Running my tongue across my lips, I scoffed. “You pay too much attention; it’s concerning.”
“I’m good at analyzing people. Call it a blessing or a damnation, I’m inherently indifferent about the matter.” He matched how I sat, the corners of his lips curling and threatening to draw forth a smile of my own. “So, since we both have the same end goal, what do you say about partnering?”
I tapped my forefinger against my arm. “You won’t lock me in a cell?”
“Did you wake up in one?”
“That wasn’t the question.”
Exhaling, he trained his golden gaze on me. “No, I will not throw you in the brig. That assumption is so far away from my character that I am quite offended you’d even ask.”
I rolled my eyes. “I would apologize, but I’m sure you know that?—”
“You’re not sorry. Yeah.”
Smirking, I bit the inside of my cheek, tossing forward an ask to see if he’d bite. “So, if we’re killing Caspian Vayne, can we add another target to our list?”
“State your wish, darling. I am willing to make anything happen for a beautiful woman.”
An insurmountable hunger that I’d been trying to stave off for over a decade ignited tenfold as the simple phrase escaped me. “Not only do I want Caspian Vayne gutted clean, but I want Malrik Ravelle stripped of his flesh and delivered at the king’s feet as a reminder of the madness he’s blanketed our lands with.”
Darkness bloomed in his irises, a malicious yearning rolling forward that seemed to match my sinister desires. “Happily.”
Unfolding my arms, I reached across the table. “Then I believe we have a deal, Alastair Seridean. But if you betray me, I promise you’ll wish you never pulled me onto your ship.”
“Likewise.” He studied me, a softened smile painting his features. “Welcome to theScarlet Tempest, Rohen Levitte.”
CHAPTER 30
Intertwined Destiny
CASPIAN
Iknew that flag too well—its blood-red hurricane spiral adorned with two crossed swords, contrasting with the black canvas it sat on. Watching through Saph’s collapsible spyglass as the ship ported at the docks of Thornebay, its light-washed oak wood only served as a beacon of confirmation.
The Scarlet Tempest.
“Alastair fucking Seridean, youpitifulprick,” I seethed, my wrath only building with the sinking realization.
My former best friend had found the womanIowned, the woman whobelongedto me. The fucking woman who murderedhalfof my crew when I’d given her every strand of my patience. It was laughable, truly, how much the gods wished to spite me, and it’d never ceased. Not when the king purchased me for his satisfaction, or the night when I’d somehow failed in killing the man whostillelected to follow me.
Anddefinitelynot fucking now.
With shoulders rising alongside a snarled inhale, my fist slammed against the banister with enough force to splinter. The flick of my tongue against my canine joined the action, an unamused laugh mingling with a scoff as I lowered the telescope.
“What a fun little reunion.”
Booted footsteps drummed to meet me. “Is everything okay, Captain?”
Syoran.
Was everything okay? It was such a convoluted question. I was alive and breathing, sure, but the loathing that’d burrowed itself into the very marrow of my bones had ignited a fire that was impossible to tame. And it would remain that way until I got my hands on her again, until I executed Alastair for good and forced her back on my ship just to do the same.
Alastair should’veknownbetter than to put his filth-laden hands on something ofmine,and I knew he’d deliberately chosen to spite me. He’d always been that type of man. Hell, he was the same way even when we were kids, always doing what he could to test just how far my mercy extended.
Which waspreciselywhat he’d learned that late winter evening.
It was a night I wouldn’t forget, a night when I’d stumbled across the plans he’d compiled with one goal: sabotage. He’d mapped out his intended betrayal in lengthened detail, his unmistakable handwriting greeting me with an anguish I’d never been able to part with. I’d protected him, walked alongside him, plundered the continent with him, and he’d taken every fucking sacrifice for granted. We hadn’t just been friends, but we’d shared a bed as lovers many times, memories that now twisted in the back of my mind and fed the seething hatred tainting my heart.
