Page 82 of Death’s Kiss (The Order of the Tide Raiders #1)

A sound I can only guess would compare to some sort of volcanic eruption shakes the grotto.

It has the effect of ripping the south captain and myself out of the mania of our own creation. Reality comes barreling down on me with the force of a thousand suns.

I bolt upright in alarm, just as Agni rolls off me with effortless fluidity. My breathing is embarrassingly winded while scrambling to my feet. I snatch my fallen hair piece and quickly readjust myself as the ground and ceiling stop their troubling shaking.

Avoiding the sight of Agni’s face altogether I stride for the knocked over shell-basin a few feet away and scoop up the two gemstones now free from their poison prison. My gaze then turns to the black waters where I find a new pathway to the opposite shore was erected while we were... distracted .

I can feel his eyes tracking me, hot as coals.

Glancing backwards at last, I expect to find Agni’s expression smug and insufferable.

I instead discover the same emotions of shock and alarm guttering inside his gaze that are filling me near to bursting.

His reddened lips are swollen and already slightly bruised, while his midnight hair looks more disheveled than I’ve ever seen.

The image has a frighteningly intense effect on me.

For a moment we just stare at each other. Our eyes roving over the ravage we’ve done to one another in a manner of minutes. I feel infinitesimally better to note that his chest also heaves with recovering breaths.

There’s a split second in which his eyes flash down to my lips, which feel just as enticingly tender as his own appear, then back to my face fixedly. His posture shifts fractionally in my direction. It looks for a heartbeat like he’s about to damn us both and finish what was started.

A shrill shout from somewhere out beyond the dark grotto splinters whatever remaining trance existed between us. We both flinch at the unanticipated noise and hurry for the exit without another word.

I pop the first crystal into its spot on the wall but pause before inserting the second. Turning to look at the south captain, I find his face as remote and emotionless as I’ve ever seen. It makes an unreasonable part of me instantly angry and my next words come out colder than necessary.

“That concludes our od. We’re done now.”

Agni blinks down at me, his brows raising ever so slightly. “Obviously.”

His condescending drawl has me balling my hands into fists to keep from drawing a weapon. Which, technically, I could, and there would be no repercussions for it. The od is done. There’s nothing binding us. I could pull a knife on him right now.

I could eliminate our biggest competition before even setting foot in the heart.

“Thinking about slitting my throat now, little bastard ?” Agni sneers, his tone bitter.

I flinch, glancing down to find a hilt already in my hand with no memory of even grabbing for it. Terrible heat licks up my neck. “It crossed my mind,” I answer honestly, meeting his gaze again after sliding the knife back at my waist .

Murderous intensity blazes from the depths of his stare but I refuse to step down, my chin lifts incrementally. Familiar annoyance flickers in his features before he reaches out and roughly swipes the gemstone from my hand. The slight evokes from me an angry snarl of offense.

An overreaction.

Probably.

Agni chuckles, infuriating me even more, and shoves the second crystal into place.

Both stones glow before the arch gives way and swings outwards like a proper door. Agni, being the full-time prick that he is, cuts me off and steps through the exit first. Biting down on the inside of my cheek, I follow after him while a feeling like rage ripples off my bones.

Each of his normally vexing, but overall small jabs, are now a hundred times more provoking. I feel aggravatingly raw. From my still-restrained affinity to my physical being.

The space we emerge into is sheltered by the same fossilized stone as before, but we’re no longer secluded by narrow tunnels.

Instead, the area is massive, several saltwater rivers weave back and forth throughout.

Every one of them leads to a different exit path, a different route to the heart.

Caverns open here and there like great big mouths and each waterway is wide enough for a speeder to make it through.

Port Capillary.

A thrill runs through me at the sight of it.

I made it. I actually made it to the third checkpoint leading to the last gate before the heart and The Vault just beyond. Which means—my eyes narrow and I scan the mouth-like openings for any sign of my crew. From the corner of my eye, I catch sight of Captain Agni doing the same.

We lifted our side of the gate, so long as our crews found their corresponding entrances they should be here any—as if on cue, the ground begins trembling beneath my feet .

My head turns and I find amber eyes already on me. The sound of rushing water and multiple different octaves of shouting explode into the luminous port, severing our eye contact.

Two moonlighters rush in from parallel cavities, bringing with them a swell of water and loud hostile voices.

