Iron Seas 03 - Riveted

again.”
    To go on as they’d begun. Oh, she wanted to. But could she trust him? “Let me think on it.”
    “I leave Phatéon tomorrow.”
    Her gut twisted at the reminder. He was leaving Phatéon —and so was she. Their paths would likely never cross again. Extending a friendship was all well and good, but Annika knew that her attraction to him could easily deepen, she knew that a part of her longed for more…and he didn’t. Continuing their acquaintance would only serve as fodder for her silly daydreams. For her own sake, she should end this now.
    She couldn’t find the words to do it. Each one seemed to catch in the ache beneath her breast and refuse to surface. Perhaps they didn’t have to. David seemed to take her silence as a response and looked away from her with a weary nod.
    Her throat tightened. This wasn’t what she wanted, either.
    But the opportunity to give another answer passed when Dooley joined them. Taking the open spot on her right, he rested his elbows on the rail and cast his gaze over them, grinning.
    “You two have made up, then?”
    “No,” Annika said.
    He must have thought she was joking. “I’ll say, never have I seen him mope as he did this week.”
    “You don’t see it now,” David said quietly.
    The older man’s smile froze in place. He glanced from David’s face to hers, and seemed to realize that she’d been speaking the truth. Smoothly, he grinned again and tilted his bearded chin back toward the deck. “Well, I should have said it of Goltzius, of course. Awake until the single hours last night he was, composing a poem to Miss Neves. It’s apparently not gone over well, because now he’s all in a tiff—though he’ll tell you it’s because there’s no flag flying over the harbor. It’s still Dutch land, he says.”
    Annika didn’t agree with Goltzius or Dooley’s assessment of him. The younger man didn’t look upset; he looked thoughtful, standing at the starboard rail and staring out over the southern peninsula.
    Dooley sighed. “At least there’s no doubt where his loyalties lie.”
    “Or yours,” David told him.
    “It’s truth. Many an Irishman stood by on these freezing shores, waiting for the Horde. We’ve as much reason to fly our colors here—though by current count, I’d say the Castilians outnumber us all.” His good humor dimmed a bit, and he looked past Annika to David. “Komlan asked us to supper in town, and offered to give us a copy of the survey they made of the lower rim. Shall we join him?”
    “That depends on Miss Fridasdottor’s plans.” David looked to Annika. “I owe you a meal.”
    “Oh.” No, he didn’t—the obligation had been hers. Turning that obligation around must be part of his apology. She’d have liked to accept. “I can’t go with you.”
    “You’re welcome to come along with all of us.” Dooley angled his head toward hers. “Kentewess isn’t familiar with ladies, you understand. He doesn’t realize they can’t be running off alone with a gentleman.”
    “I can,” Annika told him. Never would she be accused of properbehavior. She met David’s gaze and explained, “I have only two hours before my watch begins. I must attend to my personal business while I can.”
    “Tomorrow, then.” His last day aboard. “I’ll give you time to think. You’ll tell me what you decide.”
    The determination in his expression said that even if she didn’t go to him, he’d seek her out. That even if she avoided him, he’d track her down.
    He needn’t worry. Annika would let him find her.
    She just didn’t know what her answer would be.
    David didn’t often fall into a foul mood. He’d learned long ago to focus on that which pleased him, not let himself be eaten up by doubt or anger. Now and again, however, everything irritated him. He sure as hell didn’t want company or dinner. He should have remained on the ship—or walked through Smoke Cove, contemplating how best to persuade Annika not to cut all ties with him. The dread that she might was a dull knife twisting through his gut.
    That pain was enough to rouse the sleeping bear of his choler. He shouldn’t have tried to ignore it, and remained alone with his dour thoughts until the mood left him. Instead he watched the town pass outside a steamcoach window, brooding while Komlan and Dooley held a conversation around him. The lorries carrying laborers and supplies rumbled on ahead to di Fiore’s section camp near the lake, where a stately