Page 68 of When the Wicked Sing (The Leruna Sea #1)

A tickling sensation on her stomach woke Mariana. Soft sheets shifted as she stretched her arms. Blinking through her blurry vision, she looked down her naked body to find Dax before her on his elbows, painting her stomach.

Her mouth lifted, and she giggled, “What are you doing?”

His gaze remained focused on the paint when he replied, “Painting you.”

“Why?”

When his gaze met hers, she saw something there she’d never seen before: happiness. Pure, radiant happiness.

“Because you’re the perfect canvas.”

She released a laugh, her head falling back onto the pillow. “I’ve never heard you say anything like that before.”

“Well,” he said, dipping the paintbrush into one of the several little colorful jars on a rolling cart beside the bed. “It’s not the last you’ll hear.” The wink he gave her made her toes curl. She sighed as he went back to the masterpiece he was creating on her skin .

She savored the soreness throughout her body. His touch set her on fire. She never thought she’d ever feel like this.

Glancing down at him, she ran a hand over his head, loving the prickly feeling of his short hair but missing the soft length it was at before.

“Why did you cut your hair?”

He shrugged. “I usually keep it this way, safer in battle. Why? Like it longer, Little Tempest?” He smirked at her.

She rolled her eyes and did her best to hide her smile with her hand. “I mean, if you’re not planning to be in battle anytime soon, then …” she lifted a shoulder. “Maybe you can grow it back out.”

Dax quietly chuckled and winked up at her. “I’ll think about it,” he said, then went back to painting her.

Her mind began to wander. Thoughts of his home and his family, Spiro and Kenna. She wondered why he had an art studio here, but she hadn’t seen one anywhere near his cabin in Kythera. Then a fog inside her question-filled mind lifted, leaving clarity.

“Can I ask you something?”

“I suppose,” he replied with a hint of amusement.

Mariana lifted herself up, resting on her elbows.

“You mentioned losing everything,” she said as her fingers fiddled with the blanket beneath her.

“And seeing your art studio—it got me thinking.” Finally lifting her gaze, she expected to find the guarded mask she was used to.

Instead, she found a relaxed expression she had to hold back from kissing.

Biting the inside of her cheek, she prayed that what she said next didn’t ruin everything.

“Spiro showed me the historical gallery in Kythera.”

The light in his eyes dimmed. Pulling his gaze away, Dax dipped the brush into more paint carefully, meticulously.

“Dax, are you the lone soldier in the painting?”

The silence that came next made it difficult to breathe.

Licking his lips, Dax cleared his throat while staring at the paintbrush. She couldn’t tell if he was judging the amount of paint on the tip or if he would stare at it forever just to avoid answering her. He gave a slight nod without looking at her. “Yeah, that’s me.”

She finally exhaled. “Challenged to rise again.”

He nodded and continued painting her stomach. His jaw flexed as though he was working up the courage to speak.

“At the end of the Infernal Wars, I was in command of the last Mocanus regiment still alive. Word spreading that an enemy outpost was hidden in the Varasova Mountains, gathering forces. King Thaddeus ordered us to clear it out. A simple task, he’d said, considering it should be no more than a few hundred untrained soldiers.

” Dax scoffed and shook his head. “The only reason I agreed was that intel told me it was close to Kythera—too close. At that point, Kythera was barely a village, and only villagers who had no idea how to fight lived there. So, we had to go, and by the time we reached this supposed outpost, it was empty. It had been a trap.”

Dax set the paintbrush down and sighed heavily. Mariana could tell this was difficult for him to talk about. Hoping to ease his anxiety, she ran a hand over his head and tilted his chin up to look at her.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to say any more. I know this is hard for you. ”

Dax shook his head. “I need to say it out loud. I haven’t spoken a word of it to anyone other than Spiro since it happened.

” He pinched the bridge of his nose, then dropped his hand and stared at the paint on her skin.

“It turned out, Minerva’s three daughters and an alleged son of Magnus—who believed it was his right to be king—had joined forces and gathered twice the number of soldiers we’d predicted.

” Dax’s eyes seemed to glaze over, like he had transported himself back to the battlefield.

“They knew we were coming. Cornered us in a valley. And we were unprepared for the attack. It was pitch black, the moon hidden behind clouds, and all I could hear were screams coming from everyone around me. It was then I realized these were my people. Not my soldiers. And they were all about to die.”

Mariana stayed perfectly still as she watched him, her heart squeezing painfully, knowing he was reliving the moment.

“I knew the enemy had to go down. If I didn’t defeat them, they would attack Kythera and Aurelia.

I couldn’t let anything happen to them. And my soldiers knew there was a risk of never seeing their loved ones again by joining my regiment.

Yet they did anyway, because they believed in fighting for their families. ”

“And they believed in you,” Mariana whispered.

Dax squeezed his eyes shut. “All I remember is the ground shaking beneath my feet, and the mountains that surrounded us cracking. Then it all came down. It was a miracle I woke up, but when I did … everyone was dead.” He opened his eyes and gave Mariana a heartbroken stare.

“That’s why I vowed never to use my power again. ”

“You’re stronger because of it.” Mariana gripped his hand and gave him a sad smile. “Challenged to rise again. ”

His mouth lifted slightly. “Challenged to keep living.”

The statement made her chest cave in. She knew he didn’t want to talk about it anymore, so she glanced at the paintbrush on the cart beside them and said, “Painting helps you relax?”

