Treasure

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Treasure Page 18

by Megan Derr


  "Yes," Kyo said, "though never so acutely until I stole the Eye. Now that you are sharing it …"

  He trailed off, and Taka smirked. "It's easier?"

  "A bit, yes," Kyo conceded. "But you have a long way to go, so do not get arrogant."

  "You do not have any land to stand upon to call anyone arrogant," Taka replied. "So I can feel the wind. What else can I do?"

  Kyo's mouth quirked. "Control it, to a point, once you have learned more. Go swimming in the shark pool if—when we return to Kundou. Actually cause lightning to strike your merchant."

  "Or your captain," Taka retorted.

  Ignoring him, Kyo continued, "Manipulate storms and keep the mermaids at bay, though I think perhaps I cannot actually do that the way I thought. They have been staying away since … " He trailed off again, mouth tightening. "Hopefully they stay that way since from what I have gleaned, Kin killed someone of importance."

  "I heard some of the sailors talking about it," Taka said quietly. "They said Kin killed his grandmother."

  Kyo's eyes widened for a moment, and then he stared down at their clasped hands. "I see," he said softly. He seemed to shake himself. "It's a pity we cannot go swimming. That is often the best way to learn to use magic quickly. Acquiring gills is disconcerting at first, but it does not take long to grow accustomed. As much as you like to swim, you would love it. Come on." Keeping hold of Taka's hands, he pulled them to their feet.

  He let go of one hand, but kept hold of the other, explaining, "Contact helps when teaching magic. I think it will work all the more since we are twins, though that is only a theory." Kyo reached out to touch Taka's face, wonder on his own. "I still cannot believe it, Taka. All this time we were twins. I wonder if my parents know you are alive."

  "I doubt it," Taka said. "Though it makes me wonder what they believe." It hurt too much to think that, the entire time, the king had been so cold. That Kyo's brothers—He shuddered as he recalled the way Taiseiyou had looked him, not doubting that if he had stayed behind and not been given to Raiden—

  Taka froze with realization. "You sold me to protect me."

  Kyo's brows shot up. "What has that to do with learning magic?"

  "Why would you do that?" Taka said. "It isn't necessary. There was no reason to sell me to Raiden when I was still working for you unless you thought I would not be working for you after we returned to Kundou. A moment ago you almost said 'if' but corrected it to when. You are not planning to return to Kundou. Why not?"

  Sighing, Kyo rested a hand on the ship railing. "Why should I? I am doing what my father wants, and the price of my cooperation is freedom. That's all."

  "You weren't going to ask me to go with you?" Taka asked, hurt and angry.

  Kyo turned to look at him in surprise. "Why would I do that? You have your own life, Taka—"

  "Stop being such a sea-addled idiot! Such a spoiled brat!" Taka snarled, giving in to a long-suppressed urge to grab Kyo and shake him. The wind kicked up around them, and the ship gave an alarming lurch, but he barely noticed. "We just discussed this! You keep everything to yourself, you hold on to it even as it drags you under instead of just letting go and allowing someone else to help! Why must you do that? When are you going to accept that you are the kind of fish meant to swim in a group, Kyo? When?"

  "Taka, stop—"

  "I'm not stopping!" Taka bellowed, too angry to quit. "If you even attempt to make me hold my breath, I will—" His words turned into a startled cry as the ship lurched again, sending them stumbling back. Kyo grabbed on to one of the many ropes that Taka thought had to do with the sails, barely keeping them up, but while they were still fumbling for balance the ship jerked again, and they stumbled the other way—and with a cry went overboard.

  Taka held tightly to Kyo as they hit the water, panic mingling with the thought that he was never going to be allowed to forget that his temper tantrum had caused them to fall overboard. If Raiden laughed at him, he was going to throw Raiden overboard.

  Kyo shoved him away, then grabbed his arm and pulled. Taka flailed when he realized he couldn't breathe—then realized just as suddenly that he could. He slapped a hand to his neck, which felt wrong. His whole body felt wrong, what was going on—

  Gills, he realized. Kyo had mentioned that. Kyo grabbed hold of his arm again, and Taka focused on him, not thinking about anything else.

