Waveborn | The Oceane Series

Sixteen

The walk back to my room was a silent one. Delmare's mother was quiet, unable to breathe a word while the captain walked her back to her room. Her eyes, which had once been happy and filled with so much raw emotion, were now dark and cold, filled with a raging storm of hurt, sorrow, and shock while she walked, completely numb. The group of guards split up, some walking with Delmare's mother to her room while others walked with us, making sure we were safe. I held on to Delmare as he tried to process all that had happened, never speaking a word. I opened the door to my room, guiding him to my bed after I thanked the guards, dismissing them to go back to their posts. I didn't care that Delmare was covered in the black blood from those horrible creatures, all I cared about was comforting him, easing him of the pain and hurt that clutched hard against his heart. As I tucked him in, I watched the shock and sadness spread across his face, a feeling I knew too well. Caressing his cheek, I kissed him softly on his forehead before turning to hang my robe back on its hook. I felt a hand gently touch my forearm and I turned to look behind me.

"Please," Delmare said, his voice cracking, barely above a whisper. "Don't."

"I'm not going anywhere," I said calmly, hoping to ease his worry. "I'm just going to put my robe up and then I can join you, alright?"

I turned around and untied my robe, setting it on the hook where it belonged before I padded across the room to lie down beside him. Curling under the covers, I immediately felt his body relax against mine, the worries of the night drifting away as I fell asleep, hoping I wouldn't dream about those awful Syren creatures.

I awoke to a terrified scream from the person who had, just moments before, been asleep beside me. Turning over, I tried to soothe him, waving away the guards that ran through the bedroom door, dismissing them as I knew there was no danger.

"It's okay, it was only a dream," I cooed as he held on to me, burying his face in my neck as his sobs consumed him. "Do you want to talk about it?" I asked, rubbing his back, hoping I could ease his pain.

"I don't want to burden you with it," he mumbled, holding me close as I comforted him, his sobs calming down as we spoke to one another.

"You can never be a burden to me," I replied. "Talking about your dream and how you're feeling will help. Trust me. I know how it feels to lose someone you love, especially a parent." I could hear the sadness in my voice, and I knew bringing up my parents' deaths just after Delmare had lost his dad probably wasn't the best idea.

"What were they like?" he asked, looking over at me in the dark of night, wrapped in each other's embrace.

"They were kind, the type of people you strive to become someday. My parents didn't have any siblings, so it was just us, and then my granny Anna Jane McAdams stayed with us until she passed. I'm named after her. She was as stubborn as they come, and her daughter, my mom, was as well. We used to live on a farm in the country, acres and acres of land filled with wildlife. My mother refused to let my father go hunting as she didn't believe in killing an animal that was innocent." I smiled thoughtfully. "One time, we were on our way home from the bowling alley in town. It was dark and my dad couldn't see very well and he had accidentally hit a deer. My mom was so distraught, she was more concerned for the animal than us. Of course, she knew we were fine. She was so caring, so compassionate about the world and its citizens."

"Like you," he commented, his eyes back to their violet color, no longer showing the fear and heartbreak I had seen before.

"Yeah," I breathed. "I guess I am a little like my mother."

"A little?" he asked with an eyebrow raised, amusement in his eyes.

"Okay, a lot. But I can definitely be okay with killing an animal as long as you use the meat for food and the pelt for warmth. I don't believe in killing for sport. I'm like my father in that aspect."