AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Are you okay?” I whisper into her ear. She nods, her white hair falling into her face.
Behind us, the crew starts to murmur amongst themselves. I glance at them over my shoulder as I open my cabin door.
They don’t need me to speak the command. The look alone has the men scurrying and snapping out of their stupor. They rush to toss the bodies overboard as I take Scarlet inside and shut the door.
Alone, I set her on the edge of my bed and grab my dagger off the table to cut the ropes around her ankles free. Her hands are still tied behind her back, and her mouth is taped shut. I run my thumb over her lips, feeling the outline of them beneath the smooth surface.
“I like you like this… All knotted up and at my mercy,” I murmur, leaning down to brush a kiss against the tape. Reaching around her, I cut the rope binding her hands and she immediately starts to rub at her wrists. An angry red line lingers from where the rough rope scratched against her soft skin. I help her remove the tape from her mouth and she winces as it pulls free from her skin.
“Thank you,” she whispers, her voice shaky. A surge of relief washes through me. Had I made it a moment later, she’d have disappeared over that rail... I don’t even want to think about what that would look and feel like.
Zephyr barrels into my cabin. His face is frantic as he searches the room, calming a smidge when he sees both of us alive and well. “What the fuck happened?” he demands, his eyes darting between Scarlet and me.
“Your brilliant plan to keep her safe in the med bay failed,” I snap, clenching my fists. “Some of the crew tried to throw her overboard.”
“Shit,” Zephyr mutters, rubbing a hand over his face. “I’m so sorry. I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.” He glances at Scarlet briefly, who is still trembling slightly, then turns his brown eyes back on me. “Nelvin’s got what you need for the binding. He’ll be here soon. I’ll take care of the deck.”
“Good,” I say curtly, turning my attention back to Scarlet.
The nerves are still clawing at her, plain as day, even though she’s trying to piece her indifferent mask together. I don’t know how to make it better. The only thing I can think of is to hold her, so I gather her in my arms and lie on the bed, letting her tuck her body against mine.
Minutes pass before there’s a knock on the door. Nelvin. He enters the room, holding a tattoo gun and a well of ink, and sets them on the table. Piece of paper in hand, he crosses the room to hand deliver it to me. Opening the parchment, I find the inscription I’m supposed to write. “You’ll have to add both of your blood to the ink. Just a few drops should do,” he says before turning on a heel and leaving the room.
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” Scarlet sits up, pulling the fresh blanket around her.
“I’d like you to finish the blood oath... I’m not used to experiencing the things you do, and the emotions have become overwhelming. I actually just handed over my captain’s hat to Smee because of it. She’ll be taking over in the morning.”
She glances away for a moment, staring off into space like she’s deep in thought. “I don’t understand how that would help...”
“If we finish the bond, the emotional swings won’t be as consuming. We’ll still share our link, but our emotions won’t be as entangled. I need to be able to focus and most of the time I can, but when your feelings are extreme, it clouds everything in me.”
“Is that why you came to my room the other night when I was reading?”
I nod. “It’s not just knowing how you feel, I physically feel what you do. I couldn’t fight it anymore, and even though I wanted to, I shouldn’t have. Listen, Scars... I shouldn’t have said what I did. I was angry, and felt like I was out of control. I took it out on you.”
She studies me for a long moment, then gently shakes her head. “Okay,” she says, her voice steady, but her eyes betray the fear she tries to hide. “I should’ve taken the blood oath, anyway. I regret not, but we don’t have a priestess onboard...”
I hold my hand out, waiting for hers. “No, we don’t. We have Nelvin, and he’s capable of doing written magic because of his lineage. It’s not exact, but it mimics it enough.” When she gives her hand to me, I prick our fingers, dripping blood into the ink.
“So, it’s a tattoo...”
I nod. “Non-royal weddings have blood bonds, but they’re temporary. A spell is done on the couple’s blood and as long as it’s on their body, they feel just like I do with you. To make it permanent, it has to stay on your skin, or in this case, in it.”
“I see...” She eyes the ink curiously. “So, he spelled that?”
“Yes... Let’s get you changed,” I tell her, helping her out of her dirty clothes and into one of my shirts. The fabric falls around her thighs, similar to her nightgowns. She looks so small in it, but there’s a fierce determination in her gaze that tells me she’s anything but fragile.
“Will it hurt?” Her voice is quiet as she lays back on my bed.
“Of course, it will.” My lips tug into a smirk. “It’s a needle going into your skin.”
Her expression turns to curiosity as she reaches out to trace the tattoos along my arm, her touch gentle, but the way it shoots tingles through the pit of my stomach... Fuck, it feels good.
“Obviously you’ve been victim to it a few times,” she says, barely running her nails over the lines on the inside of my forearm.
My mouth goes dry, and my head falls forward. It’s like a trance I can’t pull myself out of. Every muscle in my body relaxes and my eyes flutter closed as she moves. I bite my lower lip, and for the first time, I realize that this isn’t her feeling. It’s me. It’s my feeling and it’s not pain or anger, but it’s just as strong. It’s not really lust either, but just good.
Maybe that’s why it’s so hard to block out her lust. It seems to be the strongest emotion I feel through the bond, but perhaps it’s because it couples with my own, and if she can make me feel this, just like she is right now, then her lust wouldn’t only amplify it. I still experience her sadness and terror vividly, but this... whatever this feeling is, and her lust, they're far more significant.
