Page 143 of The Sea Witch
“There’s time,” she said at once. “We need to review our plans, and provision you, and—”
“Alys.” He stepped closer to her. “I must go. Now.”
She fought to swallow down the burning lump in her throat. Her body was too small to contain the battle brewing inside her. It was as though a frantic, furious being was caged within her own skin.
“Go, then.” Her voice came out clipped and sharp as a cutlass. She moved away from him. “We’ll gather enough supplies, water, and food to keep you provisioned. And we’ll summon winds to move you along faster. They won’t last very long, the farther away you get from theSea Witch, but it should be enough to speed you to theJupiterquickly.”
He reached for her and she stepped back.
When it became clear she wouldn’t go to him, he exhaled. Expression hooded, he slowly nodded. “As you like.”
“It isn’t what I like,” she answered. “Not at all.”
Chapter Thirty-One
It took far too short a time to outfit Ben for his voyage back to theJupiter. Alys cursed her crew’s efficiency as the cutter was loaded with adequate food and water to get him to the flagship—it was a delicate balance, since it had to appear as if he’d escaped.
Flasks of water and a crate of hardtack and salted meat were loaded into the hold, small enough to be jettisoned when he got close to the naval ship.
As she and Ben watched the last of the provisions loaded into the cutter, he shrugged out of his coat and waistcoat.
“It will look suspect if I present myself to Strickland resembling a pirate.” He folded the garments and set them aside. For good measure, he tore several places on his shirt and rubbed a bit of grime on the fabric.
“They suited you well.” Alys resisted the urge to sigh as his transformation was stripped away.
Cora brought forward his old coat and waistcoat, much shabbier than when he’d first set foot on the deck of theSea Witch, and he put them on.
“Like wearing someone else’s skin.” He grimaced.
By the hard set of his shoulders, his wide stance upon the deck, and the new toughness in his eyes, he wasn’t the sameman he’d been all those weeks ago when he’d first burst into her life like a fusillade.
Alys clenched her jaw. Every moment, he slipped further and further away from her, and he was still aboard her ship.
“Give me two days from today,” he said. “I’ll try to send word that the passage forward is safe.”
“You’ll be surrounded on all sides by the navy.” He wouldn’t be safe. Something could happen to him, and she’d be too far away to do anything about it, unable to help him.
“Have no doubt that I’ll find a way,” he answered, stepping close so that no one around them could hear.
“My doubt isn’t foryou,” she said in a low voice, “or what you’re capable of. It’s the rest of the world that I don’t trust.”
“We only have ourselves.”
“But is itenough?” she demanded.
“We’re connected, intertwined. Nothing’s concealed, everything is exposed.”
“I don’t know if it’s going to last, when we’re no longer together. It might fray apart like so much rope.”
“If I could promise that it will hold, I would.”
“Captain.” Susannah came forward. “We’re ready for him.”
“Yes, all right,” Alys clipped.
Glancing back and forth between Alys and Ben, Susannah eased away.
“Please, one goodbye.” Ben embraced Alys, his hold strong and steadfast.
