Page 81 of Found at Sea
After Kris left, Alek hesitated in the doorway and looked at us. “I…I’m gonna go to my bunk. G’night.”
“Wait,” Kellan said, stopping him. “I do not wish for you to sleep in the crew’s quarters until this ordeal is settled. Grab a bedroll and stay in here for the night.”
I smiled and placed a kiss on his chest.
Kellan might’ve still had moments where he acted in anger and didn’t make the best decisions, but he was a good man at heart. The repulsion I once had for him when learning of his gruesome past was all but forgotten those days. I owed Alek a great deal for helping me see reason about him.
A man’s past did not define his future.
Alek’s once tense shoulders relaxed. “Thank you.”
When it was time for bed, Alek chose to give us our privacy and laid out his bedroll in the study. The oil lamps were snuffed out, and we lay in darkness. Though it was late, I wasn’t tired. Too much had happened in such a short amount of time, and my mind refused to rest.
Beside Kellan, I ran my fingertips up and down his stomach before playing with the light dusting of hair that marked his chest. I nuzzled in closer, saying a silent thank you to the gods for bringing him back to me that night.
“How do you feel?” I whispered, knowing he was still awake too.
“The wound doesn’t hurt nearly as much as my pride,” he answered.
“There were five of them, Kellan.” I propped myself up on his chest and gazed up at him. My eyes had adjusted enough to the dark for me to make out the small details of his face—the straight angle of his nose and the soft curve of his lips. “There’s nothing to be ashamed of or embarrassed about.”
“A piece of me feels they were right,” he said so quietly I almost didn’t hear. His arm tightened around me, and he spoke louder, “Ever since meeting you, things I’ve long since buried have surfaced. Things that were beaten out of me, like kindness and affection, are finding their way back. Johnny and the others said I’d gone soft. They weren’t wrong.”
I wasn’t sure if that revelation upset him or not. Did he resent me?
“Yet…” Kellan breathed deep, held it, and released it. “The idea of settling down somewhere…of having a place other than this ship to call home…appeals to me more and more each day.” Something shifted in him then, and the small window of vulnerability slammed shut. “It is only a pipedream. The only way I’ll leave this ship is from a dagger to the heart.”
“Do not say such things.” A quiet sob escaped my throat and I pressed my face against his neck. “I nearly lost you today.”
He kissed me then, cutting off another of my cries. One of his hands rubbed my side as his other gripped the back of my head. We became lost in the feel and taste of each other, neither of us rushing the moment but instead embracing it. Savoring it.
“You’re mine,” Kellan said on an exhale before crushing our lips together again.
I’d never belong to anyone else.
***
The men were all speaking simultaneously, some pointing at Alek and issuing concerns over his powers and others spoke up in his defense. It was loud and difficult to decipher everything being said. My head spun and my heart raced. I could only imagine what Alek was feeling.
He stood near the main mast with his gaze to the deck, not saying a word.
The sun beat down on us that morning, unrelenting and without a cloud in the sky to help block its rays. We’d only been out there for maybe ten minutes and sweat was already causing my shirt to cling to my back. Water stretched on all sides of us as far as the eye could see. No land in sight.
“Silence,” Kellan demanded in a firm, clear tone. When all men fell silent, Kellan walked forward from where he’d been standing below the stairs. His boots sounded on the wood, heavy and commanding in nature. He stood tall and assertive, scanning the faces of the crew. “Alek has been with this crew for nearing on six years. In that time, he’s worked hard and shared in all of our triumphs and plunders. Never once has he ever harmed a man aboard this ship. Him being a mage changes nothing.”
“That don’t mean he won’t turn on us!” Redmond shouted, barging forward. Some of the others nodded and voiced their agreement. “The way he made Johnny and the boys slice their own gullets! Who’s to say he won’t do that to us?”
“He saved my life,” Kellan said, not raising his voice. He didn’t need to shout in order to get his point across. “Johnny, William, and the others were trying to overthrow me. Kill me and take over theCrimson. Alek remained loyal to his captain and only did what each of you would’ve if put in his place.”
For a captain to admit such a thing—that he’d been bested in a fight and another man saved his life—it opened him up to possible backlash from the crew. They might think he was too weak to lead them. Kellan was aware of that, and yet, he still said it.
For Alek.
“Johnny wanted a mutiny?” Redmond asked before spitting on the deck. “Piece of scum had it comin’ to him then. Never liked ‘em anyhow.” He approached Alek, and my friend didn’t cower. Instead, Alek raised his head to meet Red’s eyes. “Ya did a good thing savin’ the captain. Even if yer wicked on the inside, I ‘spose we all are in some way or ‘nother.”
“Aye!” Tig exclaimed from the lower post where he sat and dangled his legs. “Alek’s one of us. Matters not what he was born as. We alls have rotten pasts and bad blood. I says he stays.”
Several of the men thrust their arms in the air as hollers and shouts of agreement rang out. Alek’s eyes glistened as he looked around at them. My chest fluttered with excitement and relief, and I joined the chorus of cheers.
