‘All these years I’ve fought to get back home,’ he went on. ‘The obstacles I have overcome, the trials I have suffered, the enemies I have defeated, all with one aim in mind: to be reunited with Jess.’ He swallowed hard. ‘My sister was the one thing that kept me going, the single hope I’d held on to.’ In frustration, Jack tightened his grip on his tankard. ‘If only I’d got to England a few months ago I could have saved her.’

Akiko reached out and gently touched the back of his hand. ‘Then you might have died from the plague too,’ she said softly.

Jack glanced up, his eyes red and rimmed with tears. ‘At least I would’ve been there for her. She wouldn’t have died alone, terrified and tormented. And now I’ve risked your lives too, by dragging you into that death house!’

‘We were careful not to touch anything and we covered our mouths,’ said Yori. ‘Besides, there was no one there to infect us.’

‘Apart from the plague-ridden doctor himself! Oh, damn this infernal country!’ Jack slammed his fist on the table so fiercely that he upset his tankard, and liquid slopped across the table. Several patrons shot him steely glares and muttered irritably under their breath. Jack ignored them and took a long swig of his remaining drink. ‘I’ve come all this way, and for what? I’ve lost the rutter back at the Mermaid, my home and now my sister! I can’t even mark her grave. The last of my family is gone, tossed into some unknown plague pit. I’ve no one left now.’

‘You have us,’ said Akiko.

Jack looked into her face, the earnest expression opening up a well of emotion inside him. ‘I know, it’s just –’ burying his head in his hands, he broke down into sobs – ‘I feel … like I’m … drowning in grief.’

‘Grief is like an ocean,’ consoled Yori, putting his arm round Jack’s heaving shoulders. ‘Your sadness will come in waves, ebbing and flowing. At times, the water will be calm. At others, rough and overwhelming. All you can do is learn to swim through it.’

Jack let himself be held as his tears ran freely. Akiko and Yori sat beside him in silent mourning, letting his grief flow. Jack thought his tears would never stop, but eventually his sobbing subsided.

‘Perhaps we should retrieve our belongings and return to the Hosiander?’ said Akiko gently.

Jack stared at her in disbelief. ‘You want to go home already?’

She gave a non-committal shrug. ‘Well … what do you suggest?’

Jack wiped away the tears with the back of his sleeve, then drained his tankard. ‘Another drink! You want one?’