Chapter 98: Restoration, Part 1

Merrick leaned on the taffrail and stared at the wake frothing off the Reliance's stern, his soul fuming with equal fervor. Against his every attempt to shove it aside, Charlisse's angry, pained expression kept appearing in his mind. Though the wound in his heart caused by her purported death had now been healed, another one, equally painful, had formed. At least when he'd believed she was gone, he took comfort in the knowledge that she had parted this world with all the love he had given her. Now, to have her spew nothing but bitterness toward himto see her so closed to his affectionswas a pain worse than death.