The Sundering Hours by Jacquelyn Hagen

Author:Jacquelyn Hagen [Hagen, Jacquelyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mastmarner Books

Once he reached the main deck, he took a deep breath of salt air and glanced up at the stars. They seemed dimmer. Farther away, somehow. Even the moon appeared rather sickly. A noise of astonished surprise sounded behind him.

He turned to see Skiff in deep conversation with Jeremy, who stood at the helm. Her eyes were wide, her attention completely captured by whatever he was saying. Caradoc climbed the steps to the quarterdeck and approached them.

“Are you serious?” the young woman said. “You’re telling me the last Keyholder in Eriaris would have plunged over a cliff if not for you?”

“No, no,” Jeremy replied. “I said I was close enough to grab his arm. That’s all I said.”

“But that’s what it means!”

“I wouldn’t go that far.”

“I would,” Caradoc said as he reached the helm. “It’s perfectly true, after all.”

Jeremy blushed. “I was just telling Skiff how I got the Spektor tooth I used to carry around. She wanted to know the story, but I wasn’t trying to make myself out to be a hero.”

Caradoc nodded at Skiff. “Even though that’s exactly what he is, he will never admit to it, no matter how hard you press him.”

“So I’m learning.” Skiff’s grin soon mixed with a look of disgust. “Ugh, but what a perfectly horrid story. Did it really just lunge at you like a rabid animal? I thought Spektors were more, I don’t know, refined and intelligent.”

“Depends on the Spektor.”

“Do you still have the scar?”

Caradoc stood straighter and moved the collars of his coat and shirt aside to reveal the faint pattern of teeth marks on his right shoulder. “That was . . . what, six years ago? Seven?”

Jeremy nodded. “Just a few weeks before we met Riva.”

Skiff stared at the scars, fascinated. “That must have really hurt, especially if it bit so hard as to leave a tooth behind.”

“I definitely don’t recommend it,” Caradoc said.

As he replaced his clothing, Skiff folded her arms and glanced at him with a worried frown. “You know . . . with all these stories I’ve been hearing—all the things I’ve read about you, all the trials you face—it’s really a miracle you’re still alive.”

He scoffed.

“No, I’m serious! You’re really well looked-after! And not only on account of your friends, but surely by God himself! You have to be! Who else survives a bullet to the heart? I’ve never heard of such a thing! Have you? And Sarah using everyone’s strength to pull your village to the island? That’s incredible! On so many counts! And I don’t even want to talk about the giant crocodile! You’ve been through so much, yet here you stand. You’re blessed, Keyholder. You really are. Whether it feels like it or not. There’s no other explanation. I know that probably sounds ridiculous. But I’ve been thinking about it for a long time now and I felt like I should say it. So there, now I’ve said it.”

Jeremy pulled the cap from his head and ran a hand through his hair, offering a gentle smile.

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