Page 33 of Scourge of the Shores
Robert held up his hand. “Just let it work. My, the dramatics are wonderful indeed.”
Danna fell forward and pressed her forehead against Lucas’s cheek as the pain warped around her belly and spread like fire throughout her limbs. Her scream caught in her convulsing chest as the searing agony traced every vein, congregating in her leg, lip, and ribs. She pushed back against Lucas’s embrace as the pain stabbed her through the heart and wrapped around each rib. Tears ran down her cheeks as vomit choked her air, but she swallowed it back down.
Lucas held her gaze as she endured the pain. Her eyelids drooped.
Robert coaxed her. “Breathe, Danna.”
But the pain squeezed too tightly.
Lucas echoed Robert. “Danna, breathe. Now.”
The fresh intake of air sucked into her lungs with a ghastly rattle.
“Now out, Danna,” Robert said.
Her body rocked from pain.
“Push out the air, Danna. Breathe it in. In and out,” Lucas told her. His hands gripped her body hard, until finally she released the breath shakily over her lips. The next breath was easier, less painful.
Robert’s eyes widened. “See, Ma? Her lip is healing before your very eyes.”
The pain faded from her lip and ribs and raced down to her leg.
Ma’s low voice grounded her. “Well, I’ve never seen such sorcery.”
Danna’s vision cleared, and clarity replaced the fog in her mind. The pain subsided until she was left blinking and breathing hard in Lucas’s arms.
“How do you feel, Danna?” Robert asked, his words clear and present.
She sat up and stared at Ervin, who placed his hand on her forehead. “Fever’s gone,” he said. He repeated Robert’s question. “How do ye feel?”
Danna’s gaze dropped as she figured out her bearings. She ran a hand over her cheeks, wiping the sweat from them before pressing it to her chest, then her ribs. She breathed easily, though she felt like she’d swum the entire North Sea. There was nothing but a dull throb in her leg where her wound once lived, though she felt an insatiable urge to sleep. Pain’s tension dropped from her shoulders.
“I feel,” she rasped, blinking and leaning her body against the table’s edge. “I feel . . . tired, but the pain’s gone.”
“Perfect,” Robert whispered with a half-smile. "The enchantment heals wounds, but you ain’t gonna be strong overnight. Your body still thinks it’s healing."
Danna huffed. "Figures. Even magic’s a cheat."
Robert chuckled. "Aye. No such thing as getting something for nothing as pirates say.”
Her gaze drifted to Robert, as did Lucas’.
“So then, why?” Her voice steadied, though her pulse did not. “Ye said ye’d never give me an enchantment, even if ye had one.”
Robert leaned back, stretching his arms behind his head. “And then I watched you nearly fall through Tophet’s door. Changed my mind. Simple as that.”
She didn’t like the answer. It was too easy. Too smooth. Too contradictory of what he just said.
“Ye want something in return?” she asked, leaning away from him.
His half-smile became full, and his hands fell on the table as if he had a significant demand ready on the tongue. She could only guess what her life was worth to him. All the goats. All the trees. Full labor. He wasn’t going to get any of it. She didn’t ask him to save her.
Robert glanced at Lucas before putting his full attention on Danna. “It was a gift.”
She scoffed with a furrowed brow. “Pirates give no gifts. Everything’s got a price, as ye said.”
Robert chuckled with a wide grin of perfect teeth. She thought it odd. She’d never seen a pirate with good, white teeth.
