Breathe. In. Out. The chance will come. Have patience.
Kas… she would be patient.
“Five years, Mila. Five years knowing where you were, yet unable to do a damned thing about it.” A smile creased his lips as he reached for my bound wrists, silver blade flashing in the dim light. “I didn’t want to use the Eidolon on you, but I’ve got to give you credit.” He paused, pendant peeking through the collar of his shirt as he worked the knife into the leather. “You’re a resourceful little thing. A worthy adversary.” The blade sliced through the leather on my right wrist. “No doubt about it.”
With a flick, a little polished stone popped free of the bonds, clattering to the tiles beneath us. A flicker of ki hummed in my chest, gooseflesh prickling at my skin, and I blinked. He was freeing me from the Raith. From this… Eidolon, as he called it.
“I’ve been busy while you were playing forest demon with your pet lion.”
I snorted.No oneowned Kas. And when this bloody fool released me from these chains, he’d learn the same to be true about me.
He worked the second stone free. “I’ve got a surprise for you. Two, actually. Do you remember the day we met?”
Both arms unadorned by poison, the flickering hum bloomed, unfurling great, dark wings and stretching the muscles between my damaged ribs on a full, if agonizing breath.
“Of course you do,” he said, slipping his hand into a pocket, withdrawing a tiny, iron key. “How could you forget the day Tritan fell?” The lock at my nape clicked open, and for a moment he paused, leaving the collar firm against my skin. When he stooped, his lips brushed mine with the weight of a falling leaf.
I bared my teeth, tasting his breath.
A crooked grin and he stepped back, letting the collar drop to the tiles.
Free! Ki whispered through me, a tiny spark licking at my tattered soul. At first a low hum, and then… The captain! Awareness of him pounded behind my ribs as he reclaimed the place he’d long since marked as his own.
So muchpower… just as I remembered.
And it would bemine, the fool!
Eyes glazed with renewed vigor, I stared at the floor, gathering myself.
How poetic, to make the only Elite Trila-Glís on the planet the catalyst for my victory. The fuel for my vengeance.
He hummed, brushing the hair back from my damp forehead, arrogant enough to let his fingers linger upon my skin. “Look at you, little Priestess! Going to show me everything you learned in the forest, hmm?” The rasp of calluses nipped my cheek and he tilted my head back, drowning me in an inky abyss.
And all the while, his potent, impossible ki rushed through my veins, restoring what I’d lost. What he’d taken from me.
Almost. Almost there…
He broke away, grinning at my squeak of protest when I tried to chase his hand. “I’ve waited a long time for this. Foryou. It hasn’t been easy, going all these years without a Priestess of my own,” he continued, unbuttoning his sleeves one at a time, rolling them back to reveal corded muscle and the mark of the Empire melted into the skin of his left wrist—a black stain I’d never noticed before. “There have been other Priestesses, of course. Dozens I might have claimed over the years. But none of them wereyou.”
My lips twitched as I watched him, unblinking. The pendant tugged at my periphery, but I didn’t so much as glance at it. “Then come, Captain. Claim your prize.”
“There she is,” he drawled and returned to me, stopping but a hair’s breadth from my chest, so close I could feel his heartbeat upon my skin. “Youarea prize, you understand. Invaluable. Do you know what it’s been like?” he murmured, tracing the air above my lower lip with his forefinger, his own lips parted. Breath sweet on my brow. “I’ve been trapped all these years. Forced to hide my true nature behind the Glaith in this pendant, or risk drawing the Empire’s eye. Knowing the key to my freedom was out there, risking her precious fucking life every day, fighting a war that endedyearsago.”
So close… I just needed one touch of his bronzed skin, or better, my pendant. Just one moment more with his perfect, intoxicating power… and then I’d make him eat every word, laughing as I consumed him…
“It hurts, doesn’t it?” he whispered, letting me strain to the limit of my bonds, maintaining the minuscule distance between us with a smirk. “Being so close to what you need, yet unable to take it.Fiveyears I went without, Mila. But don’t worry,” he whispered, flicking a lock of sopping wet hair over my shoulder. “I won’t make you wait that long. No, you can have everything you want, right now. Show me, little Priestess. Give me your best,” he said, cupping my face in warm, rough hands at last.
My eyes rolled back, jaw slackening on a soundless scream.
Sofuckingbeautiful.
By the dead Goddess,thiswas divinity. I could drown in it, drink from him for years and never find the bottom.
But of course… he had to die. I had to gorge myself to bursting and leave him crumpled at my feet. The darkness demanded nothing less.
My eyes snapped open, finding the captain’s inky gaze without err, and I reached for him. Claws aching to find purchase at the base of his throat—but the restraints stopped me.
“Aww, is that it?” he whispered, pressing closer now, his forehead bumping mine. His ki pulsing through my skin. “Come on, Menace. This is yourmoment!Don’t hold back now!”
