I hadn’t even realized I was crying. “No,” I told him with a giddy laugh. “Everything is perfect now that you’re here.” My eyes locked on his. “Where are the kids?”
Henry’s returning smile was calm and comforting. “They’re safe with your mother.”
I shook my head. “How did you get here?” He didn’t immediately answer, just searched my eyes, and I knew. He’d made some sort of bargain. My lips quivered, my head gentle shook. “No…”
Henry took in a deep breath. “I made no trades, no deals. I combed through your office, scoured the internet–don’t even,” he said quickly at my look of surprise. Henry using the internet. It was one of the many modern wonders he’d dismissed so boldly. “I searched for a dealer in rare pearls.”
“Did you find one?”
He shook his head, and I noted how he seemed to hide something behind those eyes. No, not hide, but…hesitated.
“Then…how?”
He slicked a hand through his soaked blond hair, smoothing it back over his head to reveal more of the face I loved and missed so much. But he was biding time.
“Henry.” I laid the word down with finality.
“Audrey’s sleepwalking is getting worse,” he said. My limbs immediately ran cold. “After I returned home one night, late, I think…long after midnight, I found her on the front porch in her pyjamas. Soaked to the waist, barefoot. She was still asleep. So, I brought her up to bed and when I tucked her in, I saw it.” He stopped to swallow nervously and reached into his pocket. “Two pearls tied with braided seaweed.”
I glanced down at the single pearl he held between his fingers, and the air squeezed from my lungs as I slipped from his embrace and plopped back on the sand.
“I used one to get here,” he continued and tucked the pearl away again. “The other is to take you home.”
“I-I still don’t have my soul,” I told him. But my mind was elsewhere. “Those god damn sirens. I wish…” I let the rest of the words die on my lips because I knew I shouldn’t say it. A wish, but also what was about to come after it. I’d slaughtered one just days ago. The blood, while out of sight, still not out of mind, and I wondered if I’d always feel it on my hands. Even so, knowing they still meddled with my family, my children, I wanted to lay waste to the lot of them. “Is she alright?”
He nodded. “As far as I can tell. There seemed to have been no conditions attached to the gift.” I guffawed at the word. Gift. No such thing came from the sea beasts. “But that’s something we’ll deal with later.” He reached over and took my face in his hands and my body reacted in kind, melted at his healing touch. “For now, let’s get your soul back.”
“Easier said than done.”
He inhaled deeply through his nose. “We’ll find a way.” He put his forehead to mine and part of me settled, knowing he was right. I trusted he’d find a way. He always did. We always did. Together.
“Wait,” I said. “Where do the kids think you are?”
He laughed. “They think I’m in St. John’s.”
“You’re a little far from St. John’s.”
He leaned back and took stock of his surroundings for the first time. His forehead wrinkled, and he shook his head. “Where…this isn’t Scotland.”
My exhausted legs protested as I pushing to my feet. I held a hand down for him to take, suddenly eager to get him off the beach for fear the sea would take him from me in some cosmic joke. “Come on,” I said and helped him to his feet. “I’ve got a lot to tell you.”
Chapter Fifteen
We took our time heading back to the village near the port. I wanted to savour every second I could. I told him all about the weeks that followed his untimely departure to the future. Lottie’s disassociation, her heartbreak, Gus’ funeral, our trip South, and the stopover in Portugal. About finding Davy Jones and how the effort was wasted. I skirted around details about the old woman who saw the devil in me and the siren’s heart I’d pierced with Maria’s dagger. For some reason, I couldn’t seem to form the right words to explain. And, truthfully, I didn’t want him to stop looking at me like he did. With love and admiration. We reached the brothel before I got to the more recent events. The night before, in particular. But I would tell him. When the time was right.
I hauled open the heavy wooden door and the stench of heavy perfume and body odour met my nose. Under it, a hint of food cooking. Some kind of sausage and eggs, by the look of a few plates that sat abandoned on tables.
