Page 27 of Death’s Kiss (The Order of the Tide Raiders #1)

“So why don’t you tell us how you’re just a pathetically worthless squid first, apologize for being so rude to Olsson second—” the thrashing power in my veins revolts with a vengeance at the mention of his name.

Corvina’s eyes flash before she finishes her listed demands with, “And then... then I think I’d like you to kiss my ring. ”

She extends her hand out to me.

Raider Bellum sucks in a breath of shock.

What she’s demanding from me is the utmost insult a captain can ever bestow.

To fall into her affinity’s trap and kiss her captaincy ring would be akin to removing my own title.

I cannot begin to fathom the hatred and monstrous thrill in Corvina’s expectant gaze.

Clearly there’s an issue here going a hell of a lot deeper than The Vault.

She’s fucking insane.

Corvina pushes her hand out closer to me with a widening smirk.

The cold inside of me is nothing now compared to the wild pounding that’s begun from the other side of my affinity. It’s an impudent feeling, one I've been trying desperately to avoid triggering. It hammers brutally inside of me, the beat is deep and heavy and savage .

“Aw, she’s trying to fight it,” Corvina coos, like my resolve is adorable. The nameless boy lets out a mocking laugh, but Raider Bellum is silent as she watches me through suspicious eyes.

“Well, I’ll make this easy.” Their captain’s gaze narrows into slits. “Kiss. My. Rings.” Her enchanting words are full to the brim with absolution.

If it wasn’t for the roaring in my head, I would have heard her. I would have grabbed her hand and kissed her rings and disgraced myself and my crew. I would have thrown away our future in one moment of weakness.

Unluckily for Corvina, I don’t.

The palpable fury that’s been licking me up from the inside, courtesy of my recent time spent with the other southern captain, explodes in a wave of violent, unchecked power.

Her crew members are flung backwards with the impact of a freezing cold blast. Their bodies smack hard into the dark stone walls and crumple with a sickening thud.

Corvina looks around in startled surprise, the only one not having been thrown.

Standing from the frigid floor, I very much enjoy the trepidation that begins creeping into her eyes. As if she’s just now realizing what exactly she’s provoked. I take a measured step in her direction, my affinity urging me on, whispering to me its hungry plea for violence .

“I never got to repay you for that incident with the evening stars,” I say, taking another step closer. Captain Leporem's eyes are calculating. Her mouth opens, and I’m sure she’s poised to spout those entrancing words once more, but the thudding of something beneath my affinity is deafening.

I reach out with a hand and find it next around Corvina’s delicate throat before it’s slamming her against the dim tunnel wall. She splutters with the impact, and I slam her again, delighting in the cracking sound of her skull against stone—a little too much.

My hand quickly becomes a vise around her most potent weapon. “I was going to just forget you tried to kill me and move on, you know,” I whisper, enjoying the way her eyes widen in alarm as I cut off her air source.

Corvina struggles to speak through my freezing grip. “I didn’t know–know about the–the ehkinos,” she chokes out.

The look I give her is full of disbelief. Frost has begun coating the tunnel, and my breaths start coming out in little clouds. There’s a blue tinge to Corvina’s lips now that has nothing to do with her current lack of oxygen. Releasing my grip from her throat, she gasps out loudly for air.

Her eyes darken on me, and I know her next move will be a mistake.

“You fucking bitch!” She seethes through bared teeth. “You should be dead . You and your entire crew are worthless, pathetic, cunt—”

I stop her mid-sentence with a cold snap, shoving her harshly against the wall. The pounding inside of me isn’t finished, it guides me in pulling the moisture from the air and freezing her to the spot. Finally, I seal Corvina’s lips together. Her wide eyes stare at me with true horror.

Good. Let her see what I am.

What I battle with every single day.

I lean in close to whisper in a deadly sort of calm, “ Never insult my crew.”

Glancing up to where ice shackles currently pin her arms up above, I notice that her ring-laden hands are slender, elegant, and exposed.

A truly sinister smile dances along my lips as I pluck one of those hands free to inspect it.

Corvina sounds like she might be trying to shout something, but her lips are still frozen tight.

“You wanted me to kiss your ring, right?” I ask sweetly, turning her struggling hand over to expose the golden bands. Captain Leporem makes a throaty sort of growl in return, and I bring her hand closer with a smirk. “I think I can do you one better.”

Her emerald gaze is wide, but I’m too heady with the thumping rhythm of something far more barbaric than my affinity to stop. If there’s one thing I learned shortly into my time with the Tide Raiders, you have to cut off threats before they become promises kept.

I take the finger adorned with her southern captain's signet and press my lips upon it. Her eyes widen even further before a scream attempts to escape her locked lips. I watch in satisfaction as her finger blooms purple at the tip and begins to blacken as my kiss of deadly frostbite spreads.

With a snap of my fingers, she's released from the wall just as her friends are beginning to stir and gather their bearings. Her second in command looks around in startled confusion at the alarming sounds of Corvina’s tight-lipped screaming.

“You’ll want to get to the sick bay quickly,” I advise their captain with a smirk.

Her eyes on me are full of rage, and I add with a false smile, “If you wait too long, it’ll be the whole hand they have to cut off.

Somehow, I just don’t think that’ll be the sort of thing your adoring Olsson will be able to overlook. ”

Corvina gives me one last glare of utter repulsion before storming off down the tunnel in a panicked jog.

Her two crew members look like they’re still trying to piece together what’s just happened, but at the sight of their captain fleeing, they quickly follow after with matching death glares thrown in my direction.

The incessant beating inside of me has at last eased, satiated by my ugly display.

The icy power belonging to my affinity dulls into its more easily managed state and coils back down inside of me like a slumbering hound. I’m left alone to ruminate over whether there’s any truth in Corvina’s confession before beginning to dread what that slip of power might cost me.