by S Lawrence
“Reyna.” His hands still roam my body, a direct contradiction to the tone of his voice.
Pulling away, I feel cold without his warmth but I lead Liam, who has been sitting watching us closely, ready to jump to my aid if I need him, to the door. I open it and whisper for him to go out and be good before I close it once more. Having pulled the key from the outside, I slide it in the keyhole and consider using it before turning slowly and leaning back against the beautiful carving on the inside. He is the ruler here no one will enter without his permission and a locked door wouldn’t stop them if they thought he was in danger.
He is watching me from where I left him. I must make my decision. Stay or go. Trust or don’t. My old life is gone, burned to ash, but this is my new life.
I don’t think they will let me be in it half way. It’s all or nothing. I picture them all standing before me, backs and scars bared, I feel their skin under my fingers, and I realize something.
I want it all.
“Fallon.” I walk slowly toward him, letting my hips roll. “Do you all want me…” I stop in front of him. “Here?”
His reaction lets me know exactly what I thought -- they all do, want me that is. I’m not sure how I feel about it. The idea is exciting but reality is so far from fantasy.
“What if I choose only one of you?” I let my fingers run over his chest while I watch his face.
“Then that’s your choice.” His voice is thick with need.
“So, I’ll be safe and welcome here with you all, no matter what? Even if I choose none of you?” He nods. “And you are positive everyone feels that way?” Another nod.
“You are welcome to ask them yourself.” His hand slides up my arm.
Chills race over my skin. He doesn’t do anything else, just waits for my next move. Curling my fingers in his shirt, I pull him closer and once again, I kiss him.
It deepens and goes on until I’m breathless with desire. He lets my hands roam his body freely while his stay at my shoulders. It makes me want more, need more. Finally, he wraps his arms around me, pulling me to him, and our bodies touch, melding together.
I feel the hard length of him pressed into me and I can’t help but shift closer. Somehow, I end up on his desk. He pushes my knees apart and moves in, pressing against my core, his arms still tight around me. He kisses me deeper and deeper, still turning to something more than any kiss I’d ever experienced, one with teeth.
When he finally breaks away, it is only to move to my jaw and then my neck. I dig my nails into his back, trying to pull him closer, wanting more, but he holds back.
Slowly, my panting stops and I gain control of myself. He leans his forehead against mine. I smile as I listen to him trying to get his own breathing under control. His eyes are closed, and I kiss him again. I feel the curve of his lips as he smiles against me.
“We were slowing down.” His breath tickles over my wet, swollen lips.
“Why?” I grumble half-heartedly.
Sighing, he backs up a step, breaking contact, and I don’t like it. Leaning back on my arms, I watch him through my lashes. I’m willing to use every trick I have. Not that I have many, but I’m going to use them.
“You just lost everything.” His fingers tunnel through his hair, making it stand on end, and I can’t help but smile. “I don’t want you to rush into anything.”
“You confuse me.” He laughs at that.
“Believe me, I’m confusing myself at this moment.” He comes back the step that separated us. “I think maybe you should spend time with all of us. I don’t want to be the one because I was there.”
How do I explain that he was the one the moment I saw him in the water? Maybe he’s right though. He might be just one. Does there have to be one? I’ve only ever known of couples, but does that mean that’s the only way? It hurts my head even thinking about it.
Pushing away the romance aspect of my future, I think about the equally strange turn my life has taken. I glance out the windows and see the ships that sail near us. I’ve never even been in the water but here I am on a ship, surrounded by hundreds of pirates.
“Do you know what we are told from the moment we can understand?” I ask him quietly, and he shakes his head. “Our parents, any adult really, tells us or warns us of pirates. They say... They come on the tides, and death comes with them.”
He winces at the words.
“You know what that means?” He shakes his head slowly. “I knew what you were the moment I saw you. The second even, and I still pulled you from the water.”
“Why?” Why indeed? I don’t know really.
“I don’t know, Fallon. All I know for sure is for months before you washed up, I was drawn to the cliffs. I went even when I tried to stay away. Then there you were. I’ve lived in that village all my life and I’ve never seen that cave, and yet there it was.” My eyes turn to the wooden box on the couch.
When I look back at him, he is also looking at it and he can’t hide the interest in his eyes.
Sliding off the desk, I reach for his hand. He links our fingers and lets me pull him to the couch. He sits and I find myself wanting to curl into his side but instead, I stand frozen until he pulls at our still joined fingers.
Sitting, it’s my turn to let him direct my body. He has placed a leg along the back and settles me between his legs, and I sink back against his chest after I pull the box onto my lap.
I wait to see if he will try to open it, but he doesn’t. Instead he simply runs his free hand back and forth over the fabric of my skirt. Seconds stretch to minutes, and still he says nothing. The image of his face when he was glaring at the traitor flashes in my mind, and I am reminded he is a predator.
A hunter.
I know his patience will outlast my own.
Chapter 15
FALLON
She leans against me, relaxed, but still I feel her muscles tense beneath her clothes. She still believes I will take what I want. Who am I kidding? My hands itch to grab that chest, which she has laid so innocently on her thighs.
