The Pirate Queen

Chapter 38

Ariel burst to the surface, gasping for air. "Eric!" She screamed, swimming in a circle. Hell rained fire down around her but she didn't care about anything except for a single black head of hair.

"ERIC!" She pushed away a plank of wood when a pair of hands grasped under her arms and pulled her into a boat.

Jora's face appeared in her vision, a cut on his forehead bleeding down his temple but he looked otherwise unharmed. "Ariel? Are you okay?"

"Where is Eric?" she rasped, looking around again. She stood in the rocking boat, tossing the bag and weapons off. "I'm going to find him."

"Are you crazy?" Flounder lurched forward and wrapped his arms around her, hauling her back before she could jump into the churning sea. "You'll drown!"

But she didn't care about drowning. She didn't care about her ship. Even the crew was a momentary afterthought. What she cared about was finding the man who had just taken the worst opportunity in the world to propose to her with the most gorgeous ring she'd ever seen paired with the most beautiful words he'd ever spoken. "We need to find Eric," she pleaded, pulling against Flounder.

Jora's eyes flicked to her hands tugging at his arms and back to her face, making her still. "I'll find him." Then before anyone else could protest the insanity of diving into waters currently under attack, Jora slipped beneath the wreckage and the waves.

Ariel watched with bated breath, trying and failing to count the seconds her Cuisiner was gone. All she saw was burning wood, waterlogged canvas, and neither of her friends.

For a brief moment, she thought that was it. Eric had declared his love, shoved her out the window to save her, and sacrificed himself. That in her panicked state, Jora had taken on the death sentence meant for her to spare her from more pain. In the span of five minutes, she had lost both the love of her life and her best friend.

Then, movement.

A small piece of canvas from the mizzenmast was shoved roughly aside and Jora came spluttering up for air with Eric clinging to his side. Flounder grabbed the oars and pushed the dingy towards them, keeping them steady as Seb helped haul Eric into the bottom of the boat.

His face was pale, but his chest was still moving. Ariel dropped to her knees at his side and began pumping rhythmically on his chest. When nothing happened she pinched his nose, tilted his head back, and breathed long and deep into his lungs.

"Come on, prince. Live!" she shouted, pumping on his chest. Hot tears burned tracks of fire down her cheeks as she leaned down to breathe into his mouth again. "You're too stubborn to leave me now," she whispered, clutching his shirt. "You promised." Her voice cracked and Jora pushed into the boat, dropping to her side.

There was raw anguish on the man's face, a panicked desperation Ariel had never seen from him before. He was probably the least expressive person on her crew, but right now she could see every emotion written on his face like a book.

"Let me try." He took over the life-saving technic Edward had taught her the same day she'd learned how to swim at five years old. She'd only used the maneuver once before, on a cabin boy who'd fallen off the deck during a storm. It had scared her then, but this time it was pure terror.

Jora pumped once, twice, a third time. Ariel wasn't sure if the water rolling down his cheeks were from the sea or tears. He leaned down, pinching Eric's nose just like Ariel had and breathed into Eric's mouth.

When he pulled back still cupping Eric's neck, the prince's eyes flew open and he rolled, heaving ocean water all over the bottom of the boat. He coughed violently, gagging as he sucked in lungful's of air.