“Yeah? Would it?” I quipped, cocking an amused brow. “Because lastIchecked, you need all ten fingers to keep me pinned. Unable to wield a blade equates to an inability to carry out an execution. Unless you’ve got another arm I should know about?—”
The pristine point of a sword came to rest against my throat, a shadow falling over me. Laced boots came into view first, followed by fitted breeches and a free-flowing blouse that the wind picked up with ease. I settled my glare on her; she craned her head down and smirked, her hat blocking out the encroaching sun.
“Ever heard of two on one,Captain?”
“Gods,you twoare annoying,” I spat, shifting my gaze from Saph to Syoran. “This is what I call bullshit.”
“Is it?” he crooned, his tongue trailing across his lips. “Because last I checked, the probability of unexpected opponents in battle is somethingyouhave warned our men about.”
“Many times,” Saph added, pressing the sword tighter against my jugular.
My hooded stare fell to her, a humorless chuckle leaving me. “That’s beside the point.”
Her grin deepened as she hummed, “I don’t believe it is. One wrong move and you’d be dead?—”
Slapping my palm around her blade, I bit down on my tongue to keep the cry of agony from escaping as the steel carved through my flesh. With one shove and a refusal to release her weapon, she stumbled, and I leveraged the unexpected shift.
My booted foot slammed into the deck, and I thrust my hips skyward, rolling Syoran before he had time to react. With momentum and the element of surprise on my side, I quickly pushed myself up, my sole driving into his stomach with a kick that mirrored what he’d inflicted on me.
He gasped, groaning as he briefly curled inward, and I utilized the lapse in judgment in my favor.
Tightening my grasp on the sword once more, I pulled with a force that doubled what I was able to achieve on the ground. Idiotically, Saph held on as I ripped her toward me, but as soon as that distance closed, I used her wrist as a lever and forced the hilt from her hand.
With a simple toss, it landed in my uninjured palm. Simultaneously, I stole one of her daggers, bringing its sharpened edge to rest against her throat. With her sword in my other hand, I pinned Syoran to the ground, its end sinking into the muscled flesh of his chest.
Resting flush against her backside, I craned my chin until my lips caressed her ear. “As much as I adore your confidence, Saph, its fusion with your ego will serve as your downfall if you aren’t careful.Especiallywith more experienced fighters.”
“Is that your attempt at a jab?”
The corners of my mouth curled, and I chuckled. “No, the jab was how easy it was to disarm you. As a forger, I expectedmore.”
She opened her mouth to reply, but I cut her off by nicking the sensitive skin on the side of her neck before returning her dagger to itshome. With the same nonchalance, I slipped her sword back into its sheath and stepped back, looking between the two of them.
With my full smile on display, I offered the words I planned to leave them with as morning duties began. “Let that be your reminder of whyI’mthe captainof this ship. As well as your only warning that the next time you underestimate me, I will gut you both without hesitation. I was tame today, and I can promise you don’t want to meet the monster buried beneath my self-restraint.”
What the fuck am I doing here?
My eyes swept over her near-lifeless frame, curled on the small pile of hay in the corner. Her vibrant crimson hair had lost its liveliness, a dimmed scarlet replacing its once vibrant hue. What was once porcelain skin had become even more pale, her freckles seeming to pop more than they had when I’d spotted her in the sultry lighting of Seirdra’s Veil.
It’d been a week since our engagement in Darswyth, and she hadn’t woken up once. Each time I’d been in the brig, she’d been in the same spot, unmoved but breathing. Syoran reported the same; the two of us were the only ones permitted near here. I was clear that anyone who was found even remotely close to her cell would be executed. I was still trying to decipher the depth of her essence and why I felt so drawn to her.
“Rohen,” I called, waiting for a shift in movement, a groan, a stifled fucking breath, butnothing.
I knew I’d captured Malrik’s most esteemed assassin, a woman perfectly capable of executing anyone she came across. Still, there was something in me that stirred whenever I was near her, something that warned of the unknown that came with Rohen Levitte. It was an instinctual feeling, as if my soul understood something my mind hadn’t yet comprehended.
There was also a sharp ache in my chest whenever I was near her; itignited my wrath in a way that felt uncontrollable, in a way that mirrored how I felt the night I nearly killed Alastair.
Hell, it was so potent that it made me want to wrap my hands around her throat and watch the light vanish from her eyes. It made me desire for the darkest things to happen to her without so much as contemplating how hypocritical it made me. I felt a mix of ire and yearning when I spotted her in Seirdra’s Veil, and the opposition of the two became another reason I wished to purchase her, alongside her ties to assassinhood. But I knew my men could tame her in the ways my captivation wouldn’t allow, while I leveraged her talent to my advantage.
Perhaps it had to do with Arthur’s warning. He had been adamant and weary about Rohen carrying the aura of the Tide Eaters with her, and I found a portion of myself reeling at the possibilities just because of how enchanting, yet equally infuriating, she had become.
I hadn’t called her my little siren on a whim. No, it felt natural because of the lure she cast out to every man she crossed, testing their willingness to bite down on a hook that would undoubtedly result in their downfall.
Regardless, her unconsciousness had become a hindrance, and half of me was tempted to toss her overboard if she didn’t wake up by tomorrow.
It’d been a waiting game, one that tested the bandwidth of my patience as well as some fucking piece of my sanity.
Loosening a breath, I approached the bars, slamming my wrapped palm against them. The force rattled the metal, and the sound it created would’ve woken anyone truly sleeping.
