Page 114 of The Queens and the Kings
Her eyes drifted closed, her head found his shoulder. He wound an arm around her and she snuggled deeper. Denerfen chirped from where he lay next to her on the deck. Chuckling, Henrik lifted Denerfen up and carefully deposited him on her neck. He sighed against her ear.
“I can’t wait to hear,” she mumbled.
As she returned to sleep, Henrik propped his other arm behind his head and stared at the sky until the stars blurred and sleep welcomed him.
What a beautiful thing, this messy life.
Chapter Thirty Three
BRITT
Britt awokewith Denerfen’s wing sprawled over her face, brushing the tip of her nose. Chuckling, she plucked him off her cheek and rested him against her neck, where he tightened into a ball, snorted his displeasure, and fell into a wheezy sleep.
A coral and orange sunrise swirled against the eastern dome, while the torrents of an inky black storm rose from the western horizon. The same storm circled like a dark heart. It had grown farther north and south. The size sent her heart pattering long before the smell of Henrik stirred at her side.
By the tangy scent alone, she recognized him and a thrill rushed through her. She luxuriated in his heat, his closeness, as vague memories of falling asleep on the deck lazily surfaced.
Henrik’s body elongated as he stretched the muscles along his chest. His arms reached overhead. Darkness retreated to the edge of the sky, which meant they’d only have a few more minutes of privacy. Pedr emerged around sunrise, if he tucked into his berth at all.
She rolled onto her stomach, propping her elbows beneath her, and met Henrik’s sleepy eyes. With thoughts of Selma andquestions of his late night return twirling in the back of her mind, she murmured, “Henrik?”
“Good morning.”
Grateful to see goodwill, and not something turbulent, she returned his smile. The intensity of his eyes could only be described as soulful. She set a hand on his arm. The skin tightened in reaction.
“How was Selma?”
Henrik glanced at her, rueful as ever, and sighed. “You waited up for me, didn’t you?”
Laughing, she said, “Not very successfully. I fell asleep.” Her lashes tapered. “And I have vague recollections of your return.”
He smiled. “Yes, we spoke but very briefly. How did you know to wait up?”
She smirked. “I’m an exceptional guesser.”
“Pedr?”
Sobering, she nodded. “He said that you received a message from Selma. I assumed that’s why you were gone.”
Henrik lifted his brow as if to concede the point, then used a hand to scrub the sleep off of his face.
“You were correct.”
His tone implied no further discussion, so Britt returned to her back, eager to watch the changing sky. She reached for his hand, and he accepted. His willingness to touch eased the frisson of insecurity that thrived between them. When these life-shifting events stopped hitting them every day, the moment to define themselves would come. That moment was notthismoment, not with Selma at the tip of his tongue. What would he need to feel safe enough to tell her?
Britt let the silence ride until she couldn’t. “My parents died when I was nine,” she whispered.
His hand squeezed hers.
“Nine?”
She licked her lips, all too aware that she hadn’t spoken about their death much beyond here or there when a rare soul happened to ask. As a rule, General Helsing didn’t speak about her deceased brother, nor did she enjoy mention of him in memoriam. Not out of bitterness, but the pain of lost love. As much as General Helsing could love anyone, she loved her brother.
“I remember the moment Pedr returned to tell us. Malcolm and I were on the beach, waiting for them to return. My aunt was somewhere else. I can’t remember where.”
Memories swept her back to that day, the sand hot beneath her feet, the sun unbearable overhead. Malcolm had been tense at her side, his fingers sweaty as he held onto hers. Something foretold disaster in the swagger of Pedr’s legs as he thudded down the dock, the thrumming worry in Malcolm’s grip, and the way he sucked in a breath and held it when Pedr crouched in front of them.
From the deepest heart chambers, she heard him whisper again.