Excitement and worry fight for dominance as I spot my crew, their tythe-tokens shining like literal beacons in the dim cavern.

Excitement takes hold as I count and then recount seven whole and able bodies in total.

Worry steals back purchase as I realize the two speeders are shouting at each other. Kleio’s affinity can be seen glittering in just the right light as it wraps protectively around our craft. Which is good, because the southern speeder has since pulled seven metal-tipped crossbows on my vessel.

A deep chuckle echoes from a jackass nearby.

The sound floods me with an overwhelming sense of rage. I move for the outskirts of our ledge to get the attention of my crew when a hand of solid iron halts me with a grip around my wrist.

“ What? ” I spit, twisting up to face Agni in a sudden burst of rage. Blood heats my cheeks, and I internally begin strangling the rousing feelings that this very specific touch from him now forever holds over me.

The crook of his mouth pulls upwards in obvious amusement at my venomous demeanor. My hand twitches as I think again about backhanding his overly conceited face.

“Tell your pack of mongrels to drop their weapons,” I snap.

Agni frowns, brows-furrowing, shaking his head in mock disappointment. “Now just what sort of parley do you expect to broker here with me using such a viscous attitude as that, Boreas?”

Tearing my wrist from his grasp, I snarl, “ Parley ? This isn’t a negotiation you prick. Order them to back off of my crew— now .”

His eyes blaze, it’s clear just how much he abhors my audacity in giving him a direct command. The offense in our gap of societal status is plain in his jaw clenching dangerously tight and my lip curls up high in disgust.

The shouting from beyond heightens further, taking my exceedingly shortened temper with it.

Huffing out in frustration, I shove past him forcefully and stalk for the edge of our outcropping.

I just barely make it to the lip I’m aiming for when Agni captures another wrist and harshly spins me around to face him. But this time my reflexes are quicker.

My free hand pulls out the blade strapped to my opposite thigh, and with one deft movement, the sharpened tip rests beneath his jaw. Surprise flares bright in his eyes and I laugh, which has the effect of darkening them.

“Let me go and call off your dogs,” I hiss, enjoying his irritation at my swift maneuvering immensely. “In exchange, I won’t shove this pointy bit of metal through your pretty highborn skull.”

He gives me a blink of annoyance before slowly widening his eyes at something high above my head with a low gasp. Like a fucking idiot I fall for it and loosen my leverage. He tightens the grip on my wrist, yanking downward before kicking my shin— hard .

I bark out a string of outraged curses while he uses the momentary distraction to dislodge the blade from my grip. He grabs my other wrist in his opposite hand. Pulling me closer to his chest, I violently deny the shiver that beckons.

“ Merena ?—MERENA!” Kleio shouts from somewhere behind me, her voice echoed by the others. Their chorus of excited shouts sounds like home.

“Captain—hey! There you— oh ,” Vagar starts calling towards Agni but gets cut off by his own obnoxiously loud barking laugh and promptly switches to their southern tongue. “ Paenitet, sumusne interpellatione aliquid? ”

Their captain before me stills. His eyes leave my face to flit to someone, or rather multiple someone's , behind me. I watch as a cocky smirk eclipses his features, and he flashes his brows in the direction of what I assume to be his approaching crew .

“ Iustus paulum negotium. ” Agni calls back to his second, pulling me close enough that my forearms press parallel to his chest. I begin shoving away from his grip, yet he holds firm, so I seethe up with indignation as close as I can get in his stupid fucking face.

Unfortunately for me, he seems to thoroughly enjoy that.

“ Quid negoti? Genus ubi illa terminus sursum nudus in lecto tuo ?” Vagar shouts, sounding closer now.

Whatever his second in command said was suggestive in some way. The howls of jeering laughter from his crew could tell me that alone but it’s also evident in the heat of Agni’s eyes and the amusement on his lips as I continue struggling in his grasp.

I am surprised, however, by the sharpness in Agni’s retort. “ Nonne iam dixi tibi non loqui de puella? ”

“ Technice vos dixit nobis non loqui puellae directe. ” A new voice chimes in. This one I recognize as belonging to Captain Agni's third-in-command, Adiram Uthra.

Vagar’s next comment is clearly taunting. “ Ea satis peritissimus gestatio equitatio lunalevius, ego bet illa posset accipere te ad somnum per noctem enim semel et det manum tuam quietem. ”