Page 29 of The Song of the Void

“Why don’t you just let me take the lead here? I promise it’ll be worth it.”

Gatelo grumbled an agreement.

I put on that mask I used to wear when someone paid for my time at Nightwhisper. It was easy to pretend I desperately wanted a man, even if I felt absolutely nothing around him, especially if there was a purpose to it. I eased myself to sit on the very edge of the crate and pulled him closer between my thighs. After taking a moment to pretend to admire how handsome he was, I ran my fingers along his face and up through his shaggy hair.

Before I talked myself out of it, I brushed my lips against his neck. Gatelo shivered and held tightly to my hips as I trailed kisses up to his jaw.

“See? Not bad, right?” I whispered in his ear, earning another shiver. I dug my fingers into his hair and pressed my lips against his, gently at first, but he quickly and clumsily deepened the kiss. The taste of stew and alcohol lay heavy on his tongue as it worked against mine. But I was a professional, so I pretended to enjoy every second.

It went on way too long. Eventually I pulled away with a false smile of contentment as he breathed, “Damn, he was right…Siren kisses are amazing. So I’m able to breathe underwater now?”

I nodded. For a moment, I was afraid he was going to kiss me again, so I hurried to move us along. “You have your payment. Now give it to me, Gatelo.”

At least he was a man of his word. He wandered over to an open sack of grain and reached inside, withdrawing the item I had commissioned him to acquire for me. “Arranged with the seller to pick it up here. Hopefully, your ball-and-chain is drunk and drugged enough to not want to check you for contraband, aye?” He handed me the wicked silver dagger. The black iron hilt fit perfectly in my hand. I couldn't hold back a smile.

Now what, Reiven? I’ve gotten around your ‘no weapons’ rule. Maybe next I’ll drag you with me into the ocean you despise so much.

The only problem would be how to hide it. It was too big to fit in my bra band, and I didn't regularly carry around a bag. Gatelo seemed to guess at this, judging from his confident smile. “Don't worry, I have a way for you to hide it, but it'll cost you extra.”

He pulled out a leather sheath to strap the dagger to my thigh. Too greedy to hand them over as a pair from the start, classic Human behavior.

I shouldn’t have expected any less. I bared my teeth in an insincere smile. “Of course. Aren’t you sweet?”

He moved the longer side of my skirt to show my leg and fastened the straps around my thigh. After pulling my skirt back in place, no one would ever know I had a dagger hidden there unless they purposefully touched my thigh, like Gatelo did. He took the lead in the kiss this time, while I did as little as possible to kiss him back. My mind wandered far away, imagining all the possibilities the knife provided to aid in my revenge plot, while Gatelo's lips and tongue invaded mine and his hands roamed over my body. More fingerprints for me to wash off later.

Spirits, isn’t he done yet?

I wrapped my arms around his neck as if I were enjoying myself, but I actually fought back the temptation to grab his hair and yank him away from me. Really, he had taken more than enough payment by now.

A clatter of sound came from the main tavern room.

Oh no. Is he awake?

Energy pulsed around my throat, and I gasped, but Gatelo didn’t even bother to ask what was wrong as he took my lips again.

“Hey.” Reiven loomed in the doorway, leaning heavily against the frame with a glare as murderous as black death. Half of his hair was even messier than usual from how he slept on it, but it only made him look more feral, like a monster about to slaughter an insect that awoke it from its slumber. He stomped towards us, lurching about as if the stone floor wobbled and turned beneath him. He seized Gatelo’s shirt and flung him away, towards the door. Even I had to admit, there was something undeniably attractive about his casual strength.

“Beat it,” he snarled.

Gatelo’s eyes went wide, then narrowed into a glare, but he was too much of a coward to stand up to Reiven. He shoved his hands into his pockets and slunk out the door, muttering under his breath.

I hurried to make sure my skirt covered my new weapon as Reiven staggered closer. He jabbed his finger into my chest. “You. You poisoned me, didn’t you?”

“Don’t be so dramatic. It was just a sleeping agent.”

“A token of peace, eh?” He groaned and rubbed his forehead, bracing himself against the crate I sat on. “You drugged me so that you could swap spit with that rat? Are you serious?”

I sniffed and hopped off the crate. “Trust me, I didn’t enjoy a second of it.”

“Whatever. We need to get back to the ship before I pass out again. This place isn’t safe for you if I’m out of commission.”

Damn, he was right. I didn't even think about that, and now Gatelo was gone, too. The only person to protect me if any pirates attacked was a drugged, pissed-off man who hated my guts.

I started for the door, but he grabbed my wrist. “You need to help me, Blue, seeing how this is your fault.”

He leaned so heavily against me when I pulled his arm over my shoulder, I almost walked as unsteadily as he did. We lurched out of the bar and into the still-rowdy main thoroughfare of the town. Gunshots and cries and laughter enveloped the whole place despite the late hour and the looming clouds of an impending storm in the near distance. By the time we made it to the darker, quieter path that led to the western beach, Reiven seemed to have perked up a little. Not enough to walk in a straight line, but enough to shoot me a glare.

“Oh, stop looking at me like that, or I'll make you walk on your own,” I snapped. “You weigh as much as a full-grown orca.”