Chapter 8
Reiven’s company would never get any better. We each claimed a corner of the cell in the depths of the ship and refused to look at or speak to one another.
I hummed the lullaby that had been driving Reiven to insanity as I nursed my tender wrist. At the very least, the minor sprain gave me something to focus on, aside from being stuck in an enclosed space with a man I despised.
Aside from all the memories this situation dredged to the surface of my mind.
Darkness. Chains. Tears, pain, and smoke.
I blinked it all away and focused on the flame that flickered within the lantern on the wall far outside our cell. It sent just enough light scattering through the iron bars that I could breathe normally. The last time I had been held captive in the bowels of a ship, it had been nearly pitch-black.
Stop thinking about that, I ordered myself, running my finger along the grain of the wooden planks beneath me. This isn’t his ship.
Reiven didn’t comment on my song. In fact, he slept through it for a while, and soon, I had gotten a few hours of shuteye myself.
But the moment he woke up, I had to bite my tongue to maintain our implicit pact not to speak to each other.
The Human paced back and forth like a caged beast for a straight hour.
His shadow darkened the space around me whenever he passed in front of the lantern, and I couldn’t help but tense every time.
At some point, he got bored with pacing and decided to work out to pass the time.
He yanked his shirt up over his head and began doing pushups and then sit-ups on the dingy wooden floor, enveloping our tiny space with his musky scent.
It was part of his daily routine. I just usually left the quarters we shared when he did it before.
Now I had no choice but to listen to his quiet grunts of exertion. I tried to ignore him and focus on the light of the lantern, or even the slight pain in my wrist, but his presence ground into my nerves until I snapped.
“You know you smell like smoked herbs all the time? It’s awful.”
The first thing either of us had said in almost a day.
He slowly turned from where he had been repeatedly punching the wooden wall, and leaned back against it as he stared at me.
“Oh, good, I was hoping it would bother you.” He snatched his shirt off the ground and fiddled with it.
The lantern light gave his eyes the appearance of smoldering coals and made his sweat-slicked skin glisten.
My gaze drew to his exposed stomach and chest—maybe it was because he had just been exercising, but his muscles were especially tight and pronounced.
Of course, it made sense he’d keep himself in top form since he was the Timebreaker’s protector, but I wasn’t prepared to be impressed by his physique.
No, he’s not impressing me. Don’t let him impress you, Zephra.
“Are you eye-fucking me, Blue?”
I gave a harsh laugh and refused to look away. “You wish. I’m searching for a weak point.”
“Don’t have one.”
“You’re a Human man. Of course you do.”
He crossed his arms over his chest and let his shirt dangle from his hand. Daring me to keep staring at him. “Really? Where’s my weak point, then?”
Without thinking, I stalked up to him and studied him from head to toe.
My gaze caught on the Sirensteel pendant around his neck.
I brushed my fingers against the precious metal, and the moment I touched it, a cool, soothing sensation ran over my skin, like diving into a pool after a month in a desert.
It felt like home, like the bubbles and light pressure of the Abyssal Deep.
I wanted to close my eyes and sink into that feeling, to pretend I wasn’t stuck on a ship with an awful man who had an endless supply of condescending smirks.
Like the one he wore now. I reluctantly tore my hand away from the necklace to trail my finger down his stomach.
“Men all have the same weakness.”
With my hand resting just above his belt, I leaned close enough to feel the warmth of his breath on my lips. His eyes widened at the spike of pleasure I sent through his system, one of those minor Siren manipulations that Nightwhisper clientele went mad for.
But Reiven recovered too quickly. He seized my wrist, making me gasp at the slight pop of the joint. His grip loosened, then he felt around my wrist with careful, firm pressure. His smirk had given way to focus as he slowly worked closer to my hand.
I whimpered and yanked away when he found the spot that hadn’t ceased aching since I landed on it.
“It’s not broken or dislocated,” he offered, like he was almost trying to be helpful.
“Yeah, I know.”
“Don’t be a baby. Just try to keep it still—”
As if I would ever take medical advice from the pirate who was the reason for my injury.
I shoved him back against the wall, pressing my uninjured arm across his chest to keep him pinned.
“If it wasn’t for you, this wouldn’t have happened.
” In less than a second, my back hit the wall he had been leaning against as he switched places with me.
