Moaning into the connection, I dragged my tongue between her molars, cleaning the remnants of myself from the back of her mouth. My hardness shuddered as I devoured her, constricted once more by her walls. Swapping saliva, she released a toe-curling mewl, a soundthat’d continually brought me back to her more times than I could count.
No matter how much I’d tried to avoid her enchanting lure, she’d always drawn me in like a beacon to a ship. And still, somehow, the relationship we held outside the bedroom was the furthest thing from intimate. Neither of us desired to be tied down, controlled by another. Or at least I thoroughly convinced myself I wasn’t until?—
A hard thud reverberated from the door with enough force to knock one of the decorative anchors off the wall, and Syoran’s demanding tone came quickly after its collision with the floor. “Both of you, get out of one another and onto the deck!”
“Gods above, Syoran,” I snarled as Saph continued to trail her tantalizing kisses down my jaw and toward my throat, tempting me to go another round. “There better be some fucking Tide Eaters on my ship or so help me?—”
“No Tide Eaters, my friend, but we are docking.”
“Docking?” Saph pulled back, agitation billowing off her as she glared down at me, immediately aware that I’d directed us off route without her knowing. “Where the fuck have you guided this ship, Caspian Vayne?”
“Oh, nowhere,” I hummed, my lips curling into a cruel smile. “I have some curiosities I would like to probe an old friend about.”
It was an island far off our planned path, diverting us from our original timeline. Even so, I couldn’t help but grin at the incessant glare that Saph bore in my direction, knowing that I’d receive the same from Morwenna as soon as I set foot in her shop. She wasn’t only pissed about us straying from our intended path, but my continued involvement with the practicing witch—the one who challenged the lines of ego and sanity.
I viewed most fortune-tellers as scam artists, milking coin from incompetent fools who wished to believe whatever they uttered. They were good at it, luring desperate individuals into their traps just to feed their customers what they wanted to hear.
But Morwenna? She was different.
She’d predicted far too many things in my life for it to be coincidental, and now I had a handful of questions I’d happily pay her to answer. With our bitch in holding continuing to pique my interest in ways I couldn’t decipher, I had become somewhat desperate to figure out why. Not only that, but the numerous stolen journals I kept in my quarters had drawn up theories that were continuing to nudge me toward insanity.
I only hoped I could remember to ask her about them when Rohen Levitte had come to occupy the front of my mind.
CHAPTER 12
Scorching Betrayal
ALASTAIR
Collapsing the telescope, I exhaled deeply, staring over the vast open waters. “What in the gods’ name are you up to, Caspian?”
We’d left Darswyth, sailing north of Serevalen through the Blooming Tide. Following their tail, we’d veered east, encroaching on territory that extended beyond the continent I’d once considered home. As the miles stretched on, our travels became far more extensive than we’d anticipated, and seven days passed with ease. I couldn’t help but question just how much of the sea he and his crew had explored—how much they’dinfluenced.
With the continent of Wraelira no longer in our sight, an island appeared. Caspian’s ship sat docked at its shore.
The island appeared simple, while the air around it carriedsomething intangible; something darker clung to every breath we took as soon as we entered the newfound jurisdiction. The greenery Serevalen held became an afterthought, replaced by black sandy shores. Numerous gothic-style buildings peeked in the distance, their hues reinforcing the sense of insecurity. Shaped like a crescent moon, the island’s form matched the mythical aura it carried. The only color that bloomed came from the port’s light wooden planks and the various creatures sitting on the dock unloading shipments.
Where the fuck are we?
“It’s uncharted,” Leilani stated from behind me, her booted footfalls closing the gap between us. “There isn’t a single mark on any of the maps that evenhintsat this island’s existence.”
“Then how the hell didhefind it?”
“Chance?” she questioned, stroking her hand across my back before combing her fingers through my hair. “Luck? It’s hard to say when it comes to Caspian Vayne.”
The gravest understatement of the century.
Where I functioned on logic, Caspian ran on the fumes of recklessness, determined to do whatever was necessary to remain free from the shackles of civility. He was harsh in a way I was composed, marking each of us as the other’s fated counteracting force. Our differing personalities led to countless clashes throughout our childhood, but we remained tied at the hip, unable to stomach the idea of separation because of the shadows our pasts harbored—shadows we onceshared. As we aged, Caspian fell deeper into a hunger-filled pit I never understood until the night he got me on a ship. We not only became crewmates but brothers at sea.
Once a team and feared by all those we passed, we got whatever we wanted, whether it was treasure, women, men, or sex. The riches we submerged ourselves in were unspeakable, a life I envisioned myself living for as long as Ysalyne, the Goddess of Life, granted me the beacon of continued existence.
We’d sailed together for nearlyeightyears,traversing uncharted territory and throwing ourselves into the fire for one another more times than I could count. It all seemed like a dream, something too good to be true considering all the gods had torn from my already bleeding hands, but that’s exactly what it came to. Caspian drove his sword into my stomach and left me to die on the salty waters of a sanctuary that’d witnessed both of us at our most vulnerable moments.
He was vile.
He was a traitor.
He was my enemy.
