Warm forearms locked around my ribs, squeezing. Crushing the air out of me. “Enough,” the captain snarled, giving me a shake.
I planted my elbow in his gut.
“Ommph. Just—ugh—just stop, will you?” he snapped, then wrapped a hand in my matted hair, plunging me beneath the surface once more.
It didn’t take long—I was already comically short of breath. But Goddess be damned if I’d submit tohim. No, better to drown here and now then allow Captain Rawlings to have his way with the darkness and all that went with it.
I opened my mouth on a great, fatalistic inhale.
He pulled me up, fitting me against his chest as I gagged and hacked, torturing my ribs. “Are you done?”
Blinking against the sting in my eyes, I grit my teeth. “Fuck—”
“Stop!” He slipped a bicep beneath my chin, gradually cutting off my air as he squeezed. Giving me no options, whatsoever. “You are outmatched, girl!”
Wait. Kas would wait. Bide her time.
I snarled, face flushed and pounding with the beat of my heart, but raised my hands.
Strike once, or not at all.
The captain’s grip eased, though he did not release me.“Are you done?”he growled, lips moving against my ear.
I nodded.
“Say it.”
Goddess take this man straight to the Void!
“Yes,” I hissed, standing on tiptoe, most of my weight in his hands, if buoyed by the water.
“Good girl.”
I buried my claws into my palms.
“Well,” the general said, taking a hesitant step closer. “That was… something.” Head tilted to the side, hands on his hips, he asked, “Why in the world would you spend good coin on such a creature, Rawlings?”
“Entertainment?” The captain laughed, swiping the water out of his eyes as he fit a loose hand around my throat. “She’s a savage little monster. I thought it might be fun to toss her into the fighting pits and see what happens.”
The general reached for my face, brows pinched as he inspected me.
He dared to touch me! My father’s murderer! A terrible sound bubbled up from the back of my throat as I tried to twist away, teeth bared. And with a howl, I tried to pull myself up, out of the water, to strike at the general with the heel of my closest foot.
“Now, now,” the captain murmured, sinking into the sudsy water, keeping me pressed to his front as he floated back. As far from Tilcot as the tight quarters would allow. Sitting against the far wall of the bathing pool, that smarmy prick positioned me between his thighs and dared to whisper, “Behave yourself, Miss Tannovic.” And then, lips rasping against the shell of my left ear, he elaborated. “You wouldn’t want the general to feel like he’s entitled to manage your punishment, would you?”
I stilled. Goddess,no. Anything butthat.
Color touched the general’s cheeks as he stepped back, reaching for a fresh towel. “Right. Well. I think I’ve seen enough. Good luck with this one, Rawlings. It seems you’re going to need it.”
For a moment, we were alone, the captain and I. Back to front. An arm around my waist, the other buried in my hair as the sudsy water turned an ominous shade of pink, forneitherof us had escaped unscathed. That the blood of two rare and dangerous things swirled and mixed in the steamy water was not lost on me, but that was far from the worst of it.
My mother’s pendant was pressed to the base of my neck, mocking me with all its hidden potential as I floated there, ki-blind. Onhislap. Silent but for the gentle swish of water and the ragged hitch in breathing. His or mine, I was no longer sure.
“The building is clear, sir,” Marco said, rounding the corner with a wide-eyed Alicia in tow. When he saw us, he whistled low, a wicked grin spreading across his face.
“Not a word, soldier,” the captain snapped, hauling me back, toward a submerged stone bench. “Not one fucking word.”
Dark eyes twinkling, Marco pursed his lips, palms raised—and I was happy to note the abrasion marking his right cheek. Imprinted with the fluffy, textured fabric of the towel and my fist.