  They broke the surface what seemed an age later, and Taka gasped for breath as his body changed again. He shivered in the water. "S-s-sorry," he said, forcing himself to look at Kyo.

  Kyo just smiled at him, one of the easy, playful smiles that Taka had not seen since they'd set sail. He'd missed Kyo's smiles—missed Kyo, who seemed to withdraw a little more every day. "Pitching us overboard is trifling, Taka. Taiseiyou sank an entire ship. Thankfully it was a long-disused one, and only he and my father were on it at the time. My mother apparently caused a rainstorm that lasted an entire week. By comparison, your first misstep is positively boring. Here comes our rescue."

  Taka cringed as the longboat reached them, but accepted the hand that Kin held out to him. He shivered as he sat down in the boat, the sunshine not quite enough to fight off the brisk wind blowing through his soaked clothes. A moment later, Kyo sat beside him, still looking amused.

  "Thank you, Captain," Kyo said. "I apologize for the disruption."

  Snorting in amusement, Kin replied, "You have never apologized for disruptions before, highness. Are you feeling well?"

  "A bit damp, but otherwise fine," Kyo said.

  Taka rolled his eyes and folded his arms across his chest in a futile attempt to block some of the wind. "I realize this entire debacle is my fault, but could you two please wait until we're back on the Kumiko to flirt?"

  Kyo stiffened beside him and fell silent. Kin jerked his gaze away. Taka rolled his eyes at both of them, and they returned in silence to the ship. When he was finally back aboard, he sighed when he saw Raiden waiting with a grin already on his face. "One word, merchant, and I will throw you into the sea. Which would be doing everyone a favor, really, as it would ruin that indigo paisley monstrosity you are wearing."

  Raiden's grin widened. "I don't know, Taka. You do not suffer from having your clothes soaked and plastered to your skin."

  "Hold your breath," Taka replied, though he could not manage to muster his usual acerbic tone.

  "Now who is flirting?" Kyo muttered beside him.

  Taka rolled his eyes and went to go change.

  Chapter Fourteen: A Promise Kept

  Kin hated to admit it, even in just his own head, but he was going mad from sexual frustration. That he was completely hooked by Kyo just made it that much worse. They had been sailing for a month and a half, were halfway to their goal, and he could barely do his job because he was distracted by memories of Kyo writhing under him.

  Damn Midori for interrupting. Kin felt he would have been a good deal less frustrated if they had been able to finish what they had started. Not that they should have started at all, he tried to remind himself for the millionth time. It was one thing to dally with a duke, but quite another to involve himself in any way with a prince.

  No matter how beautiful or compelling that prince might be. Kyo sighed and rubbed his forehead, wishing desperately for a tavern, plenty of beer, and something pretty to distract him. He sensed that even the most accomplished whore in Pozhar would not be able to distract him from what he really wanted, however, no matter how much he wished he didn't want it. Him.

  Kin stared broodingly out at the dark water, admiring the way the moonlight moved across it. The night was clear and crisp and almost too cold for him despite the fact his scales were almost constantly out. Since that morning when they had finally seen the back of Midori, and Kin had managed to catch Kyo alone in his quarters …

  His body tensed at the memory, the feel of being pressed again Kyo, fingers tight around Kyo's wrists and pinning him in place while Kin explored every last bit of that haughty, smirking mouth. T
he untutored whimpers, the lack of artifice in Kyo's reply, had been the best and worst part. Someone as beautiful as Kyo, as experienced as he clearly was at manipulating the sharks of court, should have been at least as experienced in bed. But the gossip was correct: Kyo was an innocent there. Kin had never had a taste for innocence, but the realization that Kyo was precisely that had shot through him hotter and more intoxicating than the finest Pozhar vodka.

  He needed to stop thinking about it, but he may as well have stopped breathing. The most alluring part of all of it was how eager Kyo had been. However aloof and downright icy he was every other moment of the day, he had melted like snow before a fire in bed, and Kin wanted to be there again—wanted to be the one who showed Kyo everything he had been missing.

  Wanted to be the only one who saw him melt.

