Her question made me stumble. What do we share? Though I’d not yet said it aloud to him, I knew that I loved Caleb. All his actions up until we met Annora had indicated that he felt strongly for me too. The way he’d risked his life to protect me. His agreement to return with me to The Shade even though I knew it made him uncomfortable.

But I was suddenly struggling to articulate to Annora exactly what it was. Love somehow felt too strong of a word, since Caleb hadn’t yet professed it to me.

“We care deeply for one another,” I said, wincing even as I said the words. It felt like such an understatement.

She crossed her arms over her chest, frowning at me. “Would you like to know what Caleb and I share?”

“I already know what you shared.”

She glared at me, then shoved her right hand in my face, brandishing the ring on her finger.

“His engagement ring still sits on my finger. I don’t see one on yours.”

“An old band of metal means little against actions,” I said, trying to keep my cool. “Back in the cave, he discarded you for me.”

“I’ve changed, Rose. I’m no longer the person Caleb discarded. I’ve returned as the person Caleb swore undying love to… many, many years before he met you.”

“If you had even an ounce of love for Caleb, you’d realize you’ve done enough damage already and stay out of his life.” I narrowed my eyes on her. “You don’t deserve him.”

She looked like she was about to slap me. Taking a deep breath, she stepped back, trying to assume a calmer expression.

“Well, perhaps we should let Caleb decide for himself who deserves him.” She extended a hand. “Let’s just see who Caleb chooses now that I’m back, shall we?”

I gripped her hand, squeezing it in a firm shake.

I wasn’t going to let Caleb fall back into this bitch’s arms. Even if Caleb didn’t love me I would rather he ended up with any other woman than this wench.

“Game on,” I said through gritted teeth.

Chapter 8: Rose

Annora left my cabin and headed straight for the control cabin again. I watched with amusement as she knocked, only to be completely ignored by Caleb. Even when she called to him through the door, he didn’t answer. Throwing a scowl back at me, she walked back to her own cabin and slammed the door shut behind her.

I was fed up of sitting in my own cabin, so while I didn’t go to Caleb—I wasn’t sure that he wanted to be around me either—I went for a walk around the submarine to stretch my legs. As I was descending a flight of stairs down to the storage chambers below, the vessel shuddered suddenly, making me lose balance and fall to the floor. My stomach turned as I felt us rising. I winced as my knee whacked against a sharp metal step.

What was that?

I heard two cabin doors click open. I retraced my steps back to the front of the sub to see Caleb standing in the corridor with Annora. He looked up at me as I approached, a grim expression on his face.

“We’ve run out of fuel,” he said. “I thought we might be able to make it to land, but I miscalculated.”

He brushed past Annora and me and walked toward the ladder leading up to the hatch. When we climbed up it, there was a grinding of metal. As the hatch opened, Caleb groaned as sunlight streamed down over him. I hurried over, breathing in deeply as fresh sea air filled the chamber. Annora was about a step behind me.

Caleb’s feet disappeared through the hole. I hurried up the ladder after him, peeking through. We were in the middle of the ocean, the sun beating down on us. At first I couldn’t make out any sign of land at all. But then I saw it—a faint outline of a shore in the distance.

I felt a sharp pain in my ankle. My eyes shot downward to see Annora pinching me.

“Hurry up,” she hissed.

Scowling, I took my time in climbing up on to the roof to make way for her. It pained me to see Caleb standing in the sun. He could barely see with the glare of the sun reflecting off the waves and bouncing into his eyes.

Annora brushed past me, almost making me lose balance and fall into the waves. I gripped hold of a pipe, pulling myself to the center of the boat. She walked up to Caleb, removing her shawl and covering his head and shoulders with it to shelter him from the sun.

“What now?” she asked.

Caleb stepped away from her and walked to the end of the vessel, staring out at the land in the distance.

“I didn’t notice it on the map… but that seems to be an island a few miles away. We need to reach it.”

He walked back toward the hatch, passing Annora and approaching me. He stopped, allowing me to climb back down before he entered in after me.

Shut the hatch on the bitch, I couldn’t help but think as Caleb lowered himself down.

As Annora turned the wheel of the hatch shut, we all stood together on the floor of the sub. “I’m going to see if there’s any way to jumpstart the engine to move us forward, just until we reach the island. If we can do that, we’ll be very, very lucky.”

He disappeared down the steps. Annora, predictably, followed him. Unlike her, I had no interest in following Caleb around like a lost puppy. I walked to the control cabin and stared at the map. Caleb was right—this island appeared to be unmarked. I gripped the back of a chair as the submarine shuddered again, the engine beginning to hum and splutter.

A few moments later, Caleb and Annora entered the room. Caleb resumed his seat behind the controls.

“It restarted. We might just make it to land…”