Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 106107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
And so am I.
Because there is new grief in my life that has made itself present every single day for the past five years.
And now, that sorrow I hastily tucked away inside is threatening to overwhelm me again. Everything hangs in the balance. This storm that bashes the Nightwind, battering the sides of the ship and throwing everyone around, is no match for the storm inside my heart, the one oscillates from the brightest hope to the darkest despair, no safe harbor in between.
Once we get through this storm, we’ll either find Larimar or we won’t. She’ll either be in Maren’s grasp, or she’ll be lost to her forever. Lost to me forever, even more so than she already was, in the grip of some mortal, savage men planning to do who knows what to her.
Beyond this thunder and lightning, which is starting to feel like a message from God himself, lies everything I’ve ever wanted and never deserved. I’ve tried so hard to be a decent man after I turned, though perhaps I didn’t try hard enough. Either way, I am prepared to burn the oceans to get her back, even if that means losing her to the flames in the process.
“Aragon,” Thane warns me. “You need to let go.”
I stare at him for a moment, wondering how he just heard my thoughts.
Then, I realize he’s talking about the rope.
I open my hands, and the rope snaps out of my grip, the sail billowing out just enough to catch the wind.
Thane grabs the loose end, ties it up, and then pats me on the back.
“You’re learning,” he says. “But you have yet to learn how to stop drowning inside your head.”
I grunt at that. Hypocrite.
I change the subject from my torment. “So, if the Nightwind is magic and the wind is always filling the sails, how come the rest of the weather doesn’t obey?”
Thane shrugs. “You’d have to ask the ship that.”
“You don’t truly believe the ship is a sentient being,” I snark.
He wipes the rain off his face with the back of his hand. “Well, I suppose I might, since I know both a talking cat and a talking shark, not to mention the Kraken and sea witches. Being a Vampyre should let you believe in a lot of things.”
I shake my head as we move on to the next mast to help Lothar and Cruz with those sails. “Not me. I believe what I see.”
He snorts. “And yet you were a man of God. Tell me, do you see God anywhere?” He waves his arms around just as another clap of thunder sounds, the rain lashing the ship even harder.
“I see signs of him,” I say, almost too quietly to be heard above the storm. “But perhaps not enough for me to be a priest. Just a casual observer of the Lord.”
Thane grumbles at that. “I can’t figure you out, Aragon.”
“Well, if you do end up figuring me out, please let me know,” I tell him.
Because I don’t know myself either.
“Ahoy!” Drakos shouts up from the crow’s nest, his voice carried by the wind. “I see something!”
Thane and I step back around the sails and look up to see what direction Drakos is pointing in.
“Starboard,” Thane says. Then, he turns around and cups his hands over his mouth and yells at Ramsay. “Turn to starboard!”
The boat starts tilting to the right, smashing over the waves that arc over the deck, drenching us to the bone.
“Avast!” Thane yells to Drakos. “What do you see?”
Drakos just shakes his head, trying to see through the spyglass before wiping the lens with his soaked shirt and trying again. “I reckon I saw a shark’s fin!”
Everyone runs over to starboard, searching the waves for any sign of a shark or Syren. The swells are deep, the sky the dark, dusky bruise of a stormy twilight. Foam sprays everywhere, and the black clouds above pulse with flashes of lightning. I can’t imagine what the humans down below in the hold must feel like—it’s hard not to be seasick up here as it is.
“There!” Abe yells from the bow, pointing wildly.
We follow the direction of his finger just as lightning illuminates the waves, shining off a shark’s fin that barrels down a swell.
My heart jumps into my throat, and I’m gripping the sides of the railing so hard, I might just break it in half.
Then, a dark head breaks the surface, an arm shooting out to wave at us.
“There she is!” Ramsay yells. “Hold on, luv, we’re coming!”
“What about Larimar?” I cry out hoarsely, emotions betraying my voice.
Thane gives me a curious look for a moment before turning his attention back to the ocean.
Still, I only see Maren and the shark before Maren dives again, heading for the ship.
“Lifelines overboard!” Thane yells as everyone scrambles to let the ropes down. They enter the seas with a splash, though the waves eagerly throw them back against the sides of the ship with a thud.