Chapter 37 #2
The act is so pure that my body melts under her touch.
She pulls back, but I reach up to catch the back of her head, holding her in place so I can feel her warm breath on my face.
“I wanted to say sorry for assuming you would be like him—your father. But you’re not him, Odi.
You fight . . . but not the way he does. There’s a difference.”
She shakes her head as she looks at the palms of her hands. A single tear spills from the outer corner of her eye, tracing down her cheek to die upon my chest. “There’s enough blood on my hands to drown in . . . and his still runs in my veins—”
Her voice trembles. Her hands tremble. My body responds. Hatred for her father and what she’s had to do to survive rears its ugly head, but she needs grounding. She needs to feel safe.
I clasp her hands in mine, bringing them to my lips. “I love your hands. How they tend the wounded. How they offer food to the hungry. I especially love them when they trace the patterns on my skin. These hands are brave, and strong, but they are also soft and gentle.”
A fresh wave of tears pour down her cheek. I reach up to brush the moist trail away. “Ivor’s blood might be part of you, but so is your mother’s. Don’t forget that.”
Odi’s brow pinches, like she’s trying to fight the truth of my words as another tear falls to its death. “I’ve spent my whole life trying not to end up like him. What if I’ve already failed?”
I move my hand to cup her face, and she leans into the touch. “You wouldn’t be here with me if you had,” I whisper.
Her gaze locks onto me, then she crumbles.
Crushing her lips to mine in a fiery kiss.
One that I feel in the very depths of my soul.
I pull her closer as my tongue dances with hers.
Gentle hands find their way around my neck, sending heat spearing through my body.
At this moment I realise I’m not just lost in everything that is her . . . I’m fucking drowning.
She slowly pulls back, resting her forehead on mine. We sit in silence together, the early morning sun stretching further into the room. Boots on the deck announce that the crew is up, tending to the ship's needs. I’d told Elio and Tavi not to let anyone bother us until I was ready.
Looking at Odi now, her naked body soft from orgasms and sleep, I’m definitely not ready to go back to reality. And perhaps I never will be.
I trace lazy patterns over her thigh, and she moans softly, tipping her head back as the sun kisses her bare neck. Heat pools low in my stomach when I imagine raking my teeth across her pulse.
She threads a hand between us, looking for my cock.
I gasp when she finds it. “Keep doing that and I’ll have you whimpering in seconds.” I say, my voice hinting playfully.
Odi’s eyes light up. She leans forwards, a hairsbreadth from my lips, and pumps her hand again. “Maybe that’s what I want.”
I moan against her mouth. “Come here—”
A solid knock sounds at the door.
“Who is it?” I demand.
“Cap,” Elio says, sounding on edge. “There’s a message from Killian. Ivor is on the move.”
I turn Killian’s message over in my hands, studying the words once again.
The Sea Bane is headed in the direction of the mainland.
It had been four days. The wind had stayed in our favour, and we’d nearly made it to the last island, but something about Killian’s words had kept the scrap of kelp parchment in my pocket.
That Ivor is moving at all makes my stomach curdle, and I’d already responded, telling Killian he won’t be keeping tabs on the Vipers much longer.
We’re headed for this last island. And then we’ll prepare ourselves to take on Ivor.
But the more I study the words, the more vague foreboding worms its way into my thoughts. Killian is rarely ever so straightforward. I tuck the message back into my trouser pocket, but the unease doesn’t leave with it.
The shadow of a bird glides over the deck.
I glance up to see its silhouette pass across the warm, afternoon sun.
It’s big enough that I furrow my brow. Is it a roc, or the same one that’s been pestering the ship?
It screeches, sending a shudder down my spine.
Definitely the same one. Salt spray settles over the ship as the bow plows through the Adamaris Sea.
From the stern castle deck, I can see all around us.
Up ahead an island looms. Large, and jagged, like a sea creature floating on the waves.
Odi leans on the ship's railing just in front of me, her eyes focused on the comings and goings of the crew below, hair tangling by the wind. There’s something in the way her foot bounces up and down on the spot that has me itching to reach for her. She’s nervous.
I know she’s been to this island before. Spent hours digging, but her father and his crew never had the keys that we have in our possession, so this is new to her and I.
Boots clatter on the stairs. Otto bounds up, grinning wide. “Cap,” he says, giving me a quick nod before turning straight to her.
The ship's wheel hums under my hands, steady as the tide. I know I shouldn’t eavesdrop, but something warm in my chest shifts when I see Otto sidle up to Odi’s side. For once he’s not all restless energy. It’s the first time they’ve had a chance to talk quietly since Nisse became known.
