Page 76 of Tempest

More bodies bobbed amongst the wreckage, a parade of blue coats and blood.

“And yet countless men are now dead in the water,” she said. “Or already feeding the sharks.”

The captain scoffed. “Sharks don’t feed much in daylight.”

“My mistake,” Cat replied, her tone acidic.

It turned something in the pirate, his smile dropping.

“If we are to be laying blame, best give it to your captain. He didn’t store his powder properly, probably moved the magazine above the water line for easier access—and doomed his ship in the process.” There was a flush high on his bronzed cheeks, slight but clearly visible to Cat’s eye. “Those shots were meant to disable your ship, not destroy it. It wasn’t my fault.”

To Cat’s shock, she heard desperation lace his words. Sincerity, even. And logic too, much as she hated to admit. There was no prize to be had in a disaster such as this.

“That’s certainly a good excuse,” she muttered. “Though I don’t know enough about powder or magazines to ascertain the truth of it either way.”

“You’ll learn.” The flush disappeared and he looked out, not to the Venerable, but empty stretches of sea. “We all do.”

The sun rippled off the water, dancing across his face and in his eyes. It smoothed him out, wiping away long, harsh years of life in the Lyrian. With a start, she remembered he was not so old as he seemed. There was no gray in his short beard or gleaming hair. The lines on his face were worn by smiles and squinting eyes, not age. And his hands, rough as they looked, were still nimble and deft. She watched them now, splayed on the desk, the lines of shifting light spraying gold against already golden skin.

Somehow, his hands gave her pause, her eyes tracing his long fingers. One was crooked, perhaps broken long ago. And his knuckles looked raw, red from use. On deck or in a brawl, Cat could not say.

Both sent a current of heat to her core.

She swallowed hard, forcing her gaze back to his face.

“There is no we where you and I are concerned, Captain Kane,” she murmured.

“Is there not?” He looked back to her, an eyebrow raised. “We who crossed the ocean, leaving Meridia behind for another horizon?”

We who crossed the ocean. Cat pursed her lips, turning his words over, puzzling through them. Again she searched his face, mapping his appearance like territory to be examined.

He was not pale like other men of the Meridian, even the sailors. But the rest of him—the blond hair, those tempest eyes torn between blue and green, his accent, rough as it was, but not unfamiliar to the docks or the gutters of Meridian shores.

The twinkle of amusement returned to his eyes, like stars between rolling thunderheads.

“You enjoy confusing me,” she grumbled.

Valerian pushed back his hair, though most of it fell back into the same place, curling past his chin to brush his shoulder. It was strangely endearing.

“I enjoy being unexpected,” he countered. “I was not born to nobility or wealth, but I am not so far from you as you might think, Lady Rose. You’ll learn,” he said again, this time with a deep sigh. “You’ll learn what life is here, if you choose to stay. If you do not return to the Empire.”

Cat chewed the inside of her cheek, her mouth filling with a bitter taste.

“There is no life to return to in Meridia,” she said without thought. “So I suppose this is the lot of it.”

Valerian’s eyebrow rose higher, and Cat cursed inwardly.

“Only that I mean my husband has found such great success here,” she added, too quickly, her voice pitching high.

You fool, at least act like someone who can muster a ransom, she chided herself. Silently, she prayed Valerian would take her at her word, or better yet, ignore them entirely. Men often did.

“I am just a silly woman saying silly things,” Cat said, pressing a hand to her temple in performance. “Think little of them, sir.”

“You do not seem silly to me,” Valerian answered in a voice like granite.

It made Cat shiver in her chair. But for the circumstances, she might have enjoyed it.

“Lord Rose would never return to Meridian shores, I assure you,” she told him. “There is too much wealth to be had amongst these islands.”