wrath of the Sea Queen (164 page)

"No."
  C
a
eli's
muffled
voice sounded hollow.

"
No? 
T
hen I
wi
ll join you.
"
  Vin
kicked off his shoes
,
stepped into the shower
,
and sat
down beside her.  He put his arm around
C
a
eli's
shoulders
.

"
He takes pity on you. 
Look at yourself.  You are
, indeed,
a pitiful creature.  You don't deserve a man as special as Eyvindr
.
"

"
P
lease
leave me alone
," C
a
eli whispered and
started to pull away from him, but
Vin
would
n
o
t let her. 
He
h
eld
her close and let his tears
blend
with
the water
f
rom
the shower.
  If only the water could wash the
ir
grief
away.

"
No
, Honey
. 
I won't leave you alone
;
not now
, no
t ever
again
. 
I love you, C
a
eli. 
We'll get through this. 
It's
going to be
all right
," Vin asserted.

"
He won't leave you alone to cause
any further
harm.  You killed his son by refusing
me
.  Your stubbornness
was the knife in your son's
heart
.  Your
selfish refusal to do what you knew to be best for your baby was the st
r
oke that murdered him. 
It's such a shame, too. 
You could have prevented this
.  You could have saved him, but you chose to kill him instead
.
  You're a murderer.
"

"
No!  Stop! 
Just stop! 
It's my fault, ok? 
Is that what you want to hear? 
P
lease
,
please
go away and
leave me alone
.
"

C
a
eli could
n
o
t stand Rika's relentless accusations.  Vin
was
n
o
t hear
ing
them
and
mistakenly thought
C
a
eli
was talking to him.

"No, C
a
eli.
 
I'm not going anywhere. 
This is not your fault.  Whoeve
r did this to you is to blame, but i
t
i
s going to be all right."

"
Of course it will be all right.  It will be all right when you finally agree.  I can still fix this.
"

"This will never be all right.  This can't be fixed."

"You will be all right.  I promise."  Vin had no idea what else to say to her.
  She was right.  The damage could not be undone.  He did not know how to comfort her except to offer his love and support.

"
He
will soon know that you are the one responsible
.
  He will hate you for it
.  He will never forgive you
,
" Rika
continued to
taunt C
a
eli's fragile mind.

"You can't know that.
  You don't know
…Vin
…he
…
"  C
a
eli's whole body shook with the
sadness
that nearly overwhelmed her.

"
I'm
right
here. 
I
do
know,
C
a
eli
. 
I know you. 
I know that you were strong enough to survive
the crash
;
strong enough to survive the fight; and
y
o
u
are strong enough to
get through
this, too."

"
You only survived because I did not want you to die. 
That is the first time my pet has ever gotten carried away.  He really doesn't like you. 
Probably because he knows that you are the one who will take me away from him.  So
I
had to
allow
that meddling cherub
to
heal you.
"

"I wasn't strong enough.  Without Urim, I would not have survived
.  I know that.  What sick pleasure do you get by reminding me?
"
C
a
eli
replied to Rika's statement
.

Flashes of the
memory that had been blocked from her
suddenly began to pop into her mind. 
Unfortunately, they were fragmented, and C
a
eli could not put them together coherently. 
The only part she re
called with certainty
was Urim coming to her aid.  She did
n
o
t know why or how, but she knew the
guardian
angel
, as she deemed him,
had
saved her
life
.

Vin wanted to know more
about C
a
eli
's
comment
, b
ut now was not the time
to ask
. 
She did not need his question
s
right
then
. 
In fact,
he was beginning to wonder if C
a
eli heard him at all. 
The more
Vin
considered it
, the more
C
a
eli's responses did not seem to be directed at him
. 
He wondered if she was hearing a voice other than his and
, if so,
he
wa
nted
to
hear it as well.  Vin's next comment was not
only
spoken out loud, but also through their special bond. 

"
The woman I married has the strongest heart of anyone I know
.  She is a
fighter and a
survivor
.
"

C
a
eli heard Vin's assertion.  It cut to the core of Rika's accusations
, but not her ultimate
goal.  Rika wanted to take over C
a
eli's life.  She almost
succeeded
in the cave.  Perhaps she
had
.  Maybe none of this was happening to her
;
but rather to Rika with C
a
eli along for the heart-wrenching ride.

"Maybe I
a
m no longer the woman you married.  Maybe I didn't
walk out of that cave
intact
after all."

"
Of course you
a
re not
the woman he married
.  You
a
re damaged goods;
but
then, you have been since you were a child. 
So, you never really were the woman you pretended to be. 
Why would he want
to stay with
you now that he knows the truth?  Besides, y
ou belong to me. 
You
ha
ve always belonged to me. 
It
i
s just a matter of time
until you
accept
it
.
"