Chapter 27

What now?

Eduard had no clue. He couldn’t quite comprehend the scene before him. He had to take it in slowly, piece by piece. A bunch of branches at his feet, littering the street—he could clear those away. Start there. But when he bent down, he saw black yarn tangled around the wood and found the tiny head of a cloth doll amid the sticks. One button eye was missing, and if there had been a smile drawn onto the fabric, it had washed away. Along with the child this doll had belonged to, and her parents, and her home.

God.

Reza placed a hand on Eduard’s shoulder and gave him a comforting squeeze. “They will rebuild. It’s human nature.” Easing his hand beneath Eduard’s arm, he raised him to his feet. “Come with me. Let’s hope my ship is not among the splinters.”

But Eduard shrugged out of his lover’s grip. His heart felt torn in two, part of him eager to follow Reza to the docks, part of him worried about his home, his wife. “I must find Marien.”