#kearan

[chasing--horizons]

Some doodles I did a little while ago featuring characters from @lightofunova @sinnohsiblings and @singularity-and-co along with my own

[whisperingfaun]

[OC] Smile 😃

[kathy-god-of-chaos]

Reading Vengeance of the Pirate Queen right now and I just have to say:

Kearan and Sorinda are so cute together. And Enwen constantly shipping them is so funny to me.

[vesperascorpio]

There’s a spring in my step as I turn for the companionway. We’re under way now. Our next stop, the Isla de Canta, where riches and glory await. I find myself humming as I reach the top of the steps, but then I halt.

“Really now, Kearan,” I say. He’s facedown on the ground. Likely passed out in his own vomit, yet again. This can’t continue. I’ll have to think of some fitting punishment for him. I couldn’t care less what he does in his free time, but when he’s on duty, he’d better be ready to perform at his best.

Suddenly his whole body jerks upward, and I take a step back in case he’s having some sort of sleeping fit.

“Three,” he says on a raspy breath before leaning down to the ground again.

Is he sleep talking? He’s been known to do that even with his eyes open. No, wait—“Are you doing push-ups?” I ask.

“F-f-four,” he says as he rises again.

“Sweet stars, you are. What’s gotten into you?”

After five, he lies on the ground and rolls onto his back, breathing heavily. “Just passing the time, is all. We’ve a long journey ahead of us.”

Yes, but he usually passes the time with drink.

He reaches into one of his pockets. Ah, there he is.

But what he pulls out isn’t a flask. It’s a canteen. The kind we use on the ship for storing water. He sits up and takes a few sips.

“What’s in that?”

He holds the canteen out to me, and I take a sniff. It’s water.

“She dumped all of my flasks into the sea while I slept,” Kearan says. “Didn’t realize she cared so much.” He searches across the ship for Sorinda, but she must be belowdecks because he focuses on me once more. “Any more questions, Captain?” His tone sounds bored.

“Are we headed in the right direction?”

“Course, I’m keeping her steady.”

“Good,” I say before moving on quickly.

Lest Kearan break into song or sprout wings.

. . .

Kearan isn’t at the helm when I reach it the next day. Niridia has taken his place.

“Where is he now?” I groan.

She points just below us. I peer over the aftercastle and find Sorinda leaning against the door to the infirmary, her head turned so her ear is pressed into the wood.

“What are you doing?” I ask her.

“Nothing,” she says immediately. She disappears belowdecks before I can get anything else out of her.

“Kearan’s in the infirmary,” Niridia explains. “He can’t stop shaking and sweating. Mandsy opens the door every once in a while to toss a bucket of his stomach’s contents over the side of the ship.”

“He’s still set on staying off the drinking, then.”

I’m impressed.

[possumsquat]

oc moments...

[vesperascorpio]

“Don’t you have something to be doing?” I snap.

She only giggles. “Why in such a foul mood, Captain? He hasn’t gone anywhere.”

“Excuse me?”

“Riden. He’s over there chatting with Roslyn.”

I lean over the railing, looking in the direction of the shore. Draxen is glaring at the ship from his rowboat, specifically at a spot near the bow of the Ava-lee.…

Where his brother is in fact still on board, chatting with Roslyn.

“What is going on?” I ask.

“I think he’s coming with us,” Mandsy says.

I narrow my eyes at her. “Where does he get off thinking he can do things without consulting the captain first? And my mood is not altered by the comings and goings of that man. Don’t you dare insinuate as much again.”

She curtsies elegantly before skipping off, probably to weave flowers into crowns or to hug a barnacle or something.

“I’m no passenger,” I hear Roslyn say as I approach. “I’m part of the crew.” I find her little figure in time to see her pull her dagger from behind her back and press it to Riden’s navel. “And I don’t care for being talked down to.”

Riden’s lips twitch as he tries not to smile. “My mistake,” he says and takes a step back. “I meant no insult, little lass. Please spare me.”

Roslyn considers his plea carefully, as though she’s actually debating whether or not to kill him. In reality, I know she’s enjoying watching him beg, having someone play along.

“What is your job on the ship?” Riden asks. Though he must have noticed her moving about the Ava-lee in all the time he’s spent with us, perhaps he never realized Roslyn is part of the hired crew. She gets her cut of the spoils just like everyone else.

