"I finally found you."
Ulrich blinked slowly.
At first, his eyes did not focus.
The deck above him moved in blurred shapes. Dark sky. Wet wood. The pale outline of the mast. The last smoke from the burning ram drifting toward the sea.
Then Airam's face became clear.
She knelt before him.
Her dark hair had come loose and clung to her wet cheeks. The rain had stopped, but water still ran from the ship's railings and gathered in thin streams across the deck. Her expression looked calm at first glance, almost empty.
Yet her eyes gave her away.
They were dark.
Too dark.
Tears rested along her lashes.
Ulrich tried to move.
Pain tore through him.
His body responded before his mind understood why. His breath caught, and a faint sound escaped his throat. He looked down.
His left arm was gone.
