Tam was relatively certain by the time he let go of the wheel and passed it off to Harris, his hands were mildly paralyzed by the cold and the strength it took to grip the wheel through changing tides and winds.

The duke was bleary eyed at first, but after spending a few minutes chatting with Tam and discussing how they were easing round the edge of Zinfera’s east shores headed north he looked alert enough to take on the task. This next leg of their journey would see them climbing up along the eastern mountain range of Zinfera known as the Emperor’s Crown due to its placement near Gondol.

As Tam turned toward the stairs that would take him to the main deck, he felt his nerves scrambling together in his gut as he headed to the cabin where Eli was waiting for him to share a night together. He felt hyper aware of every one of his movements.

Gods… He’d never been so nervous before.

Even when he had had his own first night, it had been with Rosaline, and she, being the more experienced one on that night, had been incredibly patient and instructive.

The wind surged, and a chill ran over Tam.

By this time, he was blindly making his way around the main deck to head down toward the room they had claimed as their own, when a very loud voice interrupted his thoughts saying:

“I’m not lying!”

“You are! You’re just saying that because I said my secret!”

Tam stopped his journey and, squinting through the shadows, spotted two small figures sitting on the steps that led up to the poop deck.

Right.

How could he have forgotten he promised to tell the children stories about the stars?

Gods. How base can I be?

Shaking his head, Tam stowed his still freezing hands into his pockets and headed toward Luca and Penelope.

“I’m never telling you anything again!” Luca hollered.

“You can’t be serious! That’s just… But it isn’t normal!”

“What’s happening?” Tam’s voice was sharp.

He was prone to being a bit more sensitive to terms like ‘normal,’ especially when directed toward his son and how he may not be just that.

“Dad! She… I told her… I told her about my dreams and she doesn’t believe me!”

“You told your father? That isn’t a secret then!”

“I bet you told your mom your secret!” Luca argued.

By this time both children were on their feet, and Luca had his hands balled into fists at his side.

“She’s probably dead now, so it doesn’t count!” Penelope defended bitterly.

Tam stopped before the children and folded his arms.

“Who is going to tell me what exactly has just happened?”

Despite the dark, it was a clear night sky above the ship, and so in the faint light of the waning moon, Tam could see Penelope drop her chin to her chest stubbornly. So he looked to Luca instead.

His son squirmed, making Tam think of his nephews back in Daxaria whenever they had gotten in trouble.

“Well… I had told her about my dreams… And… And I had only ever told you about it. Even my mother in Daxaria didn’t want to hear about it… And… And then she said—”

“Shut up!” Penelope shrieked, turning on Luca, and revealing that tears had started to roll down her face.

“Hey,” Tam called out softly. “You don’t have to tell me your secret, Penelope, but do not tell Luca to shut up.”

“My dad’s a witch! He knows stuff! You’re probably just a witch too!” Luca sniffed as he struggled to meet Penelope’s watery gaze.

Tam very much so wished he could have asked what the secret was if his son was saying something along those lines.

“Kids,” Tam started to say, but was cut off when Penelope whirled on him.

“I’m not a kid!”

Frowning, Tam lowered himself down to be eye level with her. “You are a kid. And there is nothing wrong with that, and you know what?”

Penelope’s lower lip quivered as she shook her head.

“Just because you’re a kid doesn’t mean you are powerless.”

Both Luca and Penelope stilled.

“You have two very powerful things as a kid that you might not know about,” Tam explained, holding up his two fingers. “The first is that there are more people than you know in the world who are out there waiting to fight for you.”

Penelope’s shoulders sagged, unimpressed.

“The second thing, is that when you are a kid, you learn faster than adults. And that means, if you put your mind to it, you can outsmart any adult. It might take time and hard work, but you can figure it out. Even if an adult hurts you, you can learn how to heal yourself. You can learn how to be strong enough so they can’t ever hurt you again.”

Tam watched as both children seemed to struggle against tears, and he wished with all his might that his words did something to help whatever hurt they’d experienced in the past. Or at the very least made them feel a little better.

“Did anyone ever hurt you, Dad?” Luca croaked before wiping his nose on his sleeve.

Tam gave a half smile and reached up to brush away his son’s tears.

“Lots of people. But to be honest? Both of you might have had more people hurt you than I ever did. But it isn’t about how many people hurt you. It’s about how you learned from it. How you learned to heal and become stronger.”

“How is it going to make me stronger if I just hurt all the time?” Penelope asked, traces of anger reappearing in her voice.

“Well… I bet you now know more about pirates than a lot of other eight year olds, right?”

Surprised by this point, Penelope slowly blinked.

“And I bet you would spot one really quickly.”

“I know where they like to hide knives… You hide knives too.” Penelope gave a subtle sly smile that made Tam smile back at her.

“I do. And see? Even Eli didn’t know I had knives on me when we met.”

The little girl bit her lip and twisted back and forth evidently proud of herself for knowing such a thing.

Tam could tell she liked this new awareness of her own capabilities.

“You got one thing wrong though…” Penelope trailed off, her movements stopping. “No one cares about kids. People only respect and listen to adults.”

Tam shook his head. “There are a lot of adults that aren’t respected or listened to. But I can guarantee you that I care. Eli cares. Lord Harris cares—I grant you it’s harder to tell with him, but if you were ever in danger? He would do everything he could to keep you safe.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

As though sensing he was being talked about, a very long, echoing belch echoed from the stern of the ship. “Those beets are making a ruckus, Tam!” Lord Harris boomed bawdily.

Tam pretended he didn’t hear anything.

