I want to float. To be lulled by the ebb and flow of the ocean’s quiet dance. Instead, the ever-swelling moon tides me toward that piercing moment when my body will no longer belong to me, but to my promised—a man who has no idea that I’m very different beneath the skin he thinks he knows.
All the while, I’mlocked in the orbit of a man who sees too much, and I can’t escape. Can’t pull myself free.
Tonight, it became abundantly clear that the distance I shoved between us did nothing to pry Rhordyn from my soul … but something’s changed.
Shifted.
I felt it in the charged space between us. In the way he knelt before me, holding my stare with such dominating confidence, chest bared like hewelcomedmy barbs. I felt it in the way I salivated at the sight of his blood dribbling from the cut I made …
I swallow thickly, drawing a shuddered breath I blow back out in a rush.
With that blade to his throat, I felt more alive than I have in weeks.
I want him to hurt.
Tobleed.
I want him to snap, just like he snapped me.
He’s the ailment, yes ... but also the remedy I wasn’t expecting. A punching bag that absorbs my blows with unflinching stoicism.
How much will he take before he bursts at the seams?
I lift the conch to my lips and brush a kiss across its knobbed surface, tempted to whisper my ugly truths into its hollow in an effort to purge them from my soul.
I squeeze my eyes shut, press my lips together …
Tuck the shell beneath my collar.
Kai deserves better.
Rhordyn’s standing at the end of my private pier, black cloak snapping in the wind like an Ocruth war flag. My ship’s moored before him—the restless, turquoise sea clawing at its sleek hull, my bustling crew stealing glances at him while they prepare for our morning sail.
I stalk the length of the pier, steps thumping in rhythm with my surging heart rate. Whoever let him across the bridge and onto the palace grounds without notifying me has some explaining to do.
“It’s been a while since you last graced Bahari with your presence,” I call ahead. “Much has changed, has it not?”
Turning slowly, Rhordyn looks upon me with savage regard. Like I’m fucking prey. “Where’s the rest of your fleet?”
I laugh to myself, stopping before him. “Straight to business?”
He stands like a statue, arms crossed, masticating me with a single look.
Right.
“They’re getting repaired. There’s been some rough weather.” I loosen the tie around the pouch sitting heavy in my hand. “They’ll be ready around the same time my coupling is sealed. With Orlaith,” I clarify, garnishing the blow with a smirk, holding out the bag filled with recently dried fruit. “Fig?”
He continues to stare at me while wind snaps at the loose sails.
“Well, this is frosty.” I pluck out a sugared slice and toss it in my mouth. My face twists when the sickly sweetness explodes across my tongue and slurs down the back of my throat. “Hmm, actually, good choice. They’ve been oversteeped.” I toss the rest off the side of the pier, pouch and all, and reach for the waterskin slung around his neck. “Water?”
He glares down at my hand as though he’d rather see it hacked from my wrist.
I lift a brow. “Not the sharing type?”
Not even a fucking blink.
“How rude.” I shove past and scale the gangway, accepting a canteen from one of my sailors eagerly holding it out as I step down upon the deck. “Especially since we’re practically family, now that I’m fucking your ward.”
