Corvus (Stars and Sails, Book 1)

Twenty-eight (Part 1 of 3)

Aiden slept at Silas Noble's ranch for two days. Nova had settled into the stables out back, tacking quite a shine to another horse named Sage. On the third day, Aiden woke up and went back to The Princess of Aydesreve.

That was what Aiden called uncanny luck. You see, Noble bought The Princess of Aydesreve from Wagner. Wagner had heard about Aiden and Haworth's leaving and paid them something to keep their mouths shut about his humiliation. It wasn't enough, but it was something more than Aiden thought he'd ever get out of that hellish mine. In addition, they had a bigger ship than expected. And as Noble said, it was always good to have a backup vessel at your home port. Hopefully, their primary ship wouldn't be full of as many memories and all the guilt.

Aiden cleaned the pyrite off the floor of Tanner's cabin. He tried to stare down, not at the things that made him hurt. There was too much energy trapped in that one room—in his mind, Aiden was still pulling a drunken Tanner into bed, he was still taking his gun, Wagner was still breaking down, and Aiden was still trapped in the most passionate kiss of his entire lifetime.

It was all too raw.

After he cleaned most of the pyrite up, he removed the black curtains Tanner had placed over the portholes. Once upon a time, he had liked the room to be as black as night. Now, light flooded the cabin and it looked completely transformed. Aiden's heart twisted.

"Aiden!" Haworth called. Aiden made his way over to the ladder and looked up. Haworth crouched at the top. He scratched through his beard. "Uh, so the old skull is outside and he's looking for you."

"The old what?"

Haworth rolled his eyes. "Get with it. Captain Noble. He's running around like there's a matchbox in his trousers. Says he wants you."

Aiden took hold of the ladder and hauled himself up to the main deck. Captain Noble was standing in front of the ship with Wildtooth and Nova. Her tail flicked excitedly when she saw Aiden. Noble fidgeted with a bulky letter. His fingers gestured Aiden to come towards him.

Hӧfnar í Grí?" he asked, his gray hair silvering in the light.

"What?" Aiden asked. "I mean, yeah that's where I'm from." Aiden didn't know what he expected from a "surf and turf bounty hunter" but Aiden hadn't expected him to know where his accent was from. Aiden puzzled most people, if not by his questionable footwear choices, it was by his voice.

"Hm." Seizing a handful of Wildtooth's white mane, Silas Noble lunged through the air and landed on her back. She snapped her teeth. He looked down at Aiden. "Come on now. I need some help."

With an incredulous look, Aiden hopped onto Nova's back. She whinnied. "Where are we going, Captain?"

"What? You scared?" he asked, giving his horse a gentle kick. Wildtooth shot off in a cloud of dust.

Aiden grimaced. With a kick to the side, Nova ran after Silas Noble. They followed him up the hill and along the golden coastline. In the distance, the lighthouse loomed.