Page 67 of What Whispers in the Dark
“But—”
He shook his head. “No matter how you feel, love. No matter what you throw at me. No matter how hard you try to push me away, I won’t allow you to do it.” Something lethal lay there. Something like a promise no journey through time could break. “You can get angry as much as you need—I won’t break. I might need a healer’s bed from time to time,” he winked, “but Iloveyou, Jade, as much as I love Aleyna. As much as I still love Kas.”
Warmth gripped her chest. Spread through her heart.
“So, tell me, love. Was it him again?”
Her lips quivered as a profound ache stabbed at that warm feeling in her chest. As difficult as it was, Jade finally admitted, “It was … it was all of them.” And looking into Aiden’s eyes, she wasn’t ashamed when the first tear slipped down her cheek. She was always so resolute, so brave. Never allowing herself to fall into such a vulnerable position.
But with Aiden …
Aiden didn’t ask as he leaned close and pulled her into his arms, melting her into the warmth of his chest before those arms closed around her.
Through her tears, he patiently waited. Never asking her to explain. Never nudging her with questions to discuss the painthat sank its claws into her mind and tugged and tugged and tugged.
No, Aiden only held her. Stroking her shoulder over the meaningless bonded tattoo underneath her jacket and dark tunic. Giving her the space if she needed to fill it with her voice.
Aiden’s chest rumbled with a low tune. One he had led his crew into countless times over the years on his ship. One that calmed their nerves on stormy seas and guided crewmen to rest in the depths of the oceans when one of their brethren’s souls had departed whatever world they had sailed into.
That tune nearly guided her to sleep while his hands continued their gentle stroking. She almost hummed along with him, almost sang the words, but knew she couldn’t hold a tune and didn’t want to scare the rain away.
He entered that lovely, familiar chorus. Repeated it when she assumed he’d transition into the very last verse, reflecting a melody reciting the end to a cross-ocean heist and a lass with silver hair and mesmerizing eyes who chased his ship across tides. But instead of continuing into that verse, concluding with the lass tricking him out of his treasure—his heart beating to her name—he repeated the chorus. Over and over and over, as if captured by the words that he should have never given his heart away.
Maybe not a song whose lyrics calmed most, but the hauntingly beautiful melody was more than enough to steady unsettled tides within a faerie’s soul. And without the words sung aloud, most wouldn’t know it was a song of deep heartache and eternal regret.
She’d never asked, but often wondered if he’d composed it.
“Do you ever miss it?” She paused and watched rain trickle like paths down a mountain, flickering off the corner of the roof to the street below. “The adventure. The thrill of the chase.”
The humming stopped. Aiden was silent—unlike himself.
Jade twisted in his arm, meeting the empty stare of his eyes. “Aiden?”
His sigh was devastating. “I miss…” That too was unlike him. A male of far too many words reduced to … whatever this was. She’drarely, even in such hopeless circumstances, seen him without a smile. Jade would’ve been worried if not for him continuing. “Aleyna. And … others.” His lips trembled, chin dropping to his chest.
Though she’d never met him, Jade couldn’t help but think of Kas again.
“She thinks I abandoned her.”
“No,” Jade quickly growled. She wouldn’t let him do that. Wouldn’t let him take the blame for a fuckingislandsinking his ship and killing his skeleton crew. For stranding them on Elysian. “You always come back.Always.You find a way—every damn way—no matter the cost. Sheknowsthat.”
Again, silence. Again, Jade studied his empty, downcast eyes.
“Not her,” he breathed as he lifted his head, appearing realms away.
Shehatedthat look, but only asked, “What?”
Tiny padding of feet squelched the mud below, drawing their attention to the closed shops across the street. A silver-furred cat leapt onto a pile of rickety wooden crates. Slipped inside one soon after.
Aiden seemed drawn to it as he muttered in the distance between, “It doesn’t matter.”
Nothing but the rain filled the silence. Nothing but her thoughts as Aiden resumed his gentle stroking on her arm. And she couldn’t help wondering … he’d brought her out there but hadn’t realized he needed this too.
After a while, far-off thunder stirred Aiden enough that she expected him to stand and guide her back to the castle. Onlywhen he removed one of his arms from around her did he slip his fingers into his pocket, producing an ivory carving of some sort.
Jade squinted, cocked her head slightly. “The king?” A chess piece from Garrik’s bedchamber, stolen from the checkered game board on his bookshelf.
Not a trace of worry filled her pirate’s features as he opened his palm to her. The piece rolled along the wet underside of his fingers, bumping over each mound until it almost fell off the tips, but he caught it with a curl. He shrugged. “I thought you might want it.”
