Rage

Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Hari

T he smell of salt and mildew filled the air as I worked, my fingers fumbling with coils of thick rope. I arranged them in neat stacks that fit into barrels, and hanks that could hang for easy access. The ship creaked under the constant sway of waves, and the rhythmic clanking of chains and scrape of cloth echoed around me. Despite the hum of activity, a sense of tension hung in the air.

Orion had kept his word, more or less. The moment he led me from the hold, I stood free. I was given clothing to wear; my previous teal uniform of the kingdom discarded. I dined with the rest of the crew in the mess where Cook fed us hearty meals full of spices. He said the style was from the Captain’s homeland.

I took dinner to Dorian. I was not allowed inside the cell he sat in, but I sat outside. I left him feeling more confused than before. He talked of his mother, why he was locked away. He spoke no words of comfort for me, or care for my situation.

Every task since felt like another step deeper into my new life. Scrubbing dishes, oiling the deck, tying ropes. Occasionally, I thought of Dorian. Though as soon as I did, Orion managed to appear.

“How’s the rope coming along?” Orion’s voice broke through my thoughts. Smooth as sea-worn shore, as if he hadn’t claimed me for this ship, this life.

“It’s coming,” I said, forcing a neutral tone, though my pulse quickened. I remembered Orion’s lips on mine, the force of his lust overtaking me.

Orion leaned against the mast, crossing his bare arms, and watched me. I breathed out through the heavily charged air and forced myself to focus on the task at hand. My fingers fumbled over the ropes, and I wrapped and knotted, letting the hum of the world melt away.

“Rope is a delicate thing,” Orion murmured.

I jolted as his fingers brushed over mine. I hadn’t noticed him step near, or crouch down. He was so close, and he gripped the half-wound hank between my hands.

His fingers wound over the knot I had just tied, grasping the loose end, and he pulled it gently. “One wrong tug, and it’s all undone.”

The pile of hemp fell from our fingers, and he caught it deftly, quickly wrapping it into a sturdier knot. My heart raced, and I met his gaze. I was suddenly aware of the quiet ship, the lack of crew around us.

Orion’s gaze was intense, and I felt the tug toward him again, as if he held the very anchor to my soul.

“Is that how you see me? Undone at one touch?” I breathed.

Orion smiled before taking my hand. He turned my palm to the sky and placed the completed hank in my hand. The moment he looked away, I felt my own anger at him return.

“I don’t think you would break so easily, Hari.”

“Then let me and Dorian go,” I said.

The air between us thickened. The magic that hummed beneath my skin reached out to him, and I felt his emotions flash through me; anger, need, curiosity. They mixed with my own rage and want. The heady lust that had begun to overtake everything surged up.

His body was so close I could feel the heat of his skin radiating through my clothes.

This pull was undeniable. Dangerous.

“You know,” he said, voice so low I had to lean in close. “You don’t have to fight this. You don’t have to fight me.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat, mind racing. I tried to grasp what he meant. What was I fighting?

His eyes were so easy to fall into. His touch intoxicating. And there was his hand moving to the back of my neck. All I wanted to do was to give in.

But Dorian was near… This was not my life. My life was serving the prince, keeping him calm, living in the kingdom.

“I am not fighting you,” I said. “I am fighting this life you have claimed me for.”

He studied me closely, eyes roaming over my face. A scar in his eyebrow twitched as he raised it. “Why fight for your Prince?”

I sighed heavily. “I have always fought for him. I know nothing else. I am his gentleman-in-waiting. It is my duty to cater—to sway him in whatever way he needs.”

The corner of Orion’s mouth ticked up. “You care for him like a piece of meat or a plot of land. You’re his very own princeling.”

Heat rose to my cheeks, and I clenched my fists around the rope in my hands. A vision of wrapping it around Orion’s throat flashed through my mind before I sucked my lip through my teeth and forced myself to calm.

“If that’s what makes sense to you.”

Orion’s brow furrowed. “But is that what you want? What would you choose?”

