Page 33 of Shadows and Flames (Twin Blades #2)

Chapter Twenty

MELINE

I panted over Elián, hands splayed across his tattooed chest.

Little half-moons were already dug into his skin, reddened from the force with which I held onto him.

His breaths were just as ragged, blustering against the tender skin on my throat. “Come for me, Meline,” he demanded.

As if I had a choice. Even on his back, El commanded my body, gripping my hips to hold them immobile while he fucked up into me.

I curled over him and dug my fingers to find purchase on his shoulders. The fabric I’d long ago pushed to the side tangled alongside his hair within my grip. Our clothing shuddered as we joined quickly in our bed, taking this precious moment alone.

Days at sea, tensions rising until it was uncomfortable at night to even traverse the decks beyond our cabins. We’d seen little to none of the stubborn Vyrkos and had been keeping in close proximity to my cousin and Elián’s Shadow brother.

So much so that we’d tumbled into the cabin whilst Tomás was retrieving food for us and Tana was bathing. Finally, a moment alone.

I clung to the mountainous swells of Elián’s shoulders and dropped my forehead to his. Our lips and tongues touched in something more passionate and desperate to be called a kiss.

My brow scrunched, and I caught his lip between my teeth as he took my cries for encouragement, pummeling me in just that spot that sent me over the edge. The warm and deep taste of his blood sent me even higher as I clenched around him, pushing him to euphoria with me.

Elián’s cock twitched and released inside of me, and I shook in his hold, in his arms. And in the face of my desperation, he cherished me, kissing lazily while we came back down.

“I think I tangled up your hair,” I breathed.

He grunted, but not with a note of upset or offense. I was learning the different versions of his laconic communication—there was not much to do but sit ready and talk to each other—and I took this one to mean he didn’t give a shit about the state of his hair.

I twirled some strands, skin slipping along the black silk. There was enough to wrap in my fist. Doing just that, I tugged gently. “Next time, I’ll use this like reins while I ride you.”

There. That got him chuckling, though it was a silent, chest-shaking gesture. My dress covered most of my body and where we were still joined, but El’s lazy pets felt as nice as if we’d been naked. “You can try.”

Something told me that it would incite another battle for dominance. That part of our dynamic was ever-present, even with this ‘just being’ that El had gone on about. I’d have to admit, I was being lulled more and more into giving in. How could I not when it brought us this?

“Well, I don’t have any hair for you to pull anymore.”

El leaned back into the mattress, appraising me with that brow raised and his persimmon gaze dancing. “I do not need your hair.”

Heat flashed inside of me, particularly in one area of my body, and by the darkening of his gaze, El felt it too.

I was robbed of finding out what he could possibly use instead by an impatient huff on the door. “Please make yourselves decent so that we can all eat.”

If I hadn’t been watching El’s face, I wouldn’t have seen the petulant eye roll. Snickering, I slowly crawled off of him, trying my best to keep my thighs closed.

He was having none of that, though, and his firm hand on my hip kept me on the mattress while he got up instead. The knob on the door twitched while he walked toward one of his packs, and he nearly hissed, lip curling to show his fangs. “Do not open the door until we tell you.”

Before I could add my own quip, Elián returned with a cloth, busied himself beneath my skirt, and wiped away his spend so I wouldn’t be uncomfortable.

Blinking back tears, I snagged him ‘round the back of his head where his hair was a tangled mess.

I pressed up into a kiss, grabbing his face with both of my gloveless hands and treating his lips as tenderly as he met all of me.

“Considering your stupid plan to stay together is keeping me from warming the captain’s bed, I’m not inclined to be forgiving of you having all of the fun. You reserved the bigger cabin, so it’s really all your fault,” Tomás groused through the door, to which of us, I wasn’t sure.

Elián dropped my gloves beside me, and he growled low in his throat, that sound speaking of mild annoyance. I was hungry.

I smacked one last kiss to his stubbly cheek and let him go to the door.

His Shadow brother didn’t bother with any pleasantries, plowing forward in his ranting while he set down the tray loaded with our supper. “Honestly, after all I’ve done for both of you. Some consideration for those of us without a lover in this trying time would be appreciated.”

