Page 61 of High Seas

She was terrified. She was dying. And if she didn’t receive medical treatment in her own time, she would die for real, and I would never see her again.

Asa refused to stay behind, rambling behind us as we walked back to shore. At port, the sailors-turned-vampires were making ready to sail. I’d commanded them to go, and it seemed my dictate charged them to leave Nassau itself.

The walk to my ship was miserable. Titus led the way, Abram following him as I’d instructed. Eve and I walked together while Asa trailed behind us all, taking everything in as he always did. I ignored his presence, trying to focus all my efforts on committing her to memory.

I concentrated on the sight of her hair being toyed with by the wind. The moon had risen above the palms and cast a pale blue light over her skin. It made her eyes sparkle, even though they were glassy with unshed tears.

She reached out and grabbed my hand, holding it in her small one, and the tremble in it made my heart hurt.

I squeezed hers. “I will wait for you,” I vowed.

“What if I don’t make it?” she whispered.

“Don’t. Don’t talk like that. You’re strong. You will make it home this time.”

She nodded, and though I knew she doubted my words, I did not. She would make it home. Kael Frost would help her, or he would die.

“Promise that you’ll find me as soon as you’re able,” I whispered. “Leave wherever you are and come find me.”

“Your vamps would eat me first,” she answered ruefully.

“No they won’t. I’ll ensure it.”

She gave a humorless laugh. “Nothing in life is guaranteed.”

I stopped and pulled her against me, her chest rising and falling against my own. “This is,” I breathed, capturing her mouth with a kiss. “The way I feel about you can’t be crushed by the weight of a millennia.”

* * *

Eve

When he kissed me, time stopped for one, blissful moment and I was grateful for the pause. Even though the top of our hourglass was almost empty and the grains were tumbling out faster than we could’ve imagined, his kiss, his love, filled me with hope.

I wanted to go home so I could live and find him again.

I wanted to risk everything for this.

Enoch pulled away as Asa stepped around us, muttering about something being pathetic and weak.

“Ignore him,” Enoch whispered, holding me tight. “We only have this moment. We have to make it last.”

“For lifetimes…” I added.

“I will wait for you, Eve. I love you.”

My lips and voice wobbled. “I love you more.”

He shook his head. “That’s simply not possible.”

I clung to him for as long as I could. I memorized his scent, the hills and valleys of his musculature, the silky feel of the hair at the nape of his neck.

* * *

Abram fumed, trapped in a body that wouldn’t defy its maker. Enoch told him that the sea was comforting. That a swim to his ship would help calm the anger in his soul. I wasn’t sure anything could do that. Abram was filled to the brim and spilling over with hatred. But he obeyed Enoch. He swam to the ship, sinking beneath the waves more than a few times. He came up sputtering and vowing to end us all.

Asa enjoyed his torment the most. Instead of climbing into the wherry with Titus, Enoch and I, he swam alongside Abram. He never sputtered. Never floundered. Never tired. Unlike Abram, Asa swam like he was part of the sea, like it was the place he truly belonged. I wondered if this was how they survived the flood that was sent to wipe out their race; if this was why they were spared. The three siblings were the strongest of all the Nephilim. The irony of their parallel to me, Titus, and Abram didn’t escape me.

Climbing the ladder onto the ship’s top deck one by one, we all eventually stood aboard and stared up at the crow’s nest.