Odi glances at him, and when he softly bumps her arm with his shoulder, her body relaxes. “I should’ve told you,” Odi says quietly, so low I almost miss it over the creak of the rigging. “About my father. About who I am.”
Bear shakes his head fast, dark blond shaggy hair whipping about him. “There’s nothing to forgive, Odi,” his voice carries easy, unburdened. “You’re not him. You’ll never be him.”
My admiration for the young man only grows deeper as I witness the patching of open wounds between two people. Odi’s shoulders ease, but I’ve yet to see her smile.
“How can you be so sure?” she says quietly.
Otto reaches out and squeezes her hand. “Because you’re too good at looking out for others to be anything like that bastard.”
With a flurry of limbs, Odi throws her arms around Otto’s neck and pulls him into her embrace, her shoulders shaking. Otto’s face turns beet red, but he wraps his arms around her just as fiercely.
I grip the wheel tighter, fighting back the tears. I didn’t think I could be prouder of the passionate cook in front of me, and then he goes and speaks truth, folding her in his arms while she chokes back the pain she’s carried her whole life.
“Land ahoy!” Tavi shouts from the crows nest.
The crew scramble to the side of the deck to peer over. We’re close enough to the island to sink the anchor and gather the row boats.
Bear scurries off back down to the galley, but not before he winks at me. I shake my head with a grin as Odi comes to stand beside me. I wrap an arm around her waist and pull her closer. “Are you ready to get this treasure?”
She looks up at me, fear and excitement swirling in her eyes. “I am, if you are?”
I lean down, brushing her cheek with a faint kiss. “Let’s go together.”
An hour later, sand crunches under my boots as we make landfall. The island is small, but wild. Roots from vivacious green trees claw up from the ground, wrapping around jagged stones. Gulls cry overhead, like a warning. The air here tastes different, heavier, like it knows the treasure it hides.
I split the team up into two groups. The first group stays on the shore with the boats, keeping watch and the second sticks with Elio, Tavi, and I. Odi leads the way.
After walking for a while, she turns to me, her brow pinched, hands on hips, viewing the surroundings. “I swear it was around here.”
“Cap!” Elio's voice cuts across the tension in the air. “There’s a cavern here—runs under. Looks like it leads somewhere.”
Odi and I glance at each other before going to meet him at a rocky rise where the ocean carves at the island. The drop isn’t far, but it’s steep, and at the bottom, water flows under the rock
I glance at Odi who is already staring at me, her dark hair whipped by the salt wind. “The tide must have flooded it. When I was here last, I was able to wade in.”
Aqua water laps at the decline, stones turning slick with the sea. We’ll have to swim under. It's an inconvenience, but not for me. I’ll happily take any opportunity to take Odi into my arms.
Elio and Tavi hover beside the edge. I throw them a glance. “Watch the crew.”
They nod in unison, and then I leap the short way down, landing in water up to my chest. I raise my hands up for Odi, letting her know I’ll catch her.
She sets her legs over the edge before pushing off and gracing me with a splash.
With a low chuckle, I scoop her up into my chest. Her arms loop around my neck and I fight the urge to bury my face in her hair.
“On three?” I murmur, walking us deeper.
She nods, the grip around my neck tightening. “One, two . . .”
I press a gentle, but quick kiss on her lips. Something to distract her. “Three.”
We plunge. The noises outside muffle into silence as the cold water takes us whole. I shift, propelling into action with the flick of my tail. Its crystal-clear blue water. Nothing lurks at the bottom in the shadows, and for once I’m glad I don’t need to be looking over my shoulder.
Odi’s sea stone hardly has time to bubble up as light blooms ahead, shimmering pale as we break into a hidden cavern. With another powerful flick of my tail, I haul us up towards the surface. Together we break it, and Odi draws in a deep breath, rivets of water spilling down her face.
“Well done, little doe,” I say, grinning down at her like a smitten schoolboy.
She rolls her eyes, but her cheeks are flushed pink.
A rock ledge protrudes out of the wall in front of us. We swim for it, and I shift back to help Odi up and out of the water. The cavern ceiling is covered in tiny specks of blue and green, glowing like a sacred tomb. A place where the sea meets the sky.
Odi sucks her breath in. “There it is.”
I spin towards the wall up ahead, to a door, massive and unyielding. And in the heart of it, plain as day is a familiar shaped keyhole.
My eyes find her, wide with wonder. “The treasure.”