Page 40 of The Withering Dawn
I nodded and as he backed away from me, I felt the warmth of the room get sucked away with him. He grabbed his shirt, throwing it on over his bare chest, and then undraped his red greatcoat from the back of his chair before spinning and leaving his quarters with a reassuring wink.
As soon as the door closed behind him, I hopped off the desk, startled by how weak my legs felt under me. I pressed my palm to my chest to sooth the rapid pace of my heart. Something was coming over me. Heat flowered inside me with every beat and spread through my entire face. I was still shaking and was unsure what to make of it.
Never had I imagined someone touching me like he had. Even when I asked him to, I hardly had any idea what would happen. Now, I found myself pining after a man I hardly knew.
No, that wasn’t right. I knew him very well, actually, even if it had only been a week. I knew his pain. I tasted it. Smelled it. Felt it in my soul like it was mine.
And, from the first moment that I saw him on the Perry Smith, I felt as if I didn’t need my armor when he was near.
The next day, everything changed. The air. The weather. The scents and the colors. It was like we’d entered an entirely new realm.
There were seagulls in the air, squawking and looking for scraps. And if there were seagulls in the air, then land was not far off. Cathal was sitting at the bow carving the same piece of wood. I still couldn’t figure out what it was supposed to be. He had a vast collection of beveled wood scraps, of which I could only make out half of the shapes. He had a fat elephant, a wolf head, and what I thought was a chess piece, but whatever his new project was had not taken on any sort of identity yet.
“Land soon, cap’n,” he said, blowing a bit of wood dust off his work. “What’ll be our first order of business?”
“We’ll restock, ask around, find out if the cunt is really in Dornwich, and lure him out so one or all of us can castrate him and cut his throat.”
Cathal shrugged with a nod of approval and propped a foot up on the railing.
The closer we got to our destination, the stranger the waters became, though. We sailed along the coast,keeping land in view. Every village or port looked abandoned. The buildings were run down and the docks appeared old and warped. I stood with my hands braced on the railing, watching the coast pass me by like a cemetery. Clouds were rolling in, eating up the sunlight, and without the sunlight, the waters looked dull and gray. Sailing past tall cliffsides, I could see the white spray as angry waves assaulted the sharp stones.
Aeris appeared by my side, her presence so quiet, I barely noticed until I saw her red hair in my peripheral. She was staring at the coast, hugging herself.
“What troubles you?” I asked, observing the crease between her brows.
“These waters seem wrong,” she said.
“Wrong? Wrong how?”
She sucked in a long, deep breath and wrinkled her nose. “There’s so much death under the water. So many bodies. I can smell them.” She slowly leaned forward, carefully peering into the ocean below. “There are monsters beneath us.”
“How do you know?”
She shrugged. “I just know.” Turning, she met my eyes and for once, I knew exactly what she was feeling. She was worried. “This place stinks of pain and suffering.”
I nodded slowly. “We are not staying. I want Antonio. That is all. After that, we can go anywhere.”
A hint of a smile teased the corner of Aeris’s lips as if the idea excited her. I enjoyed that look on her. When I got what I was owed, I decided I was going to do everything in my power to see that smile fill out. Which amazed me because I felt as if I was just beginning to know her… and yet I felt a need to keep her by my side nonetheless.
“Captain!” Aleksi shouted. I looked up into the crow’s nest to see him pointing eastward. “Large port ahead. I think we’ve made it.”
I nodded, turning toward Aeris. “Do not think about this place too much. We are not staying. I promise you that.”
Once we anchored and I had a clear view of Dornwich, I could tell it was larger than other ports we’d passed since we started sailing east. Steam and smoke rose up from houses and establishments and as the sun started to disappear behind the horizon, I could see lanterns and torches lighting up the streets, even from the Amanacer.
“What do you want to do?” Cathal asked, a touch of tension in his tone like he was finally realizing that Antonio could be close.
“We sleep tonight. We go into town in the morning.”
“Aye. Let’s make sure our blades are sharp, yeah?”
A whole night.
We had to hold ourselves together for a whole night.
Everyone seemed restless. If I had been a lion, I would be licking my lips with hunger. I barely slept at all and Aeris, though she did not have the same thirst for vengeance that I did, was just as agitated. Every now and then, I would feel her move beside me, doing her best not to disturb anything as she shifted positions. I imagined it was as strange for her to share a bed as it was for me. I was not used to sleeping next to a woman nor was I accustomed to being so aware of her mental state. I could practically hear her apprehension buzzing in the silence of my cabin.
“Are you well?” I whispered when she would not stop squirming.
