Page 99 of Death’s Kiss (The Order of the Tide Raiders #1)

I can’t tell whether or not she fully buys it.

Climbing the stairs up to the highest black spire, I feel the joy seep right out of me step by step.

By the time I’m standing in front of the Grand Preceptor’s archway, I’m having to work through multiple waves of bitterness and rage. That inferno is indeed lit and the windows are in fact closed tight. For a moment, fear strikes me square in the chest.

But I remind myself that I am Brek inside.

I swear I can almost feel my father's presence when striding through that opening.

That impossible notion seems slightly more possible upon entering the room as I meet Skelm’s one remaining eye and watch as a flash of true fear shines back at me. The emotion is abruptly swallowed whole in the next blink but I know what I saw. I know for a fact that it was real.

Interesting.

My gaze slides over to two people I’m not expecting to be here witnessing a potential murder this morning.

Grand Regent Beldham and Raider Dornon stand before Grand Preceptor Skelm’s oaken desk and I get the sense I’ve interrupted some sort of private discussion between the three of them.

The former wears the hint of a prideful smile when looking my way, while the latter holds his typical air of boyish excitement.

All of this promptly disorients me.

“My presence was requested?” I question, hands coming to clasp behind my back .

“It was indeed Captain Boreas and let me say first off that I’m so sorry I didn’t get the chance to congratulate you in person,” Raider Dornon chirps, stepping my way with his large paw-like hand outstretched.

I lean forward and shake it firmly in surprise.

Dornon’s blue eyes shine with enthusiasm.

“Truly such a spectacular event from start to finish. To have our first ever castaway participate in the trials and win is nothing short of historical. Not to mention you’re a bastard-born in tow!

Really quite a phenomenal feat for someone such as yourself, I must say, all things considered. ”

I know he’s being complimentary but the wording makes it difficult to be gracious.

My expression remains carefully concealed behind a plastered smile while nodding in agreement. I catch sight of Skelm’s cat-like smirk from the corner of my eye and it riles up something more than my affinity. He’s heard the unintentional snub just as well as I.

“Well, do you want the honor of telling her?” Dornon asks, turning to glance at our Grand Preceptor.

My interest peaks while watching Skelm’s smug amusement wither away. Dornon takes the momentary silence as his answer and returns his attention to me before handing out a scroll.

Eyeing the odd boyish middle-aged raider once, I pluck the rolled papyrus from his hand before holding in a gasp at the sight of the royal triskelion seal. The three-wave symbol represents the bone and salt crown. My heart starts up with a painfully prominent rhythm in my ears.

Our pillar-trial officiant announces, “You have been called upon to join King Nereus’s second fleet.” He’s practically bouncing from shifting his weight heel to toe in excitement.

My mouth parts and for a moment I stand there stunned.

A captaincy under the Raider King was not something I’d ever dared hope for, no matter how far my career went. To be a captain in his fleet would put me just about one step down in authority from a TideLord within The Order. It would basically make me akin to a TideLord's Admiral.

“Another castaway first. Truly just remarkable,” Dornon comments before beginning to search around his person for something. “Ah, here we go. Your new captaincy ring,” he says cheerfully while handing over a small velvet box in that same color of sea-glass green.

The only thing not incredible about captaining under the crown; it’s not a choice.

When the Raider King calls you into his ranks, it isn’t an offer like with the TideLords. It’s a command. A small part of me is somewhat resistant to the idea, even though I’d be an idiot not to leap on this opportunity. A willful side I possess just instinctually refuses to bend to anyone.

I swallow down that instinct and instead take the box from his hand with a grateful smile.

Popping it open reveals a decently thick, golden signet ring.

The top depicts the three-wave triskelion symbol and inside each wave lies a small gemstone.

The left one holds a blue topaz and the right a crimson garnet, while the middle clutches onto a tiny pearl.

My rank and initials ‘C.M.B.’ are engraved right across the top, Captain Merena Boreas.

I slide it onto my right hand’s middle finger after moving my northern captaincy ring over to its newly rightful place, adorning my left. It’s beautiful and fits like a glove. My heart pounds even harder in the face of such an improbable achievement.

