Chapter 73
Burian twisted, hands outstretched as he searched for something to grab hold and pull himself away.
Kye let him rotate, acutely watching every move. When Burian had fully turned, he wrapped his arms around the pirate’s throat, muscles hard as he slowly began to crush Burien’s airway.
Footsteps shuffled across the berth, stopping as whoever it was gazed into the cabin. Aleksei suddenly bounded over the threshold, his fist cracking into Kye’s jaw.
Burian crashed to the floor. “’Leksei,” he croaked airlessly.
Kye reared his foot, stomping sideways into Burian’s head.
The light in the pirate’s eyes shuttered and went blank.
Snarling, Aleksei’s hand flew to the dagger at his belt.
Everything in me snapped to life, and I raised a heavy hand in the air.
Droplets gathered like a rolling avalanche. A current of mist wound through the room. I sent it curving around Aleksei’s cheek.
Above us, the deck morphed into a cacophony of noise as the pirates readied for land.
Aleksei flinched as the liquid caressed his shoulder. Hand frozen at his hip, he locked eyes with me. I flicked my wrist, driving the mist into his mouth. It churned in the air, a tumbling cloud raging down his throat.
The pirate wrenched himself away. He backed into the wall as the mist swirled and thickened, forcing his lips apart.
At my feet, Burian stirred.
Kye kicked him again, and the man fell onto his elbow. He moaned, legs and arms undulating as he writhed on the floor, then lifted his gaze to me.
Kye attempted another kick, but Burian evaded it as he grasped either side of my waist and hauled himself up. I thrust my knee into his chest, all my focus spent on Aleksei.
Gurgling, Aleksei slid wide-eyed to the floor, water filling his stomach and lungs with such force it trickled from his nose.
Burian punched me.
The soft tissue lining my inner mouth sliced open as it met with my teeth. Vertebrae cracked in my neck, forced off-kilter as my face whipped to one side. A flash of lights sent the world into blinding brilliance devoid of shape or color, until the view of Burian snapped back into place, face distorted with fury. He reeled his arm back, ready to strike again.
I braced for it, determined not to lose my grip on the watery mist that raged down Aleksei’s throat. Inches away, the slowly-drowning man staggered toward me, his body convulsing. He stopped in front of my legs, gaping wide.
The assaulting water built to a steady gush, a deluge rushing from his nostrils.
A wet scream erupted from his lips.
His eyes rolled into the back of his head.
Burian faltered, hearing Aleksei’s panic. He swung his gaze over his shoulder. And all three of us watched as Kye leaned into his chains to grab the knife from Aleksei’s hand—and sliced him across the throat.
Aleksei’s scream silenced as his neck burst in a stream of crimson.
His hand wrapped around his collar, crumpling to the floor.
I didn’t wait for Burian to react.
Palm hard against his chest, my nails dug into the flesh under his shirt.
The water in his body seemed ready before I called it.
His heart thundered under my hand, as I forced his blood to heat. To simmer and boil. Snapping his gaze back to me, Burian wrapped his fingers around my forearm.
He froze, eyes dropping to assess the budding warmth in his chest.
Behind him, the jingle of Aleksei’s keys rattled under Kye’s heavy breathing. Chains clanged. I kept my eyes on Burian.
Confusion altered his features before he shrieked, pushing me away and struggling to his feet, tripping over Aleksei. I strained against my chains to follow, unwilling to lose my grasp, and felt his heart give an erratic heave.
The meaty sound of flesh striking flesh met my ears as Kye punched him in the back of the head, and for the second time in as many minutes, the light in Burian’s eyes snuffed out.
He landed hard in my lap. Kye shoved him off, sending the pirate onto the floor as he shoved a key into my cuffs with shaking hands and freed me. We faced each other, panting. The air was molten with his anger as he looked me over for injuries. My body shook, hands clenched into stony fists.
Kye kneeled at my feet, chest heaving. “Are you hurt?”
A strained sob escaped my lips. “I”m fine.”
“Aalto and back,” he swore. “I”m sorry. I”m so sorry. I”m sorry.”
“I”m fine,” I repeated, wishing I could stop my moon-forsaken legs from shaking.
“I didn”t mean a word about you staring at me.”
“I know.” I pushed him away enough to look at him.
”Or about finding another pirate to—”
”I know.”
His eyes burned, a savage inferno. Standing, he reached for my hand, pulling me onto unsteady feet.
We didn’t move. We didn’t speak. Ears angled toward the stairs, we stared at each other, waiting with bated breath for boots to come thundering down the hatch to investigate the clamor we’d caused.
