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“Get her—please!”
The sailor dove back into the water.
Meerah clung to the piece of wood beneath her, soaked and shivering. Thrown and dropped by the waves, hammered with rain and shuddering with each crash of thunder, she could barely see anything of the wreckage around her. Disoriented and deaf to everything but the raging storm, Meerah held on.
“Mia.”
She gasped and clutched the driftwood tighter. She had not been able to hold onto Tally, but she would hold onto this piece of wood. She would grip it until her fingers bled or fell off. She would not let go. Because that sailor would save Tahlyah, and the captain would have saved the seraijan. If Mia could just hold on and survive the storm, she would see them both again.
“Mia.” Fingers curled around hers, and the urgency in that deep voice tugged at her. “Mia, wake up.”
NO!a voice deep inside her cried. If she woke, she would lose them again.
Thunder cracked, and Mia jerked against the bed.
Bed. She was in a bed. In the small village of Edgewood, at the inn.
The dream shattered, but panic clutched her chest when she realized the storm was real. Rain lashed the side of the inn. Lightning flashed, blinding her. She was lying on her stomach, clutching the bed as if it were that piece of driftwood. She couldn’t breathe.
Grayson was wrapped around her, one arm braced against the mattress at her side so he could lean over her without crushing her. His other hand was wrapped around hers, gripping tight.
“It’s all right,” he whispered in her ear. “You’re all right. It was just a dream. You’re safe. You can let go.”
She couldn’t. Her fingers were frozen.Shewas frozen.
Not a dream, but a memory. A nightmare she could never wake from, because it was real.
Tally’s hand, slipping through hers. Her wide, terrified eyes as she was swallowed by the sea.
Mia shuddered.
Grayson made a sound in his throat, and then he was moving. He swung over her and knelt on the floor beside the bed, putting their faces closer. His hand never left hers.
His callused fingertips brushed her wet cheek, and though she couldn’t see his expression clearly, she could feel the force of his gaze. “I’m right here,” he breathed. “You’re with me. I promise, you’re safe.”
A sob cracked in her throat, and finally Mia released her strangling hold on the bed. She wrapped her arms around Grayson’s neck, slipping from the bed and falling into his lap. He gathered her close, tugging the quilt from the bed and wrapping it around her. His back settled against the wall and she buried her face in his neck.
The storm raged outside, and Grayson never stopped holding her. And she never stopped holding him.
When the thunder grew more distant and the rain slowed to a quiet, steady fall, Grayson asked softly, “Do you want to talk about it?”
Mia tightened her hold on him. They were still curled on the floor, tucked in the corner of the room, though her arms had shifted to wrap around his waist. Beneath her cheek, she could feel the steady beat of his heart. “I held on,” she whispered. “All through the storm . . . I held onto a piece of driftwood.”
Grayson pressed a kiss to the top of her head, his hand rubbing up and down her spine. “I will always thank the fates you survived that night.”
Mia pinched her eyes closed, shame knifing her. “You don’t understand. I held onto that fates-blasted piece of wood, but I couldn’t hold onto my sister.”
“Mia . . .”
“I hate it,” she breathed, her words choked by tears. “I hate that I wasn’t strong enough to save her. And Desfan . . .” He would hate her, too.
“Desfan is not going to blame you for what happened,” Grayson said, clearly following her line of thought. “It wasn’t your fault.”
It felt like her fault.
In the darkness, something she’d never said aloud came out. “I’m afraid to go home,” she admitted softly. “I’m afraid of seeing Desfan because, even if he doesn’t blame me, what if I’m not what he expects? What if I’m not enough?”
You’re broken, Meerah.Iris’s words, but they voiced what Mia feared.
