Page 10 of Death’s Kiss (The Order of the Tide Raiders #1)
I don’t know what exactly is wrong with me.
My last disciplinary meeting must have knocked something loose inside. Or maybe it’s a delayed reaction to one of the leeches' various antidotes. Although I know neither is likely, seeing as over a week has passed since either event occurred.
Yet there’s no other way I can make sense of it.
Why can't I stop staring?
I can only think it must be because he’s so utterly different from all the others that it feels like some kind of a physical shock to my system.
Because I watch with an unreasonable amount of curiosity as the male South Order captain strides down the steps slightly ahead of his counterpart.
He moves with such an easy, swaggering arrogance it looks like a birthright.
The captain is broad with chiseled muscles and tall .
Even from this distance, I can tell he’d probably measure up to Riggs in height, which is truly saying something.
His arresting features are bronzed from the sun, and his midnight hair appears roughly tousled.
Then there's his eyes. They’re a curious shade of amber, made all the more striking by the scarlet coloring of his uniform.
But it isn't the southern captain’s compelling looks that have taken my interest captive. Rather, it’s the way in which he moves, the boldness about him. How his gaze scans the mountainous chamber, completely unimpressed and damn near insolent.
Something about him is so... familiar to me.
Yet entirely foreign.
The sound of a strangled cough comes from nearby, and I shift to find Vash giving me a warning look.
My attention darts to the dockside across from ours, discovering Skelm watches me closely.
The shadows playing about his weathered face provide me a clear warning signal.
One toe out of line and I'll have it cut off.
Eyeing the cavern ceiling, I swallow tightly before allowing my attention to drift back to the southern entourage. My expression now reflects complete and total disinterest. This is, of course, the same moment that I discover a pair of scorching amber eyes have fixed themselves on me .
The instant my gaze locks with his, something visibly flashes across the southern captain’s face.
An array of tightly concealed emotions I’ll never be able to place.
He's staring at me so intensely, I have this uncanny feeling like someone is bottling my soul.
My blood turns colder the longer those eyes hold me prisoner.
Setting my jaw, I lift my chin and refuse to be the one to look away.
One second. Then two. Three. Four. Five.
He doesn't break eye contact, and neither do I.
It isn’t until the southern captain's crew members begin descending the gangway, and a raider directly behind nudges his shoulder, that I realize he’s stopped walking entirely.
The male shakes his head of messy waves with a sneer before ripping his gaze from mine and turning to who I assume is his second.
The possible second is nearly as tall as his captain, corded with muscle, and sports shoulder-length sandy hair.
Which is currently half-tied back. I watch as he raises a pair of thick black brows in regards to his captain's outward annoyance.
I get the imression he finds this irrational behavior somewhat humorous.
Meanwhile amber eyes over there cuts me a vicious glare, as if blaming me for his own hesitation, before turning away and continuing toward their grand preceptor.
All remaining crew members file in afterward, and Skelm announces their imminent departure.
Vash and I, along with our crews, are to bring up the rear of our welcoming party.
We’ve left the confines of the mountain-covered wharf and begun trekking up the winding cliffside path. The uneven terrain is only made more treacherous by the swelling darkness of the impending night.
Herse starts her report from my side, while Kleio walks in step on my left, listening intently. The other five are in close formation, just a few paces behind. From their unusual silence, I know they’re all concentrating on her debrief. “The eastern captains,” she begins in a low, breathy tone.
Vash and his crew are only a few meters ahead of us, and we’re not about to give him any leg up. North Order allegiance or not.
“Those weird little twins?” Kleio interjects, to which Herse nods in confirmation, and I let out the quiet murmur of a laugh.
“The girl’s name is Dhara Ghosh, and her affinity is some sort of internal radar,” my third quietly informs me.
I utter a sharp-tongued curse .
“So what? Is she part delphis?” inquires Nephthys, her laughter floating up from behind. Turning around, I find those caramel-streaked black coils of hers have been braided and bound prettily into two tight buns atop her head.
I shake my head tersely at the eldest twin. “She can see incoming threats—probably already knows the tunnels beneath the North Order as well as you or I—and she’d be a killer threat out on open waters.”
Nephthys and the others are silent at that.
