Page 97 of Death’s Kiss (The Order of the Tide Raiders #1)

D eath’s Kiss has proven itself to be just as incredible on the inside as it is on the outside. Which really is saying something.

My crew and I take our sweet time carefully walking through to inspect each and every inch of the stunning vessel. We soon discover that nearly every bit of it is even better than the last.

First and foremost, there’s a very impressive war room.

It holds a long, sleek, black oval table set with leather-bound chairs.

Perfect for us to debate around. Maps of every sort plaster the walls, while stone shelves line the entire backside.

The shelves themselves are chock-full of scrolls and epistle bottles and numerous other devices I’ve only ever seen while used in Beldham’s lectures.

There's a proper sickbay, stocked with just about every kind of medicinal supply you can think of.

Which is very good news for me . Strangely though, one of the cabinets contained some extraordinarily rare poisons and antidotes.

I even found a rather large jar of kratosbane while poking around.

Davina actually blacked out for a minute at the sight of it all. Greer had to jumpstart her back up.

Another trick her affinity is evidently capable of .

We strolled next through the fully-stocked kitchen and up onto the perfectly polished decks. I was then blessed with witnessing and touching the most incredible helm I’ve ever seen in my entire life. I also began to black out a bit and had to take a break before continuing any further.

Kleio and I paused while inspecting the ship masts to exchange twinning delinquent grins. The main mast holds a very large, wide netted, crows-nest atop it. Big enough for eight raiders to sprawl out and look up at the stars, while very likely also getting a little drunk.

Later, we moved back inside the beautiful beast to explore. Down past the shared areas and spaces, we found that each one of us has our very own room and ensuite. This is when the sobbing began, to my wide-eyed alarm.

My seven explained, through their new-found love of tears, that the ship implausibly somehow knew exactly who my crew would be. Their bedrooms have been created specifically with them in mind, precisely to their individual taste.

However, that’s not exactly the reason behind such startling sobs. Those would be due to small trinkets of happy reminders and cherished things from their previous lives filling each room. It was like a way for them to return to an unreturnable home.

Kleio tells me her bed is the exact same bed she had in the Oyster Court. She claims that it even somehow smells the same. My second in command then bawled in it for about an hour after finding a small locket tucked inside her bedside table.

Again, I was alarmed by the unexpected floodgate unlocked. She explained through shuddering breaths that the necklace had belonged to her deceased mother. It was the same one that was lost to the sea after her death when Kleio was quite young.

I laid silently beside her, squeezing her hand tight in mine to help ease the tidal wave of despair. Finally, once everyone is all cried out, we go to find my room. To my outright horror.

I make it not more than three steps inside before freezing entirely. “ My fucking gods —you have got to be joking,” I mutter angrily beneath my breath.

Kleio nearly chokes on her surprise after having eagerly followed inside the room right on my heels. Herse strolls in behind her and immediately breaks out into a round of disbelieving laughter.

The rest of my crew similarly follow as they each curiously file on inside to get a glimpse of their stone-cold-bitch, calculating, deviant little nightmare of a captain’s new quarters.

The room is, as I have very recently remembered, basically just the grown-up version of my childhood bedchambers from wherever it is that I once upon a time called ‘home’.

Front and center sprawls a ridiculously large bed that is rather obnoxiously shaped like a real open clamshell.

It’s heaped with plush pillows and wrapped in silken sheets of pale lilac.

The walls reflect a deep velvety shade of periwinkle, the flooring a soft glittering cream, while the ceiling is completely translucent to reveal the sky above. I spot along the left wall a thin pair of stained glass doors that I would guess lead out into a tiny veranda.

In one corner rests a large, also newly-remembered, vanity. It’s a veritable treasure trove of glittering powders and liquids, delicate perfume bottles, and polished brushes. The hulking thing is made over the top with its equally large heart-shaped mirror.

I hold my deeply blushing head in my hands in complete and total embarrassment as my crew curiously checks out my new digs. Each of them has very mischievous grins on their previously tear-stained faces. Once again, I am the rock between all storms. A very-humiliated one at that.

"Merena, this is like a sexy-princess bedroom,” Kleio claims, breaking the silence at last. Her expression is much too goading while watching my reaction.

“No —it isn’t! ” I snap defensively, to which Kleio snickers.

But after taking another look around, one of my hands cups my parted mouth while coming to terms with a truly horrifying realization. That is exactly what this fucking room looks like. This, of course, only incenses my crew’s teasing.

Where are the weapons? The books ?

The desk with which to plot our futures and quite possibly Agni’s murder?