  Grimacing at himself, disgusted that he was being so melodramatic, Kin tried to think of something else before he embarrassed himself by strutting around the ship with an obvious bulge in his breeches.

  The ship was quiet, and all but the watch were asleep. Kin should have been asleep, but with every day that passed, sleep became increasingly difficult to find. Not that he really needed it. Kin flexed his hands and frowned out at the ocean, hating the reminder of why it was stupid to ever do more than dally. What would a lover think, say, or do when he realized that while he aged Kin remained the same?

  His men had not yet noticed, but in another few years they would, and that would be when the real trouble started. It twisted his gut to think that someday he would still appear to be in his thirties as, one-by-one all the people who mattered returned to the sea.

  If his parents were still alive, how would his father have handled it? Would he have been able to bear growing old while his wife and son remained young? Had they discussed it? How would he handle it, watching his lover age while he was helpless to prevent it and helpless to make that journey with him?

  Whatever he might long for in the dead of night, it was best to remember all the reasons he should not have it.

  The sound of movement on the lower deck drew him from his thoughts, made his gut clench, because Kin knew very well who it was. Every night they pretended to ignore each other, preferring their solitude—or at least pretending that was what they sought.

  Kin watched Kyo as he walked toward the prow of the ship and leaned against the, looking out over the water lost in his own thoughts. As always, Kin wondered what Kyo thought about when he came topside every night. Kin had harassed the crew, but no one had any information to provide. They all said the same thing: Kyo simply stood and stared out at sea.

  Suddenly Kin could not take it anymore. To the depths with all his sensible reasons. He was tired of maintaining a polite distance when a month ago he had been moments from making Kyo come in his arms. Leaving the poop deck, he moved across the main deck as quietly as possible—a more or less futile effort, given the silence and lack of other people, but he tried anyway.

  When he reached Kyo, Kin expected him to turn around and say something princely, but he did not move save for the way his shoulders tensed. "Can I help you, Captain?"

  Well, there was the frigid tone if not the frigid words and only that slightly mocking 'Captain'. Kin realized he had not planned on what to say. "I was tired of my own thoughts," he said and was immediately annoyed with himself.

  Kyo laughed softly, surprising him further. "Thoughts are tiresome, I agree."

  Kin wondered what he would say if Kin admitted Kyo was the source of the thoughts he preferred to avoid. And that he did not want to avoid the thoughts so much as act out every single one of them. "Is that what brings you out here, night after night?"

  "More or less," Kyo replied.

  He still wouldn't turn around, and that was more than a little strange. Kin stepped closer and grabbed his shoulder, urging him to turn. When Kyo resisted, Kin pulled more firmly and gave him no choice in the matter.

  Whatever he had expected, it was not to see tears drying on Kyo's cheeks. Kyo shoved him away and turned back around, voice cooler than ever when he said, "Leave me alone, Captain."

  "No," Kin replied. He had absolutely no idea what he was doing, or what he was going to do, but he wasn't going to just walk away. He couldn't, even if he wanted to. Reaching out, he grabbed Kyo's shoulder to turn him around again and held fast when Kyo whipped around and tried to jerk away. When Kyo tried to shove at him, Kin caught his wrist, jerked him forward, and held him in place by sliding an arm around his waist.

  Kyo glared at him, though the effect was largely lost given Kin could barely see him. "Unhand me."

  Kin smirked. "No." Before Kyo could reply, Kin did exactly what he had been wanting to do for more than a month and took that tart, pretty mouth in a hard kiss. Kyo froze against him then tried to push away. Kin let go of his wrist to sink a hand into his hair, preventing Kyo from moving away. Kyo remained stiff against him a moment longer before abruptly melting against him, resistance vanishing as though it had never been there.

  Making a rough, pleased noise, Kin just kissed harder, deeper, determined to memorize the mouth he had not stopped thinking about since he'd first tasted it. More addictive still was the way Kyo just went utterly pliant in his arms. Had anyone else ever seen Kyo this way?

  The thought reminded him they were above deck where anyone could see—and he definitely did not want anyone else to see. Reluctantly drawing back, but only barely, Kin said, "I can help you escape your thoughts for a time, highness, if you want."

  Kyo laughed. "Somehow I doubt that, Captain."

