Chapter 30
Chapter thirty
James
“Seviin, I knew you didn’t want to spend the entire morning with me for no reason. Thank you so much for helping everyone set this up and keep it a surprise from me. I love surprises.” Her wife chuckles as my words tumble out of me.
“You speak as fast as she does,” she says with a bright smile. Seviin smiles at me, her features softening.
“I didn’t, but it was a fun enough morning, and I am proud to show you some of our culture.
You should have a berry chill; it’s not the exact same since we don’t have all of the same fruits here, but it’s wine mixed with berry juice and sparkling water.
It’s really light and refreshing,” she tells me.
And before realizing what I am doing, I turn around to seek out Killian so I can ask him if we can get a berry chill first. He led me to this festival of sorts, but he never said he would be with me.
It just felt natural to ask him to spend the evening with me, and even as I come to realize it might be weird to ask him, my eyes don’t stop looking for him.
When I spot him, he is off to the side, talking to Vani and Samuel; they seem to enjoy themselves.
I am about to look around to see if I spot Belichime and Dexter when I see Killian push off the wall.
His long, muscular legs eat up the distance between us in four strides. “You just ran off,” he says, his voice taking on that teasing lilt that gives me goosebumps. “I was a bit offended, but I see you are looking for me again. What can I do for you?”
Shit, I did run out on him, but it was for a good reason. I suddenly connected the dots between the festival and the morning I had with Seviin: a morning that turned out fine, nice enough, as she said, but that started out very awkward.
“Sorry, I just love surprises, and I suddenly realized why she was so weird about wanting me off the ship. I umm I wanted to ask if you wanted to go get a berry chill with me. But if you’re hanging with your friends, I can just look for Belichime and Dexter.
I am sure they want to hang out—“ He grabs my hand before I can finish my sentence.
“No, no need to find them, darling, I am sure they want to hang out with you, but so do I,” he tells me, deep voice rumbling with a warmth that makes me shiver.
“Perfect, so the berry chill first, and then I want to eat something, your favorite thing from back home,” I tell Killian.
He has been so kind to me. More so than I deserve, and I get there is this chemistry between us.
But still, he didn’t have to do this for me.
Plus I want to get to know him better. I have seen so many sides to him, heard so many stories about him.
What I want now is to get to know the real him.
“Oh, that’s easy, and we have a really good substitute for it here.
You go find us a spot to sit, and I will get us flatbread with Ajvinaks, it’s a mutton sausage with a lot of herbs normally cooked on an open fire.
” Killian looks years younger as he rushes off to get the food and drinks.
I mean, bread with mutton sounds like a great meal.
But his eagerness was almost cute, and I would have never believed Killian Tregear to be cute.
There really is more to him than meets the eye.
And more and more, I am realizing I want to know everything there is to know about him.
“Here we are, berry chills and flatbread with Ajivnaks, with all the trimmings.” Killian places a plate with an abundantly stuffed flatbread in front of me.
I expect him to dig into his right away.
He had been so excited to eat it, after all.
But he is waiting, watching my every move, waiting for me to take a bite to let him know what I think about this meal.
I take a tentative bite, and the flavors burst on my tongue—savory mutton, the fresh taste of herbs cutting through the richness of the sausage, the sharp tang of garlic and onion softened by the cheesy spread, all brought together by the fresh salad and the soft bread.
This is honestly one of the best things I have ever tasted.
“Wow, Killian,” I say before closing my mouth again. I had been so eager to let him know how good it was I started talking before I even swallowed the first bite of my food.
“It’s good, huh?” he smiles as he finally starts eating his own.
“Yes, this might be the best thing I have ever tasted, and you know I am quite partial to fish pie, or anything fishy, for that matter, but this is really good too.”
As I tell Killian about my food preferences, I realize we have been eating fish pies quite often.
There has been coffee waiting for me every morning.
Suddenly, I wonder if it was Killian’s doing.
