Page 21 of The Song of the Void

No, he’s not impressing me. Don’t let him impress you, Zephra.

“Are you eye-fucking me, Blue?”

I gave a harsh laugh and refused to look away. “You wish. I’m searching for a weak point.”

“Don’t have one.”

“You’re a Human man. Of course you do.”

He crossed his arms over his chest and let his shirt dangle from his hand. Daring me to keep staring at him. “Really? Where’s my weak point, then?”

Without thinking, I stalked up to him and studied him from head to toe. My gaze caught on the Sirensteel pendant around his neck. I brushed my fingers against the precious metal, and the moment I touched it, a cool, soothing sensation ran over my skin, like diving into a pool after a month in a desert. It felt like home, like the bubbles and light pressure of the Abyssal Deep. I wanted to close my eyes and sink into that feeling, to pretend I wasn’t stuck on a ship with an awful man who had an endless supply of condescending smirks. Like the one he wore now. I reluctantly tore my hand away from the necklace to trail my finger down his stomach.

“Men all have the same weakness.”

With my hand resting just above his belt, I leaned close enough to feel the warmth of his breath on my lips. His eyes widened at the spike of pleasure I sent through his system, one of those minor Siren manipulations that Nightwhisper clientele went mad for.

But Reiven recovered too quickly. He seized my wrist, making me gasp at the slight pop of the joint. His grip loosened, then he felt around my wrist with careful, firm pressure. His smirk had given way to focus as he slowly worked closer to my hand.

I whimpered and yanked away when he found the spot that hadn’t ceased aching since I landed on it.

“It’s not broken or dislocated,” he offered, like he was almost trying to be helpful.

“Yeah, I know.”

“Don’t be a baby. Just try to keep it still⁠—”

As if I would ever take medical advice from the pirate who was the reason for my injury. I shoved him back against the wall, pressing my uninjured arm across his chest to keep him pinned. “If it wasn’t for you, this wouldn’t have happened.” In less than a second, my back hit the wall he had been leaning against as he switched places with me.

He leaned close, resting both hands against the wall on either side of my head. “Like I told Ash and the captain, I had a perfectly good grip on you.”

My gaze traveled to the cuts I had scored on him during our duel. Blood had dried dark red in two thin lines on his arm.

“You know, you should really apologize to me,” he mused. “If you weren’t such a clumsy brat, we wouldn’t be stuck in here.”

How hard would it be to gouge his eyes out without killing him? Or strangle him until he lost consciousness? Damn it, I really needed to get my hands on a weapon. I exhaled long and slow, and fought off the urge to knee him in the balls. “You’re the one that challenged me to a duel.”

“Kicking your ass was therapeutic.”

“Fucking pirate bastard⁠—”

“Now, now,” he murmured. “There’s no need for generic name calling, Blue. Come on, hit me with something with a little more bite, won’t you?”

It should have been easy for me to come up with a scathing retort, but…with my back against the wall, with him effortlessly trapping me there with his piercing eyes—my mind blanked. I stared up at him, heart thudding in my ears, painfully aware of the heat of his body. I desperately searched through every crevice in my mind for a fresh insult to throw at him. But his warm breath on my cheek had me distracted. Sparks may as well have crackled in the air between us, searing my skin with prickles of heat.

“Y-you're…an arrogant dick,” I breathed.

Reiven chuckled softly and took a step closer. “Took you that long to come up with that?”

“You’re insufferable.” Our lips could have ghosted across each other if one of us leaned forward a little. “Despicable. You may no longer be a pirate by trade, but nothing will change what you naturally are. A black-hearted scoundrel.”

Something odd glimmered in his dark eyes...Excitement? His gaze dipped from mine for a moment, and that half-cocked grin almost seemed genuine. “Scoundrel? That’s far too tame a word to describe me, sweetheart.” He dragged his gaze back up from my lips and studied me with all the dauntless swagger of a man that took whatever he wanted and won every fight he picked.

An attractive scoundrel. Who…enjoys being talked back to.

Good looks no longer deceived me, not after what happened to me years ago. To Mourner Hell with the odd floundering my heart was doing inside my chest. I squeezed my fists until my nails nearly pierced my palms, and the pain screamed the reminder that he was a Human. A Siren-hunter. A man who could not be trusted.

Perhaps I should exploit my charming Siren ways when it came to him. Even if the thought made me want to throw myself off the crow’s nest again, I could kiss him. Watch his confidence melt in the face of the bizarre exhilaration he’d feel through my venom. His pupils would double in size and he’d gasp in surprise.