Page 46 of Death’s Kiss (The Order of the Tide Raiders #1)

I break away from Kerau’s lips with a murderous scowl aimed at Captain Agni’s bemused and intruding form.

He looks as smug as if he’d just walked into the damn Vault while watching us peel apart from each other. There’s a wicked shine to the southern captain’s eyes that tells me more than enough about what he’s witnessed. I’m not entirely sure why but something curdles in my stomach at his expression.

“What do you want ?” I snap as Kerau quickly slides me off his lap.

Agni’s gaze finds mine and a shit-eating grin tugs on the side of his mouth. “I was given a message from TideLord Raimbaut for his—ah— captain .” He says the title as if it means something more like servant.

Those darkened eyes brim with cruel amusement while watching Captain Tharos stand to straighten himself and my face reddens involuntarily. His hair is a touch tousled and his lips are more than a bit swollen but his expression doesn’t come off ruffled in the slightest .

Kerau frowns incrementally as he takes in the dark form lingering in the garland doorway.

Captain Agni’s head cocks to one side and I glimpse that abnormal gleam again in his gaze from beneath the light of his skewed halo.

The one that makes it plain he’s indulged in a little more than just wine tonight.

There’s an unforgiving cut to his sharpened features, a cruelness hidden in plain sight as he stares down Kerau.

"Well, go on then. What’s the message?” Kerau asks, his voice a deep challenge.

The corners of Agni’s upper lips twitch, like he might actually dare to laugh in the face of TideLord’s captain.

I feel the way in which Kerau’s mood shifts.

Tension begins building in the small space like a storm rolling in from the coastline.

That jewel-encrusted hilt of his weapon glitters menacingly from his side while stepping closer to the exit.

If Agni feels the charged warning in the air, he doesn't let on. The southern captain merely shrugs in nonchalance. “How would I know? I’m not your messenger boy, Tharos .”

I blink once in surprise that he already knows Kerau’s name. Although I suppose I really shouldn’t be, any captain worth their salt would gain immediate intel on any and all new threats. Especially one so incredibly rare and obvious as another elemental.

“ Captain Tharos,” Kerau corrects Agni pointedly.

"Yes, well, Captain Tharos. I’ve completed my task. Now you can stay and play with your little pet here or you can go fetch your master like the good dog I’m sure you are,” Agni drones airily, ignoring the violent energy thickening around us entirely.

Kerau glances back to where I remain seated after having been removed from his lap. There's a hesitant deliberation in his eyes, so I motion with my head for him to go on. His presence here tonight was more than enough. I never intended to distract or draw him away from his duties .

Kerau rocks back on his heels before reaching into his uniform's inside breast pocket. “In case I don’t get to see you again before leaving,” he explains before tossing me the epistle bottle.

I catch it with a small grimace and nod in understanding. Kerau gives me one last pained look. “I’ll write to you, I promise. Good luck, Merena—and I’m—I’m sorry,” is all he manages to leave me with before quickly exiting the small room to find his TideLord.

I feel like a sail that’s suddenly lost all its wind.

To go from such a grand high to a swift dropping low—it has the effect of raising my temper and darkening my mood. I’m trembling with barely contained aggravation while doing my best to brush out my hair with my fingers. Then I gather myself and head for the exit.

Captain Agni takes a step in front of me, effectively blocking me from my path out.

That’s all it takes to send me over the edge.

“Are you directionally challenged now, Agni? Get out of my way,” I demand. The frigid edge to my voice is damn near fatal.

This evening is too volatile for me to be interested in staying much longer. My highly irritated thoughts are mixing terribly with the liquor that’s decided now is the time to make itself more prominent. The tortuous phantom feeling of Kerau’s lips on mine also does nothing to help.

Agni sneers while looking down his perfectly straight nose at me before actually having the audacity to snap, “That’s the thanks I get?”

“ Thanks ?” I echo him in disbelief.

“You’re welcome,” he quips, a capricious grin now eclipsing his features. My nails begin digging themselves into a palm in order to stop myself from grabbing the blade strapped to my thigh.

“Just what exactly do you imagine I would ever have to thank you for?” I manage to grit out .

