Perhaps I didn’tneedto hold back.
“Kiss me,” I breathed.
He froze beneath me, his eyes finding mine. Every muscle in his body went rigid as he searched for any regret, any hesitance within me. Impatience was an ugly beast clawing into my chest as my hand found the back of his neck, tugging him closer. “That one was a command, Captain.”
In an instant I was being lifted from the bow of the ship, my legs instinctively wrapping around his waist as he stood with the movement. Our eyes met before mine fluttered closed and he passed the point of no return. His lips were a clashing of desire and need against my own as anarm banded around my back, pressing me into every hard plane of his body.
“Aye!The deck is off limits for fornicating, get a room in the cabin below like the rest of—”
Malika’s sharp voice was drowned out as water surrounded us, a rushing cocoon of raging white waves, and for a second I thought surely we must have fallen overboard. Yet Roan still held me tightly, his feet solid on the wood of the deck.
His lips parted from mine for merely a second, his voice low and thick. “Fuck going below deck, I’ve waited months for this, for you.”
And then his lips were back on mine, soft and rough all at once. A demand in every press, a question in every sharp breath.
Goddess had I ever been kissed before with such uttercraving?
It was a sea of endless longing, a push and pull of tenderness and hungry desire. His arm an anchor as though he thought I might float away if he were to release me.
And when he moved from my lips to trail hungry kisses down my neck I felt as if I could unravel, my fingers moving to his dampened hair, gripping as I drowned in the sensation ofhim. In the feel of his strong body against mine, grounding me to this moment we carved out of time and space with soft breaths and gentle caresses.
A moan slipped from me as a hand threaded into my hair, tugging me tighter against him. I could feel every muscle against my chest, my hands roaming over his shoulders, twining behind his neck.
Soft lips traced a blazing pattern across my skin and back to my mouth, swallowing the small noises that escaped me and Goddess it felt as if I was melting into the man. As if I could stay in this exact moment for a hundred years and never have another worry. As though he was thecure to any issues I could encounter, an addiction that only I would ever know.
He kissed me until our lungs screamed for air, until our bodies were soaked from the raging storm of whirling water around us. The world narrowing to his lips pressed against my own and the taste of salt from the storm around us. His hand slid from my hair before settling back at my waist. The soaked fabric of my clothing offered no barrier as his fingers pressed into me, warm and possessive. A shiver rippled through my body as he drew me closer, the solid heat of him a stark contrast to the cold bite of the sea.
“Syra,” he murmured, my name spoken against my lips like a vow.
My lips found his again before reason could intervene, before the reality of our situation could come crashing down upon us once more. My words breathless against his mouth, “Let us live in this moment and not think of what comes after.”
His kiss was aching with restraint that soon unraveled into something deeper and far more desperate as my finger threaded through his hair. His hand slipped beneath the clinging fabric of my shirt, the warmth of his fingers on my skin drawing a sharp gasp from my lips. Calloused fingers skimmed the skin of my waist, igniting a trail of fire in their wake as they traced upward. The touch was slow, exploratory–reverent yet intoxicating enough to have me arching into it.
Then his hand pressed firmer, his touch unyielding as he explored the curves of my waist. His groan reverberated against my very soul as his fingers moved further upward and brushed against the underside of my breast, a soft noise sounding in my throat as the kiss deepened. A clashing of lips, teeth, and breath—no idea where I ended and he began.
Then his knuckles brushed against something cool.
The delicate chain shifted beneath his touch, the pendant resting against my skin catching between his fingers. My entire body stilled, reality crashing over me like a breaking wave. He pulled back, dropping the pendant, as my body tensed. His eyes danced with questions that I couldn’t answer.
The world beyond this moment—Amori City, the king, my secrets—surged back into focus, sharp and merciless.
His forehead rested against mine, his breath warm and uneven as his magic continued to rage around us. For a heartbeat, neither of us moved, suspended between longing and consequence. And when he pulled back, his eyes traced every line of my face. His hand trailed over my shoulder, thumb brushing against the high point of my cheek and he hadn’t lied. His stare held a reverence, a sacredness of a religious zealot worshipping their god, awe reflecting in every prism of color in those eyes.
My breaths came short and harsh, winded as I gazed back.
“We should slow down,” he murmured softly, an out for the tension that was suddenly radiating from me. Four simple words to save me from putting an end to something that I wanted so desperately. Then his lips curved, slow and wicked. “Besides, the first time I have you won’t be on a ship where my magic is needed to hide us from the crew. When you're ready, I intend to worship you properly, Syra. On a bed lined with furs where my name falling from your lips will be the only thing you need to worry about.”
A shocked laugh escaped me, my head falling to his shoulder as my body shook, “You’re infuriating.”
His lips pressed to my temple, “But you love it.”
Chapter Thirty Four
The weather grew significantly colder the further north we travelled, our light linen traded out for thicker woolen clothing, jackets and pants coated in layers of some sort of wax to prevent the seawater from soaking us to the bone.
The work was far more brutal in the harsh winter air, each of us assigned shifts to hack away the ice that built upon the ship and toss it back to the ocean. Even Kairen’s flame couldn’t keep pace with how quickly the cold tried to sink us to a watery grave. Antoni explained to us all how the buildup of ice could throw the balance of the ship and cause it to capsize, how the vessel was double planked and the more vulnerable parts of the hull were reinforced with steel so the ice would have a harder time piercing or crushing the wood. The sailors were experienced, had taken every precaution, but even they were more uneasy in the northern waters. More aware of the dangers that lurked in the freezing depths below.
I sat below deck, my gloves forgotten as my hands clutched a warm mug of spiced firemead, heated only minutes before. A single lanternnailed to the table cast lilting shadows across the wooden walls, the only light within the small space.
