His reply was a shrug.
“Come to reason for him?”
He held up both hands in mock surrender. “Would never dream of it.”
“I suppose he’s already gone after the sirens,” I replied and began walking away from the tent. I hated the way each word clipped with stubbornness.
“No,” Ben said. “He and Finn headed off to discuss things that apparently I’m not part of.”
“Freya?”
“She and the deckhands rowed back to the ship,” he told me, and toed the dirt with his boot. “I guess they figure we’ll be leaving soon.”
I chortled and stared out at the ocean in the distance. Either I’d be aboard that ship, or Henry would. But not both of us. It was only a matter of who was more stubborn.
“How was Henry planning to send you back, anyway?” he asked. An odd and curious twitch in his brow.
“He…has a pearl.” The word tasted like poison on my tongue. A pearl that was given to my daughter.
We paced along together and he seemed distant as he thought. “Can I take you somewhere?” Benjamin asked hesitantly. His hands were in his pockets as he rocked back on the heels of his boots.
“Where?”
He wore a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Now, can’t ruin the surprise, can I?”
It was impossible to be angry around the man. I knew I should head off to find my husband, to make amends and come to some sort of agreement. To reason with him. We’d find a way, I was sure of it. He just had to be patient while we searched. But this could very well be one of the last times I got to spend time with my friend before our lives changed yet again.
I huffed a sigh and smiled. “Lead the way, Mr. Cook.”
I followed him away from the village, far from the bustling afternoon port, across the many beaches that lined the area. Until we crossed a grassy meadow and emerged on the other side of the tiny island, and a new, untouched beach sparkled in the sunlight. Not a sign of life to be found for miles.
“Jesus, Ben,” I said, exasperated by the heat. “What kind of surprise is this? Putting me out of my misery so I don’t have to deal with the tragedy that is my life?”
He stopped and turned with a look of pain. “That’s not funny.”
I straightened my back and immediately regretted the words. He’d already put me out of my misery once that week. “I’m sorry–”
His hand waved at the air between us. “Don’t worry,” he said and turned his gaze to the water. “Hopefully, this will set everything right.”
His strong, calloused hand slipped around mine and I let him lead me to the water’s edge. Confusion swept over me and I searched the sand, the water, then Ben’s movements for any sign of what was to come. When he took a knife from his belt and drug it across his palm, I yelped.
“What the hell are you doing?” I shrieked and grabbed hold of his arm.
Calmly, he placed a hand over mine and released his arm with a smile. “Something I should have done a long time ago.”
He knelt in the sand and put his bleeding palm in the water as he whispered words I couldn’t hear or understand. “Seneca once told me this was the fastest way to summon a siren to you.”
“Ben!” The sundried skin around my eyes burned with the sting of tears.
He stood over me, nothing but love in those soft brown eyes. A figure already moved in the water, heading right for us. It was all happening so fast. Too fast. My heart raced in its cage and my pulse pounded in my ears. Words evaded me. I couldn’t stop it, because it was already happening. Quicker than I could process.
“Let me do this for you,” Benjamin whispered soothingly. He seemed so at peace with his decision. But I was falling apart inside, and my grief was spilling out of me, pooling on the sand around me.
The siren reared her head; a muddled shape of water with two shadowed holes for eyes. She waded closer and closer, revealing more of her fluid body until it dried in the sun. Clear liquid making way to form a skin of pearl and hair of kelp so green and dark it almost looked black. Her gnarled, toothy grin widened.
“You offer me your blood, Benjamin Cook?” the sea beast’s voice chimed in the air.
“I have,” Ben replied confidently. Next to him, I trembled.
“The summon requires a trade.” Her unnerving glassy eyes solidified to massive black pearls as she cocked her head to a fro like a wild animal assessing its prey.
“And a trade I have,” he told her. “A soul.”
“Ben…” The word died on my lips.
He looked at me, his face so utterly peaceful. I’d never witnessed him look that way before. “Don’t pretend this isn’t the right decision, Dianna.”
My shoulders cinched up to my ears, and I shook my head. “How can you ask me to be okay with this?”
“Because it’s what I want,” he replied. “For the first time in a lifetime, I finally know what I want to do. What I was…what my purpose is.”
“Ben…I sailed across the sea and fought in the realm of monsters to get your soul–”
“So I could gift it back to you when the time was right,” he said and took both my hands in his. The blood from his fresh wound trickled into my palm. “I see it now. Henry made me realize it this morning.” I just stared at him in disbelief as the creature paced an impatient semi-circle around us. “I don’t need to travel through time, I have no need for a mortal soul now that you’ve released me from my own curse. I’m free. And you did that. Don’t you see, Dianna?”
My hands turned to ice and trembled in his firm grip. Tears spilled from my eyes, so much that I could hardly see his smile through the blur of them.
