Page 86

CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT

“ B eautiful. Perfect. Remarkable,” I growled and the man sucking my cock looked up hopefully as if the compliments were meant for him.

Which of course they weren’t. I had my gaze fixed on the real champion in the room.

The man with the sun-kissed skin, the tight definition of muscles and those chiselled features that had been sculpted by the hands of Scorpio himself. Me.

The gilt mirror in the ship’s cabin hung on the wall, giving me a perfect view of myself as the cook ran his tongue up and down my shaft and tried to undo me.

But it wasn’t him I came for, my eyes were on that specimen of perfection in the mirror as I gripped his hair, thrust my cock deep down his throat and groaned my finish.

He swallowed and rose to his feet, looking me up and down hopefully, desire blazing in his eyes. He gripped his own cock through his britches and stepped closer.

“Maybe later, if I’m feeling generous,” I said, knocking past him and walking into the bathing chamber.

“Asshole,” he called after me and I smirked.

“That’s your favourite thing about me,” I called back and his laughter filled the cabin before the door sounded him leaving.

There was a wide grate in the wall beyond the toilet and I stood next to it, dousing myself with water cast by my own hand and washing until I was crisp and clean, letting the suds fall away out of the grate into the ocean.

When I’d returned to Cascada after my graduation, I’d been greeted by a celebration in Castelorain that had been organised by Father. It had been a night of drinking and debauchery, but it hadn’t been easy sailing since.

Father had assigned me to his battalion, along with a host of conscripts from all across Cascada who had made an impression at Never Keep. I was part of the finest crew, and I was the finest part of them.

I was yet to fight in a real battle though, but Father promised one soon. He’d received some news just last night and had roused his entire battalion on the cusp of dawn to sail beyond the shores of Cascada.

I’d received word from the cook that he required our presence up on deck in thirty minutes time, which had given me enough time to fuck his pretty mouth.

I’d had him every night since I’d boarded the Ivory Mare.

The first night he’d brought me a late night meal and found me naked in my chamber.

I’d let him look, then I’d let him make a fool of trying to flirt with me until eventually I’d had him begging on his knees for me to fuck him raw.

Which I did until I grew bored and sent him away again.

I didn’t share a bed with anyone who had experienced the majesty of my cock.

They tended to become far too needy, wanting affection. Stars forbid.

I dried myself and dressed in linen trousers, strapping a sword to my hip and leaving a little bronze skin on show as I buttoned up my white shirt.

Then I headed for the top deck, finding Father’s crew assembled already.

His closest and most loyal warriors were onboard this ship, Fae I had known all my life, but I’d never spent much time with them until now.

The vessel itself was a thing of beauty, her white hull like a rising star as she cut through the waves, led by the rearing horse carved at her prow.

My attention was drawn to a cacophony of jeering and cries of excitement as the warriors gathered around something on the deck.

Father stood at the bow of the Ivory Mare and I shifted through the crowd of warriors to join him, catching sight of a woman on her knees being pinned down and tied up. She had long dreadlocks hanging around her shoulders and her clothes hinted of the earth wielders.

“Avanis spy,” Jacobin spat at her. He was a tall man with too much moustache for his too small facial features. “What were you doing out in that little rowboat, huh? Thought you could creep up on the greatest fleet on the high seas, did ya?”

“No – my boat sank. I’m just a fisher, sir. There was a storm and we got blown way out to sea,” the woman declared, struggling against her restraints, and I noticed the thick ice that had been cast on her hands to prevent her from using magic.

“Commander Rake, what will you have us do with her?” Goshart called, the squat man built like a miniature rhino, with muscles stacked on his muscles, yet somehow they always made him appear more horizontal than vertical.

“I’ll crack her little bones until she spills her secrets,” Agatha said.

The woman reminded me of a cross between a horse’s ass and a giant turnip.

Somewhere in the midst of the two, you got Agatha.

She was even bigger than me, and that was saying something, considering how large and strong I was.

Not to mention how handsome I was, but that was beside the point.

“Take her below deck,” Father called. “Do whatever you have to to make her talk.”

Goshart wetted his lips, sharing a look with Jacobin. I frowned as Jacobin manhandled her to her feet and groped her in the process, making a heavy frown shift onto my brow.