I searched for familiar faces, but a loud and hasty stomping caught my attention and stepped out of the way just as Finn collided with Henry. My husband was a large a tall man, but Finn’s gargantuan size devoured him. He lifted Henry in a crushing hug and bounced him in his arms.
“What the devil are ye doin’ here, ye bloody idiot!” His words delivered on a stream of laughter and he set Henry down clumsily.
“What can I say, old friend?” Henry replied lightly. “Just couldn’t stay away.”
Finn slapped his arm with a bit too much force. “Aye, well, ‘tis good t’see ye.” He sighed gruffly, and he flashed me a look before giving Henry a pursed smile. He knew why Henry was there.
Behind Finn, Freya and Benjamin approached and exchanged pleasant greetings with Henry. But Ben was quiet and, as he stepped aside, his gaze met mine and the pain pooling in his eyes was like a knife in my heart. We still hadn’t had the chance to talk about what had happened the night before. Not properly, not with me in my right mind. A deep, groveling apology lay stacked on my chest along with a massive thank you for saving me from myself. But it’d have to wait.
“You’ll have to excuse me,” Henry spoke to everyone and took my hand. “The…travel was daunting, and I’d like to be alone with my wife for a while.” He smiled. “I’d like to convene later, though, to eat and catch up. Discuss our options.”
“Of course,” Finn replied and cocked his head to the others to follow him outside. He patted Henry’s back. “We’ll see ye later, then.”
I nodded and smiled to Finn and Freya, but Ben was already gone. He’d slipped out unnoticed and my heart sank. I breathed in deeply, long and calming. Willing the guilt to push to the bottom of my gut where I’d deal with it later.
I wrapped both arms around one of Henry’s and leaned against him with a tired sigh. “Come on,” I told him and tugged gently. “I’ll show you my room.”
The second the door latched, two hands grabbed me from behind and Henry swooped me into his arms where he cradled me. His mouth immediately found mine. I wove my fingers together at the back of his head and crushed our warm lips together. He pulled away to loosen a deep moan and his whole body hummed against my skin.
“I’ve missed you,” he whispered in a raspy purr. “God, I’ve missed you more than I can put into words.”
He carried me over to the bed and laid us down together. But I put my hands on his chest before he could go any further. It wouldn’t be fair, not to him, to me, to Ben, if I didn’t tell him first.
“Henry,” I said. “There’s…there’s something I need to tell you.”
He read my body language and sat upright with caution. “Are you alright?”
My mind raced for a place to start. “It’s still all so fresh,” I told him as tears rimmed my eyes. “I’m sorry.” He swiped the edge of a finger under my eye to catch a rogue tear, and my hands fidgeted nervously between us. “The day the Keepers told me the bad news, that…they couldn’t retrieve my soul, I…a part of me sort of…died.”
His forehead wrinkled as his expression turned hard. “What do you mean?”
“My emotions,” I fought to explain. “They–I’d switched the off somehow. But what I didn’t know, what none of us knew, was that when the sirens took my soul they left behind a curse.”
“What?” Anger pulsed from him.
“But it didn’t or…couldn’t take hold until it had room,” I continued. “Until I pushed my human emotions aside. Then, slowly, it grew. It festered insid
e of me and I had no idea until–”
My mind went blank. I had no idea how to properly explain it.
My chin dropped to my chest and Henry’s face dipped to look at me with nothing but love and concern. “Until what, Dianna?” His finger gently urged my chin back up so I could look at him. “You can tell me anything.”
Tears spilled over then. “I know.” I kissed him. Once and gingerly before I continued to explain. “Eventually, the curse grew powerful enough that it took over.” His black eyes widened, but he let me go on. “It animated my body and wanted to use it for…God, this is so hard.”
“Just tell me,” he urged calmly. “Whatever it is, it’s alright. Clearly, you’ve remedied it.”
“Ben saved me,” I blurted out. “After I–after the curse used my body to try and…seduce him.” I cringed at the last two words, how they struggled to leave my throat, and waited for the angry blow of Henry’s temper. I cinched my eyes in preparation. But, when silence hovered, I opened my eyes to find only a look of concern.
