The Farthest Shore (Eden Series Book 3) (34 page)

“Wait and see,” he said, and when they reached
Checkmate
, it turned out to be a bag of tea leaves, to make a change from coffee. Miri started for the galley, but Alyster assured her he was capable of boiling water on his own. He told her she could go and rest belowdecks, but since there were no more tables there, she took two of the lanterns and sat on the deck while she unpacked her writing supplies. Everyone else was on land for once.
Checkmate
rocked softly in the waves but didn’t drift far, thanks to a killick.

She opened the bottle of ink and told herself to start before she forgot anything, but she couldn’t remember the last time she had felt so content, and for once she just wanted to lean back against the gunwale and enjoy the moment. The stars shone down, the ship was quiet except for a clink or two in the galley, and then Alyster came out with two cups. She took one, looking up at him. Only the slight hollows beneath his eyes and a line or two at the corners of his mouth told of the strain they had all been under for the past weeks, but the scar across his throat was healed now. Above the strong angles of his jaw and cheekbones, his eyes were golden in the lanternlight as he sat down beside her.

“So you
are
writing an account of our voyage?” he said.

She hadn’t intended to do so, but after that journey—and what she had learned about her father’s people—she couldn’t just keep it all to herself. “Yes, but not for the
Beacon
.” She put her pen down to hold the cup in both hands. “This is going to be much longer than I anticipated. Maybe I’ll make it into a book instead.”

“Well, you’ll have enough time on the way to record the details.” He sipped his tea. “And there’s one thing I’d like us to do as soon as we’re home.”

“What?” She tried to identify what was in the tea—limeflowers, certainly, but there was a faint aftertaste that might have been cloves as well.

“Get married.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I think we should get married,” Alyster said, as calmly as if there were nothing out of the ordinary about such a statement.

Miri stared at him. He was neither joking nor drunk, but where in the world had that proposal come from, then? “Why?” was all she could say.

“Once we disembark, I’ll have to report to the Admiralty about all that happened on this voyage, which means you’ll be questioned too. Under those circumstances, you’d be safer married to a captain than you would be on your own.”

“Oh.” It made sense, and now that the surprise was wearing off, she knew she should be grateful to him for looking out for her.
And be honest
. She had grown up knowing she would never be married, because no man—no ordinary man—was likely to take such a risk. That he was proposing in order to protect her, rather than because of deeper feelings, didn’t negate the fact that he had offered to marry her.

Well, unilaterally decided they should get married, anyway.

“Besides, the marriage won’t be a façade,” Alyster went on. “Everyone knows you share my bed, and we get along well together.”

“True.” Miri was practical too, and she certainly didn’t intend to refuse him or demand a profession of love beforehand. What made her heart feel like a lead ingot was the simple fact that she
did
love him. If she accepted, it wouldn’t just be to stay safe once her secret was common knowledge.

Maybe he would come to feel that way about her with time. If she took care of him and made him happy, would it stop being a one-sided marriage before long? She couldn’t be sure, and what if her best efforts weren’t enough? Alyster didn’t strike her as the kind of man who would dishonor his marriage vows with other women, but he could always file for divorce.

He seemed to have noticed her terse replies and following silence, because he looked around as if searching for the best place to put his empty cup. “You can take as much time as you need to think about it. There’s obviously no hurry.”

“I just have one question.” Miri set her cup aside too. “In the future, once the Admiralty is convinced I’m not dangerous, what will we do if you meet a woman you fall in love with?”

He turned to her, and the surprise in his eyes gave way to the start of a smile. “I already did.”

Miri was aware that her lips had parted, but she couldn’t get any words out, because her throat had tightened and the backs of her eyes prickled. She would have thought she was about to cry, if not for the joy blossoming in her chest and spreading out like sunlight to the rest of her. Alyster reached out and took her hands in his.

“Miri, I wouldn’t want to marry you if you didn’t mean so much to me,” he said. “If I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life with you. And I’d like to think you’re in love with me too, because you didn’t ask what we would do if you met another man.”

There are no other men
, Miri thought.
Not for me.
She didn’t say that because she had no intention of making Alyster any more confident and commanding than he already was.

