She lifts a brow. “I don’t have your irresistible charm.”
“How long until we know if that drawing salve is working?” he asks, turning away from her to Otto. “If I’m still acting captain when the sun hits the ship I’m leaping overboard. I’ll never hear the end of it.”
Otto grins, and hope lights in my chest like a torch on a moonless night. “It’ll take some time, Cap,” he says. “But I think between the four of us he’s got a fighting chance.”
Otto is asleep in the massive green chair—his mouth half open as he snores softly—when the first light of the sun peeks through the porthole behind Rune’s desk. For the first time in hours, the patterns on his arms shimmer faintly, half hidden by the bandages wrapped on one side. The sunrise means it’s time to reapply the drawing salve, so I tuck one side of the blanket to the inside of his leg, keeping him covered in those intimate places that I am absolutely not thinking about as the rays through the window reach out, accentuating the hills and valleys of his upper body. The peripheral thoughthas heat rising in my cheeks, remembering the solid heat of him beneath me that night he’d woken and trapped my chest to his. The way my body had betrayed me by wanting to lose itself in that salt and oranges scent.
I let my attention sweep to Otto, double checking there’s no one to see the absurd red my face has certainly become. Rune is infuriating. Arrogant beyond measure. And seems to enjoy finding every way to bait and confuse me. We have a plan. A deal. Our partnership is mutually beneficial. Temporary. And itwasentirely reluctant. So why has something inside of me hummed with relief ever since the colour came back to his cheeks?
Spring has yet to relinquish the chill of night. When I’ve finished with the salve, I tuck the blanket back over his legs, and quietly place the jar on the nightstand next to the red-veined leaf from the island. If I was going to restart my collection, I’d need to find a safer place to store them.
Elio had brought extra chairs and mine is pulled nearly flush with the bed, keeping the captain in arm’s reach and my weight off my still throbbing ankle. Rune sighs and adjusts, but there’s no pain in the movement, and my heart flickers again as his face turns to me, though he doesn’t wake.
His unbandaged arm splays out, putting those golden patterns on display. I’d have to ask him about them when he wakes. They’re unlike any tattoos I’ve ever seen, but some shifters keep markings in their human forms. It’s something I would have realised sooner, had I not been so focusedon looking at anythingbuthim. Now, I would have to be doubly sure to keep this wayward attraction at bay. A siren prince and a pirate? It’s too risky. The opposite of a low profile.
And he still doesn’t know who I am.
It wouldn't have mattered. Nisse or no, if he had died and the ocean king had sought someone to blame, who better than the bloodthirsty, no good, pirate scum the prince had brought aboard on a whim? Hell, the crew would have tossed me overboard before the king had a chance, or tied me up and dumped me into the centipede tunnels. Or hung me from the bones of the sail. Or spilled my insides for the quail. And if they did find out they had Ivor’s daughter?
The panic rises in a wave, cresting with all the fear and worry and lack of sleep I’ve ignored the last few hours. My own sleeve has torn, and the spade-shaped head of my viper tattoo peeks out. I bury it in the rumple of the blankets, my fingertips brushing his. Sensation spears through me from that small touch, and I don’t pull away, trying hard to ground myself in my current reality. For now, I am safe. For now, he’s okay, and my secret is mine alone.
I let my fingers wander to the art on his arms, tracing each line, watching the way the light catches behind my touch. A seed of warmth nestles deep in my chest, and for once, I don’t squash it before it can bloom. His fever is gone, but his skin holds the same insistent heat as when he crushed me to him the night of our race. I let the sensation and the memory anchor me, just this once, just until he wakes up and we go back to playing the parts of the hunter and his prey.
PARTIAL TRUTHS AND BANDAGES
14
RUNE
Something flickers across my chest—warm, but not solid. Not like the fingers lazily tracing the siren tattoos winding down my left arm. I keep my eyes shut, feigning sleep, because I already know it isn’t Elio or Otto hovering over me. And if it’s Tavi . . . well, this is about to get awkward.
Despite the short amount of time I’ve known her, I know whose touch it is. There’s no mistaking the lightness in the way her fingers drag across my skin as if she’s picking a lock. A brief cloud of honey and pear waft over me, causing my heart to stutter. The longer I let her touch me, the higher the chance I’ll make an ill-timed tent with this blanket.
She’s not supposed to have this effect on me.
Ever so slowly, I crack open an eye, watching Odi as she grazes my skin with her feather light touch. The expression on her face is soft, like she’s lost in her thoughts and has no plans to ever come back.
Rose bud lips, slightly pouted. Dark chocolate waves spill over her shoulders highlighted gold by the morning sun streaming through the porthole window. Almond colouredfreckles dance across the bridge of her nose. Then there’s that one freckle, slightly larger than the rest that sits above her right eyebrow. A marking—a kiss from the gods when she was born.
Part of me doesn’t want to disturb this peaceful moment, yet there’s a ship that needs a captain and I have no doubt that Elio is shitting his pants knowing that while I’m down, he’s in charge. Well, secretly Tavi would be in charge, but she’d never admit it—not to the crew anyway.
My leg throbs with a dull ache, but the sharp pain I’d felt before passing out is now gone. Along with the delirious dreams I’d had while unconscious. Ones where Odi was straddled on my lap, her hips grinding into mine, fitting together like a lock and key.
There goes that tent again.
I crack the other eye open, meeting Odi’s gaze. For a second, I hold her stare as her breath catches. Her shoulder drops like a weight's been lifted, and her mouth turns up at the corners for a fraction of time. Then it's gone, the look of relief—of hope—quickly replaced by the walls she so loves to hide behind.
With lithe reflexes, she pulls her hand away, standing effortlessly to her feet, but before she can move out of reach my fingers wrap around her wrist. Umber eyes snap down to my hand. A pinkish hue travels from under the collar of her blouse, spreading up her neck to kiss her cheeks.
I gently tug her towards me. “Odi—”
The wooden door to my room creaks, announcing someone’s arrival. It wakes Otto, who’s curled in the chair beside my bed.
Odi pulls out of my hold before she moves to the other side of the room next to my desk.
“Jellied octoblorbs—” Otto spurts out as he sits upright, his gaze snapping to mine. “Cap, you’re awake!”
Before I can answer, Elio steps through the doorway, his face full of relief. He’s quickly followed by Tavi.
