Chapter 28

At some point during the night, fatigue had gotten the better of me, and I closed my eyes. The soft lap of waves against the hull of the ship beckoned me awake. I shot upright when I realized that it was morning and I had unwillingly fallen asleep. My gaze snapped to Kai, and all my resolve flew out the window when I saw how deathly still he was.

"Kai," I wailed and threw myself onto his chest.

"Easy, sea demon, wait until I feel better to do that," Kai's gruff voice was a balm to my aching soul. His face pinched with agony, but that did not stop him from teasing me. I smiled as a tear ran down my cheek.

I pulled back the bandages that Cael had applied, but my glimmer of hope failed when I saw that Dark Water was still slowly venturing toward his heart.

I laid my head on his chest as a sob erupted from within. "I don't know what to do, Kai. Tell me what to do."

Kai reached his hand up, brushing it through my hair. "There's nothing you can do. I'm probably getting what I deserve anyway."

I soaked his chest with my salty tears as I hugged him tighter. "Don't say that."

"Your tears are wasted on someone like me, Rhea."

Rhea. At this instant, I hated the use of my name on his lips. That meant he was being entirely too serious and didn't feel like exchanging our familiar banter. I pulled my face from his chest, wiping the tears away with the back of my hand. Folding my hands on top of each other, I placed my chin on them and leaned against his chest. I wanted to see his eyes, see the expression on his brawny, stubble-lined face. If I was going to lose him, I wanted to know everything about him, any detail that would imbed me deeper in his life.

I collected my fleeting courage and asked the question that had been burning on my tongue since I found out he was the son of Poseidon. "Tell me about your father?"

"I don't have a father," he spat. "But if you're talking about the male who contributed to bringing me into this world, I wouldn't know. I never met him."

My brow scrunched with confusion. "Did he not know he had a son?"

"He knew. I made sure he knew by becoming the greatest sea monster hunter that ever lived. No normal man could have accomplished what I have."

My skin broke out in a cold sweat. Kai must have felt my quiver. His hate-clouded eyes became clearer, and the harsh features of his face softened when he looked at me.

I straightened up, my eyes finding a particularly interesting knot in the plank flooring to focus on. "You used your sea powers to hunt and kill sea creatures?"

The words sounded even more awful when I said them out loud. Suddenly, the name Blackheart Kai held an entirely new meaning. He wasn't just a slayer of monsters. He was a murderer with such a devious, spiteful heart that he killed his own kind by luring them to him.

"Yes," Kai confirmed in a solemn voice. "I told you I was getting what I deserved."

"How many have you killed?" I asked, barely a whisper, not sure I wanted to know the answer.

Kai straightened but refused to meet my gaze. "So many that I lost count."

A question hung on the tip of my tongue. If I asked it, it would change everything between us, but I could not go on without knowing the truth.

Anxiety gripped me, and I bit my lower lip. "Have you ever killed a siren that looked like me but had hair the color of a setting sun?" I held my breath, uncertain of how I would react if he confessed to having killed my sister.

Kai"s gaze finally lifted to meet mine, and I couldn"t help but feel a twinge of discomfort at the raw vulnerability I sensed in myself. It was as though my emotions were laid bare on my face, a fact I begrudgingly acknowledged even as I longed to maintain my composure.

"I've killed many sirens," he admitted, "but never one who resembled you." Kai's voice carried a weight of truth that settled heavily between us.

Something about the way his dull eyes glistened told me he was telling the truth. A whirlwind of emotions swept through me—relief, contentment, and a haunting sense of sorrow.

Kai's eyes glazed over with pain. In that moment, it didn"t matter if he was the most wicked being to tread the face of the earth. I loved him, and the thought of losing him filled me with an overwhelming dread. Without hesitation, I fell to my knees beside the bed and gripped his hand in mine.

I brushed my fingers across his knuckles. "Tell me what Poseidon did to invoke such rage and hatred toward my kind?"

Kai gritted his teeth as he tried to sit. I bounded to my feet to help him sit up and adjust the pillow behind his back. "It's not what he did to me. It's what he did to my mother."

I sat on the edge of the bed, pulling his hand in my lap. "Who is she, Kai? Who's your mother?"

Kai looked away like he was too ashamed to make eye contact with me. "Medusa was my mother."

A sick feeling of dread coated my stomach, making me feel like what meager dinner I had consumed last night was about to reappear. "Oh, Kai! I killed your mother!" My hand flew to my mouth, and I bit down hard, stifling the wail trying to escape me.

Kai shot upright, hissing in pain as he gripped my face. "You did not kill her! That bastard killed her by raping her and putting that locket around her neck."

