Page 77 of Death’s Kiss (The Order of the Tide Raiders #1)

“ Oh ? Then who is?” I ask in my best impression of the twin’s false innocence, batting eyelashes and all. There is true pleasure to be had in watching Agni’s demeanor darken so violently.

His jaw clenches tight before stating, “I am.”

Blinking once, I slowly allow my lips to curve upwards on the sides, in the way that I know makes most people want to hit me. “Uh-huh, sure you are,” I croon, revealing a deeply placating smile before giving him a light tap of my finger on his rock-solid chest.

Before he can retort, I turn back around and continue swaggering along the passage .

His rage is damn near radiating behind me. I tamp down on a grin while fighting to hold back laughter. I think I’m finally beginning to understand the enjoyment behind such mind games.

But of course, he is more practiced at them than I.

Agni's strides catch up to mine far too easily, for my liking. “I’ve been going about your last question all wrong, Boreas. It can be about anything I wish. No need to limit myself to something so dull as strategy, especially when I’ll be winning this thing regardless.”

Teeth hold my sharpened tongue in place.

It’s good to get his attention away from my crew. Good to get his mind running in any direction other than around things pertaining to them. I force myself to remember that fact.

“Besides, this was for my own personal entertainment in the first place. So I think I really ought to make sure it’s something I can savor for years to come,” Agni remarks as I pick up my pace and scowl when his stupidly long legs match my gate so arrogantly effortlessly.

"I think I should have you tell me something a little more intimate, Boreas. Something along the lines of—oh, I don’t know, how about what thoughts keep you up late at night? Better yet, what thoughts help you to—well, not keep you up. You know?”

The overt suggestion in his tone sets my teeth on edge. Kleio and the others will be getting a fucking earful later.

“I’m guessing that ‘ole wonder boy is still who sets your late-night sails?” Agni asks before flashing me a cruel wink. The withering glare I shoot him only encourages the prick further.

“Thought so.” He chuckles. “Do you think it’s his electrifying sense of duty or that large moral compass of his that really gets you going?”

“Is that your question?” I grit out .

“Hardly.” Agni scoffs. “Although I am curious as to how poor Tharos will ever get the chance to make you moan like that again after such a dishonorable deceit.” He tuts distastefully.

Halting mid-step, I turn to look up at Agni with an expression of pure, enraged, disbelief, and he throws me an overt leer in turn. My hand twitches around the pommel in my grasp.

"Oh, was I not supposed to have overheard that part? As you might recall, those tent panels were quite thin, Boreas, and I have to say you really were rather loud. Not that I’m complaining.

On the contrary, I enjoyed it immensely .

” The look in his eyes tells me he’s thoroughly delighting in every morsel of my humiliation.

Turning back to face the tunnel ahead, I focus on breathing to a count of four. To kill him now would mean breaking our od. It would mean losing my captaincy tied to it. Not to mention basically ruining the lives of everyone I love who just fucking tythed themselves to me.

Still, the allure is very much present.

As if sensing my internal dilemma and just unable to help himself, Agni whispers in a wicked voice that is far too near my ear, “Now here’s an idea, what if I asked you to tell me each of the sounds he gets you to make for him?

You’d have to show them to me, wouldn’t you?

A little vocal demonstration from you, Boreas, is something I would find very entertaining indeed. ”

Scents of cardamom and citrus caress over my shoulders and slip past my cheeks.

“Unless you would rather just choose your other very available option,” Agni muses to himself in that same richly intimate tone.

“In which case I expect I’ll just have to learn them all first hand.

It’s your choice, either way is a win-win for me.

I wonder how your dear Tharos would enjoy comparing notes with me on how best I find to make you c—”

Blindingly cold fury ensnares my system and I pivot on him. My hand shoves him into a wall and I deeply delight in the sound of his skull smacking hard against stone. Agni glares down at the raised blade's edge, angled squarely beneath his jugular, with a slightly dazed glint to his eyes.

The southern captain’s gaze recovers itself into one of deepest loathing when skipping over to where my hand forces him into the fossilized coral. He next turns those coal-black eyes on me. It’s honestly deplorable how the weight of his full murderous attention makes a part of me want to balk.

