The bridge of Hawk’s nose hurt. “You should talk,” he growled in response. “How many different flavors of cunt am I going to smell on you if you come closer?”
“Beg pardon?”
“Couldn’t wait to get ashore, could you?” Hawk continued throwing accusations. “The entire way back here, you were crawling out of your skin. What - couldn’t wait to be rid of me? So surly the whole time that we had to share the haul with the god damn crew of theRose of the Sea?”
“You’re out of your mind!” Silver had the gall to proclaim. “If I seemed preoccupied on our way back to Port Royal, it wasn’t because of the gold! Well, indirectly... it was. But not the way you think!”
“Sure, sure, nothing is the way I think!”
“And what of you? You’ve barely touched me since we left Phallandia!”
“Where?”
“All you ever talk about is securing the gold, and protecting the gold, and sequestering the gold, and what to spend the fucking gold on! I betrayed my family for you!”
Hawk had risen and stood nose to nose with Silver. His hair had grown so long, it suddenly struck him, that Hawk wanted very much to shut the beautiful idiot up with his own mouth and to feel his fingers tangle in those long, wind-swept curls.
“What were you doing in the brothel?” Hawk hissed, fighting down his weaker urges.
“I needed to speak to Mara.”
“What business could you possibly have withher?”
“I...” Silver avoided his eyes. Was she the one he had been fucking? “I can’t explain it to you, but I assure you, there was a very valid and utterly innocent reason.”
“How can I trust you when you won’t tell me the truth?” Hawk ground his teeth together. If he could set Silver on fire with looks alone, the man would be a cinder at his feet.
“How can younottrust me?” Silver’s impossibly azure eyes grew large and he took a step back. “After everything we’ve been through? My gods... Mara had been right! You are incapable of the same kind of love as I am!”
Silverfin couldn’t believe the conversation they were having. How could Samuel, whom he had loved beyond reason before he even knew his given name, how couldhisSamuel have so little faith in him? In them!
“Fine then!” Hawk ran a hand through his fiery hair as he refused to meet Silverfin’s gaze. “If you believe I’m such a waste of your time, go on! You know where the longboat is! I should have known you’d bail as soon as this treasure hunt was over!”
Sil-ver-fin... Sil-ver-fin
The storm windows had been open and a cool night breeze from the sea flew on gentle wings into the cabin and ruffled Silverfin’s long hair.
“No,” he said out loud. “This cannot be.” He took a step towards Hawk and placed his hand over his lover's heart. “I left my family for you. I gave up my fins for you. I left my home for you. I cut off myhairfor you! What more must I give up for you to see that I truly love you, Samuel?”
Come home, Silverfin! Come home!
“What are you talking about, you utterly inexplicable man!”
“I’m not a man!” Silverfin uttered and clasped his hand over his own mouth, horrified at his own words.
“Well, you’re certainly not a woman,” Hawk smirked. “I’ve checked.”
“Listen, Samuel...”
Be quiet, Silverfin! Come home, Silverfin!
“The reason that I don’t have a tan below my waist is because normally, when I’m at home, I have a fishtail and fins there instead of the three legs you bipeds have.”
“What?” A deep crease formed between Hawk’s eyebrows. “Are you actually telling me you’re a bloody mermaid?”
“Not a mermaid. A MerSir! But yes.”
Hawk laughed and Silverfin’s blood boiled.
