Page 141 of Daughter of the Dark Sea

And she had abandoned them.

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In the distance, smoke billowed from Talmon Island like a black spot.

Erick had rowed all night, and Aryn took over in the morning. The males had barely spoken more than two words to each other, Samuel’s sacrifice hanging over them. Their goal was to escape to Calypso Islands and devise a strategy from there. It’d take several days on a pinnace boat with a broken sail.

Thankfully, supplies and rations had been stashed below the small deck, and Kora sat cross-legged, gently nibbling on cured meat, her stomach roiling at the invasion of solid food. She could never eat sea biscuits again.

Erick watched her intently, his brown eyes assessing every detail on her until they settled on the collar on her throat. His expression morphed into a glacial rage so fierce, she squirmed on the bench.

“It doesn’t bother me that much.”

“Don’t lie. It’s a disgrace.”

Her skin prickled at his words, and she set down her rations, glaring at him.

“Fine—let’s talk about lies.”

Erick raised a brow and Aryn halted his rowing, turning to face them curiously. The sail listed in the gentle breeze, and they bobbed along the azure surface of the sea.

“Iknow.”

Erick and Aryn glanced at each other. The former worried, the latter . . . tense. She wasn’t sure what was irking Aryn, but he was constantly on edge.

“What do you know?” Erick hedged.

She spluttered at the males. Two sets of eyes bored into her, like they were both trying to read her mind. “Iknowthat you knew Theron—Eli—whatever. That you were . . . I don’t know, friends?”

The tension in the two males dissipated and Aryn resumed his rowing.

“Friends?” Erick smiled, like it was a joke.

“Don’t play dumb with me. I heard you both at South Wharf . . . talking about the Skytors and Davy Jones.”

Aryn jolted and cursed as he dropped an oar into the ocean, and Erick hurtled forward, trying to grab the handle but it sank into the dark, watery depths. She could’ve easily beckoned the oar. The tingle of her power had returned now that she was back where she belonged . . . in the ocean.

“Shit.” Erick pinched the bridge of his nose as he sat back sighing. “How doyouknow the Skytors?”

“They attacked us in the desert.” She flashed back to Doran and Mags. The same vision danced behind Aryn’s tired eyes as they shared a reproachful look.

“You never mentioned that before.” His gaze pierced her.

Unspoken words crossed the space between them. Theyhad never told Erick during the debrief after escorting Theron. Blakehad made it clear not to divulge the information. In fact, Blake had made a lot of decisions for her. Her jaw clenched so hard at the realisation that her teeth nearly snapped.

“We handled it,” Kora retorted. Handled was probably the wrong word—they hadobliteratedan entire populace, and their blood still stained her soul and haunted her dreams. “What are you doing working with the rebels? You’ve been hunting them for years! Or is that another lie, too?”

His mouth thinned. “Kora, there’s a lot you don’t know—” Aryn coughed, and Erick pinned him a glare. “We don’t have time for this.”

“Now is the only time.”

Aryn regarded them, silently perched at the end of the boat. The sun had risen to the peak of midday, and they were stilltoo closeto Talmon Island. But she couldn’t stop—she needed to knownow.

“Yes, I hunted rebels. Like you, I was doing it for revenge.” She stilled as a faraway look overcame Erick’s face. “I . . . I had a wife once . . . Eleanore.” Silence hung heavy in the boat. “I was away on a simple scouting mission as a captain, and when I returned home, she was . . . they had . . . they’dbutcheredher. The rebels targeted multiple attacks on officers in the empire, ransacking their homes, stealing intel, and murdering their loved ones in the process.”

Horror roiled through Kora, and she clasped the edge of the wooden bench to steady herself.

“Eleanore was pregnant with our first child,” he continued, and he looked at the sea, his eyes watering. “I lost everything in one day.”