Is that what’s wrong?He was upset Draevyn didn’t consider himself the captain?
Esmyra let out a small laugh. “Drae and I are co-captains in my eyes.”
“Key word being yours, missy. He’s yieldedValorto you and your crew.”
Esmyra recalled everything Tommy had said to her the day she forced her way onto Draevyn’s original ship. He’d once been a pirate, untilThe Night Wraithcame for his crew and sent them to the depths. Being one of the only survivors, he surrendered his life to Lephyrin and became a privateer. And that very night, Esmyra had sunk yet another ship he was aboard.
She swallowed thickly. “If you hate me for all I’ve done, I understand.”
He shook his head slightly. “No. I don’t hate you, darlin’. Terrified, sure. But hate? I don’t have it in me. I know the life. Lived it myself, after all.”
“Aye,” she breathed. “Well, I’ll give you one thing. You’re one tough bastard having survived my crew not once, but twice.”
Tommy let out a slow breath, the lines of his face deepening. “I wasn’t sure if I forgave you for it all.”
“An understandable reaction.”
His eyes flicked back to the sea, jaw tight. “Draevyn told us what you both went through down there in Maerinys. And now I’m not sure what happened back in that forest, but we all heard the screams. While I don’t know what caused it, I do know that no one deserves what must’ve caused you to go through that kind of pain.”
Her eyes slowly widened. No one in her crew had even dared to mention it.
“And then this morning Draevyn looked lighter for the first time in…well, his entire life,” he admitted. “The boy has always had a darkness surrounding him. He lost his entire crew the day he betrayed the crown, and Sam and I were the only ones who followed him along on this venture. Mainly because we didn’t want him to get himself killed.”
Her heart twisted at the reminder of everything Draevyn had sacrificed for her.
“But,” he continued, “the day we rushed out of the elven kingdom, we assumed that darkness would ease a bit. When it only seemed to drape him more after we rescued you, we knew something was wrong.” He looked at her again and gave her a soft smile. “I’m glad that seems to be fixed now.”
Esmyra’s lips parted, her legs dangling from the railing. “Thank you, Tommy. I’m… I’m glad he has you.” She paused. “Bothof you. Even though I’m sure Samwell would rather see my head on a spike.”
He barked out a belly laugh, and it made her smile. “Sam is a whole other kind of beast, but he’s here. So that must mean somethin’.”
“Aye,” she whispered.
“I don’t regret it one bit,” he went on. “The sea is my home, and Draevyn gave it back to me the day he accepted me aboard his crew. He has my loyalty, and you have his.” He met her stare again. “Which means you’ve got mine too, miss. Wherever that may bring us.”
Esmyra blinked at him. She had braced herself for rejection, forresentment to linger. And though it was still there, he had offered her something anyway—something that meant everything to her. Tommy had offered her loyalty, in spite of it all.
Something about him yet again reminded her so vividly of her father. The man who had taught her to stand firm, who had believed in her even when others doubted, and who had surrendered his life to his love of the sea.
Her chest ached with it, with missing Cyrus and with the thought that maybe she hadn’t lost every tether to that kind of love and loyalty after all.
Esmyra sat there in the quiet for a long while, the waves licking against the hull beneath them. She drew in a steadying breath and finally let the words slip past her lips.
“You remind me of him,” she said softly, almost guiltily, knowing it was the last thing he’d likely want to hear. “My father.”
But instead of bristling, Tommy turned his head toward her, his brows lifting slightly in surprise. “As in Cyrus Blackwood?”
She gave the faintest nod.
He let out a sound that resembled a disbelieving laugh. “I don’t think I’m nearly as terrifying, but to be compared to the most feared pirate to ever sail the seas…” He shook his head, letting out a low whistle. “I’ll take that as an honor. Even if I think you’re full of shit.”
She let out a chuckle that echoed across the waves.
“I never had children, but if I had a daughter…” His gaze moved back to the horizon, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “I’d only hope she’d be as fierce as you, Esmyra Blackwood.”
The words meant more to her than he could ever realize.
Drawing her knees up, she wrapped her arms loosely around them and leaned her shoulder against his. It was a small gesture, but for her, it was everything.
