Chapter 52
Reen enters my room every morning, his hands on my shoulders and waist. He asked for this, and I agreed. For me, it was another reason to get closer to someone who makes my heart beat and to get used to caring hands touching my body.
Afterwards, we play a game. He has brought a new one every day since we started our journey to Oceanview Harbour. This morning, we played Monopoly, and he took all my money and bankrupted me. Still, every game he brings is another memory burning into my core.
I’m alone now, bored and roaming the ship. It makes me curious when he leaves with Alad and Astin to do business in their conference room. Something tells me that Reen has a lot of jobs to do when he returns to the Kingdom of Flesh. So…where the fuck does that leave me?
My stomach churns as I remember what he said four days ago. He’s got something up his sleeve that sends me on edge and also fucking annoys me. Reen’s mind, from what I’ve witnessed, is complex. He’s a hunter at heart, so turning that switch off is challenging when he has a kill in mind.
Even with the days and nights spent together, he still sees me as someone to hunt. It hurts, maybe a little, but I can’t get mad at someone with the same mindset from the beginning. I’m also the fucking one who created this deal.
I can change it if I want to, and all would be right…
right? If I tell him I want to be a Knight of Eraminia, would he not want to kill me?
But do I want to be a knight? Despite all that has happened, I want a life for myself.
Not trapped within tall walls, fucking having knights, guards, and Alad following me, watching my every movement.
It’s suffocating.
“Shit,” I mutter.
I want my freedom. Desmond’s words come back to me, and they ring true.
No matter how much I’m falling for Reen, it’s not enough for me to be some damsel locked away behind hundreds of doors or risking my life repeatedly as a knight.
I’m done with it all and want a different life from what my parents envisioned.
I want my life. One to be proud of.
Why the fuck can’t Reen do the same for himself?
We could roam around Eraminia, explore islands and fuck our way to early graves. Except that the way he speaks of his brothers, especially King Walkyer, he can’t leave them. He can’t leave that life.
It’s frustrating, and I need to stop thinking about it and do something to distract myself. Yet, what is there to do on a ship, isolated and with no one else around?
Moving down the stairs, my eyes roll toward the conference room. I bite my lower lip, contemplating whether I should go in without a care and listen. In the end, I decided not to…go inside.
I press myself against the wall, close my eyes, take a deep breath in and then out until all other sounds fade and the voices inside float through the cracks, seeping through my ears. Initially indistinguishable, their tone of voice becomes apparent after a few more sentences.
“Reen,” Alad says, his voice firmer, almost chastising, “just tell King Walkyer to place you in a contract. You never break obligatory contracts.”
Through the voices, I smile at the rapid tapping. Reen must be deep in thought.
“You obviously care for the girl,” Astin says, his voice devoid of emotion. “And she is madly in love with you.”
I make a face.
I wouldn’t go that far…right?
“Convince her to become a knight, and the two of you can stay together.”
Reen sighs. “I will not push her to do anything she doesn’t want to do.
As for contracts, I don’t want any with Pandora.
I thought so at first, but with her, I will not do that shit.
And I doubt they will work now. Every moment spent with her is beginning to become painful.
The urge to kill her comes more prominently—especially when we’re intimate. ”
Motherfucker, when was he going to tell me that? All this time, we've been doing the dance with no pants, and he has had urges to kill me? Fuck me…
“Even if she dies at the end of it?” Alad says disapprovingly.
“At this given time, she has a higher chance of killing me than I killing her if we proceed with what we agreed to,” Reen says. “Besides, when we get to Oceanview Harbour, I’m giving her—”
“She’s listening,” Astin drawls.
“Fuck!” I breathe.
When the doors open, I step away from them, and Reen steps out. His red eyes roll in my direction, and he smiles crookedly at me. With a weak smile, I dart a look away and then back when Reen lights a cigarette with a flame pinched between his fingertips.
“You’re a curious little creature today, Pandora,” he says.
“There’s nothing to do here. I’m also bored.”
He breathes a laugh. “Have you tried the swimming pool?”
I raise my brows. “There’s a swimming pool?”
Reen nudges his head, telling me to follow him. As we walk, there’s a sense of jitteriness tingling inside me. Every time I’m around him, I’m excited but also sick. Cramps crunch my insides, and the flutter in my heart tightens. I haven’t felt this way since Desmond.
No.
This is more intense than Desmond. With Reen, a level of heat flourishes, burning me from the inside out.
