Page 11 of Daughter of the Dark Sea

Kora had amusedly helped Finlay drunkenly stagger back to the crew quarters and collapse into a hammock. Samuel had guffawed at the sight, spilling his grog everywhere and earned several snickers amongst the crew, to Finlay’s chagrin.

“I know this great ta-tavern near the fortress,”

Finlay had slurred.

“Go there with me, please.”

“If it’ll make you go to sleep, then yes.”

She’d tucked him in to his hammock, placing a bucket nearby for him to chunder in.

Now, Kora studied the ledgers on her desk, her soul brimming with possibilities of making a life-long friend in Finlay. She skimmed a few trinkets, silver bits, and coins off the top of the coffers, marking it in the ledger. Barely enough for the crew to survive on, but it’d have to do.

Once she was satisfied with the amendments, she placed the black, leather-bound book of deceits back in its designated rickety drawer and strode to the cream bed to undress. Her muscles sharply protested as she stiffly removed her jerkin and shirt before proceeding with her breeches. Gods, she was looking forward to some decent sleep.

The door to her quarters flew open, a gust of cool eastern air rushing in, and she squeaked, darting behind her privacy partition. A deep, dark familiar chuckle echoed from the entrance, and a thrill raced through her.

“Blake!”

She peered round the divider, glaring at him.

“Knock before you enter, you heathen.”

“Why? It’s my room, too.”

He prowled, his glinting green eyes hungrily devouring her bare chest like a predator stalking his prey. Good gods, that stare. The talisman hung from her neck and bounced between her pert breasts. There was a chill in the room, indeed.

“You could’ve been anyone,”

Kora huffed as she stomped to him. Half-naked and all.

“Well . . . I certainly wouldn’t want anyone seeing this.”

His warm hands encircled her body, gently tugging her close as he planted soft kisses along her golden shoulder. He grasped the nape of her neck, his thumb stroking the column of her throat.

“Where have you been?”

She willed herself not to give in to the temptation of him as petrichor and leather filled her senses.

“You’ve been avoiding me for days. You haven’t slept in here for a few nights.”

Blake’s mouth paused just below her ear. A sigh tickled her neck, and he reluctantly straightened, meeting her defiant gaze. His jaw twitched in amusement, and heat collected between her thighs. Floppy obsidian hair cascaded around his face with a gentle wave. Her hands ached to touch it.

“We must pretend, Kora. People were beginning to suspect something between us.”

He ran a hand through his hair—a sign he was frustrated.

“I heard rumours about it among the guards. It could jeopardise your position.”

Kora placed her hands on her hips, staring up at her first mate. Rumours had travelled through her crew before. She’d easily quashed them, and she could do the same again. His inquisitive gaze lingered on her body, and a bulge began growing below his waist. The air was suddenly, suffocatingly hot.

“Even so, doesn’t explain your . . . absence.”

She glanced towards the bed, and Blake hung his head apologetically.

“I’m sorry, my asterya. Once we had the prisoners, I became so focused on questioning them. There’s so much happening that we don’t understand. Something’s stirring in Galen, and we need to find out what.”

He flung his arms up in exasperation.

Dark circles loomed under his beautiful green eyes—he hadn’t been sleeping. A smattering of dirt lined his jaw and neck. She studied his face, drinking in his strong, prominent features, haunted by dark shadows.

She nodded solemnly in response. Blake had been trying to find any reason other than magic to explain the Mist, and Galen’s allegiance with the pirate lords. Kora didn’t dare tell him she believed otherwise. If Galen and magic were returning, it’d mean certain death for them all. The empire had outlawed magic when they amassed control, deeming it far too volatile and dangerous for the islands, and any remaining mages were sentenced to exile or death. If Galen could wield magic, they would overpower the empire. A fully stocked army couldn’t survive magic.

She shuddered at the thought of her loved ones dragged into the Mist, becoming as soulless as the island lurking behind it.

“Please, forgive me,”

he whispered. His rough, large palms reached out, leading her towards the enticing bed, and her core simmered deliciously.

“We’ll figure it out, Blake,”

she murmured, distracted by his growing member as she perched on the edge of the cream bed.

