Page 46 of Astrid at Sea

“You should have thought of that before you tried to drown one of our own,” Hammond growled.

“I’m so sorry. Please don’t lock me up. I won’t cause any more trouble,” Crosby begged, kicking and screaming as he was dragged from the top deck to the second and then eventually to the third. We all followed to watch the spectacle.

“You should have thought about that before,” Caspian grinned as he and Hammond dropped Crosby rather unceremoniously, forcing him into a corner. He tried to get up, but they roughly shoved him back, sending his shoulder flying into the wall.

To ensure that he wouldn’t be causing us any more trouble, Viktor retrieved the chains that were kept for rare occasions like this, and they used them to restrict Crosby’s hands. They spared him enough wiggle room to stand up and stretch his legs, but he couldn’t even make it a foot from the wall.

“Astrid, please!” Crosby called out to me, blubbering with tears streaming down his face. “Please don’t leave me here, Astrid. Please don’t let them do this to me. I didn’t mean to hurt you! I wasn’t thinking properly! I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry!”

I turned my head away from Crosby and squeezed my eyes shut, unable to bring myself to look at him any longer.

I couldn’t deny that I felt a little bad for Crosby, but then all I had to do was remember how I couldn’t breathe under the water and his refusal to help me.

As pathetic as he looked, he didn’t deserve my help.

“Ignore him,” Viktor murmured as he reached for my hand, giving it a gentle squeeze before leading me out of the bottom deck with the rest of the crew.

Even though we closed the door to the bottom deck, we could hear Crosby’s screams from all the way on the top deck.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Odin and I were the only ones awake at this time of night, but for two completely different reasons. He was on night duty, and I couldn’t sleep thanks to Crosby’s sporadic screaming and pleas for help. While Odin handled the wheel, I leaned against the rails on the other end of the deck, staring at the path ahead illuminated by the moonlight.

Crosby’s screams had ceased a little while ago, but I still wasn’t sleepy. How could I sleep with all the conflicting thoughts rushing through my mind?

The only reason I had gone to bed at all tonight was because I knew Viktor wouldn’t if I didn’t.

Speaking of the devil…

“Why aren’t you in bed, my siren?” His voice was rough and thick with sleep. Before I could glance back, his arms wound around my waist from behind, and he pressed his bare chest to my back.

“I couldn’t sleep,” I whispered, my eyes still on the water.

He pressed a soft kiss behind my ear. “What are you thinking about?”

“Everything.”

“Like?”

“I’m concerned we didn’t catch enough fish today,” I sighed. “If Crosby hadn’t done what he did, we wouldn’t have wasted so much time, and we could have spent more time in the water catching more fish.”

“You and Jerrik caught more fish today than he’s been able to in the past few days. That’s a good thing,” Viktor tried to assure me, but those weren’t the words I wanted to hear right now.

“But it won’t last long,” I pointed out, both loving and hating how he tried to assure me.

“We can worry about what we’re going to eat in a few days when the time comes,” he whispered, his voice quiet and gentle enough to almost lull me to sleep. If only my mind wasn’t cluttered with so many thoughts of what-ifs. “You don’t need to worry, my siren. After breakfast tomorrow, Jerrik will go back on the water and catch some more fish. Hopefully, he’ll be as lucky as you were today.”

“I want to go with him again tomorrow.”

Viktor paused, and I could feel him staring down at me. “Are you sure that’s such a good thing?”

“I know I’m not a good swimmer, but I was fine until Crosby pushed me in. I even caught a couple of fish myself without Jerrik’s help.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through all that, my siren. I can’t imagine how scary it must have been for you.” His arms tightened around me, hugging me harder. “If you want, you and I can go out swimming. We can practice strengthening your skills.”

“That would be a good idea, but I still want to join Jerrik tomorrow.”

Viktor still looked conflicted, but he gave in with a sigh. “Fine, if that’s what you want. I just worry about you.”

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