by Cora Caraway
“No loan this time. I want you to have it.”
How can he be this nice? I blush as he fastens it around my neck. “Thank you,” I whisper.
He kisses my cheek.
“Can I ask you a question?”
Damon nods, though he keeps his eyes on the horizon.
“What are we? I mean, I’m more than a friend to you, but what exactly does that make us?”
He stares into me with those warm hazel eyes, but seems reluctant to respond. Damon takes a breath as if to answer, then closes his mouth again. My heart sinks. Is the surprise that this is our final outing together? It looks like he’s calculating how best to soften the blow.
When he finally speaks, he asks something completely unexpected. “Can I tell you a story?”
I nod, though I have no idea where he’s going with this.
“It was the Age of Discovery. King Leo and Queen Arya were on the throne. The city was struggling then, its coffers drained from drawn-out wars with our neighbors. To refill the treasury, the monarchs sent a fleet to the New World for gold.”
“They were thieves then,” I interrupt.
“After a fashion.” Damon switches to steering one-handed so he can curl his free arm around me. “They believed they had God on their side.”
“How convenient.”
Ignoring me, Damon continues his story. “Their only son, Alexander, insisted on leading the fleet. They made it halfway across the ocean when they were blown off course. They didn’t know when they’d make landfall. Weeks passed without anything but waves in sight. Supplies dwindled. They were forced to hunt the ship’s rats. Eventually, some were desperate enough to drink saltwater, Alexander among them.
“The crew was a sorry sight by the time they washed ashore. They would have all perished if they hadn’t been found by a local tribe. Alexander was raving, mad with thirst. A native girl called Zuri nursed him back to health, refusing to let anyone else look after him.
“He fell in love with her, and that was that. As his men recovered, they found that the village was rich. The headman’s tent was filled with furs and golden figures. They wanted to sack the village and sail home.
“Alexander refused to let his men plunder. They tried to mutiny, and held a musket to the headman’s head. Alexander stepped in front of the weapon, telling them that they could never return home if they killed him. The men stood down. As a show of his thanks, the headman gave Alexander his daughter Zuri, and a large dowry. She took with her jewels, silver, precious stones. It was said that the ship groaned as they loaded the gold.
“They planned to marry when they returned to the city. Alexander tarried, stopping at every port on the way back. He wanted to show her his side of the world, and he loved watching her eyes light up at each new sight. He traded some of his own coins for items he thought she’d like.
“In Monaco, Alexander fell ill. The crew rushed him home, but he didn’t make it. Leo and Arya ordered the city painted black, so deep was the mourning for the loss of their only child.
“But all was not lost. Zuri was with child, and before long she bore them an heir, Alexander II. As for her lover, Zuri decided to lay him to rest in the way of her people. She made the ship his final place of rest, setting him out to sea with all the wealth she had to give him. It sunk off the coast, sooner than expected. It was said that he couldn’t bear to be too far from her, even in death. No one’s touched the treasure he’s buried with. Many claim that it’s cursed to anyone without Lion blood.”
I gaze out over the calm water. “So there’s a shipwreck full of treasure out here somewhere?”
Damon slows the ship. “Right below us, in fact.”
“You’re joking.”
“Would you like to see it?”
I stare at him. “That was rhetorical, right?”
He grins.
“Seriously, has anyone ever passed up the chance to see it?”
“I don’t know the last time it’s been visited. I haven’t been out here since I was a boy.” He deploys the anchor, and it splashes into the depths.
I peer over the side of the boat. “How far down is it?”
“Only about 15 meters, or 50 feet.”
“How are we going to get there? Can we just dive in?”
“The water’s colder down there.” Damon helps me wrestle into a wetsuit. “And you might need to hold your breath for a while. I’d recommend this mask.” He hands me a shield that fits over my mouth and nose.
“I prefer my sparrow feather mask.”
“This one has two hours of air, and you can talk to me over the com line.”
Pulling it snug to my face, I take a few breaths. “Yeah, this might be better for diving.”
“If you get into trouble, pull the ripcord on your wetsuit. A balloon will inflate and get you back to the surface.”
I watch as he zips up his wetsuit. “Do you think we’ll run into trouble?”
“You never know what can happen down there.”
As Damon goes over the last of the safety procedures, I realize that he neatly dodged my question to define our relationship. Apparently, all it took to distract me was the promise of shiny treasure. I’ll let him stall this time, but he’s going to have to answer eventually.
