Page 58 of Scourge of the Shores
CHAPTER 13
The Unexpected Plea
Lucas said nothing after hearing from Ethan and Scotty. He didn’t press. He never did. But a few days later, he knocked on the hut door.
“All well, Danna?” he asked.
She sighed, leaving her hands at her side. It had been a long day churning tar, and the calluses on her palms had split open. Honey-laced bandages wrapped them and her fingers. The raw sting pulsed with every movement. She lay in her cot by the fire, too tired to sit up. Across the room, Ma slept soundly, her breaths even.
“All’s well,” she finally said.
A lie.
No matter how hard she pushed and resisted, she couldn’t escape the ghost of Robert’s touch. Sleep had become a thing she dreaded—because when she closed her eyes, she was still there in the barn, his warmth pressed against her, his voice in her ear: “This feels right."
It had felt right; she couldn’t deny the truth. And that terrified her.
Lucas’s heavy footsteps entered, and she closed her eyes, half-feigning exhaustion. Maybe if she pretended long enough, he’d let her be.
“Pirates’ll be by in the mornin’,” he said. He set something down on the table. “Check on progress; give us theirs.”
Danna swallowed hard. She wanted to ask if Robert would be among them. The words burned at the tip of her tongue. But asking meant more questions from Lucas.
She had always been so sure of her choices. Even when she hadn’t been, she’d always known the right risks to take and had stomached the outcomes. But now, she felt adrift, as if she no longer knew the right path or even the right direction.
Lucas sat down heavily, arms resting on his knees. His presence filled the room, solid and patient. He didn’t say anything at first—just watched her, waiting.
“Ye’ve been awful quiet these last few days,” he said finally.
She sighed again and turned her face to the fire. The flames flickered, casting a golden light over her bandaged hands.
“I think it’s real, Lucas,” she murmured.
She didn’t have to explain. They both knew what she meant.
Her throat tightened. “I bet he ain’t stayin’, though,” she whispered. “Just as ye said.” The hot burn of unshed tears blurred her vision. “I let him get too close to me, and?—”
She stopped and shook her head.
And what?
That when she looked at Robert, she saw something worth chasing? That she didn’t know how to keep pretending she didn’t feel anything?
But saying it out loud would make it real.
And she wasn’t sure she was ready for that.
But curse Lucas, he said it for her. “And part of ye wants to leave with him?”
Danna didn’t answer. Couldn’t speak the truth.
Her throat burned, and she curled her fingers into fists, feeling the sharp sting as her split calluses reopened. Physical pain, she could endure. But this? This ache in her chest? It was a wound she didn’t know how to heal.
She fixed her eyes on the fire, like staring hard enough would burn the ache away.
Lucas exhaled, slow and steady. He shifted forward, rolling to his knees beside her. “I know it hurts,” he murmured. “But ye’ll push through. Ye always do. A few more months, he’ll be gone. And in time, the ache’ll go with him.”
She swallowed hard, her throat tight. Time might dull the ache, but it wouldn’t erase it. She knew that much. Some things settled like footprints in the sand, washed away with the tide. Others, though—they carved themselves into stone. Robert was more of the carving type.
