“You without friends? With that charming personality? I don’t believe it.”
“I tell you that to say I’m not going to ruin it by sharing anything she told me in confidence.” She turned and drummed the knife hilt on his arm. “Just keep doing what you’re doing. She’s working through it.”
Relief poured into him like an upended bucket of cool water. “Thank you.”
A slanted smile broke across her face as she started away. “Keep doing that thing with your tongue, too. Shereallylikes that.”
Augustus laughed and pushed off the mainmast. “Aye, aye.”
He passed Oskar near the starboard side. The man was sharpening a blade with slow, deliberate movements, his keen eyes darting to Selene every so often. He followed her around much like he had in thoseearly days aboard theSoris. The Drynopians put everyone on guard after they learned the details of Selene’s narrow escape. The only reason Augustus agreed to their help at all was because Roman fought the Mother on Selene’s behalf.
“At ease, old man,” Augustus said, slapping Oskar on the shoulder. “I’ll take over from here.”
Oskar lowered his chin in a nod and started off. “You know where to find me.”
Augustus paused at the bottom of the stairs, startled by how the setting sun painted Selene in hues of fire and light, making her seem almost otherworldly. A goddess rooted in the chaos of his world.
Selene’s gaze brushed his, and her lips quirked in a smile she’d only ever reserved for him.
Augustus lingered in the rare moment, anchored by the sight of the woman he loved after weeks apart.
She crooked her finger to guide him up the stairs, which he did like a man in a trance. She watched his every step, every rise and fall of his breath, until he moved into the space directly behind her.
He didn’t touch her—not yet. Instead, he caged her in his arms, bracing his hands on the railing to either side of her, and lowered his lips to her ear. “You look like a girl in need of a distraction.”
“Do I?”
He swept his nose over her hair, the strands tickling his skin. “Maybe it’s me who needs it. You smell divine.”
“Surely, Captain, you have better things you could be doing to occupy your time than sniff my hair.”
A promise to indulge her fantasies with his tongue came to mind, but vanished as Roman hopped onto a crate below. Of all the places to sit, he chose one directly in Selene’s line of sight and made sure to catch her eye as he reclined back into his hands.
Roman’s gaze shifted to Augustus, and his mouth turned up on one side.
The wood railing cut into Augustus’s palm. “Doesn’t that man own a shirt?”
“The men rarely wore shirts in the village. I think it’s just their way.”
“Well, he’s on a ship right now, andourway is to wear a godsdamned shirt.”
Selene chuckled. “Why do you let him get to you? I thought you were here to distract me.”
“He’s staring at you like you’re his.”
“No, he isn’t.”
He barely heard her. “Maybe I’ll scoop his eyes from his head. That’d be a fun distraction.”
“Here’s a thought—we ignore him and?—”
“I have a better idea.” Augustus brushed her hair over one shoulder, baring her slim neck. “You stay very still while I whisper all the things I want to do to your body right now.”
She gave him her profile. “We’re surrounded by crew.”
“Are you afraid they’ll see you blush?” He swept his nose in the space along the scoop of her shoulder to her neck, careful not to touch her. Then, lips to her ear, he whispered, “Or that they’ll sense how wet you get for me?”
“Augustus.”
