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Sebastien released a shuddering breath and his eyes flew open. I gasped in relief, scrambling to kneel over him, clutching his chest, his arms, making sure he was healed, that he was real. But as I peered down at him, I could see instantly that something was different. It wasn’t his heartbeat, thrumming like the rain upon the decks, but his eyes . . .

Something fathomless swam within. They were dark as ever, as the deepest depths of the ocean, yet there was light in them, too. They were no longer black, but the inky blue of the sea that had brought us together and torn us apart all at once.

He reached up to stroke my face, pulling me down to him; to a kiss that tugged the broken strings of my heart back together.

‘Thought I told you to stop saving my damn life,’ he breathed.

I laughed against his lips, kissing him, again, again, again.

‘Ria . . .’ He exhaled my name like a prayer, gripping me tighter, as though he was afraid I’d slip away. The taste of salt and blood mingled on our clumsy lips – his soft and warm against my fearful, frigid ones. His next words came gravelly from his throat. ‘You were so brave.’

‘I thought I’d lost you,’ I whispered back. ‘I couldn’t – I just can’t . . .’ My voice broke at the thought, remembering how it had felt to watch him die. Twice.

‘You’ll never lose me,’ he swore, with enough conviction for the both of us. ‘You’re in my bones, blackbird. My everything.’

I was crying again, but I didn’t care. He sat up and I wrapped my arms tight around his neck, revelling in the warmth of his chest against mine.

Footsteps surrounded us and I looked up to see our crew edging tentatively closer. I let out a sigh at the sight of them all. There they stood, covered in salt water and blood, drowning beneath the rain yet somehow more alive than ever.

The downpour scoured away the pool of blood at our boots, as if the pain of it all could simply be swept out to sea. Golde wiped a trickle of blood from her nose, her chest rising and falling sharply. Mors looked at me with glowing eyes, filled with a pride that made my heart swell. Aron shifted on his feet, his eyes landing anywhere but on the woman beside him, her colourful skirts dark and heavy with rain, her fingers laced tightly through his.

I smiled.

Sebastien clambered to his feet, tugging me with him. I watched as his gaze swept the deck. The remnants of Bane’s crew were huddled by the starboard edge, clustered behind the body of their captain. I reached for Sebastien’s hand. Just days ago, killing Bane had seemed the only thing he cared about. One traitor’s blood on his hands, worth all this pain.

‘Does it matter?’ I asked quietly. ‘Are you angry you didn’t kill him yourself?’

The answer was written in Sebastien’s stern brow and stiff shoulders as he took in Bane’s dead body, tossed to the side as though he’d been insignificant all along. He was angry. But the moment he met my gaze, it dissolved.

‘No,’ he answered, lips sliding into a smile.

Elation bubbled up in my chest, the horrors of the last few hours finally fading. We were free.

Hours later, we stood at the bow of the ship to watch the sun re-emerge, seeping light through the heavy storm clouds. It was a dawn I thought we’d never see. Along with the sorrow, the guilt, the regret, I was brimming with relief.

Golde stood nearby, leaning out over the rolling water with one arm looped through the ratlines. I wondered what it felt like, being mortal again after so long. Knowing the future was both boundless and finite all at once. She’d see her kingdom again. That had to ease a little of the ache. But from the way the first mate’s eyes clung to the horizon, I knew there was something else out there, some part of her still missing. Someone.

Sebastien wrapped an arm around my shoulders and dropped his forehead to mine, his sigh grazing my cheek. I smiled, leaning into his chest and looking out at the sea. Waves swept past, basking in the palette of rippling, liquid daybreak as the soft glow of sunrise soaked into our skin.

‘Where do we go from here?’ I asked. Then I looked up, reading the answer in Sebastien’s gaze as he grinned.

Adventure was calling, and it sounded like home.