Page 48 of Wicked Tides #1

Vidar

Like stars falling from the sky

Joy is bright yet fleeting in the dark

~ Unknown

The next morning, the clouds had thinned, but the ground was newly wet from a downpour that had moved across the island in the night.

I was wearing my coat and hat that day as I trudged along toward the inn.

A couple of days by myself had not mended me completely, but I had known from a young age that the only cure for my insanity and anger would be death. In life, I only needed to endure.

Outside the inn, a few of my men were lounging against the wall on rickety wooden. By the way they greeted me, they were well rested, too, and in better spirits.

I moved past them and entered the tavern where more of my men were sitting around quietly eating smoked sausage and toasted bread. I paused at the door until I saw Gus and Mullins at a table in the far corner. I made my way toward them, pouring myself a mug of water as soon as I arrived.

“Morning,” I said lazily.

“You look refreshed, cap’n,” Mullins commented.

“Where are the girls?”

“Upstairs with our boy, Billy, and Thelasa.”

“And how are they doing?”

“They’re not as talkative, that’s for sure.”

I sipped on my water and slowly pivoted to face the room, catching a figure on the opposite side dressed in a deep blue dress and a tightly cinched corset. I paused, my cup midway to my mouth as I watched her speak with one of the tavern hands. When she turned, my breath caught.

Seeing Dahlia dressed like a lady, her long, black tresses braided over her shoulder, was not something I imagined ever seeing.

Especially after the previous night when I’d seen her at her most vulnerable.

At her most broken. She looked proper and held herself like she was not a demon of the sea but a well-mannered woman of the land.

“Ahh, right,” Gus said. “She and Thelasa got to talking early this morning. Thelasa thought it was inappropriate for her to be in tattered men’s clothes and put her in one of her old dresses. The men rightly don’t know what to think.”

“She looks so human that way,” Mullins said with a shiver. “I don’t like it much. But Thelasa insisted.”

“And she knows what she is?”

Gus nodded once. “Said something about seeing her throw herself at the men when they threatened Sakari and now she’s wearing one of her dresses. I swear, the people on these little islands aren’t always right in the head.”

“Thelasa’s seen a lot more than she puts on. If she wanted to give Dahlia a dress, then what are we to say about it?”

Dahlia’s eyes made their way toward me and our gazes locked.

My heart skipped a beat. It truly was unnerving how she could make herself look like a woman when all of us had seen how she could rip into a man.

We knew the teeth behind those lips and the malice behind those storm-gray eyes.

To one who did not know the beast beneath the skin, she was beautiful.

Even with the scar on her cheek, she was a head-turner.

“Captain,” Gus said. “We should probably talk.”

“About?”

“Well, about Brom. There’ve been whispers about. Some of the men don’t much like the way things are going.”

“Who?”

He shrugged. “Just whispers. But maybe we should have a chat with Uther. He and Brom were good mates.”

I nodded solemnly. “I’ll talk to him.”

But then my eyes fixed on Dahlia again and I felt a need to speak with her first.

“Cap’n?” Mullins said.

I set my mug down and started toward her. “We’re leaving today. Make sure everyone is ready.”

Dahlia kept her gaze on me as we both converged at the bar. Images from the previous night crept back into my head. The sounds of her pained ecstasy. The memory of her bare skin and heavy breaths. Of my cock surging inside her.

Fuck .

“It’s unsettling how easily you slip into the role of innocent beauty,” I said to her.

“Only simple men cannot see through me. Are you simple, Vidar?”

“Am I?”

“There was a time I thought you were.”

“And now?”

She shrugged and looked away for a moment, her long nails tapping on the countertop.

“What did Thelasa say to you?” I asked.

“Kind words laced with suspicion.”

“Did you compel her?”

With a smirk, she pointed toward the ceiling. There was one bronze bell hanging in the middle of the room. There was another at the door and another on the corner before the stairs. She would not be able to use her voice even if she wanted to.

“Your boy stares at me when he thinks I do not see him,” she continued.

I saw her eyes flit to another corner of the room for a brief moment. Looking over my shoulder, I saw David just coming downstairs to sit with a couple of my men. He slouched into a chair, looking defeated.

“He’s conflicted. His father was killed by sirens and he was saved by one,” I said.

“Are you conflicted?

It took me a few seconds to speak. Not because I didn’t know what to say. I knew exactly what to say. I only wondered if I should.

“More than I have been in a very long time.”

She looked up at me, her gaze searching.

I felt split open under her scrutiny. I felt naked and skinned and somehow, it did not bother me.

Her eyes bore into me like knives, but I felt as if there was very little there that she had not already seen.

Just like I was beginning to think I’d seen most of her.

Of all the people in our lives, we hated each other the most, but we knew each other the best.

It was a disturbing revelation to know you related to your enemy more than your loved ones.

“I do not want to leave Meridan in the water for long,” she said, breaking our silence. “She refuses to come ashore.”

“We are leaving soon. I think my men are fed and rested by now.”

She nodded and turned from the bar. Even her mannerisms had become human. That predatory sheen in her face was gone. That squared posture was relaxed. She was so good at pretending.

Before she walked away, she turned one last time, leaning a bit closer to me as she spoke.

“Thank you. For offering me what I needed last night and not thinking me too disgusting to give it to me.”

You’re not disgusting .

I was unsure where that thought had come from, but it was immediate.

I turned my head to look at her, realizing just how close she was to me.

I could feel her breath on my chin. Smell rain and salt in her hair.

I clenched my jaw, trying to stop more images from the previous night from breaching my thoughts.

We both needed something and we gave each other the opportunity to take it. It was nothing more than that…

The sound of many footsteps coming down the stairs drew both our gazes. Turning, I saw Thelasa and the girls emerging from the inn upstairs to have a bite to eat. The little one saw Dahlia and her solemn face turned downward. Hesitantly, Dahlia veered in another direction, avoiding her.

My eyes lifted to see Gus staring at me, his one eye narrowed. The old man didn’t miss much and I was sure he’d caught on to the way I was looking at Dahlia. I couldn’t blame him for being cautious because I knew how I was looking at her, too.

And I sure as hell wasn’t looking at her like the enemy that morning.