Page 88 of Death’s Kiss (The Order of the Tide Raiders #1)
I follow that light, which I've begun to find quite trustworthy, and pick my way as quickly as I can through the sandy-floored passageways.
It jumps from tunnel to tunnel, winding me around bend after curving bend. The light seems impatient now. I have to run to catch up with it as it begins disappearing with alarming swiftness.
I don’t slow in pace until the shimmer of something gold catches my attention from the very end of the next tunnel. Pausing, my heart skips about five beats.
This cannot be possible.
The light has guided me somehow, impossibly, around the heart’s mooring and directly to The Vault itself. My returning pulse is a wild thing in my ears. The small flicker of aurelian color at the other end of the long passageway brightens and begins to shine victoriously before me.
I know now for certain that gold is my favorite color.
My steps become even quicker and my gaze even sharper as that golden glimmer widens and widens and widens until finally revealing itself to be a monstrously large, resplendently aureate temple.
Said temple is elevated on a raised platform, only to be reached by a steep staircase.
My jaw drops in wonder as I gaze up at the massive columns shadowing the view of those doors.
I’ve found it.
Before I know it, I’m sprinting up those stairs, taking them two at a time.
My feet are desperate to carry me to the gilded, larger-than-life doors, as fast as they possibly can. There's a hulking roof protruding out from above those dominating columns, which acts as a sort of protective awning. Shadows gather beneath it and grow darker with every stride.
What might just be a hundred footfalls later, I finally reach the very intricately carved archway of promise. The Vault’s sacred entrance shines down on me as the veritable vision of our futures. Something even deeper than my caged affinity begins to stir inside.
My mouth parts in wonder while I stand there staring at the answer to each and every one of my childish prayers. It’s the golden beacon of my horribly depressing and very tortuous youth. I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a part of me that wants to fall to my knees in reverence.
Honestly, I might have done just that. But the scent of burning spices ensnares my senses.
Movement from the opposite end of the darkened temple catches my eye. I slide my gaze over to find a towering, formidable shadow, leaning arrogantly against one of those colossal pillars.
A shadow with eyes that burn like real fire.
Shit .
A breath catches in my throat as the shadow flicks away it's smoking roll of spice before leaving that darkened corner to become a man.
Captain Agni strides out into the starlight beneath The Vault's shimmering gates, looking sickeningly handsome.
A quick scan reveals not a scratch remains on him from our previous encounter.
He must have some sort of healer on his crew as well.
Yet another piece of his puzzle that I'm not sure I'll ever be able to make any sense of .
His eyes burn brighter than ever. They’re almost terrifying in their intensity while scouring my person assessingly. After a moment, the fire in them eases a touch. Yet there’s something off about his countenance. He looks tightly wound, anxious, worried even.
“Where the hell have you been?” Agni snaps angrily.
His captain’s ring burns a bright hole in the pocket of my uniform. I fight back my own amusement when remembering just how absolutely enraged he’s probably been having to stand here and wait for me to arrive for the gods know how long.
“Wouldn’t you like to know, loverboy ?" I mock to push him further.
He scowls deeply, and I find there’s a newly intense deliberation in his gaze as he stares at me in swift evaluation. “Why are you wet? Where have you actually been?”
I snort at his outward peevishness before putting a hand on my hip with a casual shrug. "Oh, you know, just off kissing another captain in order to save their life.”
His eyes flicker before darkening in typical annoyance. “Very funny.”
I smirk before taking a step towards the harrowing male. “I’m not joking.”
His shrewd amber eyes study my face and almost abruptly turn outright obsidian when he reads the fact that I am actually telling him the truth.
That’s… interesting .
“So you just out here brooding again? Or— oh no— don’t tell me that you’re going soft on me now since that kiss, Agni. Have you been here waiting for me? Pinning away this entire time.”
Agni’s lips turn up in a sneer before stating very evenly, “You have something of mine, Boreas. You know that I need it back, and I’d prefer it if I didn’t have to force it from you.”
I waste no time in drawing the short sword from where it’s sidled against my hips along with a few remaining knives. Captain Agni tracks the movement with a mask forged in indifference .