The very worst part is that I secretly kind of actually really love the room. Impractical as it is.

“Oh yeah, ‘Cap? What are these then?” Herse asks, having found a chest of drawers overflowing with clothes. I look back towards my third, only to find her brazenly holding up an extremely racy set of black lace undergarments that I wouldn’t have the faintest idea how to get into.

“ My gods, ” I curse aloud.

A hand comes to pinch the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger in complete and utter mortification. I doubt my face has been redder in all my life. That causes Kleio to erupt into a fit of laughter that is dutifully followed by the rest.

This is practically mutiny.

“This whole thing is full of them!” Herse announces to the room of females now determined to get beneath my skin. Their laughter becomes increasingly higher in direct correlation to the depth of my blush. Incorrigible godsdamned idiots. The whole lot of them.

“Well then, LeRoi, I think you should take some,” I retort sharply before glancing at Kleio with a small grin. “I get the feeling Raider Ophios would actually commit treason if it meant he could see you in one. Think it might be worth adding to our list of potential strategies, Hiraeth?”

Herse turns an uncharacteristic shade of pink.

"Oh, without a doubt,” Kleio quips, instantly on board with my taunting. “With how eager Vagar was to take you up on your offer to kiss him, I think it might make our top five. If we’re ever in need of distracting those morons again, rest assured you will be the first to know.”

My third goes back on the offense and looks to me with accusing violet eyes. “ You were the one making out with their captain during the second checkpoint!”

My face fills with heat once more but there's now a new mixture of terribly confusing feelings tied to that damning kiss. Too much has changed knowing that piece of our past history for me to know what’s real between us and what’s not. So, for the sake of my crew, I’ll have to assume the worst.

"Well, that will not be happening again,” I state, my voice a touch cold.

It’s evidently cold enough. My second and third look at each other in silent conversation. The others' expressions rapidly turn into ones of uneasy surprise. “What did he do ?” Kleio demands after a moment, venom thick in her voice.

I swallow while trying to figure out the right words needed to properly walk them through the world-shattering revelations I'd endured while inside The Vault. My past is not something I wish to disclose or explore but if anyone deserves the painful truth, it's my tythed crew.

Taking a deep breath, I start to explain, “When Agni and I went into The Vault, I found out—” But something unexplainable cuts me off.

Time itself seems to stop for a moment.

The world around me begins humming with the very same peculiar otherworldly energy. A sensation of chills overcomes my body. It feels as though I've just put one foot in the past while one remains firmly in the present.

A heinous yet beautiful voice slithers out from everywhere and nowhere to reach my ears.

“One soul fated to remember what the world forgot. Only with them may you speak of what was not.”

The blood pumping through my veins begins to slow into a sluggish sort of rhythm. Those words are ones I’m sure I’ve never heard before and yet all the same ring some sort of long-forgotten bell.

They unmistakably belong to a prophecy.

Or more accurately, they're unmistakably a line from what is likely a much longer prophecy. I have no reasonable notion as to why, but once the thought crosses through my mind, I know it to be true. Just as quickly, the energy is mysteriously gone .

Time starts back up.

Once again, I alone appear to have experienced the unexplainable.

I try finishing the sentence I’d begun in explanation only to find that I quite literally cannot. The muscles in my jaw refuse to move, my vocal cords are unwilling to work, even my mouth can no longer part. A hand comes to rest against my throat just to verify it's still there.

Kleio’s gaze on me becomes concerned.

So Agni really and truly was telling me the truth in that he couldn’t physically speak about our past. I’d guess since that little impossibility is true, then this evidently means I’m unable to speak with my crew about those newly revealed memories regarding my previous life.

But why ?

What kind of fresh hell is this?

Swallowing down the past, I instead state the facts at present. “Captain Agni is more cunning and calculating than I’d previously given him credit for. He’s dangerous and I don’t trust him.”

The room is silent as my crew begins taking in this ominous analysis.

“I knew it,” Herse mutters sharply to herself.

I can feel Kleio’s cautious eyes on me as I drift over to the wall at the back end of the room.

It’s hosting a large pair of previously unnoticed mahogany doors.

The carving on them is too detailed for me to think they belong to a mere closet.

Grabbing onto the ornate handles, I open slowly to reveal the perfect place in which to begin plotting our future course.

My captains office.

A breath catches in my throat while taking in the room. It’s three walls of dark-stained wood, all lined with shelves bursting with books. A decently sized rack of standard weapons takes up one corner, and the desk sitting before a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows is sterling, grand, and familiar .

It even smells like driftwood and mint leaves.

It’s an exact replica of my father’s office.

Just littler .