He pulled me closer. “You saved me from that ship and, in a way, from myself. You got my soul back and now it’s time to repay that grand favor. I’ll spend the rest of eternity knowing I did something right for all the awful things Abraham made me do aboard The Black Soul. You’re my saviour, Dianna.” He brought my hands to his face and kissed my knuckles, breathing warmth back into them.
Without a second thought, I leaned in and placed a long kiss at the corner of his mouth. Part of me expected him to react, to put his lips on mine and steal the kiss. But, like the eternal gentleman he was, Benjamin didn’t move. I left the stain of my touch on his face and pulled away slowly, taking in his eyes as I did. His body remained cool, staid. But in that deep stare…I felt the fiery intensity displayed in the hollow shadows of wood and leather.
“I’ll never forget this, I whispered.
“Thankfully, you’ll only have the rest of your mortal life to think about it,” he kidded, and I let a clumsy laugh push away the last of my tears. He turned to the silent beast that hovered next to us. “Do it.”
Her fingers lengthened into thin claws. “You must say the words.”
Benjamin stepped back from me and took a deep breath. “I, Benjamin Cook, trade my soul in exchange for the immediate return of Dianna Cobham’s. No strings, no other conditions or underlying details.” His eyes narrowed. “No curses. Just a clean trade.”
Not needing any further prompting, the beast’s fingers lengthened even more, the tips of them fading into pure moonlight as they dug into his chest. I covered my mouth to stifle the scream that lived in my throat because I knew exactly what it felt like. Like dying, followed by eternal bliss. Benjamin’s back arched, his arms hung at his sides, and his mouth opened with a silent cry. And just as quick as it began, it was over. He bent over and braced his hands on his knees.
I reached for him, but the siren slammed her hands against my chest with a force unlike anything I’d ever felt before, and a blinding white light filled my vision. It knocked the wind from my lungs, and I flew back onto the sand with a mighty huff as I gasped for breath. When the light subsided, Benjamin’s face hovered over me and his hair dangled across my cheeks.
“Are you alright?’ he asked and helped me to my feet.
A strange weight that wasn’t there before now sat snugly in my chest. My so
ul. It stretched as if alive, spread through to my limbs. I flexed my fingers in awe and my heart settled, knowing it didn’t have to carry the load anymore.
I nodded. “Yeah, I’m…” I shook my head, still stunned at how fast, how simple the whole process was. “I’ll be fine. Are you…”
Benjamin held his arms out with a giddy smile and then let them slap at his sides. “I’m alive.” My mouth gaped helplessly for something to say. But what do you say to someone who quite literally saved your soul? He cocked his head in the direction we came from. “Go on. Use Henry’s pearl and get home to your kids.” His breath hitched in his chest. “Live happily ever after.” I followed his gaze as it turned to the wide-open ocean before us. “I think…I think I’m going to give it a try.”
I took Ben’s warm hand and squeezed as the breeze whipped through our hair, across our faces. I gave him one last smile, let it linger and last. Let him take in the sight of me one last time while I did the same to him. “You’ve got forever to figure it out.”
His mouth widened with a smile. This time, reaching his eyes. “I’ve already got a good head start.”
There was nothing more to say. Slowly, I let his hand fall from my grip, and the muscles of his arm tensed as I gave it a gentle squeeze before I walked past him. He remained on the beach, and I never once turned back to see if he was watching. I wanted to remember him not with a last look of longing, but with that content and genuine smile. I’d hold it in my heart for the rest of my time on this earth. In life, and even in death.
And maybe even after that.
***
Did you enjoy The Cursed Sea? Be sure to leave a review and if you enjoyed Dark Tides, then check out Candace’s other Time Travel Fantasy Series. Kingdom of Sand & Stars! Unpredictable and high stakes magic take our reluctant hero back in time to Ancient Egypt where she faces off against petulant gods, one of which happens to be a man from her own past. Can she save him from himself or will she lose herself in the process? Dive in with book one, Ancient Hearts!
Want exclusive Author Candace Osmond merch and other readerly goodies? Check out Death by Reading, Candace’s merch shoppe where you can get signed paperbacks, hardcovers, character art, and more!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
#1 International and USA TODAY Bestselling Author, Candace Osmond was born in North York, ON.
She published her first book by the age of 25, the first installment in a Paranormal Romance Trilogy. The Iron World Series.
Candace is also one of the creative writers for sssh.com, an acclaimed Erotic Romance website for women which has been featured on NBC Nightline and a number of other large platforms like Cosmo. Her most recent project is a screenplay that received a nomination for an AVN Award.
Now residing in a small town in Newfoundland with her husband and two kids, Candace writes full time developing articles for just about every niche, more novels, and a hoard of short stories.
Connect with Candace online! She LOVES to hear from readers!
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