Page 96 of Daughter of the Dark Sea

“There are more important things thancleaning,” Kora bared her teeth in a grimace at the word. Besides, everything had been perfectly placed, her own little world of organised chaos. She faced him, cocking her head to the side. “Or am I nobetter than the manor housewives that grace the mid and upper districts?”

“Point taken.”

He awkwardly averted his gaze as she slipped behind her partition to begin dressing, and she winced as she pushed Agatha’s green and blue tomes behind the partition with her feet. She’d have to hide these someplace better lest Agatha smote her like a god.

“Can I . . . ask you something?”

“Of course, my child.”

The endearment from Erick warmed the cockles of her heart. He had no other children—gods, she didn’t even know what his life was truly like before her. He scarcely spoke about it. Whenever she probed, she was met with his icy side, and a stiff indifference causing him to disappear into the basement of the manor, returning with bloodied knuckles after a few rounds with their training dummies.

“Do you know if anyone from my past ever came looking for me after . . . you know? Was there anyone who asked for me?”

Silence. She ducked her head around the partition. Erick sat on the bed, his face pale, his hands clenched on his lap.

“No . . . no one came,” he spoke quietly.

But Captain James Cannon had come. Finlay had come. The Skytors had come. Gods, they’d sent an unfathomable entourage of exiles after her. She was certain of this triangle of allies. That stone of fortitude beaming in her gut. Perhaps this was part of her essence? An innate, instinctive truth?

“How do you know? What if they couldn’t find me? You said yourself you pulled me from a shipwreck caused by the pirates. Maybe my family survived—”

“Your family are gone, Kora. I searched the seas. But no one survived, only you.”

The words slapped her across the face.

Erick’s warm tone dropped a few degrees. Kora paused as she finished buttoning her tunic. She wore similar tones to his, to highlight her captain status, with silvery buttons curving across her chest and ending at her side.

“What about this?” She emerged from the partition, her fingers brushing the side of her head.

His jaw clenched and he looked away. “As I’ve said before, it happened during the wreckage.”

“Was there anything odd about the wreckage? About me?” her voice wobbled. “You said I nearly lost an eye. It must have been brutal. And the voices I heard after . . .”

It was dangerous to ask these questions, but she wanted to know more. Sheneededto know she hadn’t subjugated herself to the same level of the murderers that had robbed her life and ripped away her family’s souls, condemning them to Umbra early. She would’ve been dead along with her family if Erick hadn’t intercepted.

That single token of gratitude had fuelled her desire to follow in his footsteps. To hunt pirates and wipe them from Calypso’s seas. To prevent more children, more innocents, ending up with their lives torn apart like a ship cleaved in two.

“Other than you nearly dying, if that’s what you mean. As I said, your mind was still readjusting to the attack. But you’re fine now.” It was like talking to a stone wall. The same response year after year.

“But what if—”

“Why are you asking?” He stood abruptly, his face taut. “It’s been years, Kora. I thought you’d realise by now youhavea family.”

She stilled. Erick’s commanding presence dominated the room, and she bowed her head with guilt. She wasn’t sure why she was asking these questions; suddenly compelled to dig up history. All the while, this male was standing before her as herfather. He’dvolunteeredfor the position, for gods’ sake. He was always here, waiting for her to return from her adventures, always worrying over her safety.

And he’d trained her into the most lethal weapon a female could be in this world.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled. Her drying hair flicked into her eyes as she kept her head bowed to him in respect.

With an exhale, he stepped forward, lifting her chin, and brushed her growing hair from her eyes. It flopped over the side of her head. His assessing gaze raked over her face, before landing on her neck.

“What’s this?”

Kora’s hand rushed to her neck, panicking that the talisman was visible, but instead, her fingers brushed over lightly bruised skin.

“Did something happen?” Erick’s tone turned glacial as he inspected her neck. “Who did this to you? Was it Marwood?”

She was taken aback at the insinuation that Blake could ever be capable of such violent treatment. Little did Erick know about the depth of their bond . . . and Blake’s gentle caresses that caused hot flames to lick at her skin.