Free Damned and Desirable (Eternally Yours Book 2) by Tara West

banisters were unsteady. Wading through the trash and waves proved nearly impossible, until I reached my neighbor’s brick home with a sturdy foundation. After climbing across the porch, I was amazed when I turned the corner to see my house still standing, a solitary beacon beneath the gloom of the dark sky.
    The other homes nearby had been washed away. Mine rocked against the current, looking like a lone ship tossed about at sea by the gale. I wondered if Katherine was inside, or if she’d sought refuge on higher ground, perhaps with one of her gentlemen callers. Maybe my rescue attempt was all for naught, and I’d drown trying to save a woman who no longer waited for me. But I’d already come this far, and I couldn’t leave now. I’d sworn a vow to Marie, after all, and a vow to God, though Katherine had broken hers many times over.
    I waded out into the current, and then was swept away, sucking in gulps of salty water, struggling to keep my head above the torrent. I struck a post, and held on with all my might. Though fatigue worked against me, I somehow found the strength to climb over the banister to the first floor, which was already half submerged. I leaned against the side of the house, stopping only for a moment to regain my strength. The pain in my back intensified, and I worried I would bleed out before I could get my wife to safety.
    After expelling a deep breath, I kicked in the window and swam into my house. Katherine’s tea cups and fineries bobbed in the current before smashing against the walls. I swam to the stairs and dragged myself upward, weighted down by sodden boots and clothes, the pain in my back worsening with each step as I climbed into the blackness.
    I found her sobbing face-down across our bed, the strength of her cries drowned out by the ominous howls outside. A candle flickered across the room, casting long shadows across walls that shook as the wind intensified. I felt a mixture of relief and apprehension at seeing her alive. I only hoped in her darkest hour she had begged for repentance and sworn to change her wicked ways.
    “Katherine!” I screamed above the din, clenching my fists as pain shot across my spine. “We must leave!”
    She looked up from our bed and screamed. “Oh, Aedan, you’ve come back for me!” Flinging herself into my arms, she cried against my chest.
    I pushed her back, gripping her shoulders. “We have to get out, now!”
    She shook her head, lips trembling as she spoke. “I’m scared. I can’t swim.”
    Without hesitation, I ripped her heavy skirt from her waist and told her to tie up her long hair and remove her boots. I knew the weight of her clothes could mean the difference between life and death. Surprisingly, she followed my orders without argument.
    Just then the house tipped, leaning so far to the left, the bed slid across the floor, slamming into the opposite wall. I fell as Katherine tumbled into my arms. The house had been ripped from its foundation. We had seconds before the structure crumbled.
    Katherine screamed, digging her nails into my arm, but I shook her away as I would fend off a rabid cat. “Calm yourself!”
    The house veered the other direction so that the floor was almost level. I shut our bedroom door and then kicked at the hinges. Once, twice, and it fell just before the roof spilled into the ocean.
    I wedged Katherine on the door, pressing my weight on top of her. “Hold on,” I screamed into her ear, “and don’t let go.”
    “I don’t want to die, Aedan,” she sobbed. “I haven’t even begun to live.”
    My chest tightened, and my heart sank, feeling as if it, too, were drowning. She cared only for herself and her pleasures, no remorse for the lives her folly had destroyed.
    “Then pray for mercy, Katherine,” I said in a hoarse whisper, though I knew she couldn’t hear me. The walls cracked wide, and we were thrown into the tempest.

    I sat up in bed with a start. I must have drifted off, fatigued after a long