“Congratulations, Captain Boreas.” Grand Regent Beldham beams as she too comes to hold out her hand for me to shake. “Without a doubt the very finest the North has ever procured.”

I wonder if I imagine the pointed look she slides Raider Dornon’s way.

Skelm is the only one who keeps silent. I begin calculating what this little change in rank truly means .

“The details are all there in writing, of course but you and your crew will be expected to set sail by the morning. There will be several meetings to attend and orientations with your fleet before taking on your first assignment,” Dornon explains, running a hand through his thinning head of strawberry-blond hair.

“Unfortunately, I must get going. Grand Regent, would you mind accompanying me so we might continue our earlier discussion?”

Beldham nods curtly in agreement before briefly squeezing me on the shoulder. “I look forward to seeing you again, Captain Boreas. I’m certain we can expect nothing but great things in your career.” Her piercing cornflower eyes are bright with unabashed pride.

I give her a rare smile in turn and watch as they exit, leaving me alone with Skelm.

Twirling the still-sealed scroll between my fingers, I turn to look at the northern Grand Preceptor in a new light.

Once more, I feel the intangible presence of my father.

It’s as if he’s standing right behind me.

Fear slips through that single beady eye again before a shadow quickly chases it away.

Interesting .

For a moment, it’s silent. Skelm dons his perpetual frown and the skin around his golden eye-socket covering tightens as I refuse to look away from him. I refuse to avert my gaze in the proper way that he spent years beating and branding into me.

A smirk tugs onto my lips after another minute of this quiet stare down.

“I guess this now puts my authority above yours in the chain of command within The Order, doesn’t it?” I inquire, breaking another of his rules by being the first to speak.

It looks like it physically pains him to incline his head in agreement.

Tapping the scroll against one palm, my mouth purses slightly in thought while I slide on my father’s ‘Bastard King’ mask of glacial indifference before stepping towards his oaken desk. Skelm actually looks briefly inclined to take a step backwards but ultimately stands firm .

Placing both my palms flat on the desk, I give him a good, hard look.

“You should have killed me when you had the chance,” I say with a small chuckle, enjoying being the one to delight in his fear for once.

“I do expect I’ll have some reports regarding how this cardinal is run to bring up to the Overseers in the Driftwood Court.

I have to wonder how ‘within’ raider code everything is. Anything you’d like me to be aware of?”

At his lack of sound and movement, I smirk before adding, “Well, I suppose I’ll find out.”

Pushing off his desk, I turn to leave but stop short at the sight of his blazing inferno.

I realize now how uncomfortable he wanted to make me today before Raider Dornon. The lit hearth, the windows shut, even the short message to meet in his office. He knows all my tricks.

It floods me with my power's need for violence.

The same power he never allowed inside this hellish room while punishing me.

Coward.

Halting mid-stride, I turn to find the crystal bowl brimming with copper seeds along a shelf as the image of two little castaway boys comes to mind. I pull it from its perch in one swift movement and stride for his inferno. Then I fling the contents of the bowl into the raging fires.

Skelm finally finds his voice. “Boreas, I will have you—”

“ Captain Boreas,” I correct him in a voice seeping with every ounce of the defiance he thought he’d stolen from me. I pivot back to face him with a tight-lipped sneer.

My tormentor of eight long years finally blanches before me.

The next words to leave my lips sound like they come from another world.

“You can bet that I will be keeping very close tabs on the Cardinal North. If I hear one word about another raider being put through your personal punishments, you can rest assured that I will personally be dropping by for a check-in. I’ve got a feeling that your private use of kratosbane is not something that's been approved by the Overseers, is it?”

He looks like he’s debating whether or not to speak. I save him the trouble of deciding.

“Do not think for a single moment that I will feel even an ounce of pity watching you be fed to the sea.” I know he remembers those words because for the very first time, the Grand Preceptor avoids my eyes.

“Same goes for Bealu and Ersatz,” I warn him before shattering that empty crystal bowl by chucking it harshly into his inferno.

Without another word, I storm out of my own personal room in hell.

I could swear a deep, dark, bone-chilling laugh that could only belong to ‘The Bastard King’ follows me out in approval.