I looked to Father to see if he’d noticed, but he was gazing out at the ocean now, uninterested in the Avanis spy.

I pushed through the throng and walked up a couple of steps to join him on the deck that overlooked the vast sea, the carved Ivory Mare rearing up before us and leading us across the waves.

The sun shone down on us here, but on the horizon was a thick sheet of cloud, the fog stretching across the water and rolling our way.

“Ransom.” Father smiled, clapping a hand onto my shoulder. “Does the battlefield call to you? I promise I’ll offer you a fight soon enough. I have great news, but it comes at a price.” He cast a silencing shield around us, leaning closer. “This is for your ears only, boy. Listen here.”

“Wait, there’s something I need to say.” I glanced back at the crowd, seeking Jacobin and finding him dragging the Avanis woman down the steps that led beneath deck.

Goshart and Agatha were close on his heels, sharing excited looks that left me with a strange and uneasy feeling in my stomach. It wasn’t a feeling I could say I’d ever felt before.

“What is it?” Father asked, a line creasing his weathered brow.

“I saw Jacobin touching the Avanis spy. Inappropriately.” I felt a lump in my throat, trying to swallow it away, fearing I was growing sick. I’d need to take a brew of lilac as soon as this was done.

“Ha, by the stars, is that all? The Stonebreaker will get what she deserves. She’s less than a rat on this ship.”

“But they aren’t going to rape her, are they?” I murmured.

“My boy,” Father said through a gritted smile, but it dropped away, flattening into a deadly line.

“They have no rights. They’re nothing. Stonebreakers, Flamebringers, Skyforgers.

They’re dirt, Ransom. You do understand that, don’t you?

They should be tortured for what they have done to our good people, don’t you agree? ”

“Yes, but…aren’t there lines?”

“There doesn’t have to be,” he said darkly, his eyes glinting in offering.

“You’re a god here, son. You get to play with any dirty little cretin you catch from the other lands however you see fit.

You want something, you take it. I raised you well.

Of course you have your morals, that’s what makes you a great Fae.

But morals only apply to our people, not theirs.

You were created by Scorpio and me to make them suffer and pay for all they’ve taken from us.

So you do what you feel is a fitting punishment for them.

It’s what you were raised for. You’ll have your chance to play with your own prey soon, then you’ll understand.

You’ll be as good at breaking them as I am one day.

I’ll teach you how. Like I did your older brothers and sisters.

Clarina raised concerns too, but now she can skin an enemy spy and keep them breathing for days.

Beautiful work. You’ll find your niche. The more you enjoy it, the more you know it’s what the stars want. ”

“I see.” I frowned, hoping he was right about that.

“Now for my news.” Father gave me a conspiratorial look. “I’ve been granted a great secret, boy. Word on the wind is that the Flamebringers have found the Void spoken of in the Elysium Prophecy.”

“What?” I balked, horror lancing through me. “But if they have it, won’t they win the war? They’ll use it against us, they’ll-”

“Yes,” he said bitterly. “Which is why great sacrifices must be made to ensure we claim it from them swiftly.”

“Sacrifices?” I questioned.

He nodded. “I will explain all soon. You’ll need a well-made coat on the open water. Fetch it now while I speak to the crew.”

I nodded, heading away from him as he began a speech to the gathered warriors about guarding the ship. Though I had no idea what against.

I hurried below deck, heading back to my room and fetching a navy blue coat and pulling it on. When I exited, a cry of pain carried from the steps that led down to my right.

My throat thickened again. That uncomfortable feeling shifted inside me.

I would just take a look.

Descending the stars, I found a door sitting ajar, offering a glimpse of a low-lit room beyond. Cries carried from inside and heat rose up the back of my neck as I pushed the door open.

Jacobin was holding the Avanis woman down by her neck and Agatha and Goshart were pulling at her clothes, tearing them off of her. She screamed and thrashed, bruises bright on her skin and her arms twisted awkwardly, suggesting they were broken.

I stepped abruptly into the room, unsure what I was doing before I called out to them. “Father has offered this prisoner to me. You are to leave immediately.”

They all looked my way in surprise, but I raised my chin, showing them who I was. Commander Rake’s son. I commanded power here. They couldn’t deny it.