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“Captain, in my opinion, there isn’t much point in our delaying our journey. You’d only be wasting time and precious fresh water. What you’ve told me about Warken saddens me, but it confirms what I’ve feared since we first pulled ourselves out of the water. I think the others are dead. And I feel that…”

“Go feel whatever you’re feeling in the galley, lad. On the Tarman, the only opinion that counts is the captain’s, and oh, looky, that’s me. Go on with you, now. Eat something. Sleep. You’ll more clearly remember who I am and who you are, and that you’re standing on the deck of my ship.”Advertisement

His words were considerably gentler than how he would have addressed a deckhand who so far forgot himself as to speak to his captain like that. Besides, he could see Alise stepping into Carson’s tippy little boat and he wanted to watch her come aboard without distractions.

He saw the youngster’s jaw snap shut and marked the baleful look in his eye. Well, he’d get over it. And if he didn’t, he’d just get smacked down a bit more firmly the next time. Leftrin didn’t watch him leave. His eyes were locked on the boat, which Carson was paddling crosscurrent toward them.

Abandoning all pretense, he left the top of the deckhouse and descended quickly to the deck. He stood by the railing and waited for her, grinning stupidly. When the small boat was alongside and she looked up at him with her eyes so gray in her poor water-scalded face, his heart ached for her. “Oh, Alise!” No other words came to him. Her red hair was a tangled tumble down her back. She still wore the copper gown he had sheathed her in. Thank Sa for Elderling artifacts. He leaned over the railing, and as soon as he could, he put his hands lightly on her wrists as she climbed up the ladder.

And when he helped her over the railing and onto the deck, he didn’t let her go. He folded her in his arms and held her gently against him, mindful of how sore her skin must be but also knowing, “I’m never, ever going to let you get that far away from me again, Alise. Sa be praised that you’re here and safe. I’m not letting you go again. I don’t care what anyone says.”

“Captain Leftrin,” she said softly. She leaned her brow against the side of his jaw. Was it an accident? Did he imagine the quick brush of her lips against his throat? A shiver, a flush of heat, ran over him and he stood perfectly still, as if a rare bird had deigned to alight on his shoulder. She pulled herself slightly back from him and looked up into his eyes. “It’s so good to be safe with you,” she said. “I knew you’d come for us. I knew it.”

Could she ever have said a more touching thing to him? He was so pleased by her words that he felt both foolish and extremely manly at the same time. He grinned fiercely and held her closer for a moment. Then, before she could request to be released, he set her free. Never did he want her to feel trapped by him.

Her next words brought him firmly back to earth. “Do we know what befell Sedric? Was he lost overboard during the wave?”

“I am so sorry, Alise. I don’t know. I thought he was in his cabin. I’d gone ashore to…check on things. I was there when the first wave hit.” He had to think fast now. No one knew he’d gone to meet Jess. No one connected him to the hunter at all. In his heart, he knew he’d killed the man. He’d given him a bad enough beating that he could not possibly have survived his time in the water. He’d killed him, and he couldn’t regret doing it. That didn’t mean he wanted to let anyone else know that he’d done it. It was his secret, and he’d take it to the grave with him. “It was sheer luck that the Tarman found me in the dark and took me aboard.” Another lie. Didn’t he owe her better than this? He plowed ahead with his tale. “Sedric might have been on deck and got washed overboard when the water hit. Or he might have been ashore. All I know is that when I went looking for him, he wasn’t here. And neither were you.”

“And it’s my fault, for dragging him into this.” She spoke the words quietly but firmly, as if it were a fault she had to confess.

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“I don’t see how that’s true,” he offered her.

“I do.”

The depth of guilt in her voice unnerved him. “Now, Alise, I don’t think there’s any future in following that thought. We’ve been looking for him, and we’re going to continue looking for him. We’re not giving up. As soon as we’ve settled what we’re doing with the dragons, we’ll make our plans to continue the search. We found you, didn’t we? We’ll find Sedric, too.” pqdm.com