I raise a hand to stroke her hair, eyeing a strand as it wraps loosely around my finger. “I don’t think it’s shocking to any of them that one day, I’d want to settle. It’s a natural evolution for us all. Their primary motive is safety in numbers. It’s a dark fucking world outside of Belstead, and even then, some warlords are creeping in on those lands. I live near water and it’s harder to siege, and I don’t struggle for a second to make hard decisions, even if they’redistasteful. As long as I continue to make them, they’ll be there for me.”
All it does is soothe Jane, and it’s why she feels so faultless against me. “Why aren’t you a pirate with the way you talk?”
I stiffen, but decide to get it over with. “My father was a pirate.”
I bet her pretty little eyes are open now.
She’s intrigued, and sorrowful. Perhaps even slightly bashful for realizing how personal of a question that was. “What if you run into him?”
“I already tried. He was dead before I got to him.” I run my fingertips against her skull. “Otherwise, I’d have killed him myself.”
Acceptance.
The Zenith princess not only is molded for me, but she accepts me. She shifts slightly so her body closes in all the space between us, my cock hardening, even though I don’t plan to use it again so soon. I’m enjoying the gentleness.
“I don’t think I could live with peace,” she confesses. “I desire it, sure, but I know I’d get bored.”
“Which is why you’re with me, because that’s how I’m built, too.”
Something profound blooms inside of her, and I realize we’ve never outright stated we’re together. It deepens whatever she feels for me—security. I want to give her more. “After this, I think we will go across the Black Sea with Basilisk, to look for Serena and get away for a moment. Explore, which I know you want to do.”
Her walls are nearly non-existent at this point, and I can tell how much she wants what I just offered.That’s it, love. Such a good girl.“Is that his real name?”
“No.” I glance up at the ceiling, then out the window. “It’s Rasmus. He has a small kingdom out there. He’s also someone that can make very hard decisions very quickly, which is what all men really want to follow.”
A cool breeze enters the room through the open window, her shivering against me, making my cock twitch even more. I wantto be the man who knows her body better than she does. Even if she hated me, she’d always have to crawl back if she wanted to properly be tended to, to feel my touch that would know every inch of her and how to make her come over, and over.
Owning this part of her is a triumph nothing else will satiate.
J A N E
The breaking of dawn brings an empty stomach and dry lips. My body nearly collapses from exhaustion in his arms once sleep took over; he even placed a blanket over me at some point, although I’m alone in the hammock now. I’m not used to rolling out of these things and nearly fall over to see the man is already dressed for the day.
“You don’t sleep much,” I say, noting that he still dons most of his weapons.“Also, why did you move me?”
“I need less than most people.”
Before, I might have prodded about what I learned from Bones, but I almost don’t even care if he doesn’t want to tell me. Knowing wouldn’t change anything, and Soren is the type of man who will live a life with many secrets.
I understand how important they can be to keep—Cypress’s desire to put a ruby into my skin creeps in; I shut that off and even tell myself it was made up, just so I can avoid lettinganyfeelings about it move to Soren.
I swear he was going to ask me about it, right before I fell asleep. But he didn’t, and I’m not sure why. If anything, him not asking almost has the opposite effect and makes mewantto tell him.
He lays out rags to clean ourselves with, and I do a quick pass over my body after all that sweat and cold ocean water that got on my skin. “Why haven’t you asked more about Cypress?” I finally utter, unable to handle it any longer. If the witchreallywanted me not to speak, she would have made it more obvious. Cursed me a little;something.
Soren also hands me clothes my size, staring me down. “I don’t have a clear answer for you, Jane. Everything within me tells me not to.”
“What?” I wasn’t anticipating that, dressing slowly as I think that over. “That’s different.”
His sigh mixes with a growl like he hates the mereideaof this conversation. “If Itrustwhat I feel, I can only imagine that whatever Cypress told you might actually be best kept without saying a word to me. But then that means trusting Cypress, and Ihatethat.”
That changeseverythingwithin me. “She did make it seem like you shouldn’t know, Soren. Like it would make thingsworse.”
That man stares me down, his broad shoulders rising and falling as he hardly blinks. “Doyouthink it would?”
My eyes move around as if trying to track a fly, completely taken aback by this sense of responsibility. Would him knowing he can’t read me hurt this? In many ways,no. It makes logical sense. If I fall into enemy hands, foranyreason, being cut off from them would only help. But it might drive Soren mad, sending him into an evenmoreprotective mode to keep me out of Misery’s hands.
Cypress thinks I’m useful and that my actions canhelp. And I can’t tell if me withholding that is just to please some neglected pride within myself, or true strategy. “Can I think on it?” I ask.