“Did you…” His gaze left me and focused on the blanket beneath us.
My heart squeezed. “Oh, no, nothing! Henry,” I waited for him to look at me again. “Nothing happened. Benjamin stopped it. And then he…broke the curse before it could go any further.” I didn’t have the heart to tell him how. Maybe I was a coward, or maybe I valued Ben’s life too much. Because if Henry discovered Ben had killed me less than twenty-four hours ago, even if it were to save me, I didn’t want to know what he’d do.
Too much time passed without a reply from him, and panic ceased in my chest.
“Are you mad?”
“Mad?” he blurted. “Christ, Dianna, I’m not a complete monster. How could I be mad about something you had no control over?” The length of his throat moved with a slow swallow. “Unless…there’s something else. Unless being with Benjamin is what you truly desire. Even then, I wouldn’t–”
“Never!” I exclaimed. “No, never. Henry, Benjamin is one of my best friends. Yes, I’m inexplicably linked to him by some force of the sea, some residual unknown magic we’d tapped into when I released him from The Black Soul.” I stopped to take a breath and slow my words. “But friends are all we’ll ever be.” I shifted closer so our bodies pressed together on the bed. “You’re the only one who possesses my heart. I can’t believe I even have to say that after all these years. I’m yours, Mr. White. Always.”
A devilish grin spread across his beautiful face and he covered me with his body, his presence. “Then allow me to take what is mine.” His voice was like the ocean at night; deep, dark, rough. But underneath, soothing. Cool and calming. “Do you have any idea how badly I’ve wanted to touch you?” His breath caressed my ear as his fingers slipped inside my pants. “How long I’ve waited to be inside you?”
My head swam with him. His scent, his touch. I soaked it up as if I’d been starving of him. A deep moan pressed from my lungs and I gasped for air before letting him take my mouth and I shuddered all over. With one expert hand, Henry ripped down my pants and I hastily kicked them off, never breaking the heated kiss we shared. His warm tongue danced with mine and I grasped desperately at his back, wanting him closer. Wanting him inside of me. Every inch of me screamed for it. And when Henry slid between my legs, I threw my head back and let the bliss take me away.
***
A strange ruffling sound stirred me from sleep. My body ached, but in a good way, in a way that I never knew I missed. Henry’s scent and touch were all over me, soaked into my skin, and I tucked the sheets up around my face in an attempt to contain it for as long as I could.
The sound of a boot touching the floor made my eyes fly open, and I rolled over to find Henry perched on the edge of my bed. He was fully dressed.
“Where are you going?” I asked him in a groggy morning voice. My fingers got stuck in my knotted hair.
He turned and stretched an arm over my torso to lean in and kiss me. “Morning, my queen.”
I softly scratched the blonde stubble on his face. “Your queen orders you to stay in bed.”
A quick laugh puffed from his throat, but I noticed how he could hardly meet my eyes. Something sprang to life in my chest, alerting me to panic. I pinched his chin between my fingers and forced him to look at me.
“Where are you going, Henry?”
His reply was to pull and tuck the sheets up around me. Then he stood, his long black trench coat settling around his knees.
“Henry!”
“You know where I’m going.” His voice was calm, reserved, weighed down with purpose.
I bolted upright, studying his face. “No, I–” It all suddenly clicked into place. Maybe because it was painfully obvious, or maybe because I knew my husband’s tortured mind better than my own. I flung the blankets off my naked body and scrambled into my grey slacks. I grabbed my shirt before slamming myself up against the door to barricade it. Henry just sighed in annoyance. “You’re not going anywhere.”
His brows rose challengingly. “So, what, you’re just going to keep me a prisoner in this room?” His shoulders slumped tiredly. “Move out of the way, Dianna.”
I shoved my arms through the sleeves of the shirt. “No, I can’t let you go to them. I can’t–”
“Dianna!”
I hadn’t seen that dark fierceness in those black eyes in years.
