Even In Darkness (Between) (14 page)

“Mmm,” he responded as he reached for my other foot. “Is this your injured ankle?” When I nodded, he asked, “And how are you faring? Does it still pain you?”

I shook my head, but he
rotated my ankle to test its flexibility, making me wince. “Okay, maybe a little.”

“As I feared
,” he said with a frown as he finished lacing up my second boot. “You’ll need to stay on this level until it is healed. I won’t risk further injury by having you navigate the stairs.”

I jumped to my feet, my hands
immediately clenched into fists at my side. “You can’t do that! Aiden is down there!”

Eagan st
ood up and crossed his arms over his chest, watching me with narrowed eyes. “So he is.”

“I don’t care what you say. If he’s down there, so am I. Our deal was only for the nights, not for the days.” Smug, I threw a look at him that dared him to contradict me.

He flinched at the mention of our deal, like it upset him somehow, then one eyebrow crooked up, accepting the challenge. “Right you are. Well, if you must be with your precious Aiden—”

“I must.”

“—then I suppose we’ll have to bring him up here.”

“Wait, what?”
Caught off guard, I shook my head and blinked.

Eagan shrugged.
“It’s simple. Callison will bring him to the upper deck where he can stroll with you. I dare say the fresh air will improve his temperament.” A scowl flitted across his features so fast, I almost missed it, then he resumed his nonchalant air. “Then, when the night falls—or when you tire of his company, whichever comes first—he will go back to his room and you shall return here.”

With
a frown, I studied the formidable man across from me, trying to discern his angle, but my mind was doing cartwheels at the idea of Aiden being freed from his prison below—even if it was a much nicer room than he’d had on the battleship. Strolling along the deck with Aiden, hand in hand, taking in the sight of the vast ocean together? My heart raced at the thought. Still, Eagan was up to something—I could sense it—so I simply gave him a half shrug.

“Fine.
If that’s what you want.” I crossed to the nightstand beside the bed and grabbed the brush lying there. Laughter erupted from behind me, making me whirl to give Eagan a glare, which only made him laugh harder. “Shut up! What’s so funny?”

“You,” he said, his smile softening to a teasing, affectionate smirk.

“What about me?”

“You’re adorable,” he said, taking the brush from my hands and turning me so he had access to my hair. He dropped the brush onto the bed and instead, worked his fingers through my damp curls. Tingles broke out over my skin as he massaged my scalp with light pressure, circling my temples and leading me into a seductive trance. A moan nearly escaped me, but I turned it into a cough instead.
Lifting my hair, then letting it fall through his hands like water, he whispered, “
Mervelleiux. Comme un rêve.
”

The French words on his lips weakened my knees so that I had to lean against him. His hand circled my waist, pulling me flush against
his hard length. His warm breath feathered across the skin behind my ear, sending my heart into overdrive. My mind rebelled at his use of French—
I’d told him not to do that, dammit
—but my body was a traitor, arching against him in invitation.

“Mmm… we should go,” he said, taking a step back. The
sudden absence of his warmth against my back made me feel more naked and exposed than I had when I was wearing only a towel. “It’s a lovely day out today. The afternoon sunshine will help to dry your locks.” When I turned, he held out an arm, crooked at the elbow in old-fashioned style. “Come,
ma chérie
. Permit me to give you a formal tour of the upper deck. I may even let you steer the ship, if you’re so inclined.”

I wanted to argue that the daytimes belonged to Aiden and that I wasn’t his until night, but I decided to leave that battle for another day. Besides, I couldn’t bear going back to Aiden only to have to leave him again in another hour or two.
The last time I left, he’d nearly come unglued. My eyes closed in torment as I remembered promising him I’d be right back. A tortured groan rolled around in my chest. Eagan’s fingers laced with mine, and gave a little tug to get my attention.

The look on his face was one I’d seen so many times before: the one that Aiden
usually gave me right before he said, “Dinna fash, lass.” My head swam with confusion, waiting to hear the words from Eagan’s mouth, but instead he said, “I’ll send word to your husband that he can join you above deck in the morn.”

Dazed and weary of the battering ram of emotions inside me, I nodded and
followed him out.

***

That night, when we’d finished the tour and returned to the captain’s quarters, my heart was in my throat. I was so nervous, I felt like I was going to throw up, but when Eagan helped me off with my corset and dress, leaving me in my thin shift, he just pulled back the covers of the bed and waited for me to climb in. Then he leaned over and pressed a chaste kiss to my forehead.

