Thomas regarded Antonia with a look of empathy. He hadn’t known that Luc was of Antonia’s blood. It made sense, her love and affection for the boy, her desire for him to have a better life, and one not among the cutthroats of the New World. There was cruel irony to be seen, the fact that the safest place for the boy would be the very place Antonia didn’t want him to be. 

“Antonia,” Thomas said, “I am sorry. I know that there were much higher ambitions for Luc than to be sailing among the scoundrels of this world.”

He scoffed. “Both of us know that fate does not always allow us to walk the path we were intended, no?”

Thomas ended his comparison to Antonia’s circumstances there. Even considering the loss of his parents, there was in no way that the scales of cruel luck balanced between the two of them. The particulars of Antonia’s past were still mostly a mystery to him, but he knew enough to recognize that life had dealt the rogue a hand far worse than his own. Truth be told, in Thomas’ summation she was playing it better. 

He fell silent, his eyes drifting upward towards the stars. The sound of the waves crashing lazily against the sand was like a slow rhythm that gave cadence to his steps. So much had changed since the [i]Dusk Skate[/i] had last reached port, and Thomas realized just how heavy it all seemed. With his shoes filled with sand, and the constant sound of the surf in his ears, a pleasant notion supplanted the grim screen that the night had spread across his spirit.

With a smile to Antonia, he slipped from her grasp. He began walking slowly to the waterline, tossing layers of clothing from his body as he moved. By the time his toes settled into the wet sand, and the warm Jamaican waters cascaded over his feet, Thomas stood in only his skin and a broad smile. His hands were on his hips, and he looked up into the night sky once more, feeling wholly liberated somehow from the burden of all that had transpired. 

A slight chuckle passed his lips, and he walked into the waves. When his waist was submerged he turned back to the beach, giving Antonia a beckoning wave. He said nothing to accompany his gesture. There wasn’t any need to.