An Ember's Tale

Chapter Twenty-Seven

 Ember pressed the cool cloth to Mark's chest with a slight frown. His body laid on a chair while she sat on a footrest beside him. Henry had given them one of the cabins below deck that used to belong to one of the crew members, which Mark had regrettably killed. Maybe it was some cruel irony to make Mark feel guilty about his actions, but one had to be awake to feel remorse.

His dark lashes fanned his cheek while his breathing was shallow but steady. His shirt had already been mostly torn to shreds, as Ember just discarded the pieces. She dipped her cloth into the cold water once more before she placed it gently on another one of Mark's deep bruises covering his toned chest and abdomen.

"What did you do, Mark?" she mumbled.

There was a knock at the door, but before she could respond, it was already opening. Hazel stepped into the room with her cloak still wrapped tightly around her. She looked around before her eyes settled on Ember and Mark.

"How is he doing?" she asked.

"He should be fine," Ember forced a smile.

"The other crew members were pretty rough on him," Hazel told her regretfully. "I wanted to warn you that we are approaching the storm, so make sure to steady yourselves. It's going to be a long night."

Ember nodded. "Thank you."

"Of course," Hazel nodded. Her eyes went back to them before she left the room and shut the door softly behind her.

Ember drew a shallow breath in before she turned around to find Mark's eyes slowly opening. He looked around the room with confusion before his eyes found hers. He tried to move his body but ended up cursing and sitting back in the chair while his hands gripped the armrests.

"Red-"

"You're lucky, you know." Ember wrung the cloth back into the basin as she avoided his gaze. "That they didn't kill you."

She wasn't sure why she was so angry. But she could feel it... the anger that boiled inside of her as a pot left too long over a fire. She continued to wring the cloth even after all of the water had left it as her hands tightened around it.

"Red-"

"What were you thinking?" Ember spun back to him. "Marching onto a pirate ship like some crazed lunatic! I mean, what did you think would have happened? That you could just kill every pirate like that?"

"Red-"

Ember stood up as she dropped the cloth into the basin, splashing water onto her boots. She paced back and forth with her fingers rubbing her aching temple. "I had everything under control here. I worked out a deal, and it was all going smoothly until you just burst onto the ship like I needed saving!"

"Red-"

"What?" she spun around with tears stinging her red eyes. "What could you possibly say now to make up for everything you have done?"

"I thought you were dead."

Ember looked over at him as her fists unclenched at her sides. In the dim light, she could see the truth in his tired eyes. She sat back down on the footstool beside him with wide eyes as she pursed her lips to keep a million questions from tumbling out of her mouth.

"What do you mean you thought I was dead?"

"I followed you after our... argument," Mark clutched his bruised ribs. "But I lost your trail until I found this." He pulled out the glove Ember had earlier discarded from his pocket, but this time it was stained with blood. "I found it in a large pile of blood which looked as if a body had been dragged through it. I vaguely remember what happened after that, but I was in a blind rage. I followed several tracks I found after the blood to the pirate ship, and after that- it's all a blur."