JAMES
Just you.
God, what the hell am I doing? Why’d I admit that?
I mean, it is the truth—I’d thought about what it might be like to do sexual things with a man before, but I’d never quite found the type of connection where I wanted it to happen.
Until now. With Caspian. Just Caspian . I was only speaking the facts, but why did those words sound like I was saying something else? Something more honest. More vulnerable.
Greystone had been an unearthing. I’d let Caspian push me because I knew I wasn’t going to cross the line myself. But I think whatever happened in that room, and the intimacy we experienced with each other afterward in the fort—meant things were a lot more complicated now.
Just you.
Fuck . I don’t do this—this wanting of someone—not with anyone, much less a man. But Caspian sees me somehow; the same way I see him, and despite all of our efforts to not make it mean anything, I think we’re beginning to fail in a spectacular fashion.
As the door opens, whatever is hanging in the air between us slowly disintegrates. I hide my irritation and look away from the questions in his eyes—the same questions I’m sure are reflected in mine.
“We’ll take the fight to Draco Ignam,” I say.
Regardless of what’s going on with us, the one thing I do know is I’m going to remove Malik from this world so he can’t touch Caspian again. To do that, I have to focus on the pieces we’ve placed in motion and the plans ahead .
“The Fire Isles?” Flynt asks. “Bit dangerous for a skirmish isn’t it?”
The question pulls me from Caspian and I shake my head.
“We’re not going into the Isles,” I answer. “We’ll lure him into the mist that lingers on the south side.”
Latin for dragon fire —Draco Ignam is actually a chain of active volcanoes and as lava flows into the sea, it creates steam that envelopes the entire area and never dissipates.
It’s treacherous—the volcanoes are constantly shifting the landscape.
A channel that may have been deep enough before, could change within days.
Ships run the high risk of sinking when traveling between the islands.
With low visibility and an unknown underwater landscape, navigating through there is not for the faint of heart.
“If he can’t see, that means we can’t see,” Van comments.
“That’s where the burning torch comes in,” Harrison says. “We lure him in, torch his sails and then he’s nothing more than a burning beacon for us to focus on.”
“I take it you’ve done this before then,” Caspian says.
Harrison nods. “Few times.”
Lan pulls forward a more detailed map of the Isles.
“If he has any naval sense, he’ll try and drive us into the shallows.
These aren’t updated but last time we came through here, this channel was gone.
” He points out a section on the map. “And this one—we’ll attempt to avoid heading any deeper into the Isles than needed but just in case, the western ridges have been inactive for a bit now, and will be our best bet for consistent depths. ”
“Once her sails are lit, the objective is to get her between us and the Isles—cripple her and then board,” Harrison says.
“Make the preparations,” I order.
“Malik is mine,” Caspian announces as everyone moves to leave.
Murmured choruses of ayes respond to his declaration. I frown, knowing he isn’t all the way healed but I wait until everyone is gone before speaking.
“You sure about Malik?” I ask.
He runs a hand over his face and looks at me in annoyance. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“That—” He waves his hand at me in irritation. “That tone. Like I can’t handle him.”
“I didn’t say—”
“I know what you didn’t say,” he cut in. “You saw me in a moment of vulnerability—”
I scoff. “I would call that more than a moment.”
“So what, that makes me weak now?” He frowns. “I appreciate all you’ve done, truly, but this is my fight.”
Like hell he’s going to play the martyr. “Well, it’s mine now too.”
“You can’t just claim it.”
“I can—this is my ship,” I insist.
He shakes his head. “I didn’t know you liked to play the savior.”
My lips curl in a humorless smirk. “That’s what you think this is? Me sailing in on white sails to pull you out of the fire?”
“Isn’t it?”
My jaw tightens and I lean my hands on the table.
“First of all—the Tempest doesn’t have white sails.
” His lips twitch at that like I knew they would.
“And second, the thought of him touching you—” I cut off because I’m not sure what I’m trying to say.
There’s a flash of something I can’t read that crosses Caspian’s face before he hides it and the irritation floods back in.
“How noble of you,” he says scornfully. “But I don’t need saving.”
“Most people would just say thank you,” I say dryly.
Caspian glares at me for a short length of time while I look on in annoyance at his stubbornness. I don’t expect him to say thank you of course, but when he doesn’t say anything at all I shake my head.
“I think you’re a lot of things Caspian, but weak isn’t one of them.”
“Good, because I’m going to kill him.”
“I don’t doubt it,” I nod. “Just don’t be surprised when you catch sight of me watching your back.”
That pulls a cocky smile of amusement from him. “So we’re watching each other's backs now?”
I shrug. “Aye—it’s part of that trust I’ve been talking about.” I move towards the door. “This’ll be good practice.”
He follows after me. “Stubborn bastard,” he mutters.
“Takes one to know one,” I say over my shoulder.