Page 22 of The Song of the Void

No. No, he wouldn’t do that.

He would press me harder against the wall with his body. He’d take charge of the kiss; Reiven obviously preferred to be in control. All the hatred writhing between us would suffuse the air with furious energy. The kind that lingers until after clothes had been strewn across the floor for hours. Heat flooded my veins just thinking about it, even if I would only do it to see his intelligence kick down a few notches.

Reiven blinked and lifted one dark brow. “What in the world is going on in that head of yours, and why do you look like you want to eat me alive?” he asked softly.

Someone outside our cell coughed. Lyneca stood there holding a metal tray, eyes crinkled with laughter as she regarded us. We hadn’t even heard her open the door and come down the stairs, somehow.

“Oh my. Do I need to come back later?”

Spell broken, heat evaporated, I ducked under Reiven’s arm and dashed to the cold iron bars of our cell. “Lyneca! Get me out of here, please!”

The ship’s cook glanced between the two of us and cackled as she slid a metal tray into our cell. Clearly, she wasn’t buying my dramatics. “Aw, here I was hoping I could report to Vetti that you two are best of friends now… Don’t worry, Zephra, I’m sure she’ll let you out soon. Look, I brought you some of that scented water you like to make.”

I glanced down at the tray. Steam rose from all three bowls, but while two of them appeared to be some kind of soup, the last one was hot water, with a few dried lemon slices and herb leaves floating gingerly on top.

Lyneca took her leave with a flourish of colorful patchwork, and Reiven and I were left to eat our stew in grumpy silence.

“Face the wall,” I ordered after we were finished.

He rolled his eyes.

“She brought this for me so that I don’t have to smell like you, and I don’t want you to watch me bathe.”

“I’ve already seen your tits, Blue.”

So, he was watching me when I changed at the banquet. I’m going to strangle him.

I took one of the clean cloths she left for me—not sure why she left two—and dipped it into the warm water bowl. Just smelling the steam would have brought a smile to my face, if it weren’t for the discomfort of feeling Reiven’s eyes squarely on me as I moved to pull off my top. I growled in annoyance, dipped the second cloth into the scented water, and hurled the soaking towel at his face. Unfortunately, he caught it with his hand, not his pretty cheekbones.

“Be a good cellmate and wash yourself. Don’t look at me.” I turned away to remove my top, and ran the soothing, warm cloth across my chest. As always, I imagined the invisible fingerprints that marred my skin anywhere I’d ever been touched disappearing with each swipe of the cloth. The awful smell of Humans melted away, and the warmth did wonders for my achy body.

If his muscles are strained from all the exercise he does, I’m sure the heat of the water will bring him some relief, too.

I slapped myself in the face with my cloth and scrubbed my cheek roughly to force myself to stop thinking like a Siren healer, damn it.

“Why are you so annoying about how I smell? I smell normal,” Reiven huffed.

“In the Abyssal Deep, we can smell things, but it’s muted, not as noticeable as up here. Strong smells are…overwhelming on land,” I begrudgingly said.

That wasn’t the full story, but I wasn’t about to explain it to Reiven of all people. Despite the enticing spiced wood overtones, his unmistakable smoky scent still reminded me of the Human who stole me from my home. The man who tricked me into believing he loved me, only to tie me up and sell me. There were many things that Reiven did that reminded me of Vaetrik Tynedall. Just another reason to hate him.

The sound of the cloth running against his skin halted suddenly enough for me to want to smack myself for listening so closely. He yanked on his shirt as he stood, muttering, “Maybe now you’ll quit complaining, yeah?”

I didn’t bother answering, but I pulled my top on as well.

“Did you know you whimper and cry and toss around in your sleep?” he asked. “It’s aggravating, especially in such close quarters. What, are you afraid of the dark or something, Siren?”

Darkness comforted me when I lived in the Abyssal Deep. But living in such close proximity to a man like Reiven, on a ship so similar to Vaetrik’s, brought a tidal wave of ghastly memories that made me tremble. His voice…Vaetrik’s voice constantly echoed in my mind. Sometimes it seemed to reverberate within the solid wooden walls of the ship, and no amount of covering my ears or hugging myself would make it stop.

“Look at me, pet.”

I focused on the light outside our cell and reminded myself over and over that I wasn’t on Vaetrik’s ship anymore. That no one was going to hurt me like he did. “You would never understand, so don’t bother asking.”

“Trust me, I don’t plan on interacting with you again until we’re out of here.”

That brought me a surprising amount of comfort. I sat back against the wall and rested my chin on my knees. As long as I kept my gaze on the lantern flame, Vaetrik’s voice tended not to invade my psyche, and soon, my eyelids grew heavy.

Sleep was bliss. Free of Humans, free of glowing chains and Druinnic collars. If I tried hard enough, sometimes my dreamscape would morph into an underwater cave, alight with glowing corals growing from the ceiling. Bubbles would rise and pop before my eyes, and the cold water would envelop me in the comforting compression of the Deep. Home.