“Something of yours , you say?” I ask, giving him a tight frown of puzzlement and tapping my lower lip in that antagonizing way of his. My brows furrow in innocent confusion before lying straight to his face, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Agni still doesn’t draw a blade. Instead, the southern captain takes a single formidable step in my direction. It has me angling my weapon up higher in anticipation.
His voice drops down to a dark growl when warning me, “Come on, Boreas. Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.”
“Sorry,” I insist with a dubious shrug of my shoulders and shake of my head, not alluding to the nerves swelling up inside. “It honestly just doesn’t ring any bells.” The smirk that then creeps up and across my features is a touch devious and very intentionally provoking.
Captain Agni’s expression turns to one entrenched in endless aggravation.
The sound of a blade being released from his person at last rents the night air. My smirk holds firm while he raises one of his dual foreboding broadswords, even as an intense dread begins pooling down low inside at the sight of its fatal edge.
Yet again, I catch sight of that odd newfound deliberation in Agni’s gaze.
His amber eyes lock onto mine, and he hesitates for a single second before that daunting, tenebrous weapon of his comes crashing down on me with the force of a falling star. I gasp beneath the harsh impact, and my sword trembles while barely holding off his brazen strike.
Real fear begins pounding heavily inside my veins.
Luckily, adrenaline crashes into my system next, steadying my reflexes and sharpening my focus.
I dart to the side in an attempted feint maneuver, but Agni anticipates it.
He swings the broadsword in a wide arc, and it forces me to dance further away from the golden doors with a string of raider-worthy curses.
“I’ll admit your thieving skills are surprisingly quite impressive.” The corner of his mouth twitches once in amusement when I meet his stare. “However, I think we’re both aware you’re not a match for me when it comes to weapon or affinity play.”
I give him a look of angry affront and open my mouth to retort when he cuts me off coolly, “That was actually not a taunt Boreas. It’s a fact.
You lack nearly any sort of proper elemental training, and it shows.
The way you fight with a weapon versus with your affinity are two completely different styles when they should actually just be one. ”
Agni frowns, studying me again. “Now give me back my captain’s ring so I can leave you here in one piece.”
“Your arrogance should really be studied,” I retort through gritted teeth just before an opening presents itself. Lunging forward in a burst of speed, my blade grazes his exposed arm. It rips his uniform sleeve and draws a thin line of blood.
I laugh up at him in pointed mockery.
Agni rolls his eyes with the exasperated shake of his messy waves. “That proves nothing.”
My amusement is sadly short-lived, as his reaction reveals itself to be terribly swift and brutally effective.
It makes me wonder if, just maybe , that day in Oplon's class, he was actually going pretty easy on me.
The southern captain retaliates with an impossibly powerful blow of his blade against mine.
Its impact sends me stumbling several more steps away from the doors of promise.
“ See ,” Agni snaps sharply. After a moment, he adds in a more subdued and considering voice, “The best weapon suited to your elemental abilities is also most definitely not a short sword.”
A glance at his terribly beautiful face reveals his eyes have narrowed on my person in silent calculation. “Maybe something double-edged though, lightweight, good balance." With another troubling frown, he murmurs, “A xiphos might do."
I’m as bewildered by this interaction as our previous one. What was happening during everyone else’s night? They couldn't all possibly be undergoing such disconcerting experiences as I've been .
The gods must really be putting in some overtime here. Or perhaps there is some sort of order-wide psychotic break happening?
Or maybe— a strategic part of me wonders—have I somehow managed to unintentionally peel back yet another layer on Captain Agni? Is this strange new behavior just another glimpse behind the iron mask? Another slip-up on his true character?
More importantly— is this something I can use?
My jaw sets itself tight before taking advantage of his distracted attention as I aim a quick jab to his exposed flank. The southern captain deflects my attempt with awful proficiency before giving me a truly disappointed look.
“It’s like you're intentionally going against your own natural rhythm,” he berates me.
There’s no time for me to retort before Agni begins pressing the advantage. His strikes become relentless. I manage to parry one, then another, but he continues driving me back from the golden doors. It looks so effortless for him—so easy that he doesn't even break a sweat.
This was without his affinity.