I nodded. I did. They stole a ship and sailed the seas, becoming the very thing Bastian abhorred. They spent years pirating, growing up, becoming men who were feared by everyone. Then they tried to steal from the wrong man. A powerful lord who caught them and threatened their lives. Bastian wanted to save his crew, so he’d made a deal with the lord: they’d pirate for him if he’d let them live.
Maybe that was why Bastian had taken all those boys to the shadow court. Maybe the shadow court paid the pirates for bringing people to the island, and in turn, Bastian gave a portion of the money to this lord who they worked for.
He’d told me early in our relationship not to ask questions about this mysterious lord. That he was working to earn his and his crew’s freedom, but until he did, he wouldn’t reveal any information, afraid I’d do something stupid and seek the lord out myself. He wasn’t wrong. I’d wanted to. To stand up for Bastian if he wouldn’t stand up for himself. Now, I didn’t know what to think about it all.
The sky had turned black, stars strewn across, sparkling over us, and it reminded me of the many nights we’d lain together in the sand, looking up at the stars and making up the stories they told with their shapes. I still had so many questions, I still hated Bastian for what he’d done, but in this moment, I wanted to forget it all and pretend life was as simple as it felt when it was just me and him and a small cave.
I pointed up at the stars. “There’s a bunny.”
Surprise flashed in Bastian’s eyes before his gaze turned upward. He paused, and for a moment, I thought he wouldn’t play our game, but then he pulled that gold spyglass from his coat and pressed it to his eye.
“Look,” he said and handed me the spyglass. I took it and pressed it to my eye, and he shifted closer, tilting it until it landed on a gleaming star that I’d recognize anywhere.
“Second star to the right,” he said.
I swallowed. Our star. I handed the spyglass back to him, and he looked through it again, clearing his throat. “A bunny, huh?” He tsked. “But a snake is chasing it.”
I laughed, seeing the pattern of stars that made up the snake he was referencing. “Mm, but the bunny is clever, and he knows that the snake is greedy. So he’s leading it into the forest where even better prey is in abundance.” I nodded toward a cluster of stars that looked like trees.
Bastian’s eyes glittered. “I don’t know about that, love. I think the snake enjoys the chase. I think the snake knows exactly what it wants, and it won’t be deterred.” He wasn’t looking at the sky anymore.
Now we were playing a different kind of game.
I clenched my thighs together as heat flooded between them, unable to break whatever hold the pirate lord had over me. Except in this moment, he wasn’t the pirate lord. He was just Bastian, and we were sitting in the sand, side by side, just like we always had.
He stared at me for a moment longer, then slowly leaned over, a question in his eyes. I didn’t break the gaze, didn’t move away from him, and his lips brushed against my jaw. A gasp escaped my mouth, and in a flash, Bastian had me pinned in the sand, his hard body pressed against mine, his even harder erection pushing against my thigh.
I opened my mouth, senses clouded over by the past, by want and need. So much need.
He dipped his hand down and ran it slowly up my inner thigh, bringing my chiffon up with it. His fingers worked their way between my legs and under my silk panties. I clutched thelapels of his leather jacket as he kissed my neck and rubbed my clit in slow, tantalizing circles.
“Bastian,” I gasped.
He buried his face into my neck. “I’ve missed touching you so, so much.”
His lips were soft and warm as they trailed kisses across my skin. I moved my hands up into his hair while his fingers made long strokes up and down my center. This felt so fucking good. After a long eight months of nothing but my own hand to satisfy my needs, feeling those rough fingers against me made my body sing in response.
I inhaled the scent of him, sea salt and sandalwood. Spirits below, I’d missed this. Missed the feel of his fingers stroking between my legs.
Waves of pleasure rolled through me, rising higher and higher with each circle his fingers made. Bastian dragged a finger down my center and plunged it inside me. Another gasp escaped my mouth.
“I don’t think the rabbit is going to be able to escape the snake,” he murmured against my neck, pumping his fingers in and out while I rocked with the movement.
“I don’t think the rabbit wants to,” I said back, barely able to get the words out.
He curled his fingers, hitting that spot he knew so well, and the waves in my body turned into an all-out storm, swirling inside of me until I had no control. My body tightened under Bastian’s touch, and I took a shuddering breath as the storm came to a peak, pleasure rushing over me as I cried out, under his control now.
Finally, I wilted under him, limp and shuddering and completely satisfied.
We sat up, and as I regained my senses, the horror of what just happened immediately hit me. Blood and water, I couldn’tbelieve I’d let him do that. I’d been so desperate to pretend we were still in the past that I’d let another sad story of his woo me. Shame overtook all the pleasure I’d felt just moments earlier.
I scuttled away, sand flying up as confusion flashed across Bastian’s eyes, and hurt clouded his face.
“Why did you jump in after me?” I asked, voice raw with emotion. “Why did you tell me all of this?” I threw out an arm. “You refuse to answer any of my questions about the boys you took, why you would take them to the shadow court. This lord you work for. You’re cold and distant on your ship, and then you open up and pretend to be vulnerable, pretend like you care about me? What is going on with you, Bastian?”
The playful smile, the teasing eyes, disappeared as Bastian straightened. “You were wrong about me, you know,” he said quietly.
“What are you talking about?” I snapped.