My fingers froze over the rope that I was tying. No one had ever asked what I wanted. Not in a way that I could truly answer. I looked down over the coarse hemp. I thought of the way it felt tied around my wrists, the way my abdomen heated as Orion’s breath teased my neck.

“A part of me wants to wrap this rope around you and pull until you take your last breath.” I met his eye, and the corner of his mouth quirked up.

“The men on this crew have done far worse,” he said.

I smiled, but set the rope aside, suddenly unable to trust myself with it. “Really, I want to be free, truly free. I want to be loved and love openly, and without restraint.”

“Do you love him?” Orion asked.

My mouth fell open. I searched for what to say, an explanation, but Orion’s eyes pulled me in.

“Yes,” I whispered.

“And does he love you without restraint?” he pressed.

A clatter sounded behind me, and Orion swore. The spell around us broke, and I spun and strode away from the cargo hold.

The hallway was filled with shouts from the crew eating in the mess, but I followed the sound of crashing to the galley.

A head of bouncing curls turned, and I stared deep into the amber eyes of Prince Dorian. His mouth was smeared with stew red as blood, and I sucked in a sharp breath at his state of disarray.

“Hari!” he cried out, his voice breaking.

I stilled, stunned, as he fell toward me. His arms wrapped around my body, his fingers squeezed my jaw.

His food-stained mouth pressed against mine, and I gripped his shirt, unable to move.

I finally gasped. “Who let you out?” I asked, and he backed away.

“C’mon, let’s go,” Dorian said, ignoring my question. His fingers intertwined with mine, and I felt the urge to press a calm into his skin. The magic I was trained for surged through me, ready to be used for him in a moment, but I froze.

Orion’s blue eyes surfaced in my mind, and I planted my feet firmly. “We’re a day from the kingdom,” I said, slowly. “And I was given work on the ship.”

I needed to take Dorian and run. I needed to save him from this ship. I should want to save him.

Dorian released my hand, and the familiar feeling of Orion’s presence washed over me.

“Are you coming back?” Orion asked, his breath raising the hair on my neck. His warm palm pressed into my back, and my stomach flipped.

Dorian’s eyes widened, and he glanced from Orion to me. “What?” he began to ask.

I opened my mouth to explain, to ask his forgiveness, but he turned and ran down the hallway.

Orion was behind him in a flash, a plank in his hands. He swung hard, landing a solid blow over the back of Dorian’s head. Dorian fell to the ground easily, and Orion strode back to me.

I turned to him, tears pricking my eyes. His fingers traced my spine, up, to wrap around the back of my neck.

“Your prince is a coward,” he murmured.

My mind raced with the implication of what had occurred. Dorian’s escape, his quick reach to touch me. Did that mean he wanted me, too?

But I did not feel from him what I felt from Orion.

I reached out and gripped Orion’s hip, grasping his jaw with my other hand and pressing my lips to his. Our magic crashed together, and I gasped as his lust overwhelmed my anger.

Salt stung my lips as I let my emotions loose. Orion's kiss was hungry, demanding, his tongue dancing with mine. I moaned into him, my hands roaming over his strong back, feeling the muscles ripple beneath my touch. He ground his hips against me, the hard bulge of his arousal evident through our clothes. Desire pooled in my belly, my own cock stirring against the waistband of my breeches.

Breaking the kiss, Orion gazed at me with fierce intensity, his eyes blazing like stars in the night sky.

“You and I,” Orion whispered, “we’re not so different.”

“You understand me,” I said. “You don’t want me just for the service I can offer.” I moved close to him again, but he pulled away and shook his head. “I can feel it. I know that you can too.”

“Not now, Princeling.”

I twisted my fingers into his shirt, pulling him close. “You said that I am yours. So take me,” I demanded. Disgust curled through me at my need, and I felt the echo of pity pulse through Orion’s touch as he brushed the hair out of my eyes.

He pressed his lips to mine in a gentle kiss before grasping my wrists. He held my fists to my chest and leaned in, so his breath tickled my ear.

“Not now. When I take you, you will only feel my need, my lust for you.”

My breath caught on his words, and he released me, taking a step back. He fixed his deep stare on me, and my knees felt weak.

“And you will beg me for it.”