Page 139 of Silk and Sirens

“Thank you,” she mouthed, her words lost against the chaos. “For everything.”

She blew me a kiss just as the decking gave another violent groan, her section separating to drop entirely.

“Aeris!” I screamed as she fell, tensing, ready to jump after her.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Sebastian tackled me, forcing me back. “You won’t survive the fall!”

Shoving him off I scrambled to the jagged edge, flames licking the skin at my back, fighting against the rain slashing at me from the front. Far below, Selene’s broken body was impaled on a spike of splintered wood and rock. But there was no sign of Aeris, nothing but the angry, dark sea that was hungrily grasping to claim the dead.

“Over there!” Sebastian shouted through the crash of thunder. He pointed to some stone steps carved into the side of the cliff. I didn’t hesitate to rush down them, my boots slipping on the rain-slicked rock.

The sea was still violent, the salt stinging my eyes and skin as I scanned the dark water, looking for a flash of red.

“Caden!”

I dived straight in, a wave immediately trying to pull me deeper. It was like swimming in a void, the current hitting me from all directions, while trying to find something in the dark.

My lungs burned as I fought against the pull, eyes straining uselessly in the black. I had to resurface, only to dive down again. And again.

“CADEN!” came Sebastian’s increasingly frantic shouts, but then my hand caught something soft, warm. Grabbing Aeris with everything I had, I kicked upward, breaking the surface with a desperate gasp. I locked one arm around her waist and fought the storm, dragging us both towards the thin strip of rocky shore where Sebastian and a few of our men were already waiting.

“Back up!” I screamed, laying her down gently on the wet sand. Waves crashed against us, trying to pull her back to the sea.

“Caden …” Sebastian started, but I was already tipping her head back.

I breathed for her, my hands pressing down on her chest in steady, forceful compressions. “Come on,” I whispered, voice cracking. “Come on, Tempest. You don’t get to leave me. Not now. Not ever.”

She didn’t respond, her lips turning blue.

But still, I kept going.

Chapter 58

Aeris

One Month Later

Dear Aeris,

How can I face so many monsters in a court room, and yet struggle with a simple letter?

I’ve stared at this blank piece of paper for hours, as if I’ll suddenly know where to start. As if all it would take is a simple sorry for you to forgive me. But I know that’s not enough. Nothing I can do will ever be enough.

I knew from the moment I first held you in my arms that I loved you. It feels ridiculous to write that because it’s the bare minimum of a father, but it’s the truth. I have always loved you and your sisters, even if I was never any good at showing it.

For years, shame made it easier to look away, easier to bury my head in work and pretend the guilt wasn’t slowly eating me alive. I know you hate me for what happened to Mira, and I understand. I deserve it. I didn’t fight hard enough for either of you. I didn’t fight for you when it mattered, but I’m asking you to forgive me for this. For going to Selene fourteen years too late.

I wished I’d been a better father.

Dad

I must have read this letter over a hundred times, as if each time it would suddenly say something else. As if the words would be enough for me to forgive him.

But I couldn’t, and maybe that was something I’d just have to accept.

“She’d have been thirty today,” Fletcher said quietly, his attention on the horizon. “Do you think she’d have gone for chocolate or strawberry birthday cake?”

I began to fold the letter. “Chocolate,” I said, glancing over at him. “She’d ask for a normal one too, because the lactose free tasted like⁠—”