Page 25 of Shadows and Flames (Twin Blades #2)
Could I truly have both? The blood oath I’d taken at the dawn of my adulthood and this queen? While I had enjoyed my time in this realm, it was more with Meline. She brought a prismatic eruption of color to a life that had been cast only in the crimson of blood and black of leather.
While Noruh and Tomás found purpose and rhythm elsewhere, I’d remained dedicated to the work. Letting the plunge of my swords refuel me until I’d been approached for a contract. One that would not be compensated in coin but in the possible salvation of our people.
An honor. To, in my own Shadow way, avenge the death of my father and Leandro.
Though guarding was never my first choice, I would do it for my people, I’d reasoned.
I traveled to Versillia, only to meet the spoiled, foul-mouthed, insufferable mercenary who’d come between me and the successful end of what should’ve been a simple contract a few months prior.
One a seasoned acolyte could even handle.
I’d stood behind her as she negotiated with priestesses of Rhaea, an official of the city of Nethras, and the tyrant King of Krisla. Watching how she advocated for our kind and the Vyrkos.
And then, after days of biting at each other, the venom between us had twisted until I was drunk—i ntoxicated on her. She was truly a mamba. I’d crossed paths with the deadly animal before, and it was like the electrifying dance of being with her.
She was often turned inward. Some might even say shy. When truly confronted, her instinct was to flee. Oh, but when she needed to, she would rise past her petite height and hiss. Bite relentlessly until death was a mercy.
Fuck.
I loved her.
Beside me, Meline gasped as I pressed a kiss into her hair.
Then she kept her face tilted toward me so I could plant more upon her.
Like I wanted to do every minute of every day for the rest of my immortal life.
Until she became accustomed to the affection.
Unsurprised by the unconditional burning I had for her.
“I hate to break up the lovely reunion, but I believe we may have a problem,” Tomás cut in, words muffled with foodstuffs as he chewed.
I glared at my brother, who gave back a look drier than the Zonoran desert.
In my first language, he droned, “ I am happy for you, Nogón, but your enamoredness will cause us to lose this contract.” He jutted his chin toward over my shoulder, and I threw my senses in that direction.
With a minute swivel of my head, vision casting in my peripheries, nose and ear searching.
“Shit,” the witch cursed. From their vantage point, facing the docks and ships behind Meline and me, they more easily noticed what I had not until that moment.
Paschal Von Herron, boarding a vessel and barking orders to a crew that’d been hustling back and forth when my queen and I had come to the harbor. Probably for hours before that.
The intel that we’d been given at the start of our contract had stated that the merchant would be home in Morova for multiple weeks. Enough time for us to find the right moment and descend.
The tumbling of canvas snapped in the air like a clap of thunder. Now that I was focusing, I caught Von Herron shouting to his crew to prepare for departure. To heave the anchor out of the water.
My queen groaned, slapping a gloved palm against her temple.
When I turned back to my brother, both he and Tana were gone, melting into the crowd.
What if Von Herron was to be away for months?
Did we follow and catch him at his destination?
Lay in wait for when he returned? The possibilities churned in my thoughts, calculating, and by the tension in my queen’s shoulders, I could almost hear her mind doing the same.
We stood, holding each other and thinking while droves of humans flowed around us like waves splitting around boulders.
Until Tana appeared first. She cut her eyes to me, then to my queen.
“Not certain how long he’ll be away, but based on the destination, I’d wager quite a while.
If we have any hope of finishing this thing,” her gaze on Meline took on a new depth, “we need to follow.”
Tomás appeared then, appearing out of the shadows. “ Vharas. Caught some crew gossip but not much. An agreement fell through that he is to see to personally. We need to go now if we have any hope of catching up.”
I nodded, running calculations in my mind. “Are there any other ships going that way?” Von Herron’s was already pulling away from the docks. Not that booking voyage on a merchant ship was covert in the slightest.
Meline shifted in my arms, and I focused back on her. The slight furrow in her brow as she watched Tom and I go back and forth.
Despite what I’d said earlier and the inherent Shadow compulsion to finish what I’d started, to win , I imagined taking her back to my apartment.
Making love to her for the rest of the day, until the wrinkle I now thumbed and bade to relax was a distant memory.
Without this contract between us, we could enjoy the Morovan markets like we had in Rhaestras.
Perhaps I would convince her to come to Banfas.
Where the air was dry and the streets held the golden shadows of my childhood.
But my queen, she and I, had never been that simple. “Don’t even think about it, El. We’re doing this. And we , Tana and I, will win.”
Of course. Because she was a menace and just as ruthless as I was. And yet… I leaned down, brushing my lips against the shell of her ear. I whispered, “You will not. But we will go, and you will sleep in my bed.”
A slight puff of air punched out of her, and I tightened my fingers in my tunic she wore. Another sign that she was mine.
She swallowed, throat clicking. “Are…are you sure I won’t be holding your hair all night while you vomit over side of the deck?”
Mm. I drank up her words, the Fire within me they fed.
The last time we had embarked on the water, I’d been holding onto the last vestiges of my sanity.
Being in such close quarters while the floor shifted and tilted beneath me.
Pacing and grumbling silently to myself, regretting signing up for the assignment.
This time, our days on the water would be different.