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“Yes You certainly are”

“Do you have brothers or sisters?”

“No” Courtney felt that now-familiar constriction in her chest “It was just Papa and I And now

he’s gone”

“Slayde told aze met Courtney’s “You’re very brave I didn’t think I’d survive when my parents died”

“If I recall Papa’s stories correctly, you were quite young when that happened,” Courtney noted “It ”

“I was ten And, yes, it was But, in truth, I don’t think there’s ever an easy tih a violent death”

Courtney’s lashes drifted doard “The pain isthan all my injuries combined”

“Were you and your father close?”

“Very He captained a ship I sailed everywhere with him”

“How exciting!” Aurora’s whole face glowed “I’ve never been anywhere, at least not since Mama and Papa died, and even then, it was never farther than Scotland While you—you’ve traveled the world, seen everything Hoondrous never to be confined to one place”

“Ironic, how different our perspectives are,” Courtney replied, her voice choked “I would have been thrilled to settle down To live in a cottage on a hill, withthe cliffs and the water I used to dream that Papa would surprise me with exactly that But my dream wasn’t meant to be Papa’s life was the sea And, since I desperately wanted to be with him, it became my life as well”

Aurora ingested Courtney’s words with an intense expression that made her look all the more like Slayde “ ’Twould seem there is more than one way to be lonely, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes,” Courtney answered, pondering the fact that beneath all the youthful recklessness Slayde had described lay a strong, insightful woer to befriend “I believe there is”

“How old are you?” The forthright Aurora was back