“
Bonne nuit
, Lindsey,” he whispered, wishing me good night. Then he turned and walked across the room to the settee next to the armoire. He shrugged out of his coat, then pulled off his boots. After turning down the oil lamp so it was nothing more than a dim flicker of light, he extracted a blanket from a chest in the corner. He curled up on the small sofa under the blanket and faced me. I could feel his eyes on me like a physical touch, but he didn’t say anything. The silence crackled between us as I tried desperately to figure out what game he was playing. I’d agreed to sleep with him and it wasn’t like he didn’t want me—I knew that for a fact—so what was he doing sleeping on the couch? Relief, disappointment, and confusion warred within me until I couldn’t take it anymore.

“What are you doing?” I
asked, the sound of my voice like a pistol shot in the stillness of the darkened room.

“Attempting to sleep.
As should you,” he replied.

“But what about our deal?”
I tried to dial back the irritated tone of my voice and failed.

His chest rose and fell as he took a deep breath.
“You agreed to sleep in my bed in exchange for the lives of two men. I have honored my side, now honor yours. Sleep.”

I bolted upright and stared at him, my jaw hanging open. With a
shake of his head, he set aside the blanket and got to his feet, padding across the floor in his socks. When he reached my side of the bed, he sat down, the mattress sinking so that I leaned into him. The backs of his fingers brushed across my cheek and down my jaw.

“Contrary to what you might think of me, I would never take a woman against her will.” His gaze settled on my mouth, sending my pulse skittering. He leaned forward, inching closer and closer, never taking his eyes from my lips, until I could feel his breath on my face
. “So you have nothing to fear,” he whispered before his mouth touched mine. His kiss was testing, patient, and driving me completely insane. When his tongue swept across the seam of my lips, I felt it clear to my bones. My hands reached out to him, needing to pull him closer, needing to escalate things before I spontaneously combusted from nervous anticipation, but he grabbed my wrists and pressed my palms to his chest. His heart thundered beneath my hands.

“There, I’ve kissed you good night. Now sleep,” he
said, his voice deep and thick.

My body protested when he stood and returned to his place on the settee, but my mind whirled at the change in events. Twisting away
and burrowing under the covers, I tried to force my thoughts to Aiden and failed.
No
, I told myself,
don’t think of Aiden as he is now. Think of the Aiden back home, the one who lived with his own guilt and pain for three hundred years instead of the one knee-deep in it right now. The one who knows me better than I know myself. The one I took with me over that snow-crusted cliff.
An ache of longing for that Aiden surged within me, bringing a tidal wave of tears with it. Pressing my face into the pillow, I muffled the tears I could not contain, not wanting Eagan to hear, but knowing he probably could anyway.

It seemed that even when I got my way, I still wasn’t happy. Maybe this wasn’t
Between after all. Maybe this was hell.

Chapter 14

It didn’t take me long to figure out what Eagan stood to gain from allowing Aiden to come above deck. Fresh air, my ass. No, Eagan knew exactly what he was doing when he oh-so-generously decreed that Aiden could stroll outside with me. The two of us never had another moment alone. The privacy we’d had in Aiden’s room—even if Callison had been listening outside the door—vanished like the sun dipping into the ocean at twilight. Dozens of pairs of eyes watched our every move as Eagan’s crewmen went about their business, running the ship. And instead of the sunshine reviving Aiden’s spirits, he seemed to grow more and more agitated as the days stretched into weeks. Eagan studiously avoided us during the day, though every time Aiden caught a glimpse of the captain, he acted like a pit bull on a short leash, baring his teeth in a snarl. And since we never got a moment alone, I couldn’t pull him aside and tell him to get a grip. I knew he was starting to lose it, but I had no idea how close he was until the day that everything turned for the worse.

I’d finished having breakfast with Eagan and was standing along the ship’s railing, running my fingers back and forth over its smooth, polished surface
and waiting for Callison to bring Aiden up from below when a commotion made me turn. Callison came bounding out of the hallway, gasping like a fish on the shore and pressing a fist to his side. Eagan raced across the deck and laid a hand on his shoulder.

“What is it?”

“He…he’s gone,” Callison replied between labored breaths. “Sneaky bastard must’ve kept the door from latching and snuck out when I wasn’t looking! The room is empty.”