Hoping to distract us both, I start telling her about the story the old man had told Wilder when we were just kids. As she listens, her muscles grow loose and her breathing deepens. It takes me a while to realize she’s fallen asleep.
I gently untwine our fingers, cringing when she shifts and mumbles softly. Seconds tick by as I hold my breath, and then it whooshes out when she turns to her side, curling into me with her fingers flexing on my chest. The box shifts, falling off her lap, and balances on the edge of the cushion.
I surprise myself by closing my arms around her and pulling her closer still, soaking up the heat of her. My head drops forward and I kiss her hair, drawing the smell of her into my lungs.
She smells like smoke, sweat, and forest. I picture her running through the trees, her face lit with the sunlight that filters down through the leaves. The smell unlocks lost memories from before this life. I can hear a voice I know to be my mother’s filled with laughter as I chase her through tall pines that sway and creak in the wind.
It’s taken me years to be able to smile at memories like this one, years to let go of the rage and sadness burned into the little boy that watched her die. It’s still there burning, but at least now I can see beyond it to where she waits for me. Glancing at Reyna, I realize she might be able to bring more of that, not just for me but for my brothers also. Hell, from what I’ve seen of her, she could probably do it for everyone on the ships.
She moves again, and the chest is caught beneath her thigh, wedged between her and the cushions. I reach for it, pulling it from its place slowly. The temptation to open it beats at me, but instead, I draw the scent of her into my lungs, once more reminding myself of what’s at stake.
She fell asleep before she heard the important part of the story, the part about a girl filled with magic, the blood of Atlanteans in her veins, who will find that which was hidden away.
I don’t know why I’m so suddenly certain the s
tory is real and she is the one spoken of, but I am. I let the chest slide from my hand to the floor. Looking down, I try to imagine what those ancient people must have looked like. None of the books we’ve found over the years had pictures of them. I know because Wilder has always believed and has searched every piece of old history we’ve ever come across. I’d believed but I saw that room, or rather, didn’t see it. Nothing but magic could have hidden it from my sight.
A knock at the door jerks me from my thoughts, and I call out ‘enter’ as low as I can. The door opens, and the beast shoves past the crewman and comes over to check his mistress.
“Sorry to disturb, sir, but the other captains have called out for anchoring.” His eyes keep straying to her curled on top of me.
“Colin, tell the first mate to proceed and then ask Cook to send some food. I would like for you to bring hot water.” He nods, backing out the door.
Glancing at the windows, I see the sun has sunk low; I’ve been holding her for hours and still I’m reluctant to wake her. The clanking of the chain as the anchor begins to drop is loud, and she startles. Blindly sitting upright, her head whips from side to side as she struggles to remember where she is. Finally, her eyes land on me, and she calms.
“Fallon.” My gut tightens as she sighs my name.
“Reyna.” She leans forward, bracing her arms on either side of my waist, and just as she draws near, a cold, wet nose shoves in between us. “You miserable beast,” I growl as I shove at him. Her laughter fills the air just as another knock sounds at the door.
She pushes back, moving quickly to the other side of the couch and straightening her skirt. I don’t have the heart to tell her she has already been seen in my arms.
Cook opens the door, a tray balanced in his other hand as he steps back and lets Colin by. The young man walks slowly, trying not to spill the basin of steaming water. He sits it on the table and turns to Reyna, holding out a cloth, his cheeks flaming.
Rising, she crosses to him, looking like a queen. “Thank you so much.” She wraps her small hand around his for a moment, squeezing gently as she pulls the scrap of material from him.
He nods and stares at her for just a moment too long, and I stand, straightening to my full height, and raise a brow at him. He scrambles away out the door. Cook grins as he comes in with the food, sitting it on the other side of the table.
“I hope you like fish, Miss.” He watches her carefully.
“It smells delicious. Is that ginger?” He grins nodding. “I don’t recognize the other smell.”
He pulls the cover off with more excitement than I’ve ever seen him display. Reyna leans down and draws a deep breath, her eyes closed, and a look of true joy transforms her breathtaking face.
The poor man is practically puffed up like a rooster by the time she looks up at him, her finger pointing to the dish.
“What is that?” I look and see the white flakes and I’m about to answer when he beats me to it.
“That, Miss, is coconut. They grow on trees where it is hot. Much farther south than where you joined us. I get them from an island that we always stop at for fresh water whenever we travel that way.” He stands taller.
Honestly, he is old enough to be her grandfather. His large bushy eyebrows raise as she places a single flake from the edge of the platter on her tongue.
“If you like it, I can get you some,” he whispers, and I’m surprised he is willing to part with it. I know I’ve never been able to pry any extra from the old coot.
She has won over another without even trying.
“It is very good. Sweeter than I thought, but I like it very much.” She smiles at him as he nods. “My mother would have loved it for cakes.” Her voice takes on a sad tone, and he reaches for her hand, patting it softly.
“You come to the galley anytime, and we can bake any cake you wish, if I have the right ingredients.” Blinking the tears that had sprung into her eyes, she grabs him and pulls him into a bone-crushing hug.
