Chapter 3 #2
It was at this point that Augustus lost interest and turned toward the bay. Out of habit, he counted the anchored ships. The Entia stood out, of course, with a serpent as her figurehead. She was practically a damned monument at this point.
Perean’s naval ships dotted the horizon with silver sails. They were a quarter of their number now, thanks to Orestis Vidalatos’s reckless actions. The dead king never should have sent so many after Augustus’s family fleet.
Amongst the familiar merchant vessels, he counted at least three additional ships that hadn’t been anchored yesterday.
Unmarked sails that were all the same beige color.
The figureheads were Flaming Sphinxes, the preferred deity of Vrinis, and those were their ships.
However, Augustus had never seen their ships without their blood-red and obsidian sails, which told him everything he needed to know.
Those ships had been appropriated by someone else.
But who? And why?
The air shifted in the corner of his vision. High atop the weather-beaten gibbet, where once-dead pirates had been left to rot as a warning to others, something else had claimed the post.
Not a gull.
Not a crow.
A thing with shredded wings and eyes like pits in the world. Its tail curled and uncurled with a lazy, serpentine flick. It wore a crown of horns that curved backward like twisted bones.
Augustus narrowed his eyes, a prickle crawling up his neck.
A Vorash.
A beast said to be born from the Valley, somewhere between death and vengeance. Called to a soul that dies in agony and fed by rage.
A long-ago memory of something Cassia said filled his mind. “Only bad omens come on black wings.”
And Cassia had never been wrong.
“You are most welcome, Miss Selene.”
The Vorash took flight, black feathers shooting into the sky, battered wings beating the air like war-torn sails.
He should have felt relieved at its absence—it was an unsettling beast—except for one thing: omens didn’t just fly away.
They circled.
Augustus turned toward the interruption disguised as a kind voice, just in time to witness the smiling old man bow to Selene.
That sort of thing began a few months ago—the friendship and respect from the Perean people toward her.
It surprised him at first, though it shouldn’t have.
She spent so much time with Dimitrios here, and with a heart as open as hers, why wouldn’t the people learn her name? Return the kindness she showed them?
“Here,” Selene said, passing Augustus the fruit with a single raised brow. “Though they’re not quite as large as you claimed.”
“We already know I exaggerate everything.”
“Oh, I know.”
She winked playfully as they walked, and his heart tripped into his throat, erasing his usual banter.
There was a time when he feared falling in love with this woman and what her loss would do to him.
His father, Mettius, said once that he and Cassia loved each other for the days they wouldn’t be allowed.
Augustus thought they were fools at the time to risk the pain of losing each other.
Things were different now, not to mention different for Augustus and Selene in particular. They had lifetimes ahead, but that didn’t take away how precious these limited days were or how fully he wanted to live them.
Especially if his mother’s prophecy came to fruition.
The lovers, separated by oceans and seas…
Augustus took Selene’s hand and pulled her to a stop in the middle of the cobbled street. The people around them glided by like a gentle stream.
Whatever Selene saw in his expression stripped her of her smile. “What is it, Augustus?”
“I love you.”
Her eyelids fluttered. “I love you, too.” She cupped his face, and a line appeared between her brows. “Are you all right?”
How did he tell the woman he loved more than his own life that their time was likely running out? And how did he stop it from happening? He couldn’t lose her.
He wouldn’t lose her.
Augustus dredged up a smile from somewhere very deep and lifted a berry to his mouth. “I’m wonderful.”
He bit into the fruit; sweet juice burst onto his tongue and dripped down his hand and wrist. “Gods be good,” he moaned around a mouthful. “This is delicious. Here, taste.”
Selene, the sun gilding her hair with copper, opened for the bite he offered and giggled when berry juice fell across her chin. She hummed happily as she chewed, and Augustus leaned in to lick the juice from her chin—
“Augustus Labienus Triarius.” The familiar male voice boomed with both surprise and recognition.
He knew his past was haunting him today, but this was taking it too far.
He met Selene’s eyes. “Did you hear that?”
“Should I not have?” Her focus lowered to someone behind him. “Hello.”
Augustus spun around. “Blaze?”