I turned sorrowful eyes to Kai, my heart heavy with understanding. "I realize now why she gave up the locket so easily," I said, the weight of her sacrifice settling within me. "She did it to save you." I paused to recall her stoic sacrifice, then added, "If Poseidon hadn't given her that locket, she would have died years ago."

Kai eased back onto his pillow. "That would have been better for both of us. She wouldn't have been forced to live the life of a monster, and I would have never been born."

I reached my hand to his face. "Kai, you can't believe that."

Kai pulled away from my touch, the act stinging worse than a slap across my cheek. "You have no idea what I believe."

"No, I don't." I stood, glancing down at him. "But the man I have come to know would not say that and would not take his anger and hurt out on innocent sea creatures."

"Then you don't know me at all," Kai stated.

I walked over to the cabin door, then snatched it open. "I guess I don't." Once I slammed the door behind me, I stomped up on deck.

"I take it our patient is in a mood." Cael smiled as I leaned against the railing closest to him and angrily crossed my arms over my chest.

"A mood is putting it lightly," I grumbled.

Cael looked back over the water, watching as the sun began its ascent into the sky. "People tend to be a little touchy when they're dying."

Cael's words doused my anger, throwing a bucket of ice water over it. Guilt racked my brain. How could I be angry at him for his harsh words at a time like this? I blinked as a few tears cascaded down my cheeks.

"Kai doesn't like those," Cael warned, glancing back at me once more. "He had to deal with his mother's tears on a daily basis as a child. He loathes them now."

I sniffled, trying to stop my tears, and stepped closer to Cael. "Medusa actually raised him? Was he not affected by her stone curse?"

Cael's back straightened as if I had touched a nerve. "He told you about her?"

I stepped beside him, watching the sunlight dance in a rhythmic pattern across the water. "Yes. He told me she was his mother but nothing more. Our conversation got a little heated from that point forward."

"Kai has a hole inside of him bigger than this ocean. It's always been there," Cael remarked, his tone tinged with a hint of sadness. "And to answer your question, no, he's the son of Poseidon, he's not affected by her stone curse."

"That's why he's the only man who knew where to find her." I scoffed. "I don't understand how he could have taken me to his own mother when he knew I was after her locket."

Cael's grip tightened on the ship's wheel. "I don't think he ever expected you to succeed, and neither of us knew that removing her locket would make her fall victim to her own curse."

I didn't know how that realization made me feel. Angry at Kai for doubting me or sorry that I had succeeded.

"I didn't," I answered honestly. "Medusa gave me the locket. She sacrificed herself to stop the Dark Hydra."

"He told me," Cael replied, clearing his throat.

I smiled at Cael. "You two have been friends for a long time?"

"We've been friends as long as I can remember." A smile brushed across Cael's lips. "Kai told me that Medusa took care of him until he was old enough to fend for himself, then she put him in a boat with plenty of provisions and sent him away."

I gasped. "How old was he?"

"No one knows for sure. Gorgons don't exactly celebrate birthdays. I suspect he was close to my age when we met on the streets in Cisthene."

I was afraid to ask, but I did it anyway. "How old were you?"

"Ten."

I muffled another gasp by turning away from Cael. Kai had only been a child when his mother put him in a boat and sent him away. That and the fact of what Poseidon had done to his mother—I was starting to understand some of his uncontrollable wrath.

"When we were older and learned how good Kai was at killing sea creatures, we decided to spin a tale, telling people that he was the only man who had ever encountered Medusa and lived to tell about it. It greatly improved our status as monster hunters, and it wasn't a complete lie."

A shiver cascaded down spine. "That's horrid."

"He's not all bad." Cael scrunched his dark brows together. "Not really, anyway. Just a man greatly wronged by circumstances out of his control." Cael glanced at me, but I refused to return his gaze. "I have begun to see a change in him since he found you on that beach. Maybe you're just what he needs to bring him out of the darkness that's plagued him for years."

Cael was wise beyond his years. I had seen a change in Kai as well. Some of his hardness had started to melt away, but I wasn't sure that was enough for him to be the sovereign the Seven Seas needed him to be.

"What about the Dark Water inside of him? What will happen if it reaches his heart?" My voice shook when I asked.

"I don't know. All I know is that Kai is strong and way too stubborn to let something like Dark Water end him," Cael said with a slight smirk tugging on his lips.

His words had the desired effect and slightly lightened my melancholy mood.

Cael held out his hand to me. "Come! Take the wheel. Everyone deserves to know what it feels like to navigate a ship as magnificent as the Wraith."

A devious smile upturned my lips. "Kai will have a fit if he finds out you let a female steer his precious Wraith." I walked over to the wheel and grabbed on. The current tugged against the rudder, and I was surprised by how much force I had to apply to keep the ship going in the direction Cael indicated.