Kye”s hand tightened over mine as he stole a glance at Aleksei, a trickle of water still leaking from his mouth. Questions rose in his head, but there wasn’t time to ask me anything. “Come on,” he murmured, eyes on the ceiling.
We crept to the empty berth, angling around the rabble of pirate mattresses and personal effects. I shakily transferred a sword to Kye’s belt. He strapped a knife to my ankle. A leather bag sat nearby, stuffed with clothes and who knew what else. Kye grabbed it, slinging the strap over his shoulder without even glancing inside.
Huddled against the wall, he tucked the hair behind my ears, forcing my chin up to meet his eyes.
“You”re a strong swimmer,” he said.
I blinked at him, vaulting over the walls of my mind to follow his words, but it was like wading through mud.
“You”re the strongest swimmer I know. You pulled me out of the sea without any help.”
“I don”t—”
“You escaped Naheso’s knife. You escaped those ugly bastards—” he pointed to the two bodies on the floor inside the tiny cabin. “And you will escape this ship alive.”
My heart froze in my chest. “I will escape? What about—”
“Do not question your strength. Don’t show them any fear. You’re the woman who stood at the altar, glaring up at the man in her way, willing to burn the world to claim your freedom.”
“Wait—”
“You”re going to climb the stairs, run to the stern, and jump.”
The air in my lungs evaporated. “What are you going to—”
“You”re not going to look back or wait for me.”
“No.”
“Or give them any chance to grab you.”
“Kye.”
“You”re going to jump off this ship and swim.”
“No!” I shoved him away.
Kye hissed, forcing himself back as he gripped the sides of my shoulders. He bared his teeth, the whites of his eyes flashing in the dim light.
“This ship has two dinghies. I’ll free the starboard one. Once you’re in the water, swim to the left, around the back of the celerite.”
I shook my head in panicked disbelief. My fingers roamed the length of his tattooed arm, tugging, twisting, pulling. They moved all on their own, and I couldn’t make them stop. A tremor entered my legs, threatening to purge my balance.
“There’s thirty men up there,” I choked out.
His eyes churned molten gold. ”Where”s that anger I know you hoard away? I need you to be angry.”
A voice screamed inside my head. It raged and seethed, throwing words against the walls of my mind where they shattered like glass. Anger? He wanted anger? Anger was all I had—all I’d ever had. Why was it failing me now?
Kye studied me, letting me yank and pull him. A heavy wave washed over the side of the ship, and he braced his knees on either side of mine, leaning into the wall.
His hold on me softened, eyes brimming with some unknown emotion as he curled his fingers around the sides of my jaw. ”Angry, Leihani.”
A ragged wail tore from my lips.
He leaned into me, his weight trapping me against the wall as he slowly captured my mouth. His body pressed me flat, his chest fixing my hands against his torso. Soft lips opened under mine—tasting, studying, memorizing. My fingers itched to run through the strands of his hair, but he held me locked in place.
I could only press my palms into his bare chest as he squared his hips with mine, driving in, the warmth of him engulfing me like an unhurried, all-consuming tide. His thumb drifted, shifting along my jaw. Fresh tears sprung from my lashes, but I tilted my head and lifted my chin, deepening the kiss, pulling him in.
Another wave lashed the ship, and he slanted against me, heavy and solid. When the ship righted itself, his weight didn’t leave. My skull pressed into the wall as his head shifted left to right, searching for the different angles of my mouth.
Heat bloomed from my skin as his lips moved achingly slow. Calm. Controlled. Calculated. As though he didn’t feel the heart that beat wildly within his chest. Or he didn’t care.
He kissed me like a thief in the night. Like he’d crept in on silent feet, emerging from shadow, and stole my breath before I ever realized it was gone.
He didn’t give me the kiss.
He took it.
Slow and hard and intentional. Like it was a hidden treasure. A prized jewel I’d kept locked in an armored chest. Pinning my arms against the wall, he broke the lock and stole it for his own pleasure. Every nip of his teeth, flick of his tongue, veer of his lips—he did it all for himself.
His mouth was there and then it wasn’t, the kiss over too soon as he drew back an inch, lips still hovering over mine, his breath shaking through his teeth.
His eyes burned as he gazed at me, and I realized what he’d done.
He’d just kissed me for the last time.
My body went numb with dread, my legs suddenly wobbly as my panic eclipsed all thought. A heavy wave washed over the side of the galley, and the first stroke of beckoning sleep grazed my consciousness.
I faltered, head nodding forward, hitting his chest. Kye’s hands returned to my shoulders, stabilizing me as my body weight leaned to one side, drifting over unbalanced feet.
My eyes sprang open. I gazed open-mouthed at the floor.
I’d forgotten to call the water back up.