“It’s a pity we can’t get married here,” she said. “Couldn’t a ship’s captain officiate at the ceremony?”

“Not on our ships, and on Dagran ones, the marriage is only official for the duration of the voyage. We’d have to do it all over again back home.”

“How tiresome.”

“Indeed. Besides, my family would want to be invited to the happy event.”

Miri had planned to ask her uncle’s family as well, thinking of how surprised they would be when they learned the odd-one-out was actually going to be married, but that reminded her Alyster’s family had no idea who she was. “They won’t mind you being married to a half-salt?”

“My brother will be delighted,” Alyster said dryly, “because his marriage will look almost conventional in comparison. But I think my family will recognize that I wouldn’t marry a woman unless she was perfect for me. Some currents run deeper than blood.”

She tightened her grip on his hands and decided she was going to write to her mother as well. There might never be a reply, but she’d never know unless she tried. If she had learned anything from Alyster, it was that some risks were worth taking.

She kissed him, and he responded, slow but demanding, the lingering taste of cloves on his tongue. Then he leaned into her, pushing her gently to the deck until he lay on top of her, though before he did anything further he looked down at her as if making sure she wanted it there, wanted him there. The smile hadn’t left his eyes, and it softened the taut line of his mouth as well when she reached up to unbutton his shirt.

His knees moved to spread hers, knocking aside anything in their way. “I hope we’ll always be this happy,” he said.

“I don’t,” Miri said, pulling him back down. “I think we’ll be even happier in the future. Once you buy me another bottle of ink, because you just spilled that one.”

About the Author

Marian Perera has a Portuguese last name, was born in Sri Lanka, grew up in Dubai, studied in Texas, worked in Iqaluit and lives in Toronto. For now. She studied microbiology and medical laboratory technology, but fell in love with fantasy along the way. She enjoys blogging about writing, publishing and her here-and-there life at
marianperera.blogspot.com
, and loves to hear from readers—send her an email at
[email protected]
. There’s also more about the world of Eden on her website at
www.marianperera.com
.

Look for these titles by Marian Perera

Now Available:

Eden

Before the Storm

The Deepest Ocean

Coming Soon:

The Highest Tide

Love as strong as the tide. Betrayal as cruel as an undertow.

The Deepest Ocean

© 2014 Marian Perera

Eden Series, Book 2

Moments before he sets sail into pirate waters to rescue prisoners, Captain Darok Juell receives additional orders—to take a mysterious woman on board who will help him in his mission.

When she arrives, she is unlike any woman he has ever seen. A cold, controlled operative of Seawatch, Yerena Fin Caller wields an iron hand over her emotions, and an almost magical control over a great white shark.

On the surface, her orders are simple: use her shark to guide Darok through dangerous waters, attack any pirates who interfere. Her emotions must remain under lock and key, lest they travel along her delicate connection with the finned killing machine below.

As she and Darok navigate the Strait of Mists into the Iron Ocean—and evade a killer-whale-controlling traitor—Darok’s generosity and warmth coax Yerena to give in to desire. But they have no future together. Especially if Darok’s legendary recklessness forces her to obey a secret order to send his ship to the bottom of the sea…

Warning: Contains naval battles, a shark that enjoys winning races, a woman who can control the shark—sometimes, the captain who wants her in his bunk, and hot sex on the high seas.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
The Deepest Ocean:

Behind the oarsman stood a figure wrapped and hooded in a grey cloak. Darok couldn’t tell if the figure was female, but when the barge drew up to the hull and the oarsman called for a ladder, he knew it had to be her. He wondered what her duties on board would be, since
Daystrider
already had a full complement. It would not be beyond the Admiralty to plant an agent on his ship, but this was too obvious by far.

The ladder unrolled and Darok put a hand on the rail, trying to get a good look without actually leaning over. It wouldn’t do to appear interested. The figure began to climb.

Even at that distance, with the hood falling halfway over her face, her arms were too slim to be mistaken for a man’s. The crew continued with their work—those on deck were mending sailcloth or polishing the brass, and ship’s discipline would not have tolerated any open slacking as they stared—but everyone was aware of the new presence.

Since Darok didn’t move to acknowledge her arrival, no one else did so either. Unassisted, the woman climbed over the rail.

