Page 39 of Death’s Kiss (The Order of the Tide Raiders #1)

There’s an uptake in my pulse at the grin he reveals. If I didn't know better, I'd say there was a blush inching up the back of his neck, where his hand is currently resting. Ansil’s next words lack their usual bantering tone. “I was wondering if you might want to—”

“Tetsuo! You’re up!” Vash hollers and multiple people in the crowd begin pushing Ansil towards the raised fighting arena. I frown as he looks back at me with an apologetic grimace before turning towards the arena to see just who is so impatient to challenge Captain Tetsuo.

But of course. Of fucking course I’m greeted by the sight of Agni’s smirk.

My expression grows cold, and my lips flatten into hard lines.

The south captain stands where I stood only minutes before, already having taken off his broadswords, jacket, and undershirt to expose a rather obnoxious amount of perfectly sculpted golden muscles.

His crew rallies beneath the corner he’s clearly claimed for himself, and their jeering fills up the shipwrecked hold.

I feel Kleio’s presence before hearing her voice. “You sure you know what you’re doing here?”

Folding my arms, I turn to where she stands on my right and give her a look that says I won't tell her my plans anymore if she continues to question them. Kleio fights back a grin and wrangles her lips into a somewhat straight line. “You’re the boss,” she agrees, holding down a laugh.

There is actually a third reason I’ve been coming to The Boneyard nearly every night. Not just to get away from those nightmares or remember my own affinity’s prowess. I also come down here with the long-shot intention of rousing the other captains in order to study their affinities.

Which, as of tonight, has finally proven to be successful

Our attention is drawn to the arena as the two captains begin to circle each other, sizing one another up. The raiders around us are shouting excitedly, and bets are exchanged from every corner. This evening is an unprecedented turn of events and fortunes for some.

As far as I’m aware, neither of these two captains in particular have fought each other in Preceptor Oplon’s class with weapons or hand to hand.

I know for certain that none of us have been allowed to fight with our affinities at all due to the trials.

Strictly speaking, this little gathering tonight has the potential to earn me another week in the hole, if Skelm so decides.

I don’t allow that troubling fact to deter my attention from the brawl at hand. I’m eager for any opportunity to watch another elemental use their affinity. Even if I am desperately hoping and betting a handful of coins, that said elemental gets his teeth kicked in.

The ground beneath Captain Agni trembles as Captain Tetsuo disrupts the magnetic fields nearest to him in a strategic effort to get the southern captain off his expert balance.

Unfortunately, it does little to disrupt him.

Olsson punches out with a blast of pure power, creating a searing barrier of colorful dancing flames that effectively repels Ansil’s efforts.

I have to resist the urge to flinch when Olsson then goes on the attack.

He steps forward with a whip of energy, which Ansil narrowly manages to dodge beneath.

Another two movements are made with punches of equally brilliant flame, and Captain Tetsuo begins hurtling discs of his own condensed magnetic power back in an effort to both block and attack.

Agni burns each one away with maddening ease, chuckling darkly as he does. I find that watching him fight gives me the same tense feeling deep in my gut as watching the fire in Skelm’s hearth.

His affinity is so fluid, moving from one movement into the next in a seemingly endless display of power.

It looks as easy as breathing for him to control it.

He effortlessly incorporates his power into his already extremely deadly hand-to-hand combat style.

Meanwhile, it takes just about every ounce of strength I possess to keep a check on my own element and not allow it to run wild and violent as it desperately wishes.

It’s difficult to stifle my irritation while watching Agni toy with Captain Tetsuo.

It’s clear now that there was no real chance for the western captain in the first place.

For all his incredible power, Ansil is absolutely no match for Olsson.

A horrible part of me enjoys that—is relieved by that, if only so I feel better about not being the only captain he’s bested.

Their brawl comes to an end when Ansil, growing frustrated by Olsson’s outright arrogance, condenses one of his fields so tightly that familiar energy glimmers in the air.

I suck in a sharp breath as a thin line of electricity, different from Kerau’s but deadly all the same, flickers into existence.

Just as with the kelpie taming, I’m motionless as Captain Agni snatches it from the air between them.

A hand absently comes to rest around my throat as I’m struck dumb all over again by what I’m witnessing.

The way he grips another element with ownership and, in turn, the way the lightning eagerly writhes up and around his wrist like some sort of weaponized accessory—I've never seen anything like it.

Impossible .

Agni’s eyes are alight with cruel amusement as he raises his arm and aims a killing blow directly for Captain Tetsuo’s chest. I manage not to gasp with the rest of the crowded room of gambling raiders as the mood shifts into a darker realm of our nature, but my knees do become a bit unsteady.

Agni cocks his head toward Captain Tetsuo with an unspoken question.

Messy midnight hair falls across Agni’s brow in menacing waves. There’s barely even a drop of sweat anywhere on him. Captain Tetsuo’s handsome face blanches, and after a beat he nods, putting up both hands in undeniable surrender.

Yet Agni still doesn’t lower his hand, writhing with that malignant power. Instead, his gaze slides out across the throng of packed bodies until it finds its intended target.

Me .

A knot of nausea forms in the pit of my stomach as his lips curl into a taunting sneer. The deadly power around his wrist flashes against the scar marrying his exquisite face in a threatening pulsing light. It's a sharp reminder of what he is and what cruelty he's capable of bestowing.

I hold his gaze with my jaw set and try to tamp down on the newly pounding rhythm working its way into my blood. His eyes flicker at my willfulness, while Captain Tetsuo remains frozen, his face losing color by the second.

From the look Agni shoots down to his second, I realize that he thinks this is funny. It’s a game to him, showing me the strength and depth of his affinity’s cruel brutality. Aiming a sure-fire death blow at a boy whose only crime is being nice to me. Kind to a lowly, worthless, squid .

When he twitches his lips as if to laugh before lowering his weaponized hand, I know he does this just because he can. Asshole.

“What a sadistic little prince,” Herse mutters, having crept up to join us without my notice. I silently nod in agreement, struggling to control my restless element .

Agni gives a finely practiced sneer to Captain Tetsuo before jumping from the platform and rejoining his pack of wild mongrels below. They all begin chanting his name, like some long-lost god.

The sadistic prince and his vicious pack of mongrels.