Page 120 of Storm and Sea

“I digress,” Alvise hummed, lifting Leo’s chin once again with the leather rod. “What do you think? Will you stay with me when this island becomes mine?”

Before Leo could come up with a response, he was gagging as Alvise forced a thumb into his mouth, pressing down on his tongue.

Only then did Leo notice that Alvise wore a silken bathrobe, its folds tied gracefully around his waist. Leo had been so preoccupied with the whip that he hadn’t considered the implications. Now, with his mouth open and a hungry look coming over that arctic face—Leo knew.

Alvise removed his thumb, smearing spit on Leo’s lips.

“When I say, come to my estate, you say?”

“Yes, Alvise.”

“When I say get on your knees, you say?”

“Yes, Alvise.”

“And when I tell you to open your pretty mouth, you say?”

“Y-yes Alvise,” Leo all but sobbed.

“Good boy.”

“What the hell am I doing?” Nephi groaned to himself as he settled into his temporary shelter for the night.

The ground was too exposed, and the water too far from where he needed to be. Why he needed to be here in the first place, Nephi had no fucking clue. But here he was, curling into his lean-to on a human rooftop. A few pieces of wood, an abandoned crate, and a tarp made up one of the more comfortable shelters he’d managed while scouting human territory. What made the makeshift hut a bit less miserable was the black four-legged creature that curled up beside him.

Every night.

“Get fucking lost. I don’t have anything for you.” Nephi tried shooing away the feline. It didn’t yowl or beg like other alley cats; instead, it watched him with poised interest.

“Go home!”

The glowing orbs continued to stare at him expectantly. He couldn’t sleep with the little creep watching him like that.

“What do you want from me?”

As though finally given permission, the white-mittened cat leaped gracefully from its perch, flicking its tail at Nephi’s nose. It curled against his side and began a surprisingly loud chorus of rumbling purrs.

And thus, their nightly ritual was born. Each evening, as the village quieted, the cat—whom Nephi had begrudgingly grown fond of—appeared like clockwork. It was clear the cat had a home, given its glossy coat and well-fed belly. Why it chose to bother him every night was anyone’s guess.

Nephi was annoyed at first, muttering under his breath about how he wasn’t running a damn hotel, but he never shooed the cat away. There was something oddly comforting about the soft purring that filled the rooftop silence. He told himself it was the warmth the feline brought on cold nights or the way it kept the birds away. The creature was useful—nothing more.

“You’re just using me, aren’t you?” he grumbled as the cat pawed at his makeshift blanket before settling in. And yet, when its small body curled tightly against his, Nephi felt his eyelids growing heavier.

When Nephi woke, his little shadow was gone.

He began yet another day of tailing Nyel, gathering intel for reasons he couldn’t explain, and wandering around the outskirts of Corallina.

He chuckled to himself as he watched Nyel drop a heavy fish tray on his toe and hop on one foot like an idiot.

“Serves you right,” Nephi said into the fishcake he’d swiped from a vendor down the block. He couldn’t find anything with a hood after ruining the last sweater, but the leather jacket he stole this morning hugged his shoulders perfectly. Nephi might even say he looked sharp.

If not for the blazing scars.

He promised himself to take better care of this one. But stealing from the locals and watching Nyel play human wasn’t even close to the pace of life Nephi was accustomed to.

He was bored.

I should be back with the Pod.