He almost laughed. It was so like her to ask for exactly what she wanted. He shuffled down in the bed until she nodded in approval and pulled his arm around her. She wriggled into place, head and one hand on his chest, body pressed against his. Then she sighed and closed her eyes.

Almost at once, her breaths slowed into the rhythm of sleep, and all tension slid from her.

Stomach a knot of guilt and longing, he pulled the blankets up around her shoulders, careful all the while to keep his other hand on her back, exactly where she’d placed it. He stared up at the bed’s canopy and settled in for the wait until dawn.

He would listen for the castle’s alarm bells. He would get her to that ship. And until then, he would keep her safe.

Limpet & Barnacle

Waking was like swimming to the surface from a great, great depth. Her arms and legs were heavy, but the pain had faded to a dull ache rather than the sharp agony of that damn iron cage.

Oh, but she was warm. So warm.

She stretched gingerly, experimenting with her weakened muscles. Everything still worked, just more slowly. She certainly wouldn’t be able to lift anything heavy and climbing the shrouds wouldn’t be possible for a while.

But she’d survived the night.

She took a long breath of cinnamon, leather, and sweet soap.

Oh Lords. That warm shape she’d limpeted onto was him, wasn’t it?

As she’d drifted off, she’d asked him to stay in bed. She’d said it was for warmth.

A lie. It was for comfort. Familiarity. Reassurance that she was, in fact, alive.

Clinging on to the man who’d destroyed her.

Pathetic, weak woman.

Oh, but he was warm, and the air on her face was cold and couldn’t she stay here just a little longer? If she pretended she was still—

“Vee?” He shifted and brushed her face, maybe pushing away hair.

She made a low grumble and buried her face between the blankets and his chest. “I’m asleep.”

“We need to get going.”

Sighing, she pulled herself out from the covers and forced her eyes open. “I know.”

They still needed to get to the ship. There was a chance the Navy would blockade the entire Solent if they discovered her missing and thought she might try to flee on a boat. Considering she was a pirate and a sea witch, that would be a safe assumption.

She pursed her lips and dragged herself from bed, staggering when she first reached her feet. Holding the bedpost, she paused, legs trembling.

Weak muscles. Right. She had to remember that.

If they blockaded the port, she’d usually just sweep their ships away, but in this state? A little mist had made her pass out last night.