His fingers lightly grazed her scar, following it to her high cheekbone, before tracing her jaw, and brushing down to her collarbone where the dark chain of the talisman rested. Kora trembled under his touch, his fingers leaving a blazing trail of sensation. She needed this. She needed him.

The swath of blue pillows cushioned her white head as she fell back and Blake continued tracing her upper body. Memorising every curve. Smiling at the talisman, he hovered over her body, brushing the edge of her waistband, teasing her flushed skin. In one fluid movement, he removed her breeches, exposing her entire bare body to him.

Her heart raced, her legs shaking in anticipation.

“You’re beautiful, my asterya.”

His mouth greedily explored her body, planting hot kisses on the scars between her thighs from the Darkoning Trials. He followed the trail of horrific memories up her abdomen to the smooth curve of her breasts. Kora shivered from his touch.

“This suits you.”

He admired the talisman necklace, gently tracing the intricately curved midnight blue edges.

“I like seeing you wearing nothing but it.”

His hand moved to her breast, and she gasped as his tongue flicked her erect nipple.

Kora tugged at his black shirt in silent demand, and Blake chuckled as they removed it together. He settled his body above hers, his strong, muscle-toned arms either side of her head. She roamed her hands over his broad back, feeling the ridges of his own traumatic scars from the trials, and he shuddered in response.

His emerald gaze captured her, sharing the same memory that painfully danced behind their eyes, deep within their souls.

Blake seized her mouth with his, and her hands fisted in his hair as he ground his hips, letting Kora feel his sizable, hard length. Excitement fluttered through her, parting her mouth open for him, and his tongue expertly caressed hers, making her moan.

“Blake,”

she panted, their legs tangling, bodies melding together. They suited perfectly. This was meant to be. Kora had never been more certain. Their bodies simply fit, like a puzzle.

“I know. Fuck. I know, asterya.”

He nuzzled her neck, and uttered the words she didn’t want to hear.

“We can’t. Not here.”

Disappointment flooded her. She removed her hands from his hair and pushed up on his smooth, bare chest as a frosted current of air swept between their separated bodies.

“Why?”

She hated that she sounded so desperate.

“Because . . .”

Blake smiled wickedly.

“when I finally take you, I will make you scream.”

Heat lanced through Kora, her cheeks blushing wildly.

“I also don’t want an audience,”

he murmured against her ear, nibbling her lobe.

“Trust me, I want to. There’s nothing I want more than this.”

There was no such thing as soundproofing on a ship, and she knew she would moan until the gods heard her. Kora smiled up at him and kissed along his jaw and down his neck, brushing specks of dirt away, nipping his skin and making him hiss.

Blake shifted his weight to the side and lazily stroked up and down her stomach, tracing the edges of earned scars before his fingers navigated to the quivering apex of her thighs. Her breathing hitched at the unspoken promise between them.

This male had saved her life countless times. He’d been to hell and back with her in the Darkoning Trials, and Kora had professed herself to him when they’d finally reunited a year ago. Not quite an admission of love, but she’d promised to give her whole self, and he’d vowed to serve her to the end.

If we do this, you give me everything, Kora. Your heart, your soul.

Everything?

Everything. You’re the light in my life—a shining star. An asterya.

Everything then.

I will follow you to the ends of the earth.

And Kora would never let him go.

Those three dangerous words lingered on her tongue, as Blake’s fingers grazed her slick wetness, and she gasped in pleasure. Circling her entrance, he groaned her name and she bit her lip, holding in her moans, gripping his strong, toned shoulder as his fingers plunged—

CLANG—the alarm bell rang from the centre of the ship.

They froze. The bell continued trilling erratically in the distance, followed by bellowing shouts of her crew. Kora leapt off the bed. Blake rolled to the side in surprise, and she frantically began putting her clothes back on. He hastily dressed, his movements rapid and fluid as he chucked her boots towards her and sheathed his blade to his hip with unnerving speed.

“PRISONERS ESCAPING!”

a familiar voice screeched from outside. The ringing intensified.

“Shit!”

Kora grabbed her daggers and back holster, briskly securing it around herself as they sprinted from her quarters onto the main deck.