Even In Darkness (Between) (9 page)

“I know,” I said quietly. Aiden had cast a memory for me before so I’d seen firsthand what a strong, handsome man their father had been.
Willie didn’t even acknowledge my comment; he was too absorbed in his own thoughts, no doubt going over all that he had lost.

After what felt like hours, Willie cleared his throat and turned to me. “My mam used to tell me stories whenever I fell ill,” he said. “Do ye know any?”

I’d promised Willie I’d tell him the truth at some point, so I figured now was just as good a time as any. “Okay, but it’s a doozy, so you’ll have to hang in there with me to the end, all right?”

“A doozy?”

“Never mind; just listen.” With a shake of my head, I plowed
forward, ignoring the way my heart tripped over itself. “Once upon a time, there was a girl who lived three hundred years in the future. While she was still young—my age, actually—she died in a terrible accident and woke to find herself in a meadow. When she bent down to take a drink from the stream there, she met a handsome man, a transporter who’d come to take her from Earth to heaven.”

Willie listened intently as I told him the whole story
, interrupting only when he didn’t understand a word or phrase I used. About midway through, his brow furrowed and his eyes darkened with suspicion, but he didn’t cut me off.

“They fell over the edge of a cliff and ended up in the realm in between
Earth and heaven again. Only this time, he didn’t remember her. How could she explain that she was his wife when he didn’t even recognize her?”

Willie’s eyes grew wide with comprehension
. He scooted away from me, then stood and pointed his finger in accusation. “You…”

I didn’t reply, but stared at him, waiting.

“But…but…no, it canna be,” he said, swinging his head in denial like he could somehow erase what I’d said. “Then what am I?”

“I don’t know,” I replied honestly. I had no idea how Willie figured into this whole mess. Aiden
had believed for three hundred years that his brother was dead. Did his presence here mean he didn’t die during the battle? Or was he a spirit, sucked back into this charade in Between? Why was he here? Hell, why were we here? What did the captain want with us, with him? Was he simply toying with us or was there a point to this madness? I didn’t have any answers, so I didn’t offer any. “I’ve told you all I know. What happens next is…” I waved a helpless hand in the air.

Willie
crossed his arms over his chest and stood in silence, not looking at me. I let him process and went back to caring for Aiden, singing softly to him as I did so.

Callison appeared at the door, his bulky frame cutting off the light from the hall. He narrowed his eyes at me in a way that clearly sa
id ‘I haven’t forgotten about the knife you stole from me.’ I glared back at him. “Captain wants you on deck,” he said to Willie. “Your little party here is over.”

With a last glance at me, Willie shoved away from the wall and stalked out of the room, muttering Gaelic obscenities. Callison stepped to the side to let him pass, then gave me a nasty look before he slammed the door closed and locked us inside.

Chapter 9

Aiden’s fever broke sometime the next morning. I was asleep next to him on the hard, filthy floor and I felt his fingertips on my cheek.

“Lindsey,” he said, sounding more like
himself than he had in days.

Blinking to wake up, I shifted and turned toward him
. “Hi, you.” I was going to ask if he was feeling better, but there was no need. His cheeks were a normal color again and his eyes shone clear. Joy and relief surged through me, bringing a wave of fresh tears. I tried to hold them back, but the smile on his face was my undoing. Laughing and hiccupping, I let the tears fall where they may.

“You are an angel, lass.”

Grinning, I repeated the words he’d said to me when I first met him. “No, angels are incredible beings, fierce and dangerous, and so beautiful you can barely stand to look at them.”

“You’re not proving me wrong, then
,” he said, his voice a shade lower than before. One hand reached out to cradle my cheek and my heart went into overdrive. “So soft, and yet so strong,” he whispered as he leaned forward to kiss me.

All the stress from the last couple days melted away at the touch of his lips
. None of it mattered. Only that moment. Only us. I wanted to pull him closer to prolong the kiss, but I didn’t want to scare him away. This was enough for now.

“No one has ever cared for me like that.
” The look of awe on his face took my breath away. “Even though I don’t remember everything, I know fair well that ye never left my side and I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you. I cannot thank ye enough.”

“You don’t have to thank me. I love you. I’d walk through hell for you, Aiden.”

At that, his face grew troubled, like he was conflicted about something. He brushed some dirt off his kilt, not meeting my eye.

“What? What is it?” I pressed, but he
just shook his head.

“I believe you. And I’m sorry for it.”

Anxiety niggled at me. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I may have survived the fever, but I’m still
to be hanged as a traitor, aye? Me and my brother. You shouldn’t be involved in any of this. You deserve more.” Self-hatred marred his features.

“Don’t give up.
I haven’t. We’ll find a way out of this, I promise.”