Elián glanced at me, a loaded look that made my heart skip a beat. Tomás groaned, now with a bite of bread roll in his mouth. “Oh, godyx, with the looks. It’s bad enough that they’re planning to kill us before we get to the dock.”

I accepted the food El brought to me, and we used the bed as a surface to balance our plates as we dug in. Well, Elián and I did. Tomás took one look at the bed, wrinkled his nose, and commandeered the desk.

“It’s a fool’s errand on their part.”

Tomás and Elián both nodded along. “The confines of this journey have left them irritable. The woman remains in her cabin, but from what I could deduce, she has long stopped trying to calm her brother.” El had taken the most recent shift to find out what he could.

When we did traverse the ship, the humans brushed past with wide eyes, terse nods, and whispers that followed as soon as they thought us out of earshot.

Of course, with their Shadow magic, he and Tomás were the most skilled at hearing more of what was brewing around us.

Though Tana and I were able to move stealthily, El and Tomás were able to bend the aether at their will, to become part of the shadows.

Especially to humans, they could be invisible.

Picking at a piece of chicken, I ran through the possibilities for the thousandth time.

Rhaea’s power felt less of a parasite taking control at my most vulnerable moments and more of an extension of myself, now that it lived on my skin.

But as I imagined the humans coming for us as they were intending, it buzzed within my fingertips, wanting to take flight.

I could practically taste the death of these humans, how sweet it would be, thirst for blood and for retribution slaked.

I frowned. “If their ineptitude foils their plan and the weather stays on our side, we should be there in two days’ time, right? If not, we may have larger problems.”

Both Shadows remained silent, but their agreement didn’t need vocalizing.

One of the first things we’d done as a group was ration the skins of blood we’d brought for the journey.

Of course, the fluid didn’t keep for long periods of time, and we were on the last dregs, saving it for an emergent situation.

In our defense, most were more receptive to donating to us before this whole business with the woman’s brother.

The three of us ate in silence for a while, listening to the whooshing of the waves, but as my plate emptied, I set it to the side and paused, listening.

The bathing room wasn’t far away, and after parsing through the sounds of other passengers and the ocean around us, I no longer heard Tana in that direction.

“I’ll be back.”

El frowned as I left, but he didn’t try to stop me. He knew I’d come back.

I crept out into the corridor, checking the empty bathing room with my own eyes before finding the lavender scent of my cousin in the air.

Something still felt off between us, even with the time passing since our argument. We’d forgiven each other, maybe? Was there anything for me to forgive?

When the urge to pull away from Elián— to retreat into the safety of her familiarity reared its head—Tana would see it written on my face and give me a sharp look. My apologetic smiles abounded as my former Shadow proved himself to be steady enough for me to cling to.

But when we get off the ship?

I shook my head, following Tana’s scent as urgent voices became clearer. I paused on the stack of steps, headed to the next level. Tana’s bag was abandoned, toiletries spilling onto to the floor.

My feet carried me before my thoughts caught up, reaching the commotion as five burly men held Tana while they pulled away the Vyrkos male, metal chain wrapped around his throat.

TANA

A trap. One for him that I’d fallen into. The Vyrkos and human he’d drunk from were tucked away in a dark corner of the ship, on a deck designated for storage and crew work, judging by the crates and supplies stored in the rooms I’d passed.

The man, now sneering and shouting curses at the both of us, watched us in sick delight with pupils blown. Someone handed him a rag to staunch the bleeding at his neck.

“You idiot!” I shouted at the Vyrkos as his skin reddened around the jewelry they held him with.

Another six were huddled around the male.

Someone must’ve possessed that particular knowledge, that silver was toxic to their kind, and procured the jewelry from one of the passengers.

It was dainty, and the delicate charms waved against his throat as they restrained him.

They tried using another bauble on me, haphazardly pressing it into my brow as if the X-shaped thing had any power. When my skin remained unaffected, they dropped it with a huff.

“By the power of Mortos, we compel you to yield ,” one of them shouted, an older man who was holding his own chain and bauble out to us.

The Vyrkos, whose skin was now releasing smoke underneath the necklace and still struggling within the humans’ grip, spat on the scuffed floorboards. He hissed, long fangs flashed toward the mob around us.