Page 72 of Death’s Kiss (The Order of the Tide Raiders #1)
“ I ’m calling it—we’re fucking lost,” Prisca grumbles from the stern.
"No, we aren’t! ” Nephthys growls sharply, raising the piece of map we were afforded up to the dark sky above us and squinting.
It’s the single gift we were given from Beldham before our departure from the north’s cruiser.
A copy of the only written guide The Cardinal North Order has ever had, containing a vague direction of the kórallian labyrinth and its various checkpoint gates.
The walls of said luminous maze rise up around us, standing nearly as tall at the viewing colosseum.
The lack of noise surrounding us now compared to the deafening sounds of before is eerie.
It's unsettling to know that whatever happens within these walls, as well as the varying levels between here and The Vault, are our secrets alone.
There's no telling how this will change the actions of other crew members and their captains.
A craven part of me yearns for my power's protection .
I remain behind the wheel while Kleio directs from the bow. In such unforgivingly tight quarters as this, I'm still our best bet to win. At least until I’m forced to separate from them whenever we manage to find the first checkpoint.
We’ve been within the towering borders for ten minutes and I’ve never seen my crew more on edge.
Davina is still recovering from my piloting.
Nimra can’t manage to stay still for more than five seconds.
The twins act as though they might stab one another at any moment.
Greer has clammed up entirely. Herse appears to be mentally mapping out murders.
Meanwhile Kleio keeps glancing back at me every other minute with the same concern shining in her eyes since I swallowed that kratosbane.
It’s enough to send me right over the fucking brink.
“Sooooooo—” I start, having decided someone needs to break the budding tension. It results in catching Kleio’s eye and she turns towards me in question. “Are we going to discuss whatever tiff you and Vash Larceon are in?”
That appears to do the trick.
Herse starts grinning immediately from where she stands on the other side of the helm, my words having pulled her out of the moody murder plotting she was previously entrenched in.
“Oh yes, Mrs. Larceon, do tell,” she goads, coming nearer to the helm.
Kleio's face turns a brilliant pink while looking between us in annoyance. She opens her mouth to respond but my fourth’s voice replaces my second’s.
“Oh shit! ” Greer curses, coming out more like a shriek.
My head whips astern to see the reason for her profanity. Oh fuck . Only a few leagues behind us, another moonlighter is coming in hot.
“LeRoi—status report— now! ” I snap at Herse and begin picking up speed.
My third nods with a spyglass already pressed against her eyes. “Bearing one hundred and eighty degrees, range two hundred meters—gaining.”
“Colors?” I question before looking up at Kleio for passageway guidance.
Herse pauses and I risk a glance at her. Her jaw tightens beneath the sharp cut of her white-streaked onyx hair. “Crimson,” she finally answers .
I grind my teeth in annoyance. Of course .
“Which one?” I grit out while keeping my eyes securely on the deadly maze opening up bit by luminous bit before us.
“The one that tried to kill you,” she replies after a beat and my shoulders loosen in relief.
"Alright, then we’re going to lose them. Unless you’re dead set on murdering Captain Leporem before we’ve even found the first checkpoint?” I shoot an inquiring look in my third’s direction.
“No, it’s fine. I can do it later, I guess,” Herse grumbles before loosening a wistful sigh.
A low chuckle slips between my lips before I shout "Hold fast!
" to my crew over the newly stirring winds.
Pulling back harshly on the throttle, I make a sharp stomach-curdling turn into the next passage.
Curses and swears ring out from all directions as my crew is swung to one side of the small craft with my efforts.
“I said hold fast,” I mutter in response to their complaints. Davina, who by far has the least amount of open-water training, looks as though she really might vomit.
“They’re still trailing but they lost distance,” Greer reports and I bob my chin in understanding.
“Hiraeth—you never answered my question!” I call up chidingly to Kleio while sifting through possible maneuvers. Herse snickers her amusement in my direction and I shoot her a quick conspiratorial grin.
It always helps to have a bit of a distraction to keep me truly focused.
“ Now ? This is hardly the time!” Kleio snaps, her voice rising an octave while turning back in my direction and gesturing to the moonlighter still chasing us from a distance.
Sliding my helmsman visor up to meet her eyes, I shrug with a frown. “I mean, one could say this is the perfect time. Once we find the first checkpoint—who knows how long I’ll survive without my affinity?” I heave out a dramatic sigh, eyeing both my second and third pointedly .