His attention skips lazily to the halo still miraculously atop my head and his hand stretches out as if to touch it. I smack his attempt away angrily. He chuckles darkly in response to my obvious hatred while still acting as a solid wall between me and my escape route.

“I would have assumed your honorable little captain already made you well aware of the risks in associating with him tonight. Did he not ?” Agni inquires, feigning shock.

The stark contrast between my previous interaction with the southern prick and the one currently developing leaves me feeling dizzy. I can’t keep track of his mood swings nor do I have the patience left to decipher his senseless taunts.

My chin lifts. “Just get out of my way.”

Agni does no such thing. On the contrary, he proceeds to take a step closer.

It’s a small step but the room is tiny enough that it has my hand finding the comforting feel of a hilt at last. In a blur of movement, the end of my blade, once strapped to my thigh, now angles itself perilously close to his neck's primary artery.

He glances down at that razor-sharp edge before returning to me.

Agni’s responding smile is slow, like the last dying rays of the sun just before it slips beneath the cover of night. “You’re going to regret doing that,” he hums, eyes flashing.

I press the blade until it lies tightly enough against his skin to cut with any sudden movement. “I don’t think I am,” I counter. My head feels lighter with both wine and power wreaking havoc on my blood.

I am sick of him. Sick of his constant thwarting and ceaseless riling that has only increased exponentially these last few weeks. I’m sick of how he speaks to me. Sick of how he bests me. Most of all, I am sick of seeing his face every time I close my eyes.

“Then you do know the bylaws?” Agni challenges with a lifted brow.

I’m silent for a beat and he ‘tsks’. The motion causes his neck to slice on the blade but he doesn’t so much as blink.

“Should any of the TideLords happen to have stumbled upon your little mingling in here—” Agni smirks so darkly at his choice of words that I start seeing red.

“Well, that would have cost you your trip to The Vault.”

“What are you talking about?” I snap. There's a prickling along my scalp, and a rioting sensation is developing near my gut. A droplet of crimson rolls from his cut down onto my weapon still intent at his throat.

“Did wonder boy back there seriously not even mention the rules you’d be breaking before swallowing your tongue?

” Agni shakes his head distastefully while satisfaction gleams in his eyes.

“No fraternizing with any raider belonging to a TideLord until after the completion of all pillar trials. Can’t have them giving you any unfair advantages in the tasks. ”

Sadistic pleasure practically radiates off of him in the face of my silence, further confirming that he's telling the truth. My hands suddenly become numb. I drop the blade between us and take a dazed step backwards.

No.

No .

The thought of being disqualified for a law I haven't ever heard of sounds just as cruel as it is likely. That’s life in The Order—nothing is fair. Get over it .

My breathing starts coming in and out too rapidly but I just can’t seem to stop it. All I can think about is how I’ve just cost my crew their futures. They all chose me—they all relied on me. They believed in a worthless, unwanted child—a castaway. And I’ve failed them.

No .

"Oh, don’t get so riled, little bastard . I don’t have intentions of ratting you out.”

I stop hyperventilating just long enough to lift my head and eye him dubiously.

Captain Agni’s laugh is devoid of all mirth as he inches another step closer. “After all, where would be the fun in that?”

I subconsciously move backwards in response to his approaching form and my shoulder blades hit the furniture wall. “Then what do you want, Agni ?” I hurl his name like the obscenity it is .

The sound of rushing blood pounds heavy in my ears. He looks every bit like the insolent southern highborn that he is. I hate that.

I hate him .

“A trade,” Agni answers before snorting snidely at my look of wild confusion that follows. “Nothing of any tangible value, of course. I doubt anything you own is worth more than ten silvers. I’d like a trade in the form of truths, much more exciting.”

My cheeks reddened at his apt insult. “What in the depths are you talking about?”

The scents of citrus and saffron overpower what little is left of the space between us. A perfidious part of my brain begins recalling the hallucination from the tidepools, how my insides felt like they might combust with his touch, and how his lips tasted of spice.

I quickly strangle that part of my brain into submission.

“Five questions of my choosing, whenever I decide to ask them and in which you will answer truthfully,” he explains, holding up an open hand and waving all five fingers in emphasis. “And I’ll know if you're lying.”

“Why would you want that? Five measly questions—when you could just have me thrown from the trials altogether?” I don’t understand whatever game it is he’s playing.