Page 102 of Valour

“And then I begged Ernie to marry me. My mother tried to arrange a marriage, but I couldn’t bear a man touching me in that way.”

“I would never ask you to do anything you didn’t want to. Charlotte, I⁠—”

She shook her head. “I don’t feel like that with you. I wouldn’t mind if you—if you touched me. But could you still love me, despite my foolishness?”

Confusion stole over his face. “You are not foolish. You cannot blame yourself for the actions of a man with no morals.” He rested a hand on her cheek. “I do not think you realise quite how much I have come to love you, Charlotte. You are the sun by which I take all of my bearings, the north my compass arrow points to. I love you as fiercely as the blaze of a thousand auroras⁠—”

Charlotte pressed a finger to his lips. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Laugh, because what he was saying was ridiculous, or cry, because here was her very own declaration of undying love, just for her, and Hester was wrong. Men could talk like they did in the romance novels. She moved her finger from his mouth and shuffled forwards a little until her nose grazed his.

He held his breath. “Pinch me,” he whispered. “Am I dreaming?”

“You might be.” She bit her lip. “Shall we find out?” Charlotte pressed her lips against his, her heart fluttering at the softness she found. She drew back, cheeks hot. “Well?”

“No, not dreaming. I think that actually happened.”

“When I thought that sea leopard was going to eat you…”

Arnold stroked her hair away from her face. “I’m glad it didn’t, especially now.” He leant forwards, a question in his eyes, and she tilted her chin towards him in answer. With a hand in her hair, he kissed her softly, reverently.

He asked, “Do you remember the night we met?”

“Of course I remember, because you kissed⁠—”

“The back of your hand. I don’t usually pray, but that night I prayed I’d get to kiss you here one day.” He tapped a finger to her lips, and she smiled, tears threatening to spill onto her cheeks.

“For me, it was when you helped me through the tattoo. Although I was curious from the start when you said you liked dogs.”

Arnold grinned and shifted a little closer, stealing another kiss. This time, he ran his tongue along the seam of her mouth, and she parted her lips, her pulse quickening as his tongue stroked against her own. It wasn’t at all how she’d imagined. She felt no desire to shove him away, felt no terror like she had on that night. His arms wrapped around her, tugging her closer.

He murmured against her mouth, “Charlotte?”

“Yes?”

“Would you marry me?”

She kissed him again, her heart fit to burst. “Yes.”

33

IN WHICH THEY TAKE TO THE BOATS

9th April 1916, Weddell Sea

Hester had spotted something that made her gasp. She whacked Septimus on the arm, peering through her spyglass. There was the usual jagged white tundra of ice and snow, but also—could it be? “Over there, look. Is that Clarence Island?”

“I think it’s just a berg,” Septimus said, squinting into the distance.

“Look carefully. I swear I can see dark sides.”

Septimus raised his spyglass and was silent for a few moments. “You’re right, just there? And is that Elephant Island too?”

“I believe so. Land ho!” She jumped up and down, punching the air. “Elephant Island. Doesn’t it make you think of a nice, succulent elephant seal. Mmm. You’d get a lot of blubber from one of those beasties.”

“Thoughts on where we should aim?”

She rolled her eyes. He was ever the pragmatist. “Deception Island, surely. There is the stocked supply shed, and the wooden church that was built for the whalers. Winston could turn it into a more seaworthy vessel than the lifeboats at a push. And at a real push we could wait until November for the whaling season to start and be rescued.”

“If we could survive another seven months on barely any food.”