There’s a door on the other side of the ship. The only place I didn’t go was because all this time, I didn’t expect anything to be back here. Then, Reen opens the door.
Chlorine smacks me in the face first, consuming my nostrils and stinging my eyes until they burn. When my eyes adjust, I stare at the pool in the centre of the room, and from above, there’s a giant skylight showcasing the blue sky.
Reen takes off his shirt, tossing it to the side.
The golden chain with the pendant with elemental colours dangles when he bends down.
My focus then snaps to the hundreds of scars plaguing him, tightening when tense, contracting muscles move.
He takes off his jeans but leaves his boxers on.
A blush flushes across my face when I see the length before he steps in, parting the water until he’s consumed by it.
I stand at the edge and let my toes twinkle against the water sloshing across. “I thought fire elemny feared water.”
He dips under the water. Waves ripple, wavering across his crimson hair as he swims toward me. Red eyes glow intensely when he comes up for air and looks up at me. “When I was a kid, King Ragan kept pushing me into the pool. You get used to it after a while.”
I crouch down and grimace. “It’s fucked up, Reen.”
His eyes crinkle when he smirks. Without a word, he grabs my arm, pulling me toward the water. My screams turn muffled when I land in the water and go under. Water slips into my airways before I break through. As I gasp for breath, Reen pulls me toward him, chuckling darkly.
“You’re a fucking arsehole!” I spit.
“I never said I wasn’t one.”
I glare at him. Our gazes lock onto each other, and while I glare at him, his grin broadens hungrily as he pulls me toward him. With a sigh, I move my arms over his shoulders, touching the scars.
“Can you tell me more about them?”
A darkened look crosses his face. “No. Like yours, they aren’t fun stories to tell, Pandora.”
“At least this one.” I move down, remembering the gash I fixed, brushing my fingers along his waist to the scar I mended. “We never really talked about it.”
His hands move to my hips. I tense, but after the moment of spluttering fear, the timid beat of my heart returns, and I ease tight muscles. He guides me through the water, floating on his back while I kick my feet, swimming beside him.
“King Ragan told me to protect Emmerton and Walkyer, and if I didn’t, and they died, he would crown me king,” he begins.
“I did what I needed to do and killed ruthlessly to protect my brothers.” His fingers tighten on my skin.
“But I got careless when we entered the Kingdom of Crystal, and an assassin got me good, cutting me open with a dagger dipped in poison. I burned the poison away but hadn’t awakened, so it was difficult to mend the wound by myself. ”
I perk up. “And then I found you!”
He smiles, eye crinkling. “A menace of a flat-fucking-chested teenager came out of nowhere, seeing my scars, unafraid of me.”
“It’s because we’re a lot alike.” I stop swimming, and we stand. Touching another, I say, “Tell me more about you before we reach Oceanview Harbour. What happened here?”
“Not interested,” he says flatly.
Irritated, I roll my eyes until they settle on the necklace. “Who gave you that?”
Reen hooks his finger around the golden chain and says, “My mother gave it to me when I was…fourteen. It has been in our family for generations.”
“It’s pretty,” I say. “It even has pink, for ice elemny. Most pendants I see now only have the four.”
“Are your eyes pink?”
I shake my head. “Purple. Did you want to see it? It’s getting annoying putting contacts in.”
Reen takes a step toward me, his arms moving over his head.
The necklace loosens, falling away from his chest. “As much as I want to see your true eye colour, I imagined only seeing them when my hands are around your throat.” His hands move around my neck.
The chain slips across my chest, and he clasps it around me.
“Even then, I don’t think anyone deserves to see the beauty you would undoubtedly hold in them.
” Reen takes a step away and smiles. “You can have it now.”
I touch the pendant and say, “But this is your family’s.”
“I’m not very sentimental about belongings,” he says. “Besides, it looks better on you.”
With a smile, I spin away from Reen as I say, “Let’s play a game. We race from one end of the pool to the other. If I win, I get to point at a scar, and you need to tell me about it.”
A dark chuckle creeps up my spine. “And if I win—”
“Nope,” I say, twisting until I face him. “This is my game, Reen. I come up with the fucking rules. If you win, you get to keep your secrets.”
Reen arches his chin, looking down at me with piercing red eyes. A cruel grin spreads across his face. The flutter in my heart rises when he parts his mouth and says, “Deal.”