Free The Sea Devils Eye by Mel Odom Page B

and became inert. The green eyes continued to follow Jherek’s movements.
    The young sailor swallowed hard, discovering he had a death grip on the cutlass.
    “This is an uneasy place for us, young warrior,” Glawinn said softly. “As you sense danger about this cave, so it senses danger from you. Trust the lady to hold the balance.”
    Jherek let out a tense breath, reminding himself why they were there. He sat slowly, offering no threat, watching the green eyes that watched him. He sat with crossed legs, his cutlass across his knees.
    “Believe in me,” Dehnee told him, offering her hands.
    “Lady,” Jherek said in a tight voice, “as much as I am able.”
    He held his hands out and she took them. Her touch felt almost too warm, too exciting. Emotions and desires that he kept carefully bottled up slapped at the sides of his restraint, threatening to explode. He tried to yank his hands away, feeling shamed.
    Dehnee tightened her grip, but he pulled hard enough to bring her to her knees before him. He gazed into her gold eyes.
    “It’s all right,” she told him. “Your feelings are natural.”
    “No.” Jherek shook his head and kept pulling at his hands. Nothing that strong and heady could ever be natural.
    “An innocent,” Dehnee breathed in quiet wonder. “By Umberlee’s favored sight, I’ve not touched an innocent in decades.”
    “Have a care with him, lady,” Glawinn warned softly. “I’ll not have him hurt in any way.”
    “I know what I’m doing, Sir Knight.”
    All Jherek’s ability to struggle deserted him in a powerful surge that left him weak. He still felt the woman’s hands on his, still felt the unaccustomed and unacceptable desire that flamed him, but he couldn’t move.
    Then Glawinn’s strong hand dropped to his shoulder, anchoring him and putting some of the feeling at bay. “Patience, lady,” the paladin said. “He’s never been around one such as you.”
    “What did you come here seeking?” Dehnee asked, her eyes totally focused on Jherek’s.
    Jherek’s thoughts ran rampant. It was hard to concentrate. “Lathander’s disk,” he said.
    “Picture it in your mind.”
    Unbidden, Jherek’s thoughts ranged only on the woman before him. He saw her naked, her body trim and gently rounded, her small breasts heavy with desire. He closed his eyes tightly against the vision and whispered, “No.”
    “What you’re feeling is normal,” Dehnee said.
    Jherek didn’t believe her. Nothing like this could ever be normal-or acceptable.
    “Picture the disk.”
    Calming himself as much as he was able, Jherek built the image of the disk inside his head.
    “Good,” Dehnee whispered. “I can see it as well. What do you wish to know?”
    “Vurgrom took it,” Azla said beside Jherek. “We want to know if he still has it.”
    Lathander’s disk tumbled in Jherek’s mind.
    “Yes,” the diviner said. “It is still in Vurgrom’s possession.”
    “Where?”
    Filmy black patterns ghosted over Jherek’s vision, like rotten spots on fruit. They cleared momentarily, revealing a glimpse of a ship. He managed to peer closer and see her name, then the image slipped away. He recognized the ship from the confrontation at the Ship of the Gods.
    “Maelstrom” he gasped.
    “Do you know where she is?” Azla asked.
    Jherek shook his head, too weak to say anything.
    “It is far from here,” Dehnee replied.
    “We want to find it,” Azla told her.
    “Of course you do. And you will. It is meant for this boy to find.”
    The diviner released one of Jherek’s hands but not the other. The young sailor watched as she reached into the sea lion’s open mouth and pulled out a complex device.
    “An astrolabe. It’s used by a ship’s navigator,” Azla said. “With it a captain or anyone learned enough to take readings from the azimuth of the sun, the moon, or certain stars can determine where a ship is on the sea.”
    “This is no ordinary astrolabe,” Dehnee told them. She cradled the