Page 117 of Wicked Tides
My arrival in the village set off a chain reaction until my men and a dozen villagers were meeting me in the courtyard. Two elderly women rushed to my side, their hands going swiftly to Dahlia in search of injuries. One of them began pointing toward a cabin and I could only assume that they had a place for her to heal there, so Iheaded that way without a fuss. Onlookers seemed concerned, hovering just close enough to see who I was carrying but not close enough to be in the way. Even my men looked bothered to see Dahlia unconscious in my arms.
When I entered the cabin, there was a cot made up with thick furs beside a fire that burned calmly in the center of the round building. I laid Dalia down only for one of the women to shove me to the side. I stepped back without protest, confident they knew how to tend her wounds better than I could. I would have splashed a bit of alcohol on it or stuck Lady Mary’s red-hot blade to her bleeding injuries. Dahlia, for once, deserved more graceful ministrations and I let the ladies work as I turned to face Mullins, David, and James standing just outside the door. I pushed my way through them and began a hunt for a new coat.
“She gonna be alright?” Mullins asked, trace amounts of genuine concern in his voice.
I turned to him, the bite of the afternoon chill nipping at my neck, and shrugged. “Don’t know. Nothing we can do right now, though.”
Saying those words stung. I didn’t like feeling helpless. I didn’t like not knowing, either. But I knew it was best to find a place to bury my thoughts for a while until the women finished their work.
Better yet, I needed a drink.
I had a new coat. I had a bit of drink in me. I spent another few hours sitting in the courtyard where the large fire never seemed to burn down completely. The warmth of it was soothing and with the village winding down, it was a good time to rest without having to lay down and close my eyes.
“Going to sit out here all night?” a voice said.
I turned to see Gus ambling toward me, hands deep in the pockets of his thick coat.
“Thinking about it,” I said.
He came to stand beside me, peering over the crackling flames. I’d never stayed in a place so quiet. In Treson Harbor, the water was rough, the people were rowdy, and the bells were constantly ringing. So far north and so far off the beaten path, things were… serene. Even a few unwelcome sirens had not shaken the village enough to put them in a frenzy.
“This place isn’t like home,” Gus said.
“No, it’s not. But that attack proved it can be just as dangerous.”
“Maybe not. If there was no one left to return, there is no one left to tell them where these people are. Or where we are.”
“Bad things always find good people, Gus. We both know that.”
“Do we? Cuz we have never been good, boy. How are we to tell?”
I huffed, about to laugh, but not quite amused enough to put the effort in.
“Maybe we don’t know much about good and bad. Maybe there’s nothing to know,” I shrugged. “People think there’s a line between the two. There’s no line. If there is, we just hop from one side to the other when it suits us.”
“You’re right on that. We’re all going to hell,” he chuckled. “But may we be in heaven for half an hour before the devil knows we’re dead.”
“We’ll be lucky for that.”
We stood for a moment longer before Gus slapped me on the back and started to walk away.
“She’s all mended, your siren. She’s sleeping.”
My instinct was to head to the very place I left her when I heard that news, but I refrained, keeping my urges buried where the world couldn’t use them against me. I wanted to go to her, though. I wanted to see the state of her. Make sure she was alright. Sickening as it was to admit, I prayed for her to heal swiftly. I prayed for it because… she did not deserve the turmoil she’d endured the past eighteen years. Of that, I was certain now.
Gus retreated to get some rest and I headed to the last place I saw Dahlia. When I opened the door, the scent of herbs and oils wafted outtoward me in a wave of warm, smokey air. There was one woman in the cabin rolling up cloth. When she saw me, she gave me a half-smile and then carried her items out into the chilled air, leaving me alone with Dahlia.
I pulled up a leather stool beside the cot where she slept like the dead under layers of fur and wool. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was doing there. It wasn’t as if my presence could hasten her recovery, but I remained there anyway, watching her.
It only took three breaths for me to see her as the most gorgeous creature I’d ever laid eyes on. Despite the scars and the strange tone of her skin and the ferocity in her eyes, she was beauty incarnate. She was strength, resilience, and mystery captured in the skin of a mystical creature.
Without realizing it, I lifted my hand and gently dragged my fingers down her cheek where the scar I’d given her marked her cool skin.
It made her mine.
What the fuck was wrong with me? My heart flipped in my chest, making me pause. Warmth flooded my veins and I pulled my hand away, unnerved by the feeling, when the door to the cabin opened. I glanced over to see Meridan standing in the doorway with a fresh bowl of water. She paused at the sight of me.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
