“The mortals lied to you, Hollander,” a familiar voice said from behind them. “Coburn hid the jewels in a secret cache, which I found. I have brought them back to you.”
Dutch dragged Chris around to face Jamys, who stood on the other side of the deck. Chris shook her head wildly, then screamed as the pirate struck a second time, tearing at her throat and drawing out her blood in huge swallows. When Jamys snarled, he raised his head. “You’ll get no more use out of her, boy. She’s done filled my belly proper. Drop your weapons.”
Sam surged forward and nearly dropped Werren. “You bastard.”
“All will be well, my lady.” Jamys removed his daggers and dropped them onto the deck, kicking them away. To Dutch he said, “Release Lady Samantha and the other women, and I will give you the gems . . . and my head.”
“Now, that is what I call a fair bargain.” Dutch reached over and shoved Samantha and Werren over the side, and bellowed at the other women to jump.
Chris felt cold, but she was too tired to shiver. She looked into Jamys’s eyes, and felt his thoughts entwine with hers. He meant to kill them both to stop Dutch and save the others, but he wasn’t afraid. Neither was she, Chris realized, and her heart skipped a beat as she began to droop. She used the last of her strength to whisper her agreement: “Yes.”
Jamys put a golden jeweler’s case on the deck, and shoved it across to Dutch, who pushed Chris away as he bent down to grab it. Then Jamys was there, lifting her in his arms, his lips cold against her brow.
“Three hundred years I’ve waited to behold these beauties again,” Dutch crooned as he fumbled with the latch on the case. “My pretty green rocks, what fortune we will know together.”
Chris felt her lungs flatten, and the thud of her heart slowing, and turned her face into Jamys’s chest.
“What is this?” Dutch growled. “These are not the emeralds that made me immortal.”
“No.” Jamys lifted a small device with a thumb switch. “They are not.”
Chris closed her eyes as Jamys pressed the switch, and the world turned to fire.
Chapter 20
After the fire came the darkness, and the icy wind, and stars that filled up her burning eyes until she thought she would weep light. She put out her hand to touch them, and watched a small golden angel circle around it, kissing her fingertips.
Dying is like falling, Chris thought as she drifted down, Alice in the rabbit hole. Jamys. Will you be there to catch me?
I am here. Jamys reached for her from above. Take my hands.
But it’s so lovely here. The terrible pain in her neck had gone, and so had the frightening gush of blood. She felt nothing but a drowsy peace now that she was dead. She wanted him to fall from earth with her, his arms around her as they danced with the angels.
Jamys kicked his way through the night to her, but when he took her in his arms, he tugged her back toward the light. Come with me, love, he murmured, holding her when she tried to pull away. You promised you would take me with you. Let me show you the way to heaven.
The light hurt her eyes, and so did the press of the night as it tried to drag her back. She opened her mouth to tell him, and tasted the air, heavy and thick, like breathing in tears.
The night exploded into flames, shattered wood, icy slaps, and stinging hot wind. She writhed as Jamys turned her around, pressing his arm into her chest and forcing the tears from her mouth. The pain returned, huge and unbearable, bathing her inside and out with its merciless fires.
This was not heaven. He’d brought her to hell.
Jamys dragged her through the nightmare, slowly, steadily, until he lifted her and flung her onto an altar of icy metal. Chris rolled onto her back, her arms and legs clumsy, her hands clutching at nothing.
He lifted her again, carrying her through sloshing water to another hard place where she lay stunned and wretched as he pushed the dripping hair out of her face.
Stay with me, love, he whispered inside her head. Stay with me, and I will take you back to Paradise.
Chris closed her eyes. Hurry, Jamys. Please hurry.
Slowly the horrible pain faded, and the night returned for her, seducing her back to the comforting darkness. Yet each time she tried to lose herself in it, Jamys was there, his hands against her face, his mouth on hers, the sad poetry of his voice pouring into her heart.
Keep fighting for me.
My love.
You are stronger than you know.
My life.
Paradise awaits us.
My woman.
Never leave me.
My wife.
Chris slipped between the darkness and Jamys, floating to and fro until she thought she would never get off the languid carousel. Then something cool and wet touched her lips, and filled her with such sweetness that she thought the pleasure of it would swallow up her soul.