I know my mouth is hanging open as I watch one of the gruffest men I’ve ever known comfort her. Kellihan suddenly raises his pale green eyes to mine, glaring at me. Daring me to tell a single soul. I think I see the threat of a painful death by poisoning there in those eyes. I raise my hands in surrender.
Finally he pulls back, and she smiles at him, her hands patting on his chest a few times like she really doesn’t want to cut contact with the man.
He clears his throat, but his voice is gruff with emotion when he speaks. “Right, well, I best get back to the kitchen. Food won’t cook itself, and with the others coming, there needs to be more.”
“Others?” She glances at me.
“I’m positive my brothers will join us.”
“Not one ounce of doubt in that,” Kellihan mumbles as he shuffles away, his steps showing his age but his spine straight with pride as he leaves us.
She pulls out a chair and sits, picking up the fork laying beside the plate, then pauses to look up at me. “Are you going to join me?”
Shaking my head, I move to the chair opposite her. “Kellihan will bring more. I asked for him to bring some for you because I know you must be hungry.”
“You’ve not eaten either, and for longer. I, at least, had a meal before all of this started, but you only had broth. You must be starving.” I am but I can wait. She sees something on my face and sighs. “Fine.”
My lips quirk at the amount of things unsaid in that word. Only the sounds of her eating fill the air as we both let our minds wander. I’m amazed at her restraint. She eats slowly, savoring the food, even though I know just how hungry she is.
The door is flung open as Cyder strides in. “Is that Kelli’s coconut fish?”
“Yeah, and he’ll gut you like one if he hears you call him that again.” I shake my head at his huge grin. “Leave the man be.”
He just grins bigger. I hear the others’ steps as they jump down onto the deck and start making their way to us.
One after the other, they come through the door, and I don’t miss how their eyes travel over Reyna as she does the same to them.
They each make their way to a chair at the table or on the couch. Reyna pushes back and stands, offering Cyder her seat.
“Here, I’m finished.” She returns to the end of the couch, joining Hagen, who has claimed the other end. The others sit with me and Cyder. The room grows quiet, and tension vibrates through us all.
“So,” Lash starts and then says nothing else.
More awkward silence follows. She shifts on the couch, drawing her feet up beside her. Hagen looks at her and then his gaze drops to the floor, landing on her shoes before he notices the chest. She looks at him, watching, waiting, and then he moves just slightly, but before he can do more than that, she has her hand on the box, pulling it up to her. She tucks it between her side and the couch before she raises her eyes to his face. Daring him to demand it.
He doesn’t. Thank god for that.
Wilder clears his throat, and we all look at him.
“I had started telling her the old man’s story.” I look at him pointedly.
“I’m sorry I fell asleep.” Her cheek pinken slightly.
“You were exhausted. Probably better coming from Wilder anyway.” I look back at him.
She nods at him. “Please, if you don’t mind.”
Chapter 16
REYNA
I fight to focus on the words falling from Wilder’s lips; it’s difficult with all of them in the room.
My eyes drift around from face to face. Suddenly, my mind latches onto his words, and my heart begins to pound.
“Wait, say that again,” I interrupt him.
Fallon is watching me as I stare at Wilder.
“The man said there would be a girl born with the blood of ancient people. Magic would call to her, and with the help of those destined to be at her side, she would harness magic so powerful, it will change the world.” He stops and looks at me. “She would come from a long lin
e of travelers, of seers, those descended from the Basques.”
They are all watching me. I jump when Hagen’s hand closes around my ankle, but he just pulls my foot into his lap. I’m breathing too fast as he rubs against the arch with his thumb.
Wilder draws a deep breath to continue, but Fallon speaks first. “You told me the sea has been calling you for months. What I didn’t tell you is there have been rumors, whispers on the seas of something the other captains search for. Something of immense power. They believe if they find it, they can control everything. “
“It calls to everyone. It wants to be found.” Lash’s voice is quiet, and I hear a tiny hint of maybe fear. “You do not want them to find whatever it is.”
The haunted look on his face tells me more than his words.
“You all think I’m this girl?” They all nod. “But I am not a seer and I was left on my parents’ doorstep so I have no idea of my heritage.”
Hagen puts pressure on my insole, and I jerk my face toward him. “The chest, Reyna. What does it hold?”
I look at Fallon, betrayed. “I’m sorry, but you found it in a magic room. That has to mean something.” He doesn’t apologize. I didn’t really expect him to.
I pull at my foot, but Hagen refuses to release it. Finally, I give up but continue to glare at him. He smiles, which makes my anger spike.
“None of your fucking business, Hagen,” I grit out through my teeth.
Cyder throws his head back as a booming laugh bursts from him. The others follow close behind, except Wilder, who is watching me. Even Hagen laughs after he gets over the shock of my words. Maybe they need to be shown I’m not delicate flower. I wait until I feel Hagen’s hand relax some and then I jerk my foot free and leap to my feet, taking the box with me as I stride to the door. I’m out and slamming it behind me before any of them recover.
I almost run into the boy that had brought me the water that I completely forgot to use. He grabs at me to steady me as I stop quickly. What was his name? It pops into my head thank goodness.