Page 64 of The Noble's Merman

“I don’t know, are we—are we being attacked?”

Another bang.

The ship rocked again, with a shrieking sound of wood splintering. Mo held tight onto Kent’s shoulders, hanging on for dear life as they swayed, nearly toppling out of their bed. But he held on, keeping his lover safe.

Suddenly, the door to their room flung open. Kent quickly threw his hands over his privates to cover his nude form.

It was Walker.

“Pirates! Pirates found us!” he yelled. “Fareham, Mo, take cover!”

“Pirates?” the two exclaimed in unison.

Walker didn’t reply—he simply nodded and ran down the corridor away from them.

“Oh no… No, no, no, what do we do?” Kent shook his head, and Mo could feel his ragged breaths against his body. “Pirates? That must’ve been cannon fire. What if someone’s hurt?”

Mo’s eyes widened as he took in everything that was happening around them.

Panicked voices could be heard all around.

They rocked in the hammock as waves crashed against the ship.

His blood ran cold.

A lump rose in his throat.

He glanced out the window, not seeing the other ship, but noticing how sunlight was just barely grazing the horizon.

I wasn’t keeping watch. I was careless.

“If anyone above is hurt, I need to help them! I’m the surgeon—I—I need to do something!”

“Kent, if you go up there, you could get hurt too!”

Kent swung one of his legs off the hammock as Mo grabbed his arm. He stopped, made eye contact, and let out a deep, pained breath. “But there has to be something I can do. There has to. I can help them. Mo, you can’t stay here; you need to get back into the water! You need to flee!”

“But Kent?—”

“If there really are pirates up there, I don’t want them to take you. You can escape! You’ll be safer in the sea! What if they board and find you hiding in here? We—we need to get out of here.”

Everything was happening so fast. Shouts from the crewmen and harsh footsteps pounded from above, shaking the ceiling, making dust motes fly. The lump poked thorns in his throat as he tried to process what Kent was telling him.

None of this would’ve happened if I didn’t sleep here on the ship.

If he slept on Noon’s back like he always did, he could’ve stayed alert. Noon would’ve spotted the other ship for him if he was asleep. She would have woken him, and he could’ve warned the crew of The Sterling Mer to change course before the pirate ship got anywhere near.

He was selfish. He wasn’t thinking. He just wanted to sleep with Kent…

Pressure built behind his eyes, his breath feeling hot. His jaw hurt from how hard he was clenching his teeth.

“Kent, it’s all my fault…”

His human hopped off the hammock and started dressing himself. “Wait, what do you mean?”

“I wasn’t keeping watch. Instead, I stayed here on the ship.”

It appeared Kent was trying to process Mo’s words for a moment, throwing his shirt over his head. At least they haven’t heard any more loud bangs since Walker ran by. Perhaps things were calming down? He couldn’t be sure until they went out and saw for themselves. “Well, if you think it’s your fault, it’s my fault too,” Kent said. “Goddamn it, Mo, it’s my fault too. I wanted you here with me. I could’ve told you no, but—I was the one to lift you into the hammock.”

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