Aiden Payne is a drifter. His only memory of home is a mysterious tattoo. While working as a gold miner, his path crosses with Amelia Rose Wagner, a sheltered girl in love with navigation and the stars. After a fatal mistake, the two find themselves...
The next day, Randall Wagner returned to the mine. Aiden and the miners were still working. They had come to the agreement that Tanner was off on a binge—three raucous days of drinking, fighting, and mischief. It reeked of possibility because Tanner had done it before. All of this lying was distorting Aiden's reality. It was easy to forget that Tanner was dead, but once he started to remember the sound of a gun he heard it in everything, even in footsteps. Wagner was thinking of other possibilities. He hated this fictitious business man from Dead Man's Palm the most, that or the fact that Tanner hadn't told him that he was seeking other investments and partners. Aiden was skeptical of Amelia Rose, but he was thankful. He had to stomp down his pride a little. My land, that Amelia Rose was something brilliant.
Wagner was upset that second day, having steeped in the possibilities of complete and utter betrayal all night. When he tumbled off the carriage, his hands where flying all over the place. They twitched in and out of his pockets and nagged at his mustache. He didn't say a word. He only walked about and peeked into the shafts, then stared over the shoulder of the miners that were panning in the ocean. He bent over a shaft to watch Eli Hale dig. He finally sighed and said, "You heard of any boat thieves?"
"Boat thieves?" a shovel came up and was placed on the ground. Eli crawled out after it and sat in the sand. "I haven't sir, but a boat's not an odd thing to be wanting. I'm sure anyone is capable of stealing a boat."
"Of course," Wagner nodded and walked across the mine, sighing heavily.
"You've lost a boat, sir?" Hale asked. Wagner sighed, then shook his head. After a brief pause, he repeated the process.
"I don't want to talk about it." He continued pacing and huffing. He stopped over by Aiden's gold cradle. He held his arms akimbo and examined him suspiciously. Aiden didn't stop rocking the cradle and he didn't look up at Wagner. "You're sweating like a pig in hell," he muttered. "Work harder. I don't pay you to sweat."
He went about the rest of the day in the same wounded state. The next day, the progression of his emotional turmoil catapulted to an extreme. He sauntered into the camp and boarded The Princess of Aydesreve.
"Take me to Mr Tanner's living quarter's!" he kicked at things that hurt him, like the mast and the gunwales until he produced an audible cry. Eli Hale scrambled onto the ship, slipping all the way across the deck. He directed Wagner in the way, but nobody was brave enough to follow him down.
Hale watched the plucky Wagner descend. It was a slow and tedious process and a thrilling, but truly depressing watch. Once he reached the cabin floor, he nosed about for a short time. Then, after a muffled gasp and the creaking of Wagner taking a seat on Tanner's cot, he emerged with a note Aiden forged. It was crumpled up into a tight ball. Wagner took a few minutes to crawl back onto the main deck. Aiden rattled in his skin. His mouth went dry. He ventured back off deck to continue his work.
Wagner finally surfaced on the main deck. He crushed the note smaller in his hands and dropped it on the ground. He stomped on it, and then kicked it under the freeing ports of the gunwales. It floated in the water like dead weight.
"A scoundrel, he is," he said. He tapped his foot. "He wanted out of the contract. Well, that's too bad for him, ain't it boys?" They didn't respond. "'Cause you don't get out of a contract! Honor, boys. You get what the devil gives you, now don't you?"
When Aiden thought he was in the clear, it was all too late. The forged note washed up at his feet, sodden like a dead fish. Nothing floats forever.
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