No.
Nope.
Absolutely not.
They will not make Opal feel less than.
I kiss her cheek and pull her into my arms. Even though her large gown is unwieldy, I carry her like one would a sleeping child. She lets out an adorable squeak as I lift her from the ground, her feet dangling aimlessly.
She bats at my chest. “Ke’ain, a warning would be nice for future reference.”
I narrow my eyes and squeeze my arms around her. “For future reference, I plan to sweep you off your feet often.”
Her already pink cheeks flush red as she tried to guess our next move. “Are we going somewhere else?”
“I’m happy to be the royal disappointment if that’s how my father wants to play this game.” I walk toward the king and queen with the precious Opal in my arms.
“Ke’ain…” My father’s voice is full of warning, and he draws out my name in an almost hushed tone.
“Father,” I say as neutrally as I can. I sit beside my mother and pull Opal up to straddle my thigh. “Mother, this is Opal.”
Opal bites her lip nervously and nods to my parents. “Um, hi, I mean hello…”
I love the feeling of her body against me. Her weight is that of perfect comfort as she rests on me.
She finally says, “It’s an honor to meet you both, Your Highnesses, or Your Majesties…” before flustering and turning away again.
I look at my father as he shifts uncomfortably in his chair.
The si’bok moves quickly through the port and into the open bay. I'm dreading the next hour so close to my father; we rarely let our paths cross. I’ll do my best to enjoy Opal’s ass bouncing against me as we move through the currents. I’ll ignore the flashbulbs of the photographers' cameras. I know the money shot is one that has already been taken. I’ll keep it cordial with my father as long as the king can keep his mouth shut. I can only tolerate so much mistreatment of Opal before I snap.
I swear it’s like he’s reading my mind as I watch his jaw work.
“If you were going to dress your whore in our house’s royal colors, you could have at least kept your fornicating private. Is that too much to ask of my only heir?”
His fist clenches onto the arm of his chair as his other hand waves to the crowds in broad sweeps. Every word he speaks is through a taut smile.
There’s nothing but buzzing in my ears after that, and my muscles tighten. It takes me a moment to understand neither of these things are the result of my rage incarnate, but some outside force.
I clutch onto Opal as I realize we’re being ejected from the deck. Heat flashes against my back as the flames from the blast push us farther into the air. The explosion's light forces my eyes shut. I can only pray we land in the water.
Opal's nails dig into my forearms. A scream builds low in her throat but quickly reaches octaves I didn’t think her human body was capable of.
“WHAT THE FUUUUU—” Opal screeches just as we hit the waters of the bay like a brick wall.
?OPAL
What in the ever-loving fuck is going on?Hot air pushes our bodies through the sky. What atrocity must I have committed in a past life to warrant the constant attacks on my safety these past few days? I feel myself slipping through Ke’ain’s bulky arms and scramble to grab whatever part of him I can claw onto.
I panic as our trajectory goes from up and forward to plummeting down like bricks kicked off a rooftop.
Please let there be water. Please don’t let me go splat like a June bug on a hot summer windshield.
As we slam into the waters, my skin stings. It’s as though a hundred angry wasps have stung me. I want to take back my earlier plea. Maybe going splat would feel better than the burning that consumes the entire front of my body. The skin of my chest is raw and sensitive.
Worse yet, my lungs burn. We’ve gone straight from the smoke into the salty waters, yet I can breathe neither. I kick my legs as Ke’ain holds onto me. His powerful thighs pump strong kicks, his body is so well suited to the water.
My eyelids pinch into slits as I attempt to open them underwater. Blurs of orange and blue fill my field of vision, but I can just make out Ke’ain’s face as he brings his lips to mine. He parts my lips with his tongue and fills my chest with clean air.