Bla?ej Ka?par. His brown hair hung straight to the nape of his neck, and clearly, the last few years hadn’t hurt him in the least. He was tall, slim, and those shoulders… What did he do? Throw sacks of flour around all day? Damn the gods, he looked good.
Blaze fisted Augustus’s shirt and yanked him into a crushing kiss.
Augustus’s entire line of thought stalled as memories capsized his mind—desperate nights aboard the Akias, tearing off each other’s clothes, drunk on exploring tongues and hot skin and firm hands.
Blaze’s mouth was salt and wine and a thousand stolen nights.
It was also every whispered promise that neither of them kept.
Selene coughed.
Augustus pushed free, words leaping toward his tongue but not quite making it. Something to do with old loyalties and old sins. Old versions of himself he thought he’d drowned.
Blaze grinned, but so did Selene, though she at least tried hiding it behind a hand. Augustus was far less amused. He was… Gods, he didn’t even know what he was. Not happy, exactly. Confused? Stirred up in ways that came from several directions.
Blaze reached out a hand to Selene, his brown eyes sparkling. “Bla?ej Ka?par. An old friend of Augustus’s.”
“Selene Marinea.” They shook, and then her hand slipped into Augustus’s. She squeezed gently, and his heartbeat immediately came down two notches.
Until she said, “Old friend or old lover?”
Augustus winced.
A laugh burst from Blaze. “Both.” His attention landed on Augustus, eyes crinkling. “I’m hurt. Were our years together so unimportant that I don’t merit even one mention?”
“What are you doing here, Blaze?” Augustus asked. His lips still tingled, and his lungs fought for every breath.
“We”—Blaze swept an arm behind him—“are here on a job.”
The two men and one woman he encompassed were just as fit. They all wore a variation of tunic, pants, and boots beneath thigh-length coats with high collars. With that many weapons and straps, they were either going into battle or returning from one—likely the former; they were very clean.
“What sort of job?” Selene asked, eyes narrowed.
Her lowered tone was born purely from Oskar’s influence. The man was always wary of newcomers taking advantage of the locals. Thieves, smugglers, pirates, etc… He still kept one eye on Augustus, which…fair.
“We were asked here by the High Chancellor,” Blaze said. “A man named—”
“Leonidas Primakos,” Selene finished. “We know who he is.” She had no love for the councilman. He and the other council members hadn’t made Dimitrios’s transition easy.
“He hired us to rid your forests of an oxbeast infestation. A few packs have spread their territory a little too near the farmlands.”
Selene met Augustus’s raised brow with one of her own.
“So he hired pirates?” Augustus asked. They might dress like they knew what they were doing, but did they really?
Blaze snorted. “Piracy isn’t the only way for men like us to survive, Augustus. Nor are we all descendants of pirate royalty.” To Selene, he explained. “We’re Rangers.”
It was Augustus’s turn to snort. He’d heard of groups hiring themselves out to hunt wild beasts—the bigger, the deadlier, the larger the payday. They rarely lived long. “Monster hunters? You?”
Selene’s sharp elbow needled him in the side.
Blaze’s smile only widened. “Things change. Not to brag, but we’re fairly renowned on this side of the Tineian Empire. We cleaned up the Selpi swarm in Crudea just last year.” He hit one of the men in the chest. “Remember the hydra in Okos? Nasty creature.”
Augustus mirrored the man’s wry smirk. “I killed an oxbeast a few months ago. Maybe I’ll give you some pointers.
” He set an arm across Selene’s shoulders.
“And Selene killed a shedine. Underwater. With only a knife. Saw it with my own eyes.” He squinted down at her and grinned.
“I suppose that makes us Rangers now, too.”
She rolled her eyes and shoved his arm away. “Dimitrios will be glad you’re here. We weren’t sure if the council had plans to deal with the situation.”
There was a situation? First Augustus was hearing about it…
Blaze linked elbows with Selene as if it were the most natural thing in the world. A ghost walking beside the living.
Augustus’s palms itched.
They started toward the palace like old friends, Blaze talking nonstop. “You know the king personally? Wait, no, he’s not actually the king, is he? Does he have a legitimate claim? Tell me everything.”
The Rangers shouldered past Augustus to follow the others and left him slack-jawed, hugging a carton of berries.
He glanced around at the exactly zero people left to pay him any mind. “What just happened?”