Page 46

E verything hurts as I wake to the roaring sound of wind and rain beating against the side of the ship. It’s a feat just to peel my eyes open, and as I do, I start to panic when a thick haze settles over my vision, reminding me of the churning ocean that nearly stole my life.

My breaths come quick as I gasp for air. Each inhale is a burning inferno inside my chest and my lungs can’t expand wide enough.

“Easy, child,” a gurgled voice sounds to my right.

Blinking rapidly, my vision starts to clear as I see Doc sitting in a chair next to my bed. He leans forward, placing a cool cloth to my forehead.

“Breathe, Rowenya. Slow and steady,” he says, peering over the rim of his eyeglasses at me. White spirals of his curly hair jut out in all directions, matching the twin caterpillars that arch over his beady eyes.

It’s him. I’m not under water. I’m not drowning.

Doc is right next to my bed and I feel . . . warm. Very warm.

Opening my mouth, my tongue feels thick and heavy as I suck in a long slow breath. Then I let it out in a shuddering whoosh.

“There you go. You’re all right now.” He continues to pat my forehead with the cloth and I try to sit up, but he places a hand on my shoulder and eases me back against the pillow. “You need to rest. You’ve caught a chill from the water and we need to get this fever under control.”

Fever . Yes. That makes sense, given that my entire body feels tingly and hot.

“Grayson . . .” My throat is so dry, it feels like I’ve swallowed a pint of sand. I lick my lips and then swallow, trying to work some moisture back into my mouth and throat. “Where is he?”

“Right here, Little Pearl.” Grayson’s gruff voice sounds to my left and I turn to see he’s been sitting on the other side of the bed all along.

Slipping his hand over the sheet, he clasps my hand in his and gives it a squeeze.

I smile at him but the smile he gives me back is laced with concern.

Glancing around, I note we’re not in the small room I occupied before we made landfall at Emerald Cove.

This bed is three times the size and the bedding surrounds me like a puffy cloud—soft and soothing, despite the chills that rake through my body.

We’re in Grayson’s room . . . and I’m lying in his bed.

“He never left your side, that one,” Doc says. I turn toward him again and he places the back of his hand against my forehead.

“You’re not quite as hot as you were an hour ago, but your temperature is not yet normal. You’re not going to like what we need to do next, but it will help the fever come down faster.”

“What—” I clear my throat. “What do we need to do?”

Grayson rises next to me, his hand slipping away from mine as he starts to move around the bed, coming to stand next to Doc. Relief washes over me as I look him over and don’t find anything wrong. He seems in perfect health, despite the fact that he was in the same frigid water I was.

Doc reaches for something on the nightstand. Then he extends a small vial to me.

Another healing potion.

“If you take this, it will help bring the fever down faster. It’ll help with the ache in your head too.”

Shaking, I try to rise onto my elbows and collapse back into the pillows. My muscles feel like they’ve been run over by a merchant carriage.

“Here.” Doc plucks the cork out of the top of the vial. “Lift your head up just a little.”

I do as he says and he brings the small glass tube to my lips, then tilts it upward. The sweet nectar hits my tongue and I swallow the contents of the vial in one large gulp.

“Thank you,” I mutter before letting my head sink back down. “Did everyone else make it off the longboat okay?”

Grayson’s face softens as his smile returns. “Yes. They all made it onto the ship just fine.” He runs a hand along his jaw, though, and the shadow cast over his face doesn’t fall away, even with his smile. “Although, Collin seemed unusually grumpy upon our arrival back on the ship.”

Burrowing myself further under the covers, I clamp my lips shut, trying to hide my smirk and failing.

Grayson’s and Doc’s eyebrows both shoot up in question.

I shake my head and instantly regret it as I feel the pull of my neck muscles radiating down my shoulder and spine where I took the fall onto the sand the hardest.

“What do you know?” Grayson asks, his right brow popping up even further.

“It’s not my secret to tell.” The days we sought refuge at Harrick’s inn when Collin wasn’t tasked with watching over me, I noticed he kept finding himself at Collette’s door.

It didn’t take long before she would pull him inside and they’d stay within the confines of her room for an immeasurable amount of time.

“Hmmm . . .” Doc murmurs next to me. “Keeping secrets from our captain hasn’t always panned out well for those keeping them.”

“Well, it’s a good thing Grayson isn’t my captain then,” I toss back and Doc’s cheeks pull back as he tries to strangle a laugh.