“Is this truly your method of getting a woman into your bed, Agni? Drive them to the point of loathing you so fucking much that they’re willing to do quite literally anything to be rid of you?” My mouth turns down with a look of deep disdain. “Your admirers will be devastated.”

“As if I’d ever actually have to try.” He snorts, looking away from me in disgust.

My jaw drops at the size of his ego.

“You are completely delusional if you actually believe that whatever females are miserable enough to find themselves beneath you aren’t either doing so for their own personal gain or fucking desperate, ” I hiss up at him.

I'm tempted right now to mention my latest little revelation about Corvina. Only a repulsive sense of honor prevents me from being the one to let him in on her newly revealed infatuation.

Agni’s hands slide down into the pockets of his pants with a lazy indifference that makes me irate.

This ability of his to slip between moods is unforgivably infuriating.

He glances upwards for a moment, appearing bored by both my scathing words and the blade close enough to send him back to Nawai with one wrong move.

Od or not, I’m dangerously enticed to do just that.

“I bet you don’t even bother pretending to try for their sake, do you?” I ask and he meets my gaze again in question.

“Although I’d wager that even if you did, no one in their right mind would ever believe the honeyed words from your lips were born from anything other than your own narcissism.

” I snort at the absurd idea, which further darkens his gaze.

“ It’s probably for the best that you don't bother putting in any effort. I’m positive it would only end in your own humiliation. ” My cutting words are cold as ice.

Agni’s lip curls while his eyes dance with obsidian fury. “If you really care to know, those who do come crawling to my bed are not under any illusions of the circumstances. I’m there for two things only, pleasure and release. No feelings need to be involved from either party.”

The way he looks at me makes it evident he finds my ideas of bedding disgraceful.

The laughter I emit is closer to a scoff. “Of course. No banter of any sort allowed either, I’m sure. Not that any of them would want to hear about your whiny little sacrificed life anyway.”

My eyes flit up and down his person in a way I know will fan those flames of his.

“Although I am curious,” I add, my deep tone a mockery of his own just before he hurls me an inquiry specifically designed to slide beneath my skin.

“When a woman is in fact desperate enough to look your way, do you just bend them right over without a word? Or do you put them on top and make them do all the physical work as well?”

“Care to join me in a demonstration?” Agni’s growl is soft and his eyes simmer with all too familiar loathing. I study them, waiting for their waver. His expression remains impressively unreadable but the mind game he’s playing at this round is terribly transparent.

"Right," I say slowly, measuring his expression while my chin rises, confidence spurring my demeaning tone. “Because I’m all of a sudden now supposed to actually believe that you would ever be caught dead doing anything of the sort with someone like me .” I’m sure to put enough emphasis to convey both my castaway and bastard status.

Agni is silent for a moment and my self-assurance grows bolder with every passing moment of his reserve. He presses his tongue against the inside of his lower lip, causing his chin to puff out a bit while his gaze searches my face in quiet evaluation.

“Are you actually willing to test that theory, Boreas?”

Adrenaline loosens my tongue. “I am, actually.”

Agni’s brows flash briefly and his look of blatant surprise reinforces my nerve.

“But here’s the thing,” I say sweetly. “I think you and I both know that, you’re bluffing .”

Irritation sears throughout his gaze and I make no attempt to reign in my rising satisfaction.

“All this bedroom talk of yours is just another one of your very poorly disguised attempts at getting in my head. It’s just the latest mind game you’ve found to play.

Another avenue to take beneath my skin. A ploy designed to force me into answering your stupid questions and ultimately aggravate me enough to distract me from The Vault entirely. ”

His face grows more and more unreadable with every word I say.

My smugness is nearly impossible to control while calling him out.

“We both know you have no intention of delivering, it’s a psychological warfare tactic.

There is no real ‘second’ option. It’s a shitty feint, Captain .

I sincerely hope for the sake of your crew’s lives that you’re not the one in charge of strategy. ”

“You’re quite certain of this, are you?” Agni’s words come out severely clipped.

Watching him is like watching those flames in Skelm’s quarters and finding I finally have the courage to spit at them.