Page 35 of Daughter of the Dark Sea
Her wobbling lips curled into a smile as their silent promise coursed through the air, and she leaned over, placing a kiss on his cheek.
A hacking cough grated her, and she glanced over to the sailor, several beds down. He wheezed, coughing repeatedly, and gasping for breath before he settled back down. His breathing was scarily faint yet raspy. The male was deathly pale, his cheeks sunken, his skeletal frame protruding through paper-thin skin. How did he get so skinny? Several vials of varying amber liquids had been left beside the bed.
“I think he won’t be with us much longer,” Blake murmured.
Kora sat down, her body deflating at another crew member fading away.
“He’s what’s left of the casualties withDemon Sea Siren.He was badly wounded by their archers.” Blake tugged on her hand,pulling her gaze from the heavily bandaged sailor. “Koji’s just keeping him comfortable . . . until it’s time.”
Her decisions had caused this. He was probably so thin from starvation, only to meet his demise after she believed she could crusade againstfour pirate lords.
Hindsight was a beautifully painful thing.
They wouldn’t have lost so many crew members, and would never have discovered the Flint twins. Finlay would still be alive. Blake wouldn’t be here, in the med bay. She rubbed at her ever-aching chest and nodded glumly. So much death, and all because she wanted to hunt pirates.
Because her revenge, was everyone’s revenge.
“It’s all my fault,” Kora snivelled.
“Don’t,” Blake’s voice strained. “You did everything you could. Those twins planned this. They . . . they coulddothings, Kora. Things I’ve never seen before. If you blame yourself, the pirates will win, and they’ve already taken so much from you. Don’t let them take this.” He clasped her hands.
“What happened last night?” Her voice cracked as the intensely strong-smelling salves attacked her senses and she wiped her nose, scratching at her cheek.
Blake winced, as if remembering ignited the pain of the physical wound. “I don’t fully remember. It’s all hazy to me now. I remember darkness, and feeling cold. Before that, I was fighting the twins with Finlay, and one of them grabbed a sword—gutting me. Just like that.” His eyes shuttered, as he attempted to snap his fingers, but only managed a small brush of his fingertips.
“Which one did it?”
“I’m not sure. They’re fast, strong, lethal,” Blake sighed. “They easily bested me. Ishouldbe dead.”
She stilled. Kora had witnessed the full might of Blake Marwood, as he tore through a hundred soldiers during theDarkoning Trials with a single sword, enforcing his revenge on her behalf for the fighting pits. He was one of the most skilled swordsmen in the entire empire, as well as a powerful commanding officer in the armada. If anyone could match Blake’s sheer might and strength, or even surpass it, they had to be something else entirely.
Something unnatural. Inhuman.
Another wheezing cough broke through the room, followed by a sharp gasp for air. The sailor didn’t have long left.
“Asterya, tell me how things are faring up above.”
The threat of slumber lurked in the shadows of Blake’s forest-green eyes, but she propped her chin on her hand as she stroked her thumb across his rough palm, divulging the events since Finlay’s death—excluding her secret chats with Jack Flint.
Blake cursed before she reached the part of the forged letter. “Sam’s right. We have a rat,” he hissed.
“Whoever it is, I bet they’re still on this ship, hiding amongst the crew,” Kora summarised, Finlay’s death burning a hole in her heart.
The traitor had to be here. And why would they help the Flint twins? Was it a coincidence two unlikely events happened so close together? Pirate lords never worked together, yet they’d stumbled onto the meeting, just for the survivors to escape Hell’s Pit. Were the Flint twins . . . spies?
Realisation dawned on Blake’s face, and he tried pushing his body up, his teeth clenching at the effort.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting up, we’ve got a rat to catch.” He sat up and gasped with pain, clutching at his side. “On second thoughts, maybe this is a task for the morning. But don’t do anything without me. Not when it could endanger you.”
Kora smiled wryly as she helped him settle back into the bed. She pulled the covers up to combat the evening chill inthe room and pushed his hair out of his eyes as his lids slowly drooped. Blake suddenly caught her wrist as she leaned forward to brush her lips against his flushed forehead.
“Stay,” he pleaded softly.
“Koji wants you to sleep.”
“I’ll sleep better knowing you’re here. I . . . I don’t like being in here.”