  "I know a challenge when I hear one," Kin murmured in reply, and he brushed his lips softly across Kyo's before drawing back and, holding tightly to him, dragging Kyo across the ship and into his quarters.

  He did not bother to light any lanterns, though he secretly hoped that he would have a chance to see Kyo in sunlight someday; perhaps after they landed on Sanhoshi. Sand was never a pleasant surface for fucking, but there were ways to avoid it.

  Setting those thoughts aside for the time being, he drew Kyo close again and dove right back into kissing him. Kyo was warm and sweet, and the hesitant way his hands fluttered and then settled on Kin's shoulders was oddly endearing. It was not a word he was used to employing, but Kin could not seem to help it.

  Kyo moaned, fingers gripping more tightly, and Kin loosened his own arms from Kyo's waist to lightly map his body—a difficult task given the cumbersome layers of elaborate robes. Suddenly impatient to have them gone, Kin withdrew, nipping at Kyo's jaw before putting his attention to the aggravating sash Kyo wore. "Must you dress so obnoxiously? We are on a ship. Who is here to be impressed with your knots?"

  Smirking in amusement, Kyo pushed his hands aside, and with a few quick, deft motions the sash fell away. Annoyed it was apparently that easy, Kin kicked the sash out of the way and pulled the robe apart enough to slip his hands inside and slide them over soft, smooth skin. Kyo gasped and jerked, likely because Kin's hands were cold, but Kin simply dragged him back into another hungry kiss. Kyo's arms slid around his neck to tease at his hair—

  How in the storms' names had he resisted this for so long? Day after day he had tried to pretend everything was back to normal, that he was smart enough not to go after what he would never be able to keep—to convince himself it was only because he was confined to a ship with nothing but work to occupy him and no chance of a break on the horizon.

  And that might still have been true, but it wasn't boredom that made him think of things like afternoons spent naked on a beach. Banishing the errant thought again, Kin drew back and shoved the robes from Kyo's shoulders.

  Moonlight gleamed on the pendant around Kyo's throat, and Kin froze when he saw it. Shock stole his breath away. His hand trembled as he reached out to lift it and run his thumb over the lighthouse he had not seen since he'd given the necklace away as a child. He frowned when he realized it had been altered. There was a gemstone of some sort at the place that was the source of the b
eams of light.

  Dragging his eyes up, Kin breathed, "Koori."

  He could feel Kyo's hand trembling as it covered his own over the pendant. "Kinni."

  "Why didn't you tell me?" Kin demanded, pulling his hand free to grab Kyo's arms and pull him so close the pendant was pressed between them. "You knew this entire storming time!"

  Kyo stared up at him, eyes little more than shadows, but his face so beautiful. "I didn't think you remembered. You don't have the dagger anymore."

  Muttering a soft oath, Kin roughly let him go and stalked over to his desk and the cabinets built into the wall behind it. He pulled a key from his sash and unlocked one, retrieving the box in which he kept the jeweled dagger. He opened the box and removed it, unwinding the protective cloth that covered it. Striding back to Kyo, he shoved it at him. "It's not exactly a pendant to be worn around my neck."

  Taking it, Kyo smiled faintly, pulling the dagger free of the hilt to admire the shine of steel in the moonlight. "I've had to replace the chain several times."

  "You didn't want me to know," Kin said. "Before—you hid the necklace."

  Kyo's hand slipped, and he swore softly, dropping the dagger when his thumb began to bleed from where the blade sliced it. Ignoring the dagger, Kin captured his hand and drew it to his mouth, sucking on the wound as his eyes locked on Kyo's. The way Kyo shivered reminded Kin that Kyo was naked, and he'd had plans. But first he wanted to know why Kyo had lied to him. "Why didn't you want me to know?"

  "I didn't want to be the only one who remembered," Kyo said softly.

  He was lying about something. Kin knew just from how easily that answer was given, but he let it go for the moment because he would much rather fuck Kyo than throttle him, however tempting an option that might have been. Jerking Kyo close again, Kin kissed him hard, determined to bruise those pretty lips and leave them throbbing. "You're a brat, Koori."

 

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