Page 80 of Valour

“I think that’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard,” Arnold said with a wide grin. “And how did our illustrious captain take this?”

“She…told me not to go back to the cabin for a while.”

“Is she in there with him?!”

“No, no.”

Arnold passed her a mug of steaming milk. She wrapped her hands around it, letting the warmth soak into her palms. Outside, the dogs had started up their orchestra of howling. Charlotte still couldn’t understand their noisiness.

She sipped at the milk, licking the foam from her upper lip. “She said she didn’t want to ruin the anticipation. Isn’t that ridiculous?”

Arnold shrugged, his gaze dropping to her mouth. “I suppose I can understand it.”

“You can? It seems ludicrous to me.”

“Some things feel fragile, too good to be true, and if you grasp at them, it might well crush them.”

Charlotte stared. “That was very poetic.”

He smiled. “Perhaps I speak from experience in such matters.”

“Clearly. But I don’t understand it, myself. If I were to fall in love, I wouldn’t want to wait.” She glanced at him. She didn’t know why she’d said that. It was a lie.

Arnold cleared his throat, staring into his mug. How sad he looked, how forlorn. The poor man. She wished she could do something to help. He smiled again, though the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. And she realised something crucial in that second. How could she have been so stupid not to have seen it before?

“Arnold! Oh, I think I have finally worked out who it is you love who doesn’t return your feelings.” She reached across the table for his hands, and his eyes lit.

“You have?”

“Yes. I cannot believe I didn’t realise before.”

The smile that broke over his face was truly breathtaking.

She squeezed his fingers again. “It’s Hester!”

Arnold groaned and slumped forward onto the table, his hands becoming slack in her grip.

“It makes perfect sense now.” Charlotte smiled at her cleverness, how she had finally uncovered the truth behind Arnold’s heartbreak. But what was that little part of her that felt pain at this discovery? She bit her lip and pulled her hands from his. “I think it’s safe to go back now. Thanks for the milk.” She hurried from the galley.

“Charlotte, wait!”

But she couldn’t stop until she was safe behind the door. Because for some reason, there were tears spilling down her cheeks.

Charlotte burst through the door of her cabin, and Hester sat up in bed. She wiped her cheeks and could barely look at Hester as she slid into her sleeping bag.

“Whatever is the matter? Boss?” Hester’s cheeks were flushed, and there was a brightness in her eyes that had Charlotte burrowing even deeper into the fur.

“It’s nothing.”

“It’s not nothing. What happened?”

“I’m just tired. And worried.” As if to corroborate her feelings, the ship gave a screeching groan. “Is this the end of the Valour?”

Hester scoffed, and then hesitated, whispering, “Maybe.”

Charlotte shivered, dread pooling in her stomach. Maybe. The fact that Hester had admitted that much…well, it wasn’t good.

She lay awake for a long time, listening to the grinding of the ship battling against the onslaught of the floe.