Page 138 of The Sea Witch
“No danger with me.” He stroked his finger down her cheek.
“Come.” She took his hand from her face and led him to the companionway. “I’ve no desire to collapse in a heap on the top deck, dead to the world. More than anything, we need sleep.”
He walked beside her, and she kept her fingers woven with his. Save for a few creaks and the water lapping against the hull, the ship was quiet as they made their way to her quarters.
Desire—she knew what it was.
She’d sailed its dark and wild seas many times over the course of the past year, knew its swells and rough waters, the danger and excitement from its shoals and shores. The first time she’d ever gone to bed with a man who wasn’t Samuel, she’d been dizzy with eagerness and fear, trembling with a combination of nerves and enthusiasm. She could get what she wanted for herself, demand exactly what it was she needed, accepting only what it wasshecraved.
Nothing had to be suffered in silence. Nothing had to be endured. She wasn’t a cup to hold someone else’s release. She wasn’t subject to someone’s affections. She commanded the ship of her own pleasure. Whoever didn’t like her terms found themselves back on shore.
She’d taken lovers from one coast of the Caribbean to the other, only picking the men who caughtherfancy.
She was glad to welcome her lovers to her berth, and even more grateful when they left and she was the self-contained captain once more. As their sweat cooled on her skin, none of them left any lingering trace of themselves on her heart. They didn’t cage her with claims that they felt deeply for her. She certainly felt little for them.
They couldn’t touch her.
But Ben... Oh, constellations above, Ben.
Now she knew what it was to have Ben as her lover. He’d been eager and open to learning. He took her lessons and gave her pleasure. Yet beneath the passion, there’d been something terrifying.
She wouldn’t name it. Naming it gave it power and truth.
Afternoon sunlight slanted through the long window in Alys’s quarters as she and Ben reviewed the chart Luna had pulled, showing their course.
She had awakened in his arms only a few hours ago, and a vague sense of shame had crept over her. The fact that she’d slept so late weighed in her gut like so much ballast. She was always on deck by the crack of dawn, and now, here she was, lying abed like a paying passenger, not the captain of a whole damn ship.
It wasn’t Ben’s fault that having him hold her as she slept lulled her into the deepest, most profound sleep of her life.
Thank the stars he hadn’t offered her more sweet, soft kisses, or tender, caring smiles. She didn’t have any defenses against them. Instead, they were both purposeful and focused, over their meal of charred stew—a new cook wasdefinitelyin order in the wake of Josephine leaving—and now, as they studied the chart.
“Here’s where we’re headed.” She ran her finger across the map, skimming over the painted waves, until a cluster of tiny dots on the chart stopped her progress. “You know it?”
“The Caribbean is rife with miniscule uninhabited islands,” he said, examining the map. “Half of them don’t appear on any chart. This archipelago could contain a score of more islands, some no bigger than a dozen yards across.”
“Hell.” She braced her hands on the table as she leaned over the map. “Little George has already proved himself a cunning bastard. It’s no small task to find the one island we need.”
“Doubt, from the captain who raided a Redthorn monastery, and fought a dozen pirates in Lambert’s house?” Warm and large, his hand covered hers.
She dragged in a breath. Before she could speak, there was a knock at the door.
“Enter,” she called, relieved.
Stasia opened the door and stood on the threshold. Her face was set and serious, even more so than usual. “I need you on the quarterdeck.”
At once, Alys followed her second-in-command up the companionway and higher, until they stood on the quarterdeck. Ben was right behind her, and the three of them gathered at the railing, where Eris perched. A seagull was beside the magpie, both birds twittering to each other.
“A problem has sailed into our path,” Stasia said without preamble. She nodded toward the seagull. “This is Bembe, and he has news.”
“What’s he seen?” Alys asked.
“That ship of yours,” Stasia said to Ben. “The naval flagship.”
“TheJupiter,” Ben supplied.
“It sails between us and where we are heading,” Stasia explained. “We circled back toward the Hydra formation, and when we did that, they must have tracked us from our last encounter with them.”
Grimly, Alys said, “With its leviathan and that other creature they have bound to their will. Fuck.”
