Chapter 25
Little Viper
ROHEN
The harsh collision of our blades roared across the deck, competing with the storm assaulting the sky. Each crack of thunder mirrored our deadly blows, and every lightning strike symbolized the loathing we carried for one another.
There was nothing I wanted more than to end Caspian’s fucking life.
I desired to be the one to rob him of his last breath, to bleed him dry, and for my ire-filled eyes to be the last thing he saw before he stumbled into Elaros’s arms. Yet, that godsdamned dream continued to haunt me, driving me toward the precipice of insanity, and making me question just how deeply tied our fates were.
Ellira had been adamant about staying with him, but her reasoning hadn’t made any sense, not when he’d become my hellscape, my damnation.
Her ask had been too steep, especially when the gods I elected to worship hadn’t bothered to look my way for the entirety of my life.
I had no interest in entertaining her wishes.
Vengeance weighed far heavier on my mind, my desire for freedom coating the back of my tongue with the weighing realization: I would never escape my shackled fate if I didn’t fight for it myself.
I’d been leveraged since the beginning, used and discarded by everyone who’d crossed my path, and I was done.
My essence and my autonomy belonged to me and none other, and any bastard who’d attempted to rip that away from me would meet the end of my blade.
I would spend the rest of my fucking life hunting down every godsforsaken man who’d explored my body without my consent, assaulted me without moral question, and scarred my flesh as if I were nothing more than an animal.
The first step of my retribution would start with Caspian fucking Vayne. Even if butchering him led to my downfall, I’d gladly accept it so long as my sword sank into the royal crest positioned just above his heart and I was able to carve the poisoned organ from his chest.
Years of manipulation, tainted touches, and instilled fear had come to a close, for the compounding wrath I’d swallowed under Malrik’s influence and every male who followed had bloomed into a flower of destruction.
They’d plucked my petals and polluted my colors, but little had they known they’d been priming me for vengeance, turning me into something dark and dangerous that would lead to the downfall of predatory men.
I was venomous in my own right, and Caspian would witness firsthand why Malrik selected the nickname he had for me: little viper.
Ducking beneath Caspian’s swing, my knees glided across the puddle and blood-covered deck.
Water splashed, its frigidity sinking into my bones, adding to the weight of the soaked fabric adorning my body.
Ignoring its assault on my vision, I angled the tip of my sword, carving through Caspian’s thighs with ease.
He snarled, his booted foot connecting with the side of my face in a perfectly executed kick. Pain erupted across my cheekbone, joined by my collision with the dampened wood a few feet from where I’d been. The clatter of metal confirmed my inability to keep hold of my sword.
Yet, I was just as deadly with my hands as I was with any weapon.
“You insidious cunt,” he seethed, his footfalls gaining audibility as he approached. “You thought you could slaughter my crew and sneak away? Your confidence is idiotic, Rohen, and I will gladly execute you for it.”
Feigning weakness, I curled in on myself—a mirage that his attack had contained enough damage to render me incapacitated. But the instant he came close enough, I acted.
Leveraging the slickness beneath me, I spun myself toward him, clacking our ankle bones together.
The suddenness of my attack and his lack of suspicion worked to my advantage, and his balance faltered.
His lapse in judgment served in my favor as I dug my shoulder blades into the planks beneath me, driving my heel into one of his twinned wounds.
He joined me on the ground as I pushed myself upright, snatching my sword from where it rested. Securing my grasp on its hilt, I was on top of him in seconds, his daggers barely catching the steel’s length as I went for his throat.
A smile consumed his features, sending a plume of fire slithering through my veins. “It seems you have been attentive to my interests, little siren.”
“You’re fucking disgusting,” I gritted out, pressing down harshly with enough force to nick his flesh.
“What’s that saying?” The question came as a hum, intensifying my desire to cut out his vocal cords. “Takes one to know one?”
“I’ll fucking gut you.”
“Don’t flirt with me, Rohen. You hate me, don’t you?”
“Hate doesn’t even cover the depth to which I wish to carve—”
He thrust his hips upward, shoving against my sword at the same time. Unable to battle against both bouts of strength, I fixated on maintaining my position, and he matched me.
Looping the hooks of his daggers around my sword, he shoved it from his throat and above his head.
Their tips burrowed into the wood, pinning my weapon beneath them.
Propelled forward because of my unwillingness to release my hold, my nose brushed against his as I fell inches from his face.
Breath hitching, I caught myself before our lips could connect, my left palm slapping against the deck.
He bit his bottom lip, his enraging smirk returning as he whispered against my skin. “I’m sorry, what was it that you were going to say, my little siren?”
Baring my teeth, I snarled. “I will carve your fucking heart from your chest, you self-righteous fuck.”
“Is that a promise?” he crooned, pressing his hips up against me. “Because if it is, I’m intrigued how you plan to partake in such an animalistic display when you’ve lost control of your weapon.”
