The Might of Evil Dreams (A Novel of the Elemental Chronicles)

Sixteen - Et Mori Lucrum

Translation: Latin, To die is gain (lit. "Death to me is reward.")

Emmeline

I woke slowly, from another nightmare. They were still tortuously long and vivid, and as I came to, the morning light turning my eyelids red, I thought I could still smell salt air and taste the bitter cloth stuffed into my mouth. I had to roll on my back for a moment, convincing myself that the ground underneath me was solid and not rocking with the ocean's swells.

Tom stirred beside me, and that was when I dropped my hands from my face and turned my head to look at him. His eyes were half open and his wild black curls spread over his pillow. A smile teased one corner of his mouth as he reached over with one hand and ran his knuckles along my jaw.

"Good morning, my love."

I took his hand, kissing his bruises. "Good morning."

"I apologise if I was a bit too hasty last night...I was quite tense, you see."

I rolled on my side and propped myself up on one elbow as I ran a finger over his bandaged shoulder. "Fortunately for you, I noticed neither."

He smiled fully this time, the backs of his fingers resting on my cheek. "Then I must have been doing it correctly."

"You did." I cupped his cheek and kissed him, and in response he ran his callused hand down my spine to the small of my back. I hardly minded when his skin scraped mine, with its rough uneven ridges. It was his touch that sent the shivers over it, making me breathe a sigh into his mouth when he moved it.

"I thought of coming back to you every moment I was away," he said as I nestled into his side and he was absently trailing his fingertips across my shoulder blade. "It seems every time I leave and return, I am a little less inclined to go away again."

"I kept faith that you would." I reached across him and took his hand, lacing our fingers together. "Because you do, every time."

I felt him smile as he combed his fingers through my hair, weaving them through the curls at the ends. "I could not imagine a better end to the journey."

I raised myself up to kiss him again, and he adjusted to pull my body on top of his. I felt his hands running down my back, and as I cupped his jaw in my hands my hair fell forward and hid our faces. Never had I imagined I could feel this way, a golden warmth spreading from my chest to every part of my body.

Eddie woke right then, his soft whimpers turning to thin cries. I rolled off of Tom as he got up, going to the bassinet and lifting him out.

"It's all right, Master Eddie, it's all right," Tom said, his voice a low monotone. "Don't fuss, little one."

"Bring him here." I sat up, against the pillow. "I have a funny feeling he wants to be fed."

"Speaking of food," Tom said, when he had manoeuvered Eddie into my arms and he'd begun to suckle instantly. "I am ravenous."

"Are you? That can be easily fixed." I had a million questions about the catch. Perhaps the answers would trigger more memories. But simply the expression on Tom's face when he walked in, as if he'd done the horrible deed himself, had pushed them to the back of my mind. He didn't want an interrogation. He wanted consolation, comfort, even forgetfulness. While we lay together, he was able to have all three. And increasingly I was warming to the fact that only I could give that to him.

Tom leaned forward and kissed me gently, his stubble rough but his lips soft. I closed my eyes and let him take control. He cupped my cheek and held me there, gently but firmly.

A knock broke us apart. Tom sat up straight, irritation flashing in his eyes. "Yes?"

"Lord Radford is coming to call, milord," said Lucian from outside. "Within the next hour or so, when you have finished with breakfast."