Page 52 of Valour

He huffed a laugh and placed the camera back into its bag, came to stand behind her and pointed upwards. “That tall pillar of light? Yes, I think I see it. If I squint. What about that bit—it looks like huge sand dunes.”

“So it does!”

They continued their circuit of the ship under the glow of the green lights.

“Alright, it’s your turn to tell me a secret,” Charlotte said, still mesmerised by the dancing swoops of light.

Arnold pursed his lips, and she knew he was frowning in thought, even though she couldn’t see his brow underneath the hat.

“I am hopelessly in love with someone who does not love me back,” Arnold said, letting out a sigh of frozen mist.

“Oh! How awful. But—how do you know they don’t love you back?” Charlotte asked, rubbing Arnold’s arm in sympathy. She felt odd, like bubbles were both rising and sinking in her chest.

“I just know,” he said. “Trust me.”

Who could it be? “Is it Fliss?”

“What? No! It’s not Fliss,” Arnold said, laughing.

“Betty?”

“Heavens, no. Stop it,” Arnold said, shaking his head.

Charlotte hummed, then shrugged. There was no way it could be her. “Well, I am here for you, if you need an ear.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that.”

They skied on, finally coming back to the ramp and trudging onto the deck. Charlotte took one last look at the dancing green lights before ducking inside the companionway.

“This is absolutely filthy,” Hester breathed.

She lay on the settee in the chart room, a romance book above her head, chuckling to herself. It had been a while since she’d picked up the book she’d been reading the day they had discovered James’s clothing, but enough time had elapsed that she could bear to read again. There wasn’t a huge amount of reading material on board to be precious about such things.

Fliss looked up from the chart table, where she was plotting the latest sights.

“What?” Fliss asked with a huff. “Whatever is it now?”

“This bit is downright dirty. I have never heard anything so ludicrous.”

“Which bit?” Fliss asked, putting down the pencil and callipers.

“The bit where he says…oh, I don’t even know if I can read it out loud,” she laughed heartily and pinched the bridge of her nose. “The bit where he says I’ll take you like no one ever has before, you’ll be praying to…to God—” she cackled, clutching the book to her chest.

“Oh, I quite liked that bit,” Fliss said, frowning.

“Seriously?! You honestly wouldn’t just laugh in a man’s face if he said that to you?”

“Well…if a man actually said that to me…hmm. Maybe.” Fliss shrugged and stood, and Hester jumped off the settee and ran at her.

“What on Earth are you—” Fliss cried as Hester slammed her against the wall, holding her wrists.

“Felicity,” she purred in a low voice. “I’ll take you like no one ever has before. You’ll be praying to God by the time I’m done with you. You won’t know your own name.”

Fliss roared with laughter and shoved Hester back. “Alright, alright. Maybe I would laugh,” she conceded.

“As if anyone could make me, Hester Orn, pray to God. Maybe next time you see Emlyn you should say it to him,” Hester said, winking.

“Can you imagine?!”