Herse carries on as we continue struggling up the cliffside. “The male captain is Reed Namak and is apparently her boyfriend. They do look oddly alike, but there’s no familial connection.”
I think I hear Greer gag from behind me, and I make an effort to smother my amusement.
“He can manipulate minerals and crystals. I’m not really sure what that entails, but I know we’ve never had that affinity here in the north,” Herse discloses quickly.
I run my tongue over the back of my teeth, thinking over the strange ability. It must be powerful enough to warrant a captaincy, but I honestly don't have a clue how it could make him a threat. After a moment, I nod at my third to keep going.
“The western girl with the charms in her braids.” Herse starts again, and my focus sharpens in response to any information regarding the predatory girl. “Name is Brisa Bedivere. She has a gravitational affinity and can turn on and off gravity for herself or manipulate stuff near her.”
I don't say a word in reaction. Instead, I work on beating back the rising anxiety in order to mull over the information as we get closer to the dark fortress.
I knew she would be a threat.
“Ansil Tetsuo is the boy,” Herse whispers in continuation.
“And a pretty boy at that,” Prisca chimes in, not bothering to lower her voice. The others snicker their agreement while irritation flashes darkly across the face of my third .
Herse huffs in annoyance before stating flatly, “He can manipulate magnetic fields.”
I note it and force myself to worry about both of those staggering amounts of power later. “And the male captain from the South?” I can’t help but ask. My curiosity regarding him has become as sharp and gnawing as a hunger pain.
Kleio glances over a shoulder, and I catch her passing unspoken words with Greer. Herse remains uncharacteristically quiet for a moment. My eyes squint through the dark, trying to read their faces.
“What?” I finally snap, my tone cold.
“He is supposed to be very powerful…" Herse answers slowly. "More so than the others."
I know there’s more to it.
“And? He’s a captain—of course he’s powerful. What’s his affinity? Don’t tell me he’s some sort of shadow wielder or death charmer or something else boringly predictable,” I drawl, remembering the obsidian color of his hair and the darkness in his gaze.
“He’s an elemental,” my third admits, her eyes no longer meeting my own.
“Oh? Of what sort?” I push.
Raiders with elemental affinities like myself are incredibly rare. I’ve only ever known of one other to exist besides myself in all my time within The Order.
“It’s fire, Merena,” Kleio divulges, her voice echoing into the darkening night.
The resounding silence from my crew is heavy. I chew on my lip while something in my gut twists uncomfortably. Then I quickly switch my attention onto the rocks beneath my boots while we climb higher up the trail.
Fire.
Of course it is.
I snort derisively and feel seven pairs of eyes instantly upon me so I continue prodding “What else?” I need to steer the report along but still feel that insistent curiosity regarding the southern male .
Herse doesn’t respond immediately, clearly not having expected me to move on from the shocking knowledge so quickly. “His name is Olsson Agni. He’s supposedly from some ancient line of highborn royalty who now lord over a grouping of isles under the Sol Republic."
“And the girl?” I ask next, not particularly caring but needing the intel all the same.
“Corvina Leporem. She isn’t supposed to be much of a threat when it comes to weapon play, but do not underestimate her,” Herse warns.
I turn to my third in question at the new venom in her tone. We’re close enough now to the front entrance that the distant orb lights reveal the set in her jaw.
“She can sirenspeak,” Herse states, before adding swiftly, “Also, she and Captain Agni are a thing—or at least they were.”
“What is it with these captains all dating each other?” I ask, my mouth turned down in distaste. I’m suddenly brimming with disgust at the cavalier way the other Cardinal captains appear to treat their positions.
Greer laughs from somewhere behind Kleio on my left. “Not everyone can be as single-minded as you are, Merena,” the redhead points out teasingly.
“What are you implying? It’s not like I’m some novice—I’ve been with a male before,” I snap, immediately defensive.
“Yeah, and when was that again?” Greer chides. “It’s been almost two years since Captain Tharos left for TideLord Raimbaut’s fleet. And I don’t believe you’ve had anyone warming your bunk since.”
“I can attest to that,” Kleio adds unhelpfully, with a taunting grin thrown my way.
Seeing as we’ve co-bunked the last few years—mine on top and hers on bottom—she’d be the one to know. My scowl is dark in response but I have no actual argument to make.