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deeply in and out as I removed it.
     
    I could not say what the human felt when I emerged from his room, but the full weight of his emotions hit me like a breaking wave on the rocks. The neck of his shirt was so big on my narrow frame that it fell over my shoulder and I had rolled the waist of the pants until they bunched at my hips. Clutching hold of the massive shirt I wore for reassurance, I met his eye.
    Light emanating from the kitchen area behind him obscured his features with shadows. His eyes glinted and I could hear the crack and pop of his knuckles in his palm.
    “Is this acceptable?” I held my other hand to my chest.
    Choking on a laugh, he wiped his face with his hand and turned his head to the crackle of the radio. “Oh yeah… I mean, yeah, I hope the pullout is okay with you,” he said, gesturing to the dark space in front of him.
    I turned round and gasped. Running my hands over the expanded couch, I glanced over my shoulder to ask, “How did you perform this magic?”
    He shifted on his feet again in what I was learning was a nervous gesture and I wondered if he meant to join me. Something held him back, however.
    Laughter clung to his voice as he replied, “Oh you know, just my usual mad skills, babe…” He froze, hand rubbing through his short-cropped hair.
    After s itting down on the magical bed I stared up at him, transfixed in spite of myself. Never had silence disturbed me before this, nothing compared to the heaviness in the air or the tension stewing in my limbs. My eyes were drawn to his chest and the rapid beat of his heart, a syncopated beat for my ears alone.
    He swayed slightly forward and then turned at the last second. A fter releasing a bated breath he said, “I’ll let you get settled in then. Turned on the heater, so it should warm up in here soon enough. Just—let me know if you need anything, okay?” When he stepped fully into the light I could see that the scar on his cheek slid down further into his chin and past his neck. “Okay,” he reassured himself and forced a troubled smile as he softly said, “Night.”

“I wouldn’t take back a single moment we spent together, because within that wild rocky rollercoaster ride… I truly believe I did experience love.”
    -chelsea
     
    Chapter 4
    Waiting for the Storm
     
    When I first saw him I vowed never to love another man again.
    The man Father arranged for me to marry beat me with his fists when I refused to pleasure him the night of the feast. He was not to touch me until the contracts had been inscribed, but he claimed he could not wait. This man was too powerful and when Father refused to see my bruises, I ran away.
    The sea was my first home. With all I possessed I ran to the end of the village, the furthest tip of land jutting out into the emerald sea. This place had been my retreat since childhood. If I could only gather my thoughts and think of a plan before stealing aboard a frigate like a mad woman, I might have a chance. No w that I had nowhere else to go, this was the last place I felt safe.
    A stranger was waiting for me. His eyes were what first struck me, so unnatural and blue, the shade of every sky and storm. I loved him first then, though I refused to know it…
     
    Night and day had no meaning in the eye of the storm, yet I woke from dreaming when the sun rose far above the clouds. I looked past the endless rows of flats above his through the discolored ceiling, above the sea of white masking the glorious dawn. I loved the dawn as much as I had loved the sea in my youth. The morning I had met Seid, I believed the sun had brought him to me.
    Pushing aside the old quilt I clutched my heart a nd gasped an unnecessary breath at the realization.
    I slept…
    Fear creased the hidden lines in my brow. What had I done? What had changed? And then the slightest tweak of hope awoke like the dawn in my chest.
    Is the curse weakening?
    Cain stirred in his bed, sheets rustling as he spoke in his sleep. Jerking my