Page 47 of Queen of Whispers and Mist

“He proved his worth,” she said mildly.

“I wore her down,” Bronn corrected.

Calypso rolled her eyes.

“Does that mean”—Shadow pointed a finger between them—“are you two... together?”

“Nereus, no!” Calypso shouted, her face turning crimson.

Bronn smirked. “Much to Caly’s endless disappointment.”

“Oh, get over yourself.”

“I’d rather get under you.”

“You were saying something changed?” Ronan drawled, breaking the tense moment and their narrow-eyed stares.

The pirates shared an embarrassed look and then let out small huffs of laughter. “I guess I was mistaken,” Calypso said.

“I thought you never made mistakes,” Bronn taunted.

“The occurrence is rare enough as to be negligible.”

“Mmm... must be nice.”

“It is,” she shot back.

Shadow risked a glance at Ronan, who was already looking her way. “And I thought we were bad,” she muttered.

“I’m almost disappointed in us,” he agreed.

“Disappointed? Why?”

He lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “If we can’t be the best, what’s the point?”

“Is that your way of asking me to take even more shots at you? Because I should warn you to be careful what you ask for.”

He waved a hand at Bronn and Caly. “It wouldn’t hurt to feel like you were making an actual effort.”

A bubble of laughter escaped, and then another. What an absolutely ridiculous thing to say. Especially in light of the day they’d had, but somehow that made it theperfectthing to say. All the worry and stress crowding her mind fell to the wayside, along with the weight that came with them. There wasn’t room for them with the new emotions Ronan and his playful words evoked.

Ifhewasn’t worried, perhaps it was too soon for her to be.

Perhaps she could take Calypso’s advice and simply... enjoy this unexpected reprieve. The monster hadn’t killed them. They hadn’t killed each other. In fact, for as long as she could remember knowing him, Ronan had never done a single thing to purposely hurt her.

Eyeing the man in question, she couldn’t help but wonder what it might be like if she just... stopped. Stopped fighting. Stopped resisting. Juststopped.

Maybe it was time to see what they could be when she didn’t force herself to treat him like the enemy. Because while what she’d said to him earlier was absolutely true—she would neverneeda man—maybe it was time to allow herself to want one.

* * *

“Just a bit further,”Jagger grunted, shoving a palm frond out of his way.

Not only had the boson and his bird found a place for the five of them to camp, they’d found the whole survivor’s trifecta. Shelter, food, and clean water. They’d discovered one of the smuggler’s caves still filled with crates of supplies. Better still, it was connected to a series of freshwater canals.

“Are you sure there aren’t booby traps or something we should be on the lookout for?” Shadow asked. It wasn’t that she was truly worried about the possibility; she just didn’t much enjoy the idea of finding herself strung up by her ankle or caught in a net.

She wasn’t sure what it was about this place, but as soon as they’d left the crash of waves behind to venture through the foliage, her mind was overcome with images of another forest filled with such traps. Traps... and entire towns crafted amongst the treetops.

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