“You’re the one who asked me what?—”
I cut her off before she could curl her talons deeper into his mind. “For fuck’s sake, Sapphira! Stop being a cunt and?—”
Her palm collided with the side of my face with a sharpness I hadn’t expected. Heat radiated across my skin, the audible collision immediately sending a wave of further humiliation through me.
But that was all it took.
Caspian was up and over his desk faster than Saph could drop her hand. Fingers curling around the wrist she weaponized and her slender neck, he slammed her into the wall with enough force to knock a few books from the shelf positioned beside it. Lifting her off the ground with unmistakable ease, his lips peeled back, a deep snarl consuming his quarters.
“If youeverlay your hand on him like that again, I will saw it from your fucking arm. Do you understand?”
“C-Cas, I?—”
He pulled forward just enough to create a gap, driving her back until her head cracked against the wood. “I believe I asked you a question, which can be answered with ayesorno.There is no need for further articulation. I’ve heard enough from you in one fucking day, Sapphira Maris.”
The fire she carried was snuffed out immediately, his distaste enough to silence her. Without offering a word, she nodded weakly.
“Good.” Loosening his hold, he stepped away, unbothered about whether or not she collided with the ground. “Now get the fuck out of my quarters.”
“Y-Yes, sir,” she mumbled as she rubbed her throat, backing away toward the door. Once she was positioned close enough that she believed she held any chance of escaping him, she opened her mouth once more. “Which way would you like me to direct the ship, Captain?”
“We scout for a day,” Caspian replied matter-of-factly. “If we don’t stumble across thatbitch,then we will head inland to inform Malrik of his treacherous whore’s mishaps. At this point, I don’t give a fuck if he gets his hands on her again, but he is theonlyone permitted to do so until I murder him alongside her. Her fucking heart, her fuckinglife,ismine.”
It was one of the highest acts of treason—executing one directly affiliated with the crown—but he’d meant every word. If Rohen’s goal had been pissing him off to the point that the idea of the treasure we’d sought for years vanished from his mind, she’d accomplished it.
It’d been an hour since Saph left, and we’d sat in silence the entire time.
Caspian sat in the scarlet-backed chair, his gaze fixed on the knots in the wood that made up his desk. The only time he bothered to look up was to pour himself another glass of whiskey. With his mind set on carving a path of destruction, he’d started with himself, downing a whole bottle, and now halfway through a second.
“Cas, I know you’re upset?—”
“Do you?” he asked, his crimson irises finding mine. “Do youtrulyunderstand the idiocy you displayed, Syoran?”
“Yes, I?—”
“Youare responsible for their deaths!Youare the reason our decks were littered with corpses last night!You!”
“For Ellira’s godsdamned sake, let mespeak!” I shouted over him, driving my knuckles into the oak as I pushed myself to standing. “You think I don’t know that, Caspian? You believe I’m that mindless to the point I’ve placed all the blame on Rohen, to what? Clear my conscience? There is nothing toclearhere. If you want my fucking head, call for it. If you wish for me to walk the plank, order it, and I will do so willingly. But you willnotsit here and drink yourself to death!”
He bit the inside of his cheek, his tongue darting out to trail across his lips. “And why would you give a fuck when you were so godsdamned adamant about keeping that cunt unshackled on this ship? Youknewwhat she was capable of. She could’ve very well killed me, and you?—”
I was around the corner of his desk faster than he’d anticipated, my fingers curling around the collar of his shirt as I ripped him from where he sat. Yanking him toward me until our noses brushed, I seethed. “I know.I fucking know! Gods! Just tell me what fucking punishment you wish to dish out, Vayne. Tell me what you want?—”
“WhatIwant?” His rasped voice ghosted across my skin as he leaned forward, his utterance brushing against my ear. “What I want is for you tofuckme.”
Did he just?—?
Washing away my shock, his hand dove into my hair, and our lips crashed together. It was a kiss consumed by pent-up frustration and unrelenting desire, a yearning he’d expressed to me in the past that I’d consistently shot down. But now? Now Caspian fucking Vayne was all I could smell, all I could think about.
The scent of the sea encapsulated me; crisp, refreshing, and wholly alluring. It was the embodiment of the ocean, yet in the same breath, everything Cas emanated: deadly yet thrilling. And instead of pushingaway, rejecting him as I always had for fear of complicating our relationship, I gave in.
Groaning against him, my fingers slipped beneath the waistband of his breeches as I tugged him flush against me. I opened wider for him, granting his tongue access to do whatever he wished to me, for there wasn’t anything I couldn’t take frommycaptain.
His chest hitched, one hand exploring beneath my silk shirt while he kept the other buried in my locks. Tugging harshly, I hissed, and he chuckled, smiling against my mouth. Tongue darting out, he brushed against my bottom lip, his words following, sultry and guttural.
“I knew you’d be a good kisser.”
“Shut up,” I sighed, melting into his touch, fingertips trailing up my abdomen before he elected to tease one of my nipples. “Are you just going to toy with me or?—?”
