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“You’re wondering how you made it when the others didn’t, aren’t you?”
I glanced up in surprise. “How the fuck do you do that? It’s very disconcerting, you know, for you to read my thoughts.”
He only smiled. “Your face is expressive, captain. And I suspect you made it partly because of your strength and determination and partly because of the magic in your blood, as we’ve discussed before. Magic is an odd thing and takes people in different ways. Yours happens to be all tied up with your mate, and he no doubt willed you to survive, though he may not even have been aware of it. His feelings for you are extremely strong, and his emotions were high as he saw your ship capsizing. He was beside himself, in fact.”
“And you know this how?”
Again, he shrugged. “I had a dream.”
“Uh huh. Brandon has no real magic.”
“Don’t discount the power of love and blood magic. It can be one of the most powerful forces in our world. Not to mention the presence of two witches onboard with your mate. His cousins, I believe. It was too late for them to intervene when they realized what was happening to your ship, but I think they instinctively tried to help you and your men.”
“That would be Asher and Lexington, I suppose.”
Odd to hear them both called witches, though I knew they both had strong magic, and that’s essentially what they were.
“Do you know who sank my ship?”
He shook his head. “No. I’ve tried, but he disguises himself well, and his wards are in place. I can’t see his face at all. He was on one of the ships that were around you, but that’s all I know.”
Yeah, so much for Grimora’s claims that he didn’t have magic.
“You said Brandon is in some kind of danger. From himself and others, you told me.”
“From this dark sorcerer, of course, though I feel he’s not after your mate at the moment. The danger isn’t over. He still plans to harm him, but he’s waiting for something. Right now, your mate is in danger more from himself, though, because of the terrible grief he feels for you. He thinks you’re dead and wants to follow you.”
“He what?”
“His feelings for you are strong and unbreakable. And he suffers from a melancholy in his soul that has been there for many years, I think.” He gave me a long, thoughtful look. “You’ve seen this before. You know about it. You must be able to feel it through your blood connection.”
Yes, I knew. I’d seen it when he was just a boy, after his parents and his brother died in a carriage accident. He had wanted to die then too, and it had taken a lot of work to pull him out of that dark place he’d gone to. His cousins had helped, but I like to think it was me who had made the biggest difference. According to what Grimora had said about this blood magic thing we had for each other, maybe I’d been right about that all along.
I felt a heavy sadness deep in my soul that I had attributed to the loss of my ship and my men, but when I actually examined it, I felt an overwhelming depression that I’d never felt before, and it was all centered around Brandon. Was it caused by him? Was I feeling a little of what he was feeling?
I knew how close he’d been in the past to this melancholy and had always been to some extent. He’d been close to losing himself in a black hole of depression, and it was all the more reason I had to try and make up for not letting him know I was still alive all those years ago after I’d been captured by pirates. I’d been selfish and childishly seeking to hurt him. I hadn’t gotten word to my family or to Brandon, secretly glad at the idea they might be suffering a little. Grieving for me. What an ass I’d been. Yeah, I was young and hurt myself, but that was no excuse for the cruelty. Little wonder Brandon had been so bitter about it and refused to forgive me when we’d first met again.
“I have to go to him. Let him know I’m still alive. Do you know where he is now? Where they’ve taken him?”
“To his cousin’s castle.”
“Back to Sudfarma?”
“No, Igella. Our King Regent’s castle. It was closest and they’ve…I believe they had to restrain him at first to keep him from throwing himself in the sea.”
I gave a little cry of disbelief and pain. What was he going through? I tried to stand up, with some half-baked idea of going to him, but I fell back down.
“Wait, captain, and don’t despair yet. His cousins are trying to help him and protect him from hurting himself. They care about him a great deal.”
The thought of him trying to hurt himself over me still made me crazy. But at least he was fairly close by. Suddenly feeling exhausted again, I lay back on the soft furs. I needed to regain my strength and go after him. I needed to get him away from the danger he was in and back safely with me. But first I had to regain my strength, or I wouldn’t be any good to him.
“Give me some potion or do whatever it takes to get me better, Grimora. Please. I have to get to him or get word to him somehow. I’ll do whatever it takes.”
Chapter Fourteen
Brandon
It had been a week since the horrible event that had taken Rox away from me. I had fought against leaving the area where the pirate ship had gone down, still foolishly holding out hope that somehow there were survivors, and that Roxbury would be among them. But after the search was ended and Lex and my other cousins carefully explained to me how there was no hope or chance for the survival of anyone, I still refused to accept it.