Because how long can I really tell myself this is nothing but us needing each other, his guilt for kidnapping me and maybe some physical chemistry when he is doing all of this for me?
Hours later, I finally retreat to my hut.
Tonight has been a blast, but at some point, Belichime walked up to me, wanting to dance with me.
I was a bit reluctant. I wanted to spend time and dance with my friend, but I loved spending time with Killian, and I didn’t want to reject him either.
Until he was the one who suggested I should, telling me he would just spend some time with Samuel.
And now I am lying in my bed, wondering how close the two of them really are. Sure, Samuel told me he doesn’t feel any romantic attraction, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel sexual attraction.
Killian confirmed after the swimming lesson incident that what we have is purely physical.
So who is to say he doesn’t just have a physical bond like that with Samuel?
I keep thinking about that. And I keep wondering how my parents are doing now.
The mermaids told me how my brothers are doing, so that eases one worry.
I’m scared my parents might not want me to come home. When Killian told me about that fear, I was quick to tell him that fear didn’t make sense. I meant it because he is out here trying to rescue his sister. I wonder what would happen if we worked together to get our siblings back.
At least I can fix one of the issues that I have been worrying about.
I am being treated as a crew member by the rest of the crew.
And a crew member with benefits by Killian.
There is no reason for me not to work together to save our siblings.
Besides, I always liked Tin-Celeste. Had I known she was another victim, I would have done more to help her.
This feels like a chance to redeem myself.
My mind is made up, so I get up, ready to make my way back to the mess.
When I left to go to my hut, he was still there with Samuel, laughing, having fun.
I am going to just walk up to him and tell him I need to talk.
That I thought about his suggestion and made a decision, I am sure he is going to listen to me.
After all, getting Celeste back is still the most important thing to him.
To all of the crew, according to Seviin.
Not even Samuel can distract him from that mission.
There is a tiny pang of warmth in my chest as I imagine pulling his attention away from Samuel.
A flare of possessiveness I have no right to feel.
“James, what are you doing back here? Captain said you have the night off. You don’t need to help clean this up.
The rest have already gone back to their huts,” Vani happily explains.
And why wouldn’t they, how can they know I suddenly decided I want to talk to Killian after I had already retired to bed.
“Oh, no I just remember something, and I wanted to talk to Captain Killian about it,” I tell Vani, using his proper title after Seviin joked about it.
The first time I did it felt weird, distant, and Killian didn’t seem to like it either.
After tonight and how the night ended, it suddenly feels right again to call him Captain, to remind myself to.
“The captain, oh he retired too, but with Samuel, so I bet they are not sleeping yet. I don’t know if you’re in a hurry, but if you are, you could go to the captain’s quarters,” Vani tells me.
Their easy smile, suggesting I go to the quarters right now when Samuel and Killian are there together, gives me a little hope.
At least the crew doesn’t suspect them being together like that.
And then the memory of last night slams into me. The argument that once again ended up with us making out. How he pulled back when he overheard a crew member walking up, not wanting to be caught kissing me.
“Okay, thank you, Vani, I’ll try that.” I could easily tell Killian I want to work with him to get Celeste, Matthew, and Barry back with us so we can all go home in the morning. There is no immediate rush, no other than my need to find out what Killian and Samuel are doing right now.
So, determined to find out more, armed with what I feel is a great reason to go see him at this time of night, I make my way over to his quarters.
I’m still surprised how easily I can find it now and how impossible it just was before he took me here.
Maybe if everything works out, as I am hoping it will, Killian can tell me more about fae magic, because it is really intriguing.
The anxious anger of not knowing what Killian and Samuel have been getting up to makes me reach Killian’s private space in half the time it normally takes me.
I have no doubt I stomped over to his door.
And I don’t want to come across as a jealous boyfriend walking in huffing and puffing like a jealous idiot.
Trying to show I have some self-control, and I can do more than just barge into his chambers, I raise my hand to knock on the door, but before my knuckles touch wood the door swings open.
“He’s all yours,” Samuel smirks before sauntering off.