Page 21 of Daughter of the Dark Sea
“Please. . .please don’t try. There’s no cure.” He stumbled on his footing. “We tried everything already. But without a miracle, there’s nothing to be done.”
He attempted to storm out, ungracefully knocking into tables, and sailors who yelled back, and eventually tripped through the door onto the main deck.
Kora hurriedly followed him, nodding to sailors who waved at her as she left, and hauled Finlay to his feet, helping him stumble to the side of the deck.Gods,he was drunk—and heavy. The cold evening breeze soothed her grog-flushed skin, and they both inhaled deeply, side by side.
It was peaceful. Moonlight bathed them from the cloudless sky, stars twinkling against the black abyss of the night. Ocean waves lapped at the edges ofHell’s Serpent,and she wished she could reach out to brush her fingers against the water.
Finlay morosely stared at the endless expanse of dark ocean, his hands gripping the railing.
“I wanted to be an artist,” he blurted out. “Imagine . . . the eldest son of the House of Blackstone—a gay, incapacitated, penniless artist. I can’t paint or sculpt with these hands, and I can’t be inspired when on the grog.” He looked down at his hands in disgust.
“I will help you in any way I can,” Kora promised. “We can find a cure.Together.”
“So that I can fall in love with a woman?” he asked bitterly.
Kora pulled him into a sudden embrace, her heart overflowing with compassion. This was a new side of Finlay, with his suppressed nature, hiding his true self yet trying to discover where he belonged.
Something she knew all too well.
“So that you can follow your dreamandyour heart.”
Finlay’s steady strong arms tightened around her at the hint of promise, and the new strength in his shoulders and back was impressive. He’d gained muscle from their days of sparring.
“I’m so glad I found you,” she continued, her heart fluttering with vulnerability.
“Me too . . . and I’m flattered,” he patted her back, “but you’re not my type.”
Kora’s laugh muffled against his shoulder. “Don’t get hot-headed now, I’m not into blondes.”
“No,” Finlay chuckled. “You like them dark and brooding.”
She playfully swatted his arm in response. And they stood like that. Comforting each other in the quiet calm of the night for several minutes, an eastern breeze circling them.
“Maybe exile would’ve been better,” he said quietly, and Kora tensed. How were the endless hot, barren dunes of the desert better than her shipand her crew?
“How so?”
Finlay suddenly tore from her embrace and hurtled over the side of the railing, and she grabbed the back of his black shirt as he violently vomited rum and sea biscuits.
“There’s no rum in the desert,” he groaned.
10
Kora had amusedly helped Finlay drunkenly stagger back to the crew quarters and collapse into a hammock. Samuel had guffawed at the sight, spilling his grog everywhere and earned several snickers amongst the crew, to Finlay’s chagrin.
“I know this great ta-tavern near the fortress,” Finlay had slurred. “Go there with me, please.”
“If it’ll make you go to sleep, then yes.” She’d tucked him in to his hammock, placing a bucket nearby for him to chunder in.
Now, Kora studied the ledgers on her desk, her soul brimming with possibilities of making a life-long friend in Finlay. Sheskimmed a few trinkets, silver bits, and coins off the top of the coffers, marking it in the ledger.Barely enough for the crew to survive on, but it’d have to do.
Once she was satisfied with the amendments, she placed the black, leather-bound book of deceits back in its designated rickety drawer and strode to the cream bed to undress. Her muscles sharply protested as she stiffly removed her jerkin andshirt before proceeding with her breeches. Gods, she was looking forward to some decent sleep.
The door to her quarters flew open, a gust of cool eastern air rushing in, and she squeaked, darting behind her privacy partition. A deep, dark familiar chuckle echoed from the entrance, and a thrill raced through her.
“Blake!” She peered round the divider, glaring at him. “Knock before you enter, you heathen.”
“Why? It’s my room, too.” He prowled, his glinting green eyes hungrily devouring her bare chest like a predator stalking his prey. Good gods,that stare.The talisman hung from her neck and bounced between her pert breasts. There was a chill in the room, indeed.
