She was searching for understanding in his eyes. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips wet and swollen. He knew he needed to put her on her feet. Needed to let her free.
It was the last thing he wanted to do.
Mate, the beast within him whispered.
The truth of it resonated through him.
Cedar closed his eyes, inhaling the scent of her one last time. And then he carefully set her back on her feet. Once he knew she was stable, he pulled his arm away. Lastly, he drew his palm away from the stone wall, and stood there, too empty for the world full of wants that warred inside him.
Mae straightened her dress, straightened the blanket around her, not looking at him.
He could not look away from her.
He thought she’d walk back to her bunk. That this was done.
But instead, she reached out and touched his hand that was loosely fisted at his side.
“It’s been a long road,” she said, “and it will be longer still ahead of us. I don’t want to walk it without you. Don’t want to arrive at the end and find you gone.”
“You won’t,” he said simply.
Mate.
Mae nodded, then headed back to the sleeping area, leaving Cedar in the cool echo of the hallway, alone.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Rose loved the feel of the wind on her face, loved even more the heat and strength of Captain Hink’s arms around her.
He had paused just outside the blind of rocks that hid the doorways to the caverns from the open landing area.
It was dark out, but not raining. In the shift of clouds over the deep ink sky, she could make out two ships crouched on the landing flats. The larger ship was a hulking silhouette that looked like a wooden frigate, the inflatable envelope above it lashed by lines to the ship’s hull below. There were no long, spindly trawling arms sticking off it. Instead, alongside the bottom of the hull were long, wide sleds that looked a little like extra large canoes attached to the vessel.
In comparison to that ship, the Swift looked tiny.
It was the first time Rose had really seen her from the outside. Built lean and narrow like a bullet, she was a smooth gray ghost with her pointed nose tipped ever so slightly up, as if she were yearning for the sky. The horizontal sails on her side, which were tucked in tight now, made her look even more like the bird she was named after. The only thing to spoil that look was the glim trawling arms extending straight up along her sides, the netting clicking and clacking as it rattled against the metal arms.
“There she is,” Captain Hink said. “My everything.”
“She’s beautiful,” Rose whispered with a sigh.
“She is. And fast. And strong.”
“Can we go to her? Go aboard?” Rose asked.
“You sure I haven’t worn you out yet?” he asked.
“No. Not at all. I’d love to see her. While I’m awake.”
“Well, then, welcome aboard, m’lady.” Captain Hink strode toward the Swift, every step jostling Rose and making her shoulder ache. But even though she hurt, the closer they came to that ship, the more her spirit lifted, the more she felt alive and happy.
“How long have you had her?” Rose asked.
“Oh, near three years now. Bought her from a pilot named Charity Senders. Her husband and she had built the Swift themselves. He had the deviser knack. The boilers, for one thing, are brilliance. Small, powerful. And making her out of tin skin keeps her light and tough. Not a single other ship out there like her. No place in this world.”
Rose smiled. She watched his face as he talked about his ship, and there was a light there, a joy that couldn’t be hidden by the night. Lee Hink loved this ship.
There was something about that kind of dedication in a man that made her like him all the more.
“Did Mrs. Senders retire?” Rose asked.
“Near as I know. Her husband was ill. Black lung. She decided to stay the ground to be with him for however long he still breathed.” He paused. They were so close to the ship now, the inflated envelope blocked out most of the sky above them.
He shook his head as he looked up at the Swift. “Takes a certain kind of love to give up a ship like this for someone,” he said. “I’m not sure that I’d have the will to do the same.”
“Maybe you just haven’t loved deeply enough, Captain,” Rose said.
He put one foot on the threshold and slipped a hand free to turn the door’s latch. “Likely you are correct, Miss Small. Not a lot of time for love when you’re riding the skies.”
He pushed the door open.
“Problem, Captain?” Ansell called out from the nose of the ship, his gun in one hand and knife in the other.
“Just taking a stroll, Mr. Ansell,” Hink said. “No need to stay awake on our account.”