Page 67 of Daughter of the Dark Sea

“Is this from our trees?” He turned the lemon over in his hands, inspecting it.

“Yes, why? It’s just a lemon.”What was the big deal?

Kora piled meats and eggs onto her plate next, washing her porridge down with crisp water. Praise the empire for inventing drinking taps. Their voices echoed within the grand room, and she always wondered why he insisted they ate in here when there was a smaller table within the kitchens. A much cosier space, compared to this black-and-white hollow room. Even the diamond-shaped black-tiled floor was cold. The cream wallpapered walls were bland, no flicker or indication of a life lived.

She wondered if Erick ate here alone when she was on her long voyages.

“It’s massive,” he observed, placing the lemon back down on the table between them, the weight of it causing the silverware to rattle. “Unnaturally so.”

Kora shrugged as she continued fuelling up her body for the day. She’d slept terribly. Tossing and turning, dreaming about Blake and Bree’s wedding, and the idea that she would be left alone in the impending darkness. Unable to escape, unable to breathe, trapped in a coffin shrinking by the second.

Maybe she belonged in one.

Which was swiftly followed by dreams of Finlay rising from the dead, as an ash-covered empty shell. Hunting her down, his eyes and voice void of life, crying out that his death was her fault. That she had failed him. Her hand clenched around her spoon as she fought to swallow her food, trying to push Finlay—and his secret Skytor group—from her mind.

He’d been a spy. A rebel. She couldn’t mourn him any longer.

“I thought Chef might like to have it . . . to cook with.”

“Cook with? He’ll be using it forweeks.” Erick ruffled his papers, and his eyes continued to pour over his latest reports from scouts.

“Anything interesting?”

His jaw twitched. “I hope not, we have enough trouble as it is. You need to be careful on this journey to the south, Kora. The exiles are getting more daring in their attacks and are trying to take over the oasis as a camp for themselves.”

“We’ll be fine. Blake and I have handled worse.”

“That’s at sea. You’re more skilled when it comes to naval warfare, with the safety and protection ofHell’s Serpent.”

Kora paused in her shovelling of food at the worried tone in his voice. It was so rare that he expressed his parental concerns. Their relationship thus far had been turbulent, but Erick had always been patient and nurturing, to an extent. Her first few years had been erratic, and his kindness had led her through the darkness of waking up to an unknown world, with an unknown name, and a voice rattling her mind.

But acting as her commodore took priority, and she desperately sought a family to anchor her. Their lifestyle couldn’t grant the solid foundation. One of them was always at sea, which she didn’t mind. It was better than this cold pile of stone. This manor had been declined life. It’d been created for a vast family, but was rendered with two lost souls who favoured being on the job than at home.

Erick’s fiery brown eyes bore into her, and she had the sense she wasn’t going to like what he said next.

“I’ve made the decision to request additional guards for the escort.”

“What?”

Kora dropped her cutlery, and it clattered onto the table as she glared at Erick furiously. He knew what this would mean to her. It would suggest her incapabilities to carry through the mission. That she was weak. That, because she was afemale,she wouldn’t be as efficient. She wanted to prove everyone wrong.

“Kora, please.” Erick pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. “It’s not aboutthat. I trained you myself, I know you’re more than capable. But this is the desert. You’re a naval captain, not a soldier. Marwood’s leading this mission. He has the skillset for land combat, and the experience should it come to it.”

“So . . . I’m being babysat, whilst Blake leads us all into his patriarchal glory?”

“Don’t get petty. You’ve always been averse to the army, and this sits firmly in my division’s repertoire. Butyouwere requested to be the escort, so I’ve taken some extra precautions.” His jaw ground with annoyance.

“I get it.” She pushed back her plate, her appetite evaporating. “I wasn’tyourfirst choice for the contract.”

Commodore Erick Cadell straddled the two worlds of the empire’s defences. He was a leader of the fleets of the armada—just below Admiral Barron—yet he favoured the armies and being a soldier. A leader of the land, he preferred donning his dark tarnished armour and assisting in training the new waves of recruits whenever possible.

He’d been voyaging out to sea less and less lately, and Kora always wondered why he never hung up his sea-faring title and committed fully to being a commander or a general. Erick formally wasn’t considered one, but he was respected and treated as one. As soon as he sacrificed that title, it’d be her chance to advance in the ranks. But, for some reason, he still held onto it, still believing she had more to learn. More training to do, more reading, more sailing.

Erick startled at her spat, and he faltered for his next words. His fiery gaze softened, and he placed a hand on the table, gently reaching out to her. Kora’s throat closed at the offer of a father’s comfort.

But he wasn’t her father—not really. Legally, yes. And he’d tried his gods-damned hardest to raise a defiant teenager with a broken mind. But something in her still held on to her past.Hope. A pitiful kernel of hope buried so deep. Hope that herrealfamily had somehow survived.

Kora sucked in a retort as she tried so desperately hard in that moment to remember her past, her family, her life. Miserable blank darkness swept up to greet her, along with a dull ache in the side of her head, and she slowly placed her hand in Erick’s, offering him a false smile. False because she knew she loved this male, but admitting it would cut her old life off. A chapter permanently ended.