Page 61 of The Withering Dawn
“You are not upset?” she asked.
“I am only upset you took so long to come to me.”
“I was ashamed. I took your vengeance. It’s all you’ve wanted.”
“You’re all I want.” I pushed her away from me again so she could look at me and though the words came without warning, they were truer than anything. “You’re all I want,” I repeated.
“But Antonio—”
“Fuck Antonio. I don’t want to hear his name again. He’s gone. You made sure of that. He was my strife. You, Aeris. You are my peace. And I love you.”
Finally. Finally, I saw her lips stretch into a smile. It was small but precious, lighting up her fair features like starlight. And when it reached her eyes, I wanted to freeze that expression in time.
“You love me?” she asked.
“You don’t believe me?”
“I do. I can feel it.”
As if suddenly bashful, she dipped her head and her arms emerged from my coat, wrapping around my waist. I enveloped her in my embrace again, wondering how the hell I was going to let her go. I enjoyed feeling her against me too much.
“We’re sailing away from here,” I whispered into her hair.
“All of us?”
“All of us. You’re part of the Amanacer now. I’m going to protect you. We all are. We protect each other. Wherever we go.” I thought about that statement for a moment and rolled my eyes. “Perhaps I need to have another talk with the rest of my men. Treachery is becoming too common.”
“It’s my fault. I know they do not trust having a siren aboard.”
“Then we will find a crew that can cope or we will sail a smaller ship. But you’re staying.”
I felt her cheek tense against my chest and I knew she was smiling.
. ..
It was a blessing that Aleksi’s wounds were not serious. Cathal headed into town to get him stitched up and returned to the beach with another satchel filled with random sweets that he claimed were being sold outside of the market.
“We’d best head out,” he said as we dragged the boats toward the water.
“See something you didn’t like?” I asked.
I held out a hand to Aeris to help her into the boat, but she seemed distracted. She was staring down the beach toward Dornwich, frowning with concern.
“Muñequita?”
She turned to me like I’d just clapped my hands in her ear and then stepped into the boat.
“What is it?” Cathal asked.
She settled on a bench and tugged my coat tighter around her.
“It doesn’t feel good,” she said vaguely. “We should leave.”
“Aye, like I said.”
“What did you see in town?” I asked.
“Just felt… wrong. Was gettin’ weird looks from a dark-haired woman in a cage. She looked like she was laughing at me even though she had a harness over her mouth. Swear to God, these aren’t shores I want to come back to.”
