but the wind snatched his words away. Talon ignored him, turning to go below deck. But before he’d taken more than a step or two, a blinding flash of light sent him careening against the hatch.
Talon looked up at the mizzenmast, crying out when he realized it had been hit by lightning and was crashing toward his brother. He tried to move forward, to knock Daniel out of the way, but the ship was riding a swell, and he couldn’t push away from the side of the wheelhouse.
“Daniel!” He screamed the word, but he might as well have whispered for all the good it did. The deck was in chaos and the mast crashed down, clipping Daniel and knocking him to the wet deck.
The ship pitched back the other direction, and Talon surged forward. He knelt beside Daniel, pulling his head into his lap. Blood streaked his brother’s temple, and there was a huge knot on the side of his head.
“Daniel,” he muttered, shaking him. “Daniel, wake up.”
Daniel lay silent and still. Talon placed trembling fingertips to his brother’s pale throat, but he couldn’t feel anything, not even the faintest beat of life.
He was stunned by his sense of loss. Even after today’s betrayal, even though he wanted Kate for his own, he hadn’t wanted it to end this way. No matter what Sutcliffe thought, over the last few weeks he’d grown certain he and Daniel shared the same blood.
Just when he’d given up and was lowering Daniel’s head back to the deck, his brother moaned and his eyes fluttered open. “What happened?”
Talon closed his eyes in thanksgiving. “I thought you were a goner, Daniel.”
Daniel gave a weak laugh. “I don’t plan on making it that easy for you.”
“Can you stand? We need to get the hell off this ship. Now that the mast is gone, it’s just a matter of time before it goes under.”
Daniel nodded. “I’m all right.”
“Good. Make your way to the skiff that’s farthest aft, and I’ll go get Kate.”
