Stavanger Bay than a breeze next to this night

so simple the pirate's words, so earnest. erzulie felt her wariness fading; she closed her eyes at rosalyn's touch and told her heart it must find trust at least one time. and though she knew unfairly she could not simply give the corsair such confidence yet, the ironsea leader had spent each day humbly earning the jezebel's respect.
take love where you find it. she did not truly understand the words, but the concept did not escape her. 
they were pacing around the edges of something that neither of them had directly yet said, and somehow this soothed erzulie further. this was no mere tryst; this was not a game to be played until one of them grew tired of the other. and the pair of them held their own trepidations, and she knew in this was a mutual and loving caution. for some short length of time she held the resolute gaze of the woman with her own, and seeing there what trembled in her own heart compelled erzulie to soften.
"i do love you, rosalyn," she murmured with a tentativeness unlike her, "and i know it is returned." there; and there, and there — the words spoken. lowering her head, erzulie lay her cheek against her captain's chest, seeking the quickening beat there that matched her own.