Page 73 of Devil of the High Seas
“Is Griffin...?” Her lips trembled. She couldn’t finish her question.
Camden looked away. “He’s nearly gone, my child. It won’t be long now.”
The pain of those words pierced deep and tore at her heart so deeply it felt like she was dying. Griffin had given his life to save her. Gavin had lost his twin because of her. What if she had lost Adrian because of something Gavin had done? Would she have been able to forgive him?
“Can I see him?” she asked her father.
“I suppose, if you feel you can walk. You inhaled a lot of smoke, and the doctor believes you should rest.”
Her father helped her to sit up. She sat for a moment, getting her bearings in the small cabin. She still felt short of breath, and it hurt to breathe.
“What about everyone else?”
“There were some losses among the crew, but not as many as we’d feared. Your brother, Brianna, and Nicholas are fine. There were a few minor injuries here and there. Gavin took a bullet to the shoulder, but the surgeon says it will heal with time.” Her father reached out to touch her arm, but she flinched.
“What happened to you, my child?” he asked.
“I was trying to save Sam. And...” The moment came flooding back to her. “Oh my God, Sam!”
“The young boy? He is all right.” His reassurance lifted a great weight off of her.
“Tell me Beauchamp and his men are dead.” She needed to hear the words.
Her father met her gaze as she stood. “He is. I shot him myself. His crew are dead, save for a handful who surrendered. TheSirenis at the bottom of the sea.”
The weight returned to press against her chest. Gavin had lost his ship and his brother because of her. Perhaps that was truly unforgivable.
Her father escorted her to another cabin and knocked softly on the door. When no one answered, he tried the handle and the door opened. Griffin lay still upon the bed, his chest slowly rising and falling. Gavin sat on a chair beside him, his hand clasped around Griffin’s bare arm. Griffin had been stripped to the waist and his abdomen bandaged with strips of cloth.
“Thank you, Papa. I’ll be all right.” She embraced her father and then joined Gavin at his brother’s bedside.
His vigil was so deep that he was unaware of her approach. When she moved one of the chairs to sit by him, it scraped on the deck. He jerked and turned to her, his eyes full of tears.
She parted her lips, but no words came. She wasn’t sure if any words were right for a moment like this. She placed the chair beside him, and for a moment he simply stared at her. She reached out and put her arm around his shoulders. He started to shake and his head bowed. His hair fell to shield his face as he pressed his fingers to his eyes and wept.
Josephine held on to him, a lifeline in the storm, and said nothing at all. Her touch would say what words could not.
Time passed, and eventually Gavin stopped shaking. His grief softened into lighter, uneven breaths as he tried to calm himself. They both watched Griffin’s pale face as he slept. Then, without warning, Griffin’s lips parted and a whisper escaped.
“Vesper.” The name drifted in the airy silence.
“Vesper?” Josephine said aloud and reached for Griffin’s hand. Had she misheard him?
Griffin’s muscles tensed slightly. “Vesper,” he said again. “Tell her...”
Gavin glanced between her and his brother, seeming confused. “That’s your maid, isn’t it? She was on the ship with Griffin and the others.”
Josephine’s eyes began to water. “She came? But Vesper is afraid of water.” Did her maid, herfriend, love her so much that she had crossed an entire ocean to find her? She would have spent more than a month with Griffin on the same ship. Perhaps they had spent time together talking and...
“Tell her...,”Gavin said softly. “Tell her what?”
Suddenly, she understood. “Helovesher,” she whispered. “He loves Vesper.”
It made sense. Vesper was quiet, generous, and kind. She was very much like Griffin in temperament, just as Josephine was more like Gavin.
Josephine had a sudden burst of hope. “Is she on the ship?”
Gavin shook his head. “No. Vesper and the rest of your family are on the Isle of Song. We left them there with thePixieand some of the crew, should the need arise to escape.”