The bell tolled the twelfth hour as she set foot on the deck, though Darok doubted he would have heard her if the harbor had been completely silent and the water frozen. Her grey shoes were made of some soft cloth, and her cloak wrapped her like smoke. Not someone who wanted to call any attention to herself, except she had done so only too well by being assigned to his ship and by boarding it so late.

He crossed the deck and approached her. Her head lifted, the hood slipping off to reveal her face.

“Captain?” Her voice was low, devoid of accent or emotion.

She has a tattoo.
Darok barely noticed anything else about her face, because all he saw was the black triangle that completely surrounded her left eye, curving slightly at the peak. He had seen tattoos before, but on men, not women, and it was jarring compared to the traditional and trying-not-to-be-noticed quality of her clothes.

Abruptly he was aware of the silence on the deck. “Yes. Captain Darok Juell.”

He’d spoken more tersely than he’d intended, but the full formal introduction which included his ship’s name and status as a Weapon of Denalay would have accorded the woman too much importance. Besides, he didn’t need to impress her—it was the other way around.

“My name is Yerena Fin Caller,” she said.

Obviously that wasn’t her real name, but before he could say anything, the woman shrugged her cloak back. A small pack rode between her shoulders, leather straps crossing over her chest, and she swung the pack down, pulling it open at the same time. She drew out a folded piece of paper and extended it to him.

Darok took it, noting with dismay the seal of the Admiralty in blue wax. He broke the seal.

The Admiralty of Denalay hereby charges, in the name of the Unity, all loyal men of the Guardian Fleet to give their aid and assistance to Yerena Fin Caller, a Weapon of Denalay and bearer of this letter.

He read that twice to be certain he’d understood it. This woman, with her strange appearance and stranger, concocted name, was a Weapon of Denalay? She enjoyed the same status as his warship, which was second only to the flag of the fleet and had sunk four Turean galleys? He still had no idea what on Eden she could do for his mission.

Lady Lisabe drew closer and Alyster came up from the lower deck. Darok would have preferred they found some activity more gainful than being spectators, but he paid them no attention as a new possibility occurred to him. No one on the ship knew what Yerena Fin Caller was supposed to look like, and the woman who stood before him had arrived late.

“How can I be certain you are who this claims you are?” he said.

The woman had waited with no change in expression, and there was none even after he spoke, not so much as a furrow touching the smooth skin between her brows. She seemed completely indifferent to everything, and to his annoyance, Darok had difficulty holding her gaze. The black wedge of her tattoo kept making him focus on one eye rather than both of them, and the tattoo itself reminded him uncomfortably of a shark’s fin.

“I am an operative of Seawatch,” she said, “and my duty is to guide and to guard.”

Seawatch
.

In the near-silence on the deck, the men who were closest heard that, and a whisper swept through the crew. Seawatch served the Unity but did so in secret, through sabotage, assassination and other methods less savory. That explained why the letter was from the Admiralty, since Seawatch would not have put anything in writing.

Though unless the tattoo washed off, this operative would make a very obvious assassin. Darok doubted the little pack she carried held much in the way of secret devices or equipment, and her only evident weapon was a knife at her belt.

“How exactly will you guide or guard anyone?” he said.

“I have a mental link to a shark.” The tone of Yerena’s voice didn’t change. “The shark may be used to scout ahead, to transport and to attack.”

That explained the tattoo. And her name. A shark would come in useful for scouting, but he didn’t think it could ram a Turean galley and live to swim away.

“What kind of shark?” he asked.

“The white death.”

That time the crew’s murmurs were a little louder, and a few of them traced a protective circle over their hearts. Darok wished he had questioned the woman in private, but taking a stranger—and he didn’t trust her, no matter what documents she carried—to his quarters wasn’t a good move either.

“Can you prove it?” he said.

A flicker of emotion disturbed her composure, and she looked at him as though not sure she had heard correctly. “How do you want me to prove it?”

Darok shrugged. “Show me this shark.”

Her dark brows came together, but she spoke quietly. “Captain, it’s a shark, not a dog. It can range a hundred miles away, and I don’t summon it unless that is absolutely necessary.”