With a flick of his wrist and a ground out curse, the captain had a search party at his side and awaiting his instructions
within seconds. He barked orders to the men to search every inch of the ship, then he took off with Callison down the hall without a backwards glance. Gripped with horror, I stood frozen in place for a moment, but the sight of a pistol in the hands of one of the sailors who ran past brought me to my senses.

They were hunting Aiden.
With guns.

I had to find him first.

The majority of the crew had gone to the starboard side, so I went in the opposite direction, praying like crazy and half-expecting to hear gunshots any second. “Oh, God. Oh, God. Please keep him safe.” I whipped open every closed door I passed and scanned each room, the fear twisting inside me so tight that I could barely breathe. “Aiden, where are you?” I yelled frantically as I progressed deeper into the belly of the ship. A muffled, scraping sound emanated from a doorway at the end of the hall, and I raced toward it, my heart going a million miles a minute.

“Aiden, are you—” I began as I p
ushed the door open, but what I saw made my breakfast come shooting up into my throat. I pressed a hand to my lips to force it down, shaking my head in denial at the scene in front of me.

Se
ñ
or Delgado’s body lay sprawled out on the floor. Blood poured from his slit throat. His glassy eyes stared up at Aiden, who crouched in front of him like a rabid animal, clutching a dripping dagger. Aiden whirled around to face me, his eyes ferocious and wild, filled with pain.

“Lindsey,” he hissed and squeezed his eyes shut, as though the sight of me was like a hot poker in the face.

“Oh, my God… Oh, my God…” Shaking all over, I took a step back. “What have you done?” Terror and disbelief stole my breath so that the words came out in a hoarse whisper. Pressing my hands to my cheeks, I scanned the room with wide eyes. There was blood everywhere. The captain was going to find us any second. Aiden had killed Delgado. There was no way to hide this. They were going to kill him. And probably Willie, too, just for good measure. When I took another step back, Aiden dropped the knife and shot forward to grip my arms with his bloody hands.

“Lindsey, wait. Listen to me!”

A squeak of white-hot fear shot out of my throat as I stumbled backward, trying to get away from him, but he had me in a vise grip.

“Let me go,” I whimpered, but he shook his head, blue eyes pleading with me.

“No! You weren’t supposed to see this. That bastard killed my family. He killed them, Lindsey! It’s because of that traitor that my home was destroyed. My mother and my kinsmen are dead because of him. Dead!” He shook me, lifting me up so that I had to stand on my tiptoes to touch the ground. The idea flashed through my mind that I was the only one who knew Aiden was here, and that maybe he would get rid of me just like he’d killed Delgado.

All of a sudden, s
omething snapped in Aiden so that he seemed to come back to himself. A look of pure horror spread across his face and he dropped me so fast, I nearly fell.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he said, his palms out in a sign of surrender.

I shook my head, unable to absorb what was happening. My mental filter was completely broken, leaving my words uncensored. “It wasn’t all his fault. You’re the one who told him about the gunpowder. The Aiden I knew blamed himself, not everyone else. How could you do this?”

“
Wait, what did ye just say?” His eyes snapped to mine and then narrowed. I realized my mistake a split second later, but it was too late. “How do ye know what I said to him in that cellar? We were the only two down there and I’ve never told a living soul what happened.”

“Um…” My brain was so frazzled by the sight of
Delgado’s body and Aiden’s hands covered in blood that I couldn’t think of a quick lie. And there was no way I was venturing into the truth now, not with the way he was glaring at me.

“What secrets are you keeping?
What do ye know that you’re not telling me?” He advanced on me like I was his latest prey and I backed up until I hit the wall.

“You
…you told me what happened when you were delirious with fever. When you were calling out to Willie and I was taking care of you.” The words came tumbling out of me in a last-minute defensive play, but it worked. He stopped, his aggressiveness shrinking like a deflating balloon.

“They’
ll be here soon.” His features softened into sorrow and shame, leaving me more confused than ever. Resignation hung heavy on his shoulders. “I never meant for it to end this way. I wasn’t lying when I said I love you, but this is the way it had to be. And I’m sorry for it. You have to believe me.”

“I don’t know what to believe, Aiden,” I said before the sound of men’s footfalls racing down the hall drowned out everything else. In the next breath, we were surrounded, guns pointing in our faces and shouts ringing in my ears. Two men grabbed Aiden on either arm and hauled him out, while the captain stopped next to me, staring at the lifeless body on the ground. He didn’t say anything, but the tension in his shoulders and the clenched muscles in his jaw told me all I needed to know.

They were going to kill Aiden.