“Painting helps me forget—usually. You are the exception, it seems.” A corner of his mouth lifted before pulling her from the bed. “Thank you for listening,” he said quietly, holding her close but not close enough to smudge the drying paint on her stomach.

“You’re welcome. Thank you for telling me.”

The kiss he placed on her lips was full of so much emotion, Mariana could practically feel her heart growing wings.

Pulling back, he kissed her scar on her temple, making her realize he didn’t know the true story of how she got it.

“Would you like me to share a story too?”

“Always.” He dipped his brush again, swirling it in white. “I enjoy listening to you,” he replied with a grin.

She shifted her left shoulder toward him so he could see the tattoo inked there.

“I got that tattoo to remember a couple of friends. Xena and Titus.” She pulled her hair over one shoulder and began braiding it as she spoke.

“When I was a youngling, I used to get into a lot of trouble,” she admitted with an edge of regret.

“Guardian Xena found me hanging around a fishing boat in the daylight. I was very young and curious, so…” Mariana took a breath.

“I got too close, and a net caught me. I was fortunate, actually. The fisherman aboard saw me and let go of the net before he could completely pull me out of the water. If he had … I wouldn’t be here today. ”

“That had to be terrifying,” he murmured.

She nodded, her face tight, remembering the pain. And all that happened afterward.

“Why do I get the feeling there’s more to the story?” Dax asked, and Mariana met his curious gaze.

“Because there is.”

“Tell me?” He placed a gentle kiss on the inside of her wrist before he continued painting, now on her hips.

“Xena rescued me from the net and pulled the fisherman down. She wanted him to pay for what he’d done and decided it was best to let Cybele decide his punishment.

” She shuddered as she remembered. “While he was a prisoner, I brought him food and water. He was kind to me. Even when the food I brought him wasn’t edible, and the water wasn’t drinkable for a mortal, he still thanked me every time.

I was scared they weren’t feeding him enough.

Anyway, I learned his name was Titus, and he was from the Andros Islands.

He said he wanted to speak with the Guardian who rescued me so he could thank her.

I was confused, and Xena was skeptical when I asked her, but when he told her how grateful he was that she had saved me from his net, something happened between them—a mutual understanding. ” Mariana smiled softly.

She glanced down at the tattoo on her shoulder.

“Xena vouched for Titus and asked Cybele to release him, but”—her voice cracked slightly—“Titus asked Cybele if he could stay. He wanted to learn more about us and … I think he was in love with Xena. Cybele, of course, didn’t want the mortal to stay, especially since we had no idea how to keep him alive down there.

But then Xena offered to go with him for a short time. ”

Her throat tightened as she stared at the ceiling. Shame at what happened after gripped her stomach.

“Did she go with him?” Dax was looking at her when she glanced down at him.

She nodded. “My mother used the opportunity to spread a lie across the Andros Islands that sirens were goddesses . Xena might have loved Titus, I don’t know …

but when Celeste first told me the story, I cried.

The story of a sea goddess named Xena who loved a mortal man named Titus, and it all came crashing down on me that I had helped spread a lie. ”

Dax frowned. “I don’t think you did anything wrong, Mari. Whether the story was true or not, it was Cybele’s choice.”

“Astra always said that,” she commented, staring off into the distance.

“Did you find her?” Dax asked softly, drawing her gaze back toward him.

“Yes,” she admitted. “But she didn’t make it out during the …” Her voice trailed off as her breathing turned ragged. She swallowed, taking a deep breath.

“Hey.” Dax moved closer, brushing her hair away from her forehead and placing a hand on her trembling cheek as she fought back tears.

She was so tired of crying.

“I’m so sorry she’s gone. But with everything that’s to come … Don’t let the past consume you.”

“Keep moving forward,” she whispered.

Dax gave her a solemn nod. “Whether it’s on legs or with a tail,” he said with so much seriousness that she shook her head and gave him a closed-lip smile, surprised she was able to hold back from rolling her eyes.

He smiled and kissed her hands. “I mean it, though,” he said, setting her hands down and staring at them. “You have to push through. These are the moments that define you, define what type of ruler you’ll become. And I know you, Mari. You’re going to change everything.”

In the darkness of her mind, Mariana heard a voice whisper to her, “ I believe in you. Your destiny was written in the stars of the sky and the waves of the sea, the moment you were born. You’ll save your people, I know it.”

She smiled, wiping her eyes as she recognized Seraphina’s voice. The Goddess believed in her, and so did everyone she loved. She had to move forward, as Dax said. She couldn’t allow the past to hold her hostage or her guilt to consume her. Nothing good would come of it.

A sudden knock on the front door had Dax grumbling.

“Get lost!” he shouted, and just as he was lowering his head to kiss her, the sound of paper sliding under his door drew their attention.

With a groan, Dax stood and snatched up the letter.

“Who’s it from?” Mariana called through the open door of his bedchamber into the living space where he stood.

His eyes quickly scanned the page before dropping it on a nearby table, before walking back toward her.

“It’s from my family.” He leaned over her and kissed her deeply. “They just want to check in, make sure I didn’t lose you in the forest,” he said with a grin, and then kissed her again before sitting up. “C’mon. Let me finish you up. ”

“What are you painting anyway?” she asked, glancing down at herself as he pulled her up by the hand and toward his painting studio.

“Patience.” He winked. “You’ll find out soon enough.”