I was still adjusting to the fleeting emotions that swirled in my body. Tears rose, but I didn’t want to cry. I wanted to scream. “You don’t think I considered it?” My voice cracked. “I know it’s the easy way out.”
“It’s the only way!”
“No, it’s not!” I screamed back. “There’s always another way. You know that just as much as I do.” My mind raced for any shred to argue more. “How can you even be sure they’d agree? The sirens aren’t going to just hand over my soul for nothing in return.”
“I don’t plan to go to them empty-handed,” he replied tersely.
I shook my head. My chest heaved with hot, angry breaths as I read his face. “What could you possibly–” Still blocking the door, I reached for my sheath that hung next to it and my dagger slipped from its home with a quick schwing. I pointed the tip right at him. “Over my dead body.”
“Dianna…”
My tears actually felt cold against the heat building in my cheeks. “Need I remind you what got us in this situation in the first place? The reason why I don’t have my soul?” He hung his head. “Because I traded it for you, Henry. To save you! And now you’re just going to hand yourself back to them?”
“No,” he replied and took in a long inhale as he eyed me. “Just my soul.”
It a bramble of anger, I flung the dagger at his feet and let the tears give way. “You bastard!”
“Christ, Dianna,” he stepped toward me, but I swung my arms at his chest.
“No!” I screamed. “I won’t let you! You can’t, Henry, you can’t! I just got you back!” He forced his arms around me, but I planted my feet firmly. “What about the kids?!”
“The kids need their mother!” He pulled away and grabbed hold of my flailing arms. “Let me do this for you!”
“You don’t think I miss them?” I shrieked. “That I don’t ache with every god damn fibre of my body to hold them in my arms?”
He tried to tug me toward him, but I slammed my back up against the door, only for it to push at me from behind. I stumbled forward. Finn barged in, followed by Benjamin, and they searched the room frantically.
“What the devil is goin’ on in here?” Finn churred. “Ye woke every bloody person in the place!”
I wiped the wetness that ran from my eyes and nose and motioned my chin at Henry. “Ask him! He’s the one about to trot off and hand his soul over to the sirens in exchange for mine!”
Henry’s head tipped back, and he stared at the ceiling with an impatient sigh. “Jesus, Dianna, you don’t need to involve them.”
“Don’t I?” I stared wide-eyed at him, madnes
s pressing from under my skin.
“But…” Ben spoke, and we all whipped our heads. He had a weary, calculated expression on his face. “You’d be stuck here.”
“I belong here, anyway,” Henry replied calmly. “In this time.”
“You belong with me!” I screamed, echoing words he once swore to me.
I turned to Finn and Ben for backup. But the three of them stood like helpless game in the forest, unsure where to go or what to do. Each of them humming with the urge to leave. I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of being the first. I ripped my coat from the hook on the wall and stormed out.
Chapter Sixteen
I stomped around the little trader market that sat between the port and the village. Anger festered in my gut and I could practically taste it on my tongue. The sun was high in the sky and beamed down me, provoking a breakout of sweat in the most unsightly places. But I didn’t care. I was aching inside. Betrayed by the one person I loved most in this world. After everything I’d done for him, he was just going to toss it all away. How could he do this to me?
No, he was doing it for me.
I knew that. But the anger I failed to rein in wouldn’t let me accept it. I wove in and out of the dirty canvas tents and wobbly tables that displayed the latest goods to come in on pirate ships. I spotted that bone-carved comb I’d attempted to steal a few days prior, and I picked it up to admire in the sunlight.
“Beautiful comb for a beautiful lady?” the merchant said in a broken English accent.
I considered it for a moment before fetching a few coins from my pocket and reached over the table to place them in his palm. They must have been more than enough because he stared at the payment with wide, incredulous eyes before giving me a gracious nod.
“Good to see you’re paying for things now,” a gruff voice said in my ear.
I whirled around to find Benjamin alone–thank god–and I stuffed my purchase in the pocket of my jacket. “Are you always following me? Or only when I’m in a self-destructive mood?”
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