but they are not necessary.’
‘Don’t try to outlive your welcome.’ Thessa’s voice lowered to a whisper. She needed to be careful of what she said. Voices could carry on the wind, or the sailor with the captain could be a fool who spoke to the wrong person.
The captain moved close. ‘I’ve outlived my welcome before.’ His words were soft, but she didn’t think he tried to hide them from someone, only that he wanted to convince her of the truth of what he said. ‘No fables of mermaids or serpents will change one furling of the sails on my ship or cause me to change one step of my well-travelled boots.’
She glanced at his boots. They were marred with lighter worn spots and darkened places on the leather. ‘Are those bloodstains?’
He didn’t answer and yet he did—with that same blank look.
‘Then I will not be concerned for you,’ she said.
He turned away. ‘Waste of your time.’
* * *
Benjamin had to put some distance between him and Thessa. She’d had care for him in her gaze. He didn’t like that.
He wished he’d never seen her swimming. Just because she’d been so at home in the water, his thoughts had lodged on her more strongly than they should have.
Thessa didn’t have the flowery scent of the few women he’d danced with at soirées in Warrington’s home, nor did she have the sometimes jarring perfume of the tavern wenches he’d enjoyed. She smelled of warmth and a different kind of soap than he was used to. Something which seemed exotic to him, perhaps a blend from island herbs or plants he didn’t know of.
The first hues of the sunset fell on her face. She wore the new shawl and her hair was pinned, but still, she didn’t look like any woman he remembered. Just like when she swam.
‘We should search out the stone in the morning,’ she said.
‘No. Absolutely not. I may not fear a sea serpent on the island, but I don’t wish to stir up any nests of them.’
‘You would listen to me and wait if you knew what was good for you.’
‘Really, Mermaid? Tell me more.’
Thessa shrugged his words away and moved past him, walking inside the bottom part of the structure and returning with a crude wooden spade. ‘It’s your neck.’ She moved away from them.
Tendrils of hair bobbed freely at the back of her collar, drawing his gaze to her skin.
‘Stay here, near the woods, Gid,’ Ben said, turning to Gidley. ‘Watch the path. If someone is approaching, then catch up with me and let me know.’
‘Right, Capt’n,’ Gidley said, and as Thessa moved away, Gidley mouthed the word smile and pointed to his own uneven teeth.
Ben did the opposite, then travelled along the white-sand pathway edged by stones removed from the trail possibly a thousand years before. Clusters of spindly vegetation dotted among the white stones, like rounded-over bonnets. Only a few scattered bits of green interrupted the burnt red and brown plants dried by salted wind.
The beauty contrasted the island’s harshness. He knew from the last trip that black glass-like shards could be found in places on the island, probably left from a centuries-old volcanic eruption.
His men had told him of the catacombs they’d found and his own eyes had amazed at the sharp white cliffs sticking from the sea, their bold colors contrasting against the blue water. One rock jutted from the sea, its top shaped like the scowl of a raging bear. If he sailed deeper into the islands around, the rocks could be like stone fingers reaching to rip the Ascalon’s hull.
As they walked the paths, the trees filtered what was left of the sunlight. But nothing softened the edges of the rock. Staring at the land around, he almost missed seeing Thessa step forward to move an olive branch aside. When it slapped back, he dodged and it grazed his cheek.
This could never be his home and he marvelled that Thessa seemed so enamoured of it. Except, she did have her sea to swim in—her own endless sea.
In one stride he’d caught up with her and walked at her elbow on the narrow path. He thought of Gid’s advice. Smiling couldn’t help if a woman kept her eyes averted from him.
Ben touched her arm to give her assistance when she stepped around a huge rock at the side of the path.
Her eyes flicked to his hand and then to him. ‘You should not show notice for me. It will not do you well.’
‘I would not be a true man if I did not show concern for a woman.’
She puffed out a grumble. ‘Englishman. Full of pretty speech.’
His hand dropped and he met her eyes. ‘I’ve never seen so much beauty on an island.’
If she wanted out of his grasp, she had only to take a step. She didn’t move.
‘Why have you not already married this Stephanos?’ he asked.
She gave a shrug. ‘I am waiting for the house to be finished.’
‘If we find the stone, then will you take me to Stephanos so I can purchase it tonight and leave straight away?’
She laughed and he instantly tensed.
‘It’s not the kind of thing you can put in a small place. Did you not see the marble Melina took?’
He shook his head. ‘I saw the wrapped parcel. Not inside it. My brother said it was a carved stone. That was enough for me.’
‘It was part of an arm.’ She moved her hand from fingers to elbow. ‘Not much, and yet bigger than my own. The rest is part of a woman’s shape, but I would wager it would take two men to carry each half of her.’ She looked at him, her eyes telling him she questioned his wisdom.
Thessa turned and began moving up the path. ‘The rocks are on the highest part of the island. You can still see walls from long ago which have crumbled to the ground. And I warn you, Stephanos will not let you take them from Melos easily. If someone else wants a thing, it becomes valuable. You will have to pay twice. Stephanos holds the land, and Melos, in his palm.’
He took her arm and stopped her steps. Watching her expression, he asked, ‘You’re sure the statue Melina wants is broken?’
She nodded.
Warrington had sent him on a voyage for some damaged statue? His brother’s nursery maid must have bounced him on his head thrice a day.
But his brother was besotted. Warrington did have a tendency to choose a wife who was a bit cracked. His first wife Cassandra had been full cracked and on the jagged side. Melina was only normal-woman daft.
‘Your sister knew this?’ he asked.
Thessa nodded. ‘Yes. She insisted I view it when she first found it. We helped her dig and we covered it back afterwards. And we all talked about the look of her.’
‘What
