Page 38 of Bite The Terror That Feeds

Kingsnake returned and immediately shed his clothing, stripping down to nothing before he filled the bath with hot water. He soaked for a while and then scrubbed, and once he emerged, he was a new man, his short hair damp against his neck, his beard shaved clean.

“How much farther?” I asked that more often, eager to stretch my legs on land that didn’t move.

“We sighted land from the crow’s nest.” He dried off with the towel before he pulled on a new pair of boxers. He sat in the armchair near the fire, the green color of his eyes vibrant because he’d fed from me last night.

“Really?” My voice reached a pitch I hadn’t heard in a while.

“But the distance is uncertain. Could be a week. Could be several.”

“Whatever. I’ll take it.”

He looked at the dying fire but didn’t move to throw on more logs. His mind seemed elsewhere.

“Everything alright?”

“Yes.” His eyes continued to stare at the glowing embers.

It was hard to identify his emotions because they were so quiet, so subdued. There was almost nothing to feel at all, which was unusual. Kingsnake had more emotions than others I’d spent time with, and that made me realize he was an innately passionate man. He was complex. He was deep. Elias had the depth of a puddle. “You seem…down.”

He turned his head to regard me. “We’ve been trapped on a ship for two weeks.”

“Seems like more than that.”

“Maybe you could give me some privacy. Have you ever considered that?”

I stilled at the bite in his voice.

“I try to sheathe my mind around you, but I can’t keep it up forever, not when we’re always together.” He looked at the fire again.

“I can’t really control it—”

“You could try.”

“That’s like asking me not to smell. I have no control over my senses, and I consider this to be a sense—”

“Got it.” He continued his stare.

Silence fell across the battlefield like pieces of ash. My instinct was to lash out and burn this place to the ground with my fire, but I knew that would only make the situation worse. “Something happen with Aurelias?”

“I ask for privacy, and you decide to pry?” He turned to look at me, his eyebrows furrowed with annoyance.

“I’m just trying to help, and you’re being a dick.”

His stare homed in on me as he sat there with his knees wide apart, his elbow propped on the armrest. “Aurelias and I share the same blood—but we share the bond of strangers.” He turned back to the fire. “We mix like oil and water. We fight like vampires and elves.”

“I’m sorry…”

“I don’t know how we ended up this way.”

“Your father poisoned his mind.”

“Believe it or not, my father shows me more grace than he does.”

No, I didn’t believe that.

“My father may resent me, but he still shoves his advice down my throat and demands I take it. It’s an odd way to show his affection, but it’s affection, nonetheless. But Aurelias…he’s indifferent to my life and my death.”

“Maybe you should talk to him—”