“Have I?” The whisper fled me as I adjusted my weight, freeing the blade I’d returned to its sheath on my side.
With one toss I flipped the hilt into my palm while I simultaneously let go of the hilt of the sword to shift my focus.
My hands overlapped on the new weapon, and I drove it into his chest, blood and muscle squelching upon its arrival.
With an inch burrowed into his flesh, I urged it even deeper before he let go of one of his daggers to capture my wrists.
“Gods, you’re a fucking hindrance.” He grunted in pain, resisting me with the arm he’d pulled away. “But I happen to enjoy the fight; it makes this whole engagement far more fun.”
The dull rasp registered far too late, a sharpened agony erupting up my side.
His blade pierced my flesh, consuming every inch of muscle and organ that stood in its way.
A gasp of affliction tumbled from me before I could swallow it, and his crimson glare darkened as he rotated his wrist slightly, which I mirrored.
Ignoring the pain threatening to devour me and the billowing hunger in his irises, I twisted the dagger back and forth into his skin.
The wound in his chest widened with my carving, the warmth of his lineage brushing against the side of my hand.
A slew of curses rolled from his throat with a growl, and the subtle whimper that joined it sparked the fuse of my motivation.
I shifted my hips to the left with a vigor that removed his weapon from my side, while I let go of the steel I’d buried in his chest. The forced extraction on my end pulled a yelp from my lips as I landed on the rain-soaked wood once again, every inch of my body protesting against me.
Brushing off the growing circle of crimson that stained my shirt, I rolled and shoved myself upright. My heels dug into the deck as I spun and lifted my leg, driving my booted foot into the hilt of the dagger still nestled in Caspian’s skin.
“FUCK!” he shouted, fingers coiling around my ankle as he yanked me toward him before shoving me away with an intensity that sent me stumbling.
Barely keeping myself upright, my injured side collided with the main mast, stars consuming my vision as a sharp iron tang flooded the back of my throat. The tandem snap of bone confirmed what I already knew—my ribs were broken.
I struggled to level my breathing, my sight fading in and out of focus as I palmed my leaking wound. With the feeling in my fingertips vanishing with each second, I knew I didn’t have long until I fell unconscious.
A hand closed around my neck before I could encourage myself to take another step. Those crimson eyes taunted me as Caspian ripped me off the ground, the fingers on his unoccupied arm sinking into the gaping hole in my side.
I tried to scream, but even its talons couldn’t pry themselves from my throat with the pressure he applied. Kicking my legs, my nails tore into his forearms, carving into his flesh with every intention of drawing blood.
But it was useless.
Jaw feathering, his brows hooded his glare as his fingertips sank into tendon while his other hand worked itself deeper into my wound.
“I’m not typically one to harm women; in fact, it goes against everything I believe in.
But, since you’ve elected to execute most of my crew, my morals have been suffocated.
You will take your last breath on this fucking ship, Rohen Levitte, and I will bask in watching that light leave your sinful gaze. ”
It wasn’t supposed to end this way, though it made sense in a sort of wrapped-around, fucked up way.
My existence had always been a sick joke, ever since I was sold to Malrik, as if I were born without any autonomy.
Every year, I endured his abuse and served him without argument, which had only earned mockery, a reminder that, as a woman in this life, I would never amount to anything.
It was a fact that Caspian had only proven further: strength and brute force, a countercurrent to anything I’d ever accomplish.
Oh, you pitiful bitch, pull yourself together. Every tribulation has prepared you to kill, to devour. Your life has merely shown you all the ways men will cower beneath your ruthlessness.
My internal monologue proved sufficient as I swung myself forward, my foot driving into Caspian’s groin without remorse.
Instinctively, he released me, his grunt mixing with my gasp as I devoured every ounce of air he’d robbed me of.
My ass met the wood at the same time Caspian’s knees did, and I didn’t waste another second.
Allowing the scream to tear itself from my lips, I forced myself to stand. I glanced between my bloodied weapons littering the ground and the gunwale of the ship, the decision clearing in my mind. With my palm pressed into my side, I limped toward the ledge I’d already stumbled from once before.
Caspian’s shout erupted from behind me. “Going to toss yourself overboard with some idiotic belief you’ll survive Ellira’s waters?” He laughed, the pain still prevalent in his timbre. “Have fun drowning, bitch.”
Curling my fingers around the lip, I glanced over my shoulder at the same time another lightning strike tore from the sky. With my lips curling into a sinister smile, I offered him the vow I would live by until the day I took my last breath.
“Lucky enough for me, Caspian Vayne, I know how to swim. While you continue to hide on this ship because of your inability to tread Ellira’s waters, know that I will not stop searching every fucking inch of it for you. And the next time we cross paths, whether on land or sea, I will kill you.”
And with that, I jumped overboard, allowing the chilling ocean to usher me wherever it pleased. If I truly were a Daughter of Ellira, she wouldn’t let me die.
This was her test, and the final one I would offer the gods if they wished to win back my faithfulness.