He leaned close, resting both hands against the wall on either side of my head. “Like I told Ash and the captain, I had a perfectly good grip on you.”
My gaze traveled to the cuts I had scored on him during our duel. Blood had dried dark red in two thin lines on his arm.
“You know, you should really apologize to me,” he mused. “If you weren’t such a clumsy brat, we wouldn’t be stuck in here.”
How hard would it be to gouge his eyes out without killing him? Or strangle him until he lost consciousness? Damn it, I really needed to get my hands on a weapon. I exhaled long and slow, and fought off the urge to knee him in the balls. “You’re the one that challenged me to a duel.”
“Kicking your ass was therapeutic.”
“Fucking pirate bastard—”
“Now, now,” he murmured. “There’s no need for generic name calling, Blue. Come on, hit me with something with a little more bite, won’t you?”
It should have been easy for me to come up with a scathing retort, but…
with my back against the wall, with him effortlessly trapping me there with his piercing eyes—my mind blanked.
I stared up at him, heart thudding in my ears, painfully aware of the heat of his body.
I desperately searched through every crevice in my mind for a fresh insult to throw at him.
But his warm breath on my cheek had me distracted.
Sparks may as well have crackled in the air between us, searing my skin with prickles of heat.
“Y-you're…an arrogant dick,” I breathed.
Reiven chuckled softly and took a step closer. “Took you that long to come up with that?”
“You’re insufferable.” Our lips could have ghosted across each other if one of us leaned forward a little. “Despicable. You may no longer be a pirate by trade, but nothing will change what you naturally are. A black-hearted scoundrel.”
Something odd glimmered in his dark eyes...
Excitement? His gaze dipped from mine for a moment, and that half-cocked grin almost seemed genuine.
“Scoundrel? That’s far too tame a word to describe me, sweetheart.
” He dragged his gaze back up from my lips and studied me with all the dauntless swagger of a man that took whatever he wanted and won every fight he picked.
An attractive scoundrel. Who…enjoys being talked back to.
Good looks no longer deceived me, not after what happened to me years ago.
To Mourner Hell with the odd floundering my heart was doing inside my chest. I squeezed my fists until my nails nearly pierced my palms, and the pain screamed the reminder that he was a Human.
A Siren-hunter. A man who could not be trusted.
Perhaps I should exploit my charming Siren ways when it came to him.
Even if the thought made me want to throw myself off the crow’s nest again, I could kiss him.
Watch his confidence melt in the face of the bizarre exhilaration he’d feel through my venom.
His pupils would double in size and he’d gasp in surprise.
No. No, he wouldn’t do that.
He would press me harder against the wall with his body.
He’d take charge of the kiss; Reiven obviously preferred to be in control.
All the hatred writhing between us would suffuse the air with furious energy.
The kind that lingers until after clothes had been strewn across the floor for hours.
Heat flooded my veins just thinking about it, even if I would only do it to see his intelligence kick down a few notches.
Reiven blinked and lifted one dark brow. “What in the world is going on in that head of yours, and why do you look like you want to eat me alive?” he asked softly.
Someone outside our cell coughed. Lyneca stood there holding a metal tray, eyes crinkled with laughter as she regarded us. We hadn’t even heard her open the door and come down the stairs, somehow.
“Oh my. Do I need to come back later?”
Spell broken, heat evaporated, I ducked under Reiven’s arm and dashed to the cold iron bars of our cell. “Lyneca! Get me out of here, please!”
The ship’s cook glanced between the two of us and cackled as she slid a metal tray into our cell.
Clearly, she wasn’t buying my dramatics.
“Aw, here I was hoping I could report to Vetti that you two are best of friends now… Don’t worry, Zephra, I’m sure she’ll let you out soon.
Look, I brought you some of that scented water you like to make. ”
I glanced down at the tray. Steam rose from all three bowls, but while two of them appeared to be some kind of soup, the last one was hot water, with a few dried lemon slices and herb leaves floating gingerly on top.
Lyneca took her leave with a flourish of colorful patchwork, and Reiven and I were left to eat our stew in grumpy silence.
“Face the wall,” I ordered after we were finished.
He rolled his eyes.
“She brought this for me so that I don’t have to smell like you, and I don’t want you to watch me bathe.”
“I’ve already seen your tits, Blue.”