COMMAND THE TIDES - Wren Handman Page 0,7
her words engendered.
She walked up the stairs, marveling at how David and Ryan could ever have gotten down them in silence. After being unable to go without making a horrid noise on even a single stair, she decided she must only not have heard the noises they made—the silence must have been so loud it had simply overwhelmed her. She didn’t believe the flimsy explanation, but she didn’t want to entertain ideas of who else these men could be, to be so silent.
She shut the door to Darren’s room firmly behind her, knowing that that, at least, she would hear open.
Chapter Two
SHE STAYED BY HIS SIDE all night, drowsing occasionally but never sleeping. She changed his bandages, administered the salve, and coaxed the mostly unconscious man to drink three cups of her infusion in tiny sips throughout the long night. She had been hard at work all day, and an entire night without rest was almost too much for her, but she did not begrudge him the attention. She would have cared for him a hundred nights in the same way had he asked her to, although she knew he never would. At one time she had been the same as he—so fiercely independent she would have given up anything to care for herself, at the risk of body and health and, according to her mother, eternal damnation. It was the way that they had been, the both of them. To put oneself under the care of another was to put oneself under the control of another, they had theorized on many a late night, despite what scripture said. She had believed it, with all her heart. Had fought with everything she had to get what she wanted, what she needed so desperately: her freedom. Yet somehow, while her face was turned away, her definition of freedom had altered. The idea of committing to one person was no longer parallel to Oblivion—in fact, if that person could be Darren, it seemed more in line with Ashua’s Arms.
She sighed, reaching over to brush her fingers lightly down the side of his face. His cheek was slightly rough beneath her touch, covered with a fine layer of beard. If only…It would never be, though. Darren was unchanged from how she had left him, from the man she had approached those many years ago. He would never give up his ways, never give up the sea that was his only and constant mistress.
The sun was just starting to brush pink along the edges of the sky when Darren’s eyes finally opened, and she saw recognition in their gray depths.
“Tay?” he breathed quietly, confusion crossing his handsome features as he blearily took in the room, his bandages, and finally the haggard face in front of him.
She gave a helpless laugh. “Oh, you would have been in trouble if that had been some other name on your lips, Darren Mannima,” she told him, shaking her head. “I might have had to go find that arrow and stick it back in you.”
He laughed quietly, wincing at the pain the movement caused in his shoulder. “’Tis good to see yer face, Taya, I must say. It’s only…why it is…I’m seeing it is something of a blur—”
She smiled in response to his words, feeling giddy just to have him in front of her and know that he was alive, and her eyes and tone were gentle even if her words were not.
“Your whole life is a blur. You should have listened when your mother warned you of the dangers of alcohol. In this specific instance, of course, it was probably the obscene amounts of pain leading to your memory loss, and not obscene amounts of ale.”
He smiled, acknowledging the jest with good grace and not interrupting as she told the real story.
“Two men brought you—David and Ryan. They claim they’re shipmates of yours. And they would not explain to me what happened, so don’t bother making up some stupid story about robbery because I know it was more than that if they bother to keep it a secret. You’d best tell me the truth,” she told him in a warning tone, raising a fist to shake at him.
Darren raised an eyebrow, deftly avoiding the question he didn’t want to answer in favor of a question he did want answered. “Why’d you say they claim to be my mates? I can tell you they were on board that ship with me, working side-by-side just like every other man.”
“Yes, well,