Roslyn lowers the knife. “I’m the captain’s lookout. I call out danger from up top and navigate us to safety when we’re in tricky waters.”

“That’s a very important job.” He’s not faking how impressed he is.

My temper fades as I stare at Riden a bit longer. Something in my chest moves as I see him talking with little Roslyn. It’s endearing.

I blink twice. No, not endearing. He’s as bloody annoying as ever. And he does not dictate who stays and goes on my ship.

“Allemos,” I snap in my captain’s voice.

The two turn my way. Riden raises a brow at the use of his surname, which I’ve only ever used once before. When he was in trouble.

“Aye, Captain?” he asks.

“Captain? Who made you part of the crew?”

“You did.”

At my confused look, he says, “In exchange for my brother’s life.”

Well, yes, but that was when his brother needed to stay locked in the keep for appearance’s sake. They’re both free now. He can’t expect me to hold him to that. Does he think me so cold?

“Your debt to me is paid,” I say. “You’re free to leave.”

“Paid how?”

“Through your help freeing the siren.”

He pauses for only the space of a breath. “But she got away. Until we find her again, I don’t see how I can leave. Just wouldn’t be honorable.”

I’m about to open my mouth to comment on just how honorable I think he is, when he speaks again.

“If it’s all the same to you, I’d like to stay.”

He wants to be here,I realize. And I can’t think of any nefarious reasons for him to wish to stay. His brother is safe. Isn’t that what he’s always wanted? To stay by his brother’s side and make sure spoiled Draxen gets his way?

So then why would he stay? For the treasure?

Warmth blooms in my chest at the next possibility: Could it be for me?

And, the bigger question: Do I want it to be for me?

I can’t even begin to figure out the answer to that question.

So I lie. “It hardly matters to me one way or the other. But if you choose to stay, you’d better carry your own weight. I’ll have no laziness on this ship.”

“Of course not, Captain. Where would you like me?”

“Since you enjoy spending so much time with Roslyn, you can join the riggers. Hop to it.”

“That’s the most dangerous job on the ship,” he says. It’s less an argument than a statement.

“You start at the bottom and work your way up on my crew.”

“Enwen and Kearan didn’t.”

Roslyn has her dagger back out. “The captain gave you an order, sailor.”

“Yes, thank you, Roslyn,” I say. “Let’s put that dagger away for now. Do I need to have another talk with your father?”

“No, Captain,” she says before scurrying up the netting.

Riden looks after her. “She’s awfully young to be on a pirate ship.”

“Aren’t we all?”

[books1311]

Finished

24/02/2024

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I loved the first two books and this was even more amazing!

Kearan and Sorinda's relationship is so sweet and an amazing slowburn. Kearan who gives her space and teases her is ❤️❤️❤️

[vesperascorpio]

“What do you want?” Kearan asks.

I can tell by the way she tips her head that she’s surprised he heard her. “I watch you from above sometimes. You pull out that flask a lot. Does rum really taste so good?”

Kearan turns to her then with strangely sober eyes. “Doesn’t need to taste good. Only needs to be strong.”

“Can I try some?”

Kearan shrugs and offers the flask. Before I can step forward, Sorinda is there, yanking the flask from his grasp. She upends it on his head.

Kearan sputters, “Damn it, woman! Do you delight in anything other than soaking me?”

“Idiot,” she says. “You don’t give drink to a child.”

“I wasn’t going to! As soon as it was near her nose she would have handed it back.”

“You couldn’t have known that.”

“You can’t stand to come within five feet of me because the drink is so strong.”

“I can’t stand to be near you for many reasons.”

They go on like that, lashing out at each other. If Kearan could manage to keep up with her, I’m sure it would come to blows. Roslyn wisely shrinks back from the two of them and returns to the dancing.

“Quite a pair those two,” Niridia says, stepping up beside me.

“I’ve never seen anyone get under her skin like that,” I say.

“It’s probably a first for her. I wonder how long it will be before she realizes she fancies him back.”

I let out a guffaw. “Sorinda? Fancy Kearan? I don’t think so.”

Niridia shrugs. “He wouldn’t be so bad if he cleaned himself up a bit.”

“And stopped drinking.”

“And shaved.”

“Worked out a bit.”

“And had someone right his nose.”

We both laugh. I hadn’t realized how much I needed it.

“All right,” she concedes. “I suppose he doesn’t have a chance.”