“So look, you had three surprise people in the world I bet you didn’t know would protect you. And I can name a lot more off the top of my head. Remember that woman Harris was talking about? Hannah? Phew… If anyone messed with you? They would be terrified. She is indestructible when she has a frying pan!”

Luca giggled. Penelope did not look convinced, so he changed his tactic a little bit.

“Penelope, I’m not saying there aren’t horrible people, and I’m willing to bet quite a lot of coin that you have experienced things no child should have because of them. I also think you’ve met more bad people than good. So you can doubt me as much as you want and question me; feel how you feel, but I am still going to protect you.”

“I thought…” The little girl swallowed, struggling to maintain her strong front. “I thought the whole point of earlier was that if I’m mean no one will help me,” she said in reference to their dinner conversation.

“Mm, there’s a difference in wanting to have a nice conversation with you, and the fact that regardless of how much attitude you give me, I am going to protect you.”

Silence rested over the trio.

“I still don’t believe you,” Penelope whispered.

“That’s okay. It doesn’t change that that is how things are now, and I hope I can prove that to you.”

She couldn’t say anything to that.

“I won’t ever tell you my secret,” she added, as though testing him.

“That’s okay, too. Just don’t speak disrespectfully to Luca like that.”

Giving a sniff, Penelope’s mouth swiveled to the side for a moment before she leaned her head in Luca’s direction.

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay. But I was telling the truth.”

Sensing that Luca’s comment could reopen up the possibility for arguments, Tam stood up.

“Alright kids, let’s get to bed.”

Penelope glanced at Luca then Tam. “Where am I sleeping?”

The three of them started walking back toward the stairs. “There are five people on a ship for fifty people, I’m pretty confident we can find you something all to yourself,” Tam assured with a grin.

As they neared the stairs down, Tam looked back up from the kids, but found Eli standing, leaning against the railing, her eyes warm on his face.

The look in her eyes in the moonlight made his heart thud against his chest. Blinking quickly, he remembered there were children present. “I’m getting these two to sleep— Penelope, you can pick wherever you want to sleep, but just make sure it’s just a few doors down from everyone else at the farthest, alright?”

“O-okay. I’m going to lock the door.”

“Go right ahead, but I’ll make sure your lantern is blown out before you do that,” Tam explained as he pulled out fresh stills from his pockets that he had kept on hand after stumbling across them during their inventory check.

Penelope nodded in agreement, took one of the stills, and then they all proceeded down together.

The mood was still a little fragile, but not necessarily in a bad way…

Rather there was the sense amongst the group that there was something rather wonderful that was just about to start.

*

Eli closed the door quietly.

Tam swallowed.

“Luca was a little upset about not being in the same room…” he began conversationally.

“Mhm. He seemed alright by the end of your story.”

“You mean dead asleep?”

“Yes.”

Tam chuckled, and looked down at his fingers that had at last thawed from his time steering as Eli crossed the small room and lit the lantern beside the bed in their cabin.

Given that Lord Harris had been roped into the whole adventure, they had decided he could have the captain’s cabin, and they had managed to have found a relatively comfortable one that must have been for the first mate two doors down. Meanwhile Luca and Penelope were in rooms that had been for the navigator and the quartermaster.

Tam started to rub the back of his neck as the weightiness of the quiet settled over them. “We won’t have a lot of time… After… Together… Just so you know. We really will need to sleep for a bit with us steering in shifts. I can take the next shift so you can rest more, and… uh… I’ll wake you up when… When it’s time for yours.”

Eli slowly rounded the double bed that had a mint toned blanket tucked in at its corners, and approached Tam.

His heart leapt to his throat.

“Yes, that scheduling makes sense.”

She stood a mere inch from him.

If she leaned forward, her lips could’ve brushed his collarbone.

Tam leaned back a little. “Are you… certain that this is how—”

“Why is it,” Eli’s voice was a mere hush. “You seem more skittish than me?”

“Because I don’t want to… To mess anything up?” Tam tried to smile confidently down at her—though it was wildly difficult to meet her eyes right then— and could tell he didn’t quite pull it off.

She gazed at him calmly in the faint light of the lantern. “You have given me absolute power over you. If something goes wrong, I’ll have to be the one to take responsibility.”

Tam’s knees were going weak.

“Eli, once I stop… Stop talking—”

“Which I hope is soon,” Eli murmured as she leaned closer and brushed her lips lightly against his neck.

Thoughts and words became next to impossible for Tam. Especially as Eli leaned into him. The smell of sea air and citrus lingering around her… He still hadn’t quite figured out what that floral scent of hers was…

It was a struggle to finish his earlier thought.“It’s going to be very hard to stop.”

“I won’t say stop, Tam.” Eli paused her careful work of moving her lips around his throat and inclined back a little. “You…” She sighed and settled back on the flats of her feet. Then she decided to torment him a little and started carefully sliding his vest from his shoulders.

“You are my favorite person, Tam. And everything is safe and good with you. The entire world seems to be falling apart around me, but I am steady here with you. With our family. And I know now that my feelings aren’t about feeling indebted to you, or out of respect, or… lust…” she added a little self-consciously. “I love you because you would become the devil himself for me and Luca. And even then, with you, a devil, I’d still feel like everything was perfectly right as long as I was with you.”

“You love me?” Tam rasped.

Eli stripped her tunic off, then her bindings. “Yes. I do. Even if you are being a little wasteful with the time we have right now.”

Giving a breathy laugh of disbelief, Tam didn’t bother saying anything else. He kissed Eli deeply, a hand cradling her neck and another grasping her waist, pulling her closer to himself.

There were no other hesitations or words spared on how good of an idea what they were doing was, and so, suffice it to say, there was no further wasting of time on either of their parts for the rest of the night.