"Don't fight it so hard. As long as we are going toward the horizon, we're heading in the right direction," Cael said.

I eased my grip on the wheel, allowing the current to help me rather than fight against it. "Where are we going?"

Cael shrugged. "I don't know. The Cap'n hasn't said. Maybe you should go find out when you bring him breakfast."

I smiled to myself as I walked toward the galley. Simon, the ship's cook, usually brought Kai his food, but this was Cael's way of giving me an excuse to go back into Kai's cabin. For a pirate, he was quite the matchmaker.

With the tray in hand,the contents teetering with each step I took, I walked toward Kai's cabin. I maneuvered the tray without spilling a single drop of the dark concoction in the tin cup. I was pretty sure that whatever was in the cup would likely do more harm than good if ingested, but my palate often did not align with that of land dwellers.

I eased the door open, and my heart immediately shot to my throat when I saw that Kai was no longer in the bed. Every awful thought imaginable bombarded my mind. I shoved the door open with such vigor that it slammed against the wall.

"Still angry, I take it?" Kai's deep, playful voice soothed the raging tempest that was about to surge in me.

Sweat drenched my palms after the momentary scare he'd given me. I carefully sat the tray on his desk before it slipped from my sweaty palms and the contents splattered across the floor.

I inhaled deeply, collecting my emotions as I walked over to him. He was leaning heavily on a nearby washstand with a cream-colored pitcher and basin. My eyes followed his movements as he dipped a cloth in the water and tried to wash his chest. His features twisted with pain as he reached up.

I stepped in front of him, taking the cloth from his hand. "I'm pretty sure you weren't supposed to leave the bed."

"Just because I am destined for Davy Jones's locker doesn't mean I have to smell like death until then," Kai groaned.

Something flashed across his face as I brushed the sudsy cloth over his chest. I tried to ignore the muscles that rippled with tension every time I touched them and the fabric that clung perfectly to his trim hips, enhancing the exquisite V of his abs as they disappeared below his black, flowy pants.

As difficult as it was, I forced my eyes up to meet his. "Please stop saying you're going to die." I was angry with myself that my voice cracked. "I'm going to need you to be optimistic, even if it's just a front." Tears slipped from my eyes.

Kai reached up like he was going to wipe them away. "Rhea…"

I stepped back. "No. I'm asking you to do this for me because every time you mention your death, a piece of my heart shatters."

Kai was in front of me, hands gripping each side of my face before I knew what was happening, forcing me to look up at him. "I can't promise you what will happen to me, Rhea. This is uncharted water for me. I've never been sick, and I heal in the blink of an eye whenever I get hurt." Kai stared deep into my eyes. "But I promise to fight until my last breath to stay with you. I can't imagine existing anywhere without you."

I latched onto Kai's waist, burying my face in his chest. "That's all I ask of you."

"Am I interrupting something?" I turned to see Cael hovering in the doorway.

"You normally do," Kai growled.

I laughed as I pulled away from Kai. Kai eased back onto the bed, and swiftly, I seized the tray laden with food from the desk and placed it in his lap. To my dismay, he ignored the fare and went straight for the vile liquid in the cup. After downing the cup's contents, he sat it down and pushed the tray away.

I sat on the bed next to him and dipped a spoon in the rich broth with vegetables and meat. I held the spoon before his face, refusing to budge until he took a bite. Kai's glare cut to me, but I just quirked a brow at him. His stubbornness finally relented, and he swallowed the broth down.

"I can see you're being well taken care of." Cael chuckled. When Kai's amusement did not match Cael's, he stepped closer to the end of the bed. "What's our heading, Cap'n?"

"Aquarius," Kai confirmed. "We have to return this sea demon to her kingdom."

My hand stalled midair, and the broth in the spoon sloshed onto the bed. "You're taking me home?" My voice rang with a note of warning, and apparently, Cael heard it because he made a face and rushed out the door without another word.

Kai flipped the soup-stained covers off. "I have to deal with the sea witch, and I have no intention of doing so until you are back in the protective custody of your father."

"You're in no shape to go up against the sea witch!" The pitch of my voice increased with the rise in my emotions.

Kai leaned back against his pillow, placing his hands lazily behind his head. "I don't have much of a choice. We made a deal, and I broke my part." His gaze brushed down my body as if indicating that I was part of the bargain he had broken. "I'm not going to have you anywhere near her," Kai said in a voice that dared me to argue with him.

We shall see about that.

"You don't know where Aquarius is," I continued to argue.

Kai scoffed, leaning back against the headboard. "You'd be surprised by the things I know, little sea demon."