"Alright, we didn’t mean what was said on the cruiser.
I wasn’t trying to claim that you literally couldn’t survive without your power,” Kleio clips in their defense while Herse snorts, her eyes studying the night sky.
“We were just angry with you for not even consulting us. It’s exhausting to watch you take every single blow on our behalf. ”
My thumbs drum back and forth along the wooden wheel in my grasp as I hum, “Captain’s duty is to the crew, no matter the cost. That’s the code.”
Neither one of them has a retort to that.
“Now circling back to my original question,” I say, rotating my index finger for effect. “Care to enlighten us on your relationship struggles? Might be the last chance you get,” I taunt my second with another grin.
“Captain, they’re gaining!” Greer warns and I slam back down the visor before picking up speed.
I know I’m easily a more skilled helmsman than Raider Bellum. If I can keep up our velocity high enough, then they can chase us round and round this portion of the maze until Nephthys finally figures out how the fuck to navigate.
"Yeah, come on, Hiraeth , I thought you were all about ‘total transparency’ now?” Herse teases Kleio above the sounds of churning water.
A bump of unexpected wake hits us then and everyone bounces nearly a foot in the air before more cursing is thrown about.
Kleio’s eyes flicker back and forth between Herse and me from where she kneels on one leg at the bow.
Those sepia irises hold that rare spark of anger and I fight hard to keep my lips flattened. I’m not very successful.
“You should talk, LeRoi—what was it you were up to in the pool chambers last week, huh ?” My second asks my third accusingly, her brows lifted in clear taunting question.
This was news to me.
My hands grip the wheel firmer as I glance over at Herse, who is also kneeling, keeping a tight hold of the iron railing. To my utter surprise, my third’s face darkens into a deep crimson. The coloring of that abnormal expression reaches all the way to the delicate tip of her sloped nose.
“We already went over this. It was nothing,” she growls out.
“Oh nothing?” Kleio’s eyes slide to mine with the same goading amusement that has led me into every previous scheme we’ve ever attempted. “So you were just down in the pool chambers with Vagar Ophios , alone. And that was, nothing?”
“The south order second?” I ask, barely stifling my gasp.
My eyes widen behind the tinted visor as I once again glance over at my third. Her violet gaze narrows into a look that says she’s contemplating tackling my second right then and there.
“It’s not what it sounds like!” Herse snaps sharply before her eyes turn themselves towards me with a beseeching shine. “He stole something of mine and I needed it back.”
“Uh— Captain ?” Greer asks, the tone in her voice the only reason I’m able to pull myself from the sparring match before me.
I huff a deeply agonized sigh at the sight of Captain Leporem pulling up from a nearby passageway and cutting in the space behind us. Shit , they must have found a shortcut.
“Mmmm, unfortunately I’m going to have to side with Hiraeth on this one. That doesn’t sound very transparent to me , LeRoi,” I chide Herse, just as a ‘thunk’ hits the stern.
“How’s it going back there?” I shout, risking a glance over a shoulder at my navigator.
Nephthys gives me a wide-eyed look of pure panic and I glimpse the end of an iron arrow lodged into the dark-stained deck. Captain Leporem's petite form, standing atop the front of their speeder with a crossbow in hand, tells me what I need to know.
I turn forward with a long, suffering sigh. “Maneuvering! ”
“I’ll be transparent when she is,” Herse snarks towards Kleio but her eyes are glued onto Corvina’s smirking form.
Kleio shakes her head in exasperation. “Okay fine. We broke up.”
My brows reach for the sky and I look over to see a mirrored expression of surprise on Herse’s face. Narrowly sliding into the nearest open passage, my focus is split between the speeding walls of amethyst and the bomb that Kleio just dropped.
“You— what ?” Greer sputters as she joins the conversation, coming to crouch by Herse.
Kleio gives a curt nod, and a sadness I hadn't previously detected crosses her gaze briefly.
"Ohhh, I am going to fucking kill him.” My hands tighten on the helm while increasing speed in small increments, and my mouth forms a dark scowl.
“You know—the more I think about it—it’s honestly better that I don’t have access to my affinity.
It’ll make it that much more satisfying when I gut him with my bare hands. ”
“Merena, do not murder Vash.” Kleio gives me a firm look, the whipping winds continue pulling at her uniform braids.
“Come on , just a little bit?” I whine in return.
My second shakes her head tersely once more.