Page 140 of Tempest

When he added his first bet to the pile, Cat felt herself sharpen through the haze of alcohol. A spill of bright gold coins shone in the center of the table, Meridian lions stamped in the middle. These were not worn by many hands but freshly minted.

And freshly stolen.

Quite the endeavor, even for Vex.

Her next breath laced with cigar smoke, the scent distantly familiar. She licked her lips nervously, tasting taquil and smoke. Tobacco, and something sweeter. With a jolt, Cat realized her hat lay discarded on the table, forgotten. Her face exposed to the wide room, to many eyes beyond the table. Eyes she could not control.

“No captain can fight alone,” she murmured, still watching Vex. He held no cigar, blew no smoke. But the smell persisted, stronger by the second.

Around the table, the other two players folded, unable to match so precious a pot so early in a game.

A tremor of fear shot down her spine, and Cat wondered if she should do the same. Admit defeat, don her hat, grab her purse, and turn tail for the inn. Hide until morning and be the first passenger aboard the Dorales.

With a grin, Vex set down his tankard. Over his shoulder, the room filled with more figures, more bodies.

More pirates.

“I’m hardly alone, Widow Rose.”

A rushing sound roared in her ears, rising like a furious wind. The card table became the eye of a hurricane, with Cat trapped in the center. Faces spun, the smell of smoke grew heavier, the taste of taquil turning to acid. The floor heaved like the deck of a ship in a storm, tossing so violently Cat gripped the edge of the table to keep herself upright. The heat in her skin became fever, flame running over every inch.

The time to run was gone.

If it had ever existed at all.

Cat’s grip on the table tightened, and the hall stopped spinning enough to notice how the sailors moved, darting aside like a school of fish avoiding a shark. They parted without question, allowing someone to pass through without ever breaking stride. Someone golden-headed and storm-eyed, taller than everyone else, his gait the loping prowl of an apex predator.

There was nothing to be done, no choice to make. All Cat could do was hold her ground and wield the cards she still had to play.

Steeling herself, she raised her face, chin high, shoulders thrown back. A fire burned in her chest, the rage all consuming.

But to the world she looked serene, the still surface of a safe harbor. A Meridian lady amongst monsters.

I am a monster too, she thought.

And you know it, Valerian Kane.

The first glimpse of him speared her through. Her heartbeat thundered, every breath more difficult than the last, until she thought the bodice of her dress might suffocate her.

Even so, she held on, refusing to blink or break or bolt.

Smoke wreathed Valerian’s head like a halo, catching the candlelight. His eyes sparked through the shroud, gleaming from within, all the fury of the sea bound up in his glare. He looked exactly as she remembered six months ago, and yet not at all. The once-golden captain seemed made of shadows, black as the wildest deep.

Her vision shifted, the Valerian that was erased by the man approaching. Hands that had never touched her in anger turned to fists, knucklebones white beneath tanned skin. Familiar scars became terrible reminders of his lethal capabilities. Long, lean arms that used to hold her body now threatened to wrap around her throat, tighter than any noose. She swallowed against the sensation, the crushing weight of his rage already unbearable.

Where once Cat had reveled in the danger of him, in the sharp edges she knew would never cut her, now she felt the blade perilously close, and wielded for blood.

Valerian was no longer her loyal hound, but a desperate, starving wolf.

And Cat expected to be devoured.

Beneath the table, Cat’s free hand slipped into the pocket of her skirt. Her fingers curled around the grip of her old pistol, molding to cool, smooth wood.

If I die, I will not die alone.

Only Vex kept his seat. The other two players leapt up from the table upon seeing Valerian approach. They scurried out of his way without being asked, the reputation of Captain Kane well-known, respected.

And feared.