“
After last night, you’ve no idea how much I wish that were true, love.” He squeezed my hand, then sighed heavily and laid back down, covering his eyes with one arm draped across his face.

Despite his lack of faith, I couldn’t help but smile, since he’d called me ‘love’ and kissed me. I hadn’t realized until that moment how scared I’d been that, if he didn’t remember me, he
wouldn’t fall in love with me again. Determination pulsed in my veins. We’d find a way out of this together, no matter what the spawn threw at us. We would not go down without a fight.

Callison appeared at the door, looking smug, like he knew something I didn’t. “Cap’n wants
ye. In his quarters. Now.” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively. “And give me back my knife.”

I
pushed back the impulse to wipe that sickening grin off his face. “Tell the captain—”
He can go to hell
, I wanted to say, but I bit my tongue. I had yet to secure a pardon for Aiden and Willie and the captain was my only hope of keeping them from the noose. Aiden’s hand closed over mine protectively, clearly telling me not to go, but I had to. For both of them. “Tell him I’m coming.”

“Ha, I thought as much. And no, I’ll not be leaving me post. Y
ou can tell him yourself. Get on wi’ ye.”

“Bite me,” I replied, though I got to my feet and
gave him back his knife before I shoved past him.

“Dinna worry, mate,” I heard Callison say to Aiden behind me. “I’m sure the cap’n will take
good
care of her.”

Everything in me wanted to go back and kick him in the nuts, but
instead, I tromped up the stairs, trying to focus on my goal. The ship rocked suddenly under my feet, causing me to lose my balance. My hands were occupied with hiking up my skirts high enough to climb the stairs, so I barely caught myself from falling backward down the stairs. Still, my ankle twisted beneath me, and a spike of pain shot up my leg. I crumbled onto the steps, breathing in jagged bursts.
Embrace the anger
, I told myself. This was all his fault. If he hadn’t ordered me to his cabin, if he hadn’t thrown Aiden into that filthy pit, if he hadn’t taken us prisoner on this God forsaken boat to start with, none of this would have happened.

Pushing to my feet, I gathered my skirts in one fist
again and used my other hand to drag myself up the stairs, using the wall for support. My ankle began to throb so hard that putting any pressure on it made tears swim in my eyes, but I couldn’t just sit in the dark stairway waiting for someone to trip over me. When I finally made it to the top, breath sawed in and out of my lungs like I’d just run a marathon. My legs turned to jelly and I had to sit down.

Willie spied me and came running over. “What is it? What’s ailing
ye?”

I rubbed my hands over my face to try and compose myself. “It’s nothing. I just hurt my ankle. I’ll be fine.”

“Ye don’t look fine. I’ll get the captain.”

“No! Just—” I tried to stop him, but he took off before I could say anything
else. “Great. Just great.” So much for negotiating from a position of power. I doubted the captain would have much use for me in this condition, even if he wanted me before. Time pressed in on me. We were almost to England, I was sure of it, and I had to do something drastic before we got there. I began to struggle to my feet, trying to avoid stepping on the hem of my skirts, but before I could right myself, the deck shook with the force of heavy footsteps pounding toward me.

The captain stood and looked down at me,
a lock of his black hair falling over his brow. He wasn’t even winded, though I knew he’d been running. “The lad says you’ve injured yourself. What happened?” His eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Did he hurt you?”

“What?” I choked out
, flabbergasted. “You mean Aiden? Or Callison, that disgusting vermin you have guarding the door? I wouldn’t put it past him, but no. I slipped on the stairs.”

His lips quirked up on one side.
“He is rather vile, isn’t he?” A chuckle rumbled from deep in his belly.

“It’s not funny. You keep us trapped down there like rabid animals.”

“
Au contraire, ma chérie
. You are free to come and go as you wish. Though perhaps now...” A frown marred his perfect features as he took in my swelling ankle. He dropped into a crouch beside me with his arms outstretched. “May I?”

I shrugged, not knowing what else to do. He wrapped one arm around my waist and placed his other beneath my legs, then smoothly stood as though I weighed nothing
at all. The heat from his body seeped into me as he cradled me against his chest and carried me back to his quarters. I buried my face in his jacket to avoid the knowing glances of the sailors as we passed. This looked bad, I knew. But what did I expect? I had planned to offer him my body in exchange for Aiden and Willie’s freedom, and here I was getting all embarrassed over being carried in front of his men. I was going to have to grow a thicker skin if I was going to make it through this carnival house of horrors.

He bent to turn the knob,
then pushed the cabin door open with his foot. “Hmmm... I guess we’ll have to move this to the bed,” he said as we entered.

My pulse spiked into cardiac arrest territory.
Now? He wants to... but I haven’t even...

