Page 76 of Phobia

Even though I’d worked in boatyards for years, I’d never been a fan of water. Until now, it hadn’t been a problem. Usually I was docked—or at the very least close enough to land I could see the distant shoreline. Staring at the vast never-ending black water, I mulled over the choices I’d made that led me to this moment. Though I didn’t necessarily regret working the party that had led to this mess, as that had been a sweet gig, I did wish everything else afterward hadn’t gone so horrifically wrong.

I especially mourned the fact that I hadn’t been sneakier when I’d dipped into Lord Wishfell’s pockets. It had been “Wishfell” thinking that I wouldn’t be caught. Hindsight being twenty-twenty and all, I knew I should’ve waited till he’d gone to the loo, or at the very least had his back to a dark corner in the room. But I’d been rushed. Agitated. Henry’s eyes had been on me all night long, and the second I’d thought he had finally left me alone, I’d dove in head-first—or in this case, hand-first—hoping to grab my prize before he returned. Only, apparently I was an idiot, because he’d been there the whole time and we’d…well.

We’d ended up here.

Floating in the middle of the night, over water so deep I could not even fathom its depths.

“No sharks,” I said cheerfully. Then under my breath added, “yet.”

“That isn’t helping.”

Henry’s voice was hoarse and quiet. Thick as honey and throaty like he’d smoked a pack too many that morning. Lucky bastard. I’d be lucky enough to afford a pack a week, not that I’d ever spend my hard-earned cash on pleasures as fleeting as that. Somehow I doubted Henry ever bought things just for pleasure, despite the fact his pockets were lined with gold.

“Who said I was trying to help?” Maybe my smile was a little mean, but he deserved it.

He probably blamed me for this whole mess, even though it was clearly his fault. He’d been the one hounding me. Stalking me. Hunting me. And security wouldn’t have been watching me at all had Lord Tight-Wad’s golden boy not been biting at my heels.

I glanced at the waves again, this time so I wouldn’t have to look at the dark curl that flopped over his forehead, or the way the sheen of sweat that glittered on his temple made him look like one of the statues in the temple square. Catching my breath, I ignored the prickle of Henry’s gaze between my shoulder blades.

A thousand leagues of treacherous waters.

Now, even the stars were blocked by rain clouds.

If there had been a wayward spaceship flying above, they surely wouldn’t see us now.

My hope dwindled.

Another droplet hit my cheek, and suddenly, I was out of words. My silver tongue had always gotten me both into and out of trouble, but there was no sweet talking my way out of this. Dread sat like a pit in my stomach.

I could practically hear Henry’s anxious thoughts over the sound of the hungry waves as I tried to forget the way he’d laughed earlier. It had startled me. As much as I joked, I truly hadn’t known he was capable of sounding so full of life. I hadn’t expected it. Which made it hard to ignore. Having this knowledge about Henry was dangerous. If he kept emoting like that I was bound to like him, andthatwas the last thing either of us needed.

My breath was coming too quickly but I couldn’t help it. Henry’s was too. The fact that he, of all people, was scared was making me literally ill. Henry wasn’t supposed to be anything other than a cardboard kind of man, built from glued-together stacks of money and prejudice.

Lap, lap, lap went the waves.

Another raindrop.

I white-knuckled my grip on the side of the boat.

The darkness blurred until I could no longer be sure where we’d come from. The city lights were so distant the fog was thick enough to conceal them entirely. Without the familiar temple steeple, without the towering buildings, the lamp posts, the docks—I was lost.

As I searched the waves off in the distance, I spotted a small dark blob. Immediately, I dropped back into the ship in alarm to hide, my heart racing. I ignored Henry’s eyes on me as I stared blearily at him through my panic. It could’ve been nothing. Seaweed, maybe. But my stomach still flip-flopped.Sharks, sharks, sharksdancing in the back of my head.

I’d meant it as a joke earlier.

But now my own words came back to haunt me.

“What?” Henry asked, his voice somehow even hoarser than before.

“Nothing.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Then why are you breathing like that?”

I kicked him, but it was feeble this time. He caught my heel and gave my leg a gentle shake until I looked up and fell into his gaze. Dark brown eyes the color of coffee grounds glared and sucked me deep inside them. The lock of wavy black hair that had fallen across his brow, teased me as it brushed his dark skin, sticking to the glimmer of sweat.