Dark Tides (Kingdom of Bones #2)

Original Edition: ◇ Chapter 16 ◇ Flight ◇

LORELEI

Smuggler's Harbor

Mid-Rainrise

Lorelei had only seen Kane look lost once before.

It was the night after Kane had lost his father's compass the mermaid lagoon. He was sitting with his back against the trunk of a tree, watching the dying fire while the rest of their allied crew got some rest. His brow was furrowed as usual, but his eyes held an untold story behind them.

"How are you feeling?" Lorelei asked softly from where she lay next to him in the grass. Her voice sounded like a shout in the quiet. She glanced to Csilla and the rest of them sleeping nearby to make sure she hadn't woken anyone.

"I still feel like I got my ass kicked," Kane grunted, gaze remaining on the dimming fire. The dull orange glow cast shadows across his face.

She remembered the panic she'd felt when she'd seen him lifeless, when she'd tried to help him breathe again and nearly failed. It wasn't as if the two of them were truly dear to each other, yet she couldn't deny the ache in her chest when she thought he was dead. He hadn't let her in enough for her to know about his past, but from what she'd seen from him, he was a man of honor.

He could've killed her when he realized who she was. He could've left Borne to drown in the mermaid lagoon. So why did his eyes show such regret as he looked into the fire?

"It was brave what you did," she told him. "Saving Borne from the mermaid. In a place like this, I don't believe many men would do the same. It's a true strength of yours."

"Strength," Kane scoffed, his gaze refusing to meet hers. "Yet you had to come to my rescue in the end, didn't you?"

"We all need a little saving sometimes." Lorelei rolled onto her back and stared up at the canopy of the jungle. "I'm sorry we couldn't save your father's compass."

"Don't be sorry," Kane muttered. "It's better off lost."

"Then why are you the one who looks lost?" Lorelei held her breath, hoping that what she said wouldn't push him away.

"Why do you always ask the most soul-prodding questions?" Kane sighed. She could feel the heat of his gaze on her now, but she kept her own focused on the leaves tangled together in the dark.

"It is fine. You don't have to—"

"Ever since I can remember," Kane said at the same time. "That compass was in my father's hand. Whether it was on the ship or on an uninhabited island we were exploring, he had it with him, looking to it when we weren't even navigating." Kane paused for a moment before continuing, almost as if he were trying to make sense of it himself.

"My mother must've given it to him because when she died, it was the only thing about him that remained unchanged. He drank more heavily, trained me harder, shoved me aside even more, but the one thing that always brought him back was that damned compass."

"You sound like you hated it though," Lorelei said, turning her head to look at him.

He was already looking at her. "I did. That compass meant more to him than I ever did."

"Yet you carried it with you."

Kane watched her carefully like he was trying to figure out a puzzle. "Why?" His brow knit. "Why did I do that?"

"Your mother's dresses still hang in the wardrobe of your cabin," Lorelei told him. "Perhaps keeping these things is your way of holding onto the treasures of your heart." She smirked then. "I mean, you are a pirate after all? Aren't treasures your heart's calling?"