Grayson shifts on his feet, crossing his arms. I can feel the scowl he shoots my way before I even look up at him. But through the grimace, I see a flicker of something else.

Before he has a moment to start pestering me about Collin’s secret again, loud shouts sound from outside the room, and when I look toward the windows that line the far wall, I see figures darting left and right in a frenzy.

“What’s happening out there?” I ask, my throat still raw.

Grayson looks around and I watch him take everything in. “We’ve broken anchor. The waves must have snapped the rope.”

“Go, Captain,” Doc says. “I’ve got her.”

“Let me help.” I move to sit up again, this time my head doesn’t throb quite as bad, but the ache still makes me take a pause before I try to swing my legs off the side of the bed.

“Stop,” Grayson commands, and I go still. “You’re not leaving that bed until you’re fully recovered. It takes time for the healing potion to work.”

“I’m fine,” I grind out. “And you forget that I have elite navigational skills. I’ve sailed through countless storms, Grayson. I can help.”

“No.” His lips tighten into a fine line, not even a hint of a smirk playing at their edges.

“ You are not my captain. You do not get to order me around just for the sake of trying to protect me.” I arch a brow at him. “That is, unless, you are deeming me as a prisoner.”

His face goes slack and I know I’ve won. From the moment I stepped on board the Caelestia , Grayson has made a point in telling me that I’m not a prisoner.

“Fine, but you are not to leave my side. Not in your weakened state, when you can easily fall overboard.”

“So bossy,” I grumble as Doc helps me to my feet. Grayson snakes his arm around my waste to help me balance, but I shove him off. “I can walk on my own.”

He scoffs. “You just let Doc help you get up from the bed. Let me help you to the door.”

I glower at him. “Doc isn’t an insufferable bastard who feels the need to parade my weaknesses around the crew.”

“I’m not para?—”

“I’d let her win this one, Captain,” Doc interrupts him. I raise my brows at Grayson and he clamps his mouth shut before he heads for the door.

“Once you get back in here, you need to rest until your fever is down. Understood?” Doc keeps his arms extended like I might topple over at any moment.

Bending my knees, I steady myself to the violent rocking of the ship beneath my feet.

The muscles in my back pull from the effort of me using my arms to balance, but I start to move my legs to the beat of each passing swell.

“Understood.” I nod at Doc before meeting Grayson by the door. When I’m by his side, he shrugs off his coat and places it over my shoulders. “It’s pouring out there. I don’t think your coat is going to keep me from getting wet, Grayson.”

“No, but it will keep the chill away. At least for a little while. Before I can convince you to come back here and get some rest.”

I huff, but plunge my arms through the sleeves of his coat and pull the lapels over my chest. I nearly drown in the fabric, the bottom of his coat drags along the floor, but it’s warm. And it smells like him.

“Okay, I’m wrapped up and well-protected,” I say as I try to fight off another assault of shivers. “Let’s go.”

Grayson pauses with his hand on the doorknob and just stares at me like he’d much rather suffer the consequences of chaining me to his bed than risk me getting sicker.

I shoot him a death glare, challenging him to try it.

We stand at an impasse for a few more moments before I see the subtle shift of his shoulders dropping.

I’ve won.

He swings open the door and heavy rain sweeps in, drenching Grayson’s black tunic and my entire face.

Maybe I should have stayed in bed after all , I think to myself watching utter chaos unfold before me as Grayson and I step into the storm.

Two loose barrels whip across the main deck as a large swell shifts the Caelestia down to the right. One of Grayson’s men gets knocked over by one of the barrels and I gasp as I watch his body swing toward the edge of the ship, nearly going overboard.

“Stay here,” Grayson says.

I cling to one of the wooden pillars framing the door to his chambers and watch as he starts moving toward his crew member.

The man shakes his head back and forth like the barrel hit stunned him, but he’s so damn close to the edge, if he stands up at all and another wave crashes, he will topple right over, into the violent sea below.

Grayson calls out to him, and that’s when I recognize the name— Flynn . He’s the man I tested when I first walked the plank to board the Caelestia weeks ago. Flynn moves to stand and I find myself shouting “No!” at the same time Grayson does.

My heart lurches into my throat. He’s going to die .

The ship dips to my left and I know we’re about to be swarmed with another swell as the deck slowly starts to level out. Grayson is closer to the edge now, keeping low as he reaches out for the man.

“Don’t stand!” I hear Grayson tell him. “Get low and crawl forward!”