Chapter 9 Cav
NINE
Cav
“Give Cav a physical description of your ex.” Heathen flips the clamp to seal the jar. “We set sail in ten minutes.”
Lyx looks wary as Cav leads her away, but Heathen calls after them.
“Cavalier. Stay back a moment.”
Despite her even tone, it isn’t a request. Cav tenses as he pulls open the door, and Lyx pauses at the exit, tongue slipping over her lips like she can taste the chaos. “I think I’d prefer to watch you get chewed out.”
No doubt his suffering is a delicacy she’s been waiting years to savor. He presses a hand to the small of her back. “Don’t want to overload you with pleasure on the first day, do we?”
She swats him away, and the door shuts behind her.
At her desk, Heathen holds the jar to the light to inspect the scales.
It’s impossible to read her expression, but the stern line of their brow isn’t promising.
Cav releases a breath. Whatever dressing down Heathen has planned for him is well-deserved.
He didn’t play fair when he asked for this arrangement, mixing business with personal in a way that Heathen hates…
but they didn’t deny him. That has to mean something, right? ”
He scratches his claws against his neck. “Look, I’m sorry —”
“Why do you want Lyx here so badly?”
His expression goes slack. This is not the conversation he expected. He was prepared for a reprimand, not a question. It makes his answer feel more significant. He drops his hands back to his side. “Because I owe her. For saving me, and for what happened after.”
“And no other reason?”
Her knowing stare makes him feel as flimsy as his excuse.
He does want to make this right, to repay Lyx for her mercy and the misery he caused, but that’s not the only reason.
Something far more sentimental tugs on his heart like a fishing hook.
He finds the easiest smile he can. “People have lots of reasons for the things we do.”
Heathen lifts a singular brow and sets the jar aside. “I hope you approach this agreement as a professional endeavor, not a personal one. Especially given a siren’s…proclivities when it comes to emotion.”
Everyone knows the stories. Cav heard the words straight from the source, and they’ve lived in his head since the grotto.
Sirens don’t feel sentimental emotions. We cannot love.
Shame heats his cheeks. Of course, he isn’t in love with Lyx.
Whatever residual feelings he has are just a void of something left unfinished.
This deal they’ve made is a search for closure, brought on by simple physical attraction.
Even Cav, in all his recklessness, understands there can’t be anything more.
He curls his hands around the back of the chair. “You seem to know a lot about sirens.”
“I’ve done my research.” Heathen traces the carvings on the edges of their desk. “Even if the prevailing thought was that they were myths, I like to be prepared, especially after your shipwreck.” They fold their hands behind their back. “Truth be told, I didn’t expect her to accept the deal.”
Neither did Cav. Moreover, he never expected Heathen to propose it.
“Why did you offer?” He asks before he thinks better of it.
He shouldn’t inspect this too closely, but he’s never known how to quit while he’s ahead.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful, but I was prepared for a much different reaction. ”
“And that was?”
Scolding. Punishment. Dismissal. “I’d rather not say. Don’t want to give you any ideas.”
The corner of Heathen’s lip quirks. It’s a rare sight. “I want to see what comes of your venture. It’s innovative, even if it is uncharted territory. The Indulgence has never been the most experimental place.”
Cav’s brows lift. “So you think it’s a good idea?”
“Innovative,” Heathen repeats.
It doesn’t dissolve Cav’s pride. As careful as Heathen is with their words, they wouldn’t say something they didn’t mean. “Innovative” might as well be a full adulation coming from them.
“There are a few parameters,” Heathen adds. “On this ship, safety is the top priority; I expect your venture to be the same. No harm should come to anyone.”
“Without consent.”
Heathen’s eyes narrow. “Without consent.”
“Are we limited to my cabin?”
Heathen’s mouth twists as they consider it, sinking down into their chair. “No. But you are limited to each other. No one else should take part except for you and Lyx.”
“Physically take part, you mean?”
Heathen settles back to take him in fully. Mischievously, Cav’s tail flicks. He knows he’s testing his luck, but if there’s one thing Heathen loves, it’s clarity.
“No physical contact with any third party,” Heathen confirms. “In fact, I’d prefer you stay ten feet away from anyone else during your…entanglements.”
“Can do.”
Heathen straightens somberly. “I also hope this experiment keeps you busy. Keeps you out of trouble.” She levels her gaze, and Cav resists the urge to flinch.
It’s uncommon to get such direct eye contact from Heathen.
It feels heavy and intentional. “I want you somewhere I can keep an eye on you. Where your risks are taken in a controlled environment and not on a high-class dining ship.”
He winces.
“This endeavor needs to work, Cav. Even if it doesn’t become a permanent fixture, you have to think it through.
Be deliberate. Spontaneity is all fine and good, but not at the cost of well-being.
” Heathen leans forward in their chair and picks up a roll of parchment.
“If you aren’t vigilant about this, we’ll have a different conversation. One more like the kind you expected.”
Cav swallows. Careless as he’s been, losing his place on this ship is not the goal. He has to take this seriously. He will. It’s the most flexibility Heathen has given him, and he won’t squander it. Curtly, he nods.
Heathen jabs the roll of parchment toward him. “Don’t make me regret this.”
He backs toward the door, holding up his pinched fingers. “Only a little.”
He leaves before Heathen reconsiders. Lyx is waiting outside, her back to the windows of Heathen’s quarters.
“Eavesdropping?” Cav teases.
She doesn’t laugh, her gaze trained across the deck. “They certainly like to stare.”
By now, the crew of the Indulgence has come to life, finishing breakfast and preparing to set sail. Swabbies lug crates of food onboard as others untether ropes and lower the sails. Nearly all of them have their eyes trained on Lyx.
Cav plucks an orange from the nearest barrel and holds it out to her. “Until ten minutes ago, they thought you were a figment of my imagination.”
“Drop the act.”
His brows knit. He checks the orange for mold or some other offense before he rubs it clean on his vest. “What act?”
“This nicety shit. You got what you wanted; I’m stuck with you. You don’t have to play it up.”
He chuckles, but Lyx’s eyes are cold. He offers the orange again. “You know, most people would say, ‘Thank you, Cav, for helping me get a spot on this ship that I so desperately wanted.’”
She folds her arms.
He retracts the fruit. “You didn’t tell me someone was following you.”
Her ex. Why didn’t she mention it last night? Cav could have helped her. He certainly wouldn’t have left her on her own. Perhaps that’s exactly why she said nothing; she’d rather fend for herself than deal with Cav.
His face burns. The fact that she has an ex at all is surprising. He thought sirens didn’t form such intimate relationships — hell, Lyx told him as much in the grotto.
So what is Cav to her? A fling? A failed victim?
His fingers tighten around the orange. No matter how short their time together, no matter how waterlogged his mind was, there was something between them. There had to be something. Or was Cav imagining it all, prescribing some draw that she never felt?
And what is it about this other person that was enough for her to stay?
That thought gnaws a hole in Cav’s chest. He’d accepted that she didn’t want anyone close, that no one was good enough to disturb her solitude, but someone else was.
When Cav looks at her, she’s glaring, like his sappy emotions are poisoning the air. He pushes off the wall to rid himself of the thoughts. None of it matters; that’s not why they’re here.
He digs a claw into the orange and peels off the rind. “Shall we give you the tour?”