‘Kennit beat him to death. Belowdecks. You’ve seen the marks down there. The handprints of a crawling man.’ He took a breath. ‘It was fair, Amber. Only fair.’ She sighed. ‘Vengeance for both of you. For the times when he had beaten Kennit to death.’ He nodded above her. ‘Twice he did that. Once the boy died on my deck. But I couldn’t let him go. I could not. He was all I had. Another time, curled up belowdecks in his hidey-hole, he died slowly. He was bleeding inside, growing so cold, so cold. He cried for his mother.’ Paragon sighed. ‘I kept him with me. I pushed life into him, and forced his
...more