My eyes landed on a candlelit table in the center of the room
where two plates, laden with meat, bread, and fruit sat across from one another, with a goblet in each corner. The scent of roasted turkey washed over me and my stomach growled in response. When was the last time I’d eaten? I remembered Aiden saying that we didn’t really need to eat in Between, that it was the suggestion of food that made us desire it, not our bodies. Well, that was the Between from before, not now, because I was definitely starved.

“Captain, I—”

“Please, call me Eagan.” His deep voice held the warmth of a physical touch.

“
Eagan,” I started, his name feeling too intimate in my mouth. “You did this…for me?” I couldn’t keep the awe out of my voice as I stared greedily at the food.

He crossed the room and set me on the bed.
“I thought you could use a hot meal. Do you like it?”

Maybe it was the pain in my ankle, which was now radiating waves of heat up my leg, or the fact that I hadn’t eaten in so long, but the vulnerability on his face
cracked through the hard shell I’d worked hard to erect. He looked like a little boy who’d picked a handful of wild flowers for a neighbor girl, hoping she would see beyond the few weeds to the thoughtfulness behind his gift.

He
settled me against the pillows and sat down beside me, then reached out and lifted my skirt to my calf, exposing my injury. He unlaced my white boot and gently tugged it free, frowning at my quick hiss of breath.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. It had to come off.”

Nodding, I fought back tears as he placed his hand on my ankle and turned it slowly, checking the range of motion. When I made a strangled noise of protest, he stopped.

“Not broken, just sprained. I’ll
fetch the physician.” When he stood to leave, the bed sprang up as a physical reminder of his absence. I’m not sure why, but I didn’t want him to go. “Stay here,” he said, then shook his head with a that-was-stupid look on his face. A short laugh burbled out of me and his lips twisted in a self-deprecating smirk.

“I’ll return shortly, but please,
start without me.” He brought a plate of food from the table and set the goblet within easy reach. “Keep an eye on the wine, as it may shift when the boat rocks. Don’t lunge forward to catch it if that happens. Just let it go.”

His warm chocolate eyes met mine and stayed there, making my pulse beat hot and thick. “Thank you,” I managed finally, not knowing what else to say.
What was wrong with me? He was supposed to be the enemy, the evil bastard who had gotten us into this mess, but at that moment, I couldn’t bring myself to hate him. I told myself it was all an elaborate act, but the honesty in his gaze seared me, evaporating my anger and leaving me confused.

By the time he returned with the doctor, most of my food was gone. I’d started to eat the dinner roll, then realized I should save it for Aiden. I didn’t know if he could keep down any solid food, but I wanted him to try, and bread seemed like a safe place to start. Berating myself for not hiding the roll before the captain returned, I made a big show of not being able to reach my wine.

“Capt—I mean, Eagan, could you…?” I said. When he jumped up to reach for the wine, I stuffed the bread in the folds of my skirt. But he turned
at just the wrong moment and saw me do it. My breath caught as I waited for him to say something. Disappointment washed down his face. His lips pursed and he paused, my glass still in his hand. Then he handed me the cup and strode across the room to grab his own plate. His chair scraped along the wooden floor and he seated himself across from me while the doctor tended to my foot.

Guilt bit the back of my neck, but I bristled in self-righteous anger. What did he expect? It’s not like I could just saunter out with an armful of food to take down to Aiden. Of course I had to hide it from him! And it’s not like Eagan was sending down plates of meat to the prison cell, either. I’m sure if Aiden got anything at all, it would be a bowl of some nasty gruel or other. The captain didn’t care about Aiden’s health. And why would he? He was just going to kill him anyway. A weak prisoner is a hell of a lot easier to handle than a strong one, right?

Frustrated and out of sorts by Eagan’s recent kindness, I yelped in pain when the doctor accidentally bumped my ankle. “Ouch! Damn it, leave it alone! It’s fine. I’m fine. Just go.”

The doctor jerked back like I’d slapped him, but
recovered himself quickly. “As you wish. You shouldn’t put any pressure on the limb for a couple of days.”

“
A couple of days? Right. Like that’s going to happen.” I set down my cup and swung my legs off the bed. “I have to go.” My teeth ground together when my foot hit the floor, but I wouldn’t give Eagan the satisfaction of seeing how much it hurt to stand.

The doctor packed up his bag and beat feet out the door. I took a tentative step to follow him, but Eagan stopped me with a hand on my arm.

“Lindsey, don’t leave.”

“I have to.
Aiden needs me.”

The look in his eyes made it clear that Aiden was not the only one who needed me right then, but I shook my head and limped toward the door.

Eagan got there before I did and held it open, though his eyes were asking me to stay. As I hobbled past him, he grabbed my hand and closed my fingers around a soft dinner roll. My head snapped up and our eyes met.