Damon drops over the side of the boat, and I follow. It’s so quiet down here in the calm green water. My hair rises in a cloud as I look around. I can see the bottom easily. It’s a little darker there, but the hulking ship’s skeleton is clearly visible. It lays on its side, looking like it’s napping. I feel a chill despite the warm water. Is the original Alexander still down there? I suppose he must be. I hope he found his peace.
The com crackles in my ear, startling me.
“They laid Zuri to rest beside him,” Damon says. “They’re in the captain’s quarters. When I went with Father, he said we weren’t to disturb them.”
In this case, I’m happy to obey the king’s wishes.
We swim toward the ship. It’s easy with the diving fins. Below, I see a sea turtle glide through the tattered remains of a sail. It pays us no mind, winging away to deeper waters. Damon stays right beside me as we descend. I can tell that the water has grown colder, but I’m snug inside the wetsuit.
“She’s a galleon,” Damon says, “the biggest we ever built. She was going to be the jewel of our navy.”
“She could use a bit of polishing.” The ship’s ribs valiantly hold together, though they can only do so much to protect the cavernous belly. A crab pops out of a hole in a plank, then scuttles back as our shadows pass. The wood that remains is mottled green, covered in all manner of barnacles.
Damon swims around the ship with me. At the bow, a figurehead still stands guard. The lion bares its teeth, slashing its scaled tail through the water. Circling, we come to the stern, where I can still make out ‘Wave Eater’ in gilded letters.
At last, we settle on the sand. A chunk of the ship’s steering wheel juts out of the seafloor, making it look like you could steer the sea. A shaft of light pierces the water, marking silver coins and cups. I nudge a chalice with my fin. It’s turned green after centuries of salt.
“Isn’t she beautiful?” Damon asks.
Looking carefully, I almost see it his way. Stripped to its essence, the ship has a certain elegance. And there is beauty in its architecture, though little remains but bare beams. It is amazing that Damon can link himself to a ship that’s been sitting at the bottom of the sea for five hundred years. I think about Zuri, and the love she must have felt for Alexander to give him this monument, and all her material possessions. I move closer to Damon, and twine my fingers in his.
“She is beautiful,” I say softly.
“I’m glad you like it. I dream about this place sometimes. I’ve had a vision in my mind of what I wanted to do here, ever since I was young.”
“What’s that?”
Damon kneels on the sand to retrieve something small and silver. “I saw this the last time I was here. I wa
nt you to have it, if you’ll accept it.” He holds it up, still kneeling.
I bend to take a closer look.
“Let me clean it a bit.” Damon rubs it between his fingers, polishing off centuries of neglect. It’s a silver lion, chasing his tail to form a ring. The prince gazes up at me, still kneeling. Why does he look so intense?
“Grace, I knew you were special from the moment I met you, and not just because you stole my car from under my nose. You’re funny, brave, and beautiful. You’re smarter than anyone I’ve ever met, and your smile makes my heart pound. I’ve never had a better partner at a ball, and even though I knew I should dance with as many people as possible, I wanted to keep you all to myself.”
I feel like I could float straight to the surface. Is my mask still working? I’m not sure enough oxygen is making its way to my brain. Why is he kneeling like that? There’s no way he could be asking what I think he’s asking.
“I don’t want to let you go. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you here with me. I know I have everything a man could want, but all I want is you. Nothing else matters.” He looks up at me, eyes blazing. “Grace, will you marry me?”
“Yes.” I say it before I even think it. “Yes, of course.”
Damon pushes the ring onto my finger. It fits perfectly.
He wraps me in his arms. I can feel his heart, matching mine beat for wild beat. I put my hand to his face, where it meets a pesky breathing mask.
“I know you shouldn’t take this off,” I say, “but I want to kiss you.”
“That can be arranged.” Reaching out, he pulls both our ripcords. Yellow balloons pop out as if in celebration, tugging us up to the sunlight. We hold tight to each other as we spiral upward. The ride to the surface is over all too soon. Tossing aside the masks, we drink deep of the salt air, then of each other. We kiss as if it’s our only way to breathe. And in a way, it is.
Damon holds me as though he’ll never let go. “I’m so glad I found you, Grace Sparrow.”
Copyright © 2013 by Cora Caraway
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All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
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Table of Contents
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Table of Contents
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15
Unnamed
