Page 101 of The Sea of Zemira (The Zemiran Chronicles 1)

Lincoln scanned the room. Assuming Boots was steering the ship, a sudden panic hit Lincoln in the chest.

“Nola!” He tried leaping off the table but Boots and Kitten pressed their hands against his chest, pushing him back down. “Where is Nola!?”

Kitten took a hasty glance at Mazie, then locked eyes with Lincoln. “I’m sorry, Captain,” she said, resting her hand on his shoulder. “Wentworth ’as taken ’er.”

“No!” he bellowed, but a sharp, stabbing pain shot into his gut. “Fuck!”

“Stop movin’, you fool,” Mazie cried. “You’re not healed yet, and if you keep movin’, your stitches will rip straight off.”

The captain’s lips curled into a scowl before he saw Ardley move forward again.

“Raven’s right. You are goin’ to have to lay down for the remaining days to the Eastland Forest; let us handle the ship. Mazie is second in command. She will lead us to where we need to go.”

He turned back to his first mate. “Turn the ship around, Mazie,” he ordered. “This bloody minute!”

She shook her head, avoiding his eyes. “Nay, Captain. We aren’t goin’ back there. Not without an army,” Mazie explained, looking down at him. “It’s too dangerous, and you know it. Maybe we were fools thinkin’ we could lead this fight with her. We are goin’ to get ourselves killed. All slaughtered by your father—”

Lincoln’s expression hardened.

“The king and his evil spawn,” she corrected. “This isn’t our war to fight! Aye, I thought it was, but all it really is, is vengeance. I don’t think she—sorry, we—are enough. We were wrong. We should have minded our own business like we always do.”

There was no longer a vestige of reasoning in Lincoln’s eyes.

“No, Mazie,” Lincoln said, “That is where you’re mistaken. It is my brother who wants her. My father most likely sent him to do his biddin’. For whatever reason, she is of value to them, and I need to find out why. I need to save her.”

The injured captain closed his eyes tightly, and for the first time in a while, he felt a tug of emotions hit him at his core. He had not felt that kind of pain since he had lost Sybil. The only woman he had ever loved.

Sybil, he said her name in his mind.

The one woman who kept him looking out at sea all those years, hoping one day he would find her.

And when he had finally moved on, allowing his heart to heal, the sea had new plans for him. Rum, countless women, and booty—a life any pirate would dream of, but he never wanted for himself.

Until he found her. Nola.

That beautiful, kind siren had shown him there was hope after all. She made him feel again.

“We have to go after her. I will not lose her, too, Mazie,” he said. The next words burned in his heart and would stay there forever. “Because I love her.”

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