Page 21 of What Lies Within Blood & Heirs

Aiden’s ebony hair hung loosely around his face, covering his rounded half-human ears. Ribbons of the dark wavy locks hung in front of his blue eyes, which, in the library light, seemed grayer than anything.

“Lady Starfire.“ Aiden winked, and she rolled her eyes. “If I may?” He bent at his waist, his red sash swaying from a ridiculous curtsy before Thalon elbowed him in the ribs.

Though she had only spent a few hours with Aiden before the gamroara attack and since his return, she truly had missed his dramatics.

Extending his left palm toward her, he motioned for the obsidian dagger she held, as the lantern lights reflected off a ring adorned with black scales.

Alora nervously shifted, peering down at the weapon, thumb brushing over the crystal gemstone set inside the leather.

Life. Garrik had called it Life.

And it was missing payment and Death? Or Blood and Death?

It was an effort not to keep her head from spinning as her eyes shifted to Aiden, who stood smiling and waiting. She eventually lifted her hand—that dagger—to him, watching Life gleam, shimmering an opalescent glare across the darkened underbelly of the mezzanine.

Aiden snatched it so fast that the blade sliced a small cut across her palm, and he demanded, “Cursed hells.Where did you find this?”

Garrik made a low sound of warning and cradled her hand before Alora attempted to seal the wound with her …starfire. She glanced between Aiden and her High Prince, whose eyes bounced between the dagger and Aiden.

The muscles in Garrik’s forearms shifted as he pointed to the swirling matte embellishments across the dagger’s blade and skeptically asked, “You know what this is?”

Aiden scoffed. “I bloody well should. I’ve been searching for this fordecades.”

They stoodoutside Aiden’s tent.

Alora thought she had imagined it—the odd scent of salt and brine of a sea, but there was no doubting the sound of crashing waves now.

She’d often feel and hear this peculiar sensation. Many nights, sitting by the crackling and popping of flames in their firesite, she’d catch the screech of a gull or a whiff of sand when surrounded by mountains and pine. And ever since Garrik gifted her a new tent, the alluring sounds had lulled her to sleep.

Aiden looked disheveled—frustrated—holding Alora’s dagger. His long black coat with brass buckles had been exchanged for a loose-fit white tunic. The leather cord was untwined past his chest, exposing carved chest muscles and abs.

From under the white fabric, she glimpsed ink. Though much different from Thalon’s, sea creatures of the nastiest proportion were designed there. Females with fishtails swam up his arm. A twelve-sailed ship of such magnificence, too, and she wondered if it was the one he captained. Sitting at his heart, the ink formed a creature she often wore on her leathers.

Her High Prince’s symbol; a dragon unleashing fire.

On Aiden’s left middle finger sat a thick band adorned in molten streams of the brightest colors of autumn laced within polished silver. Alora wondered if it was another symbol for the Dragon’s Legion when Aiden banded his arm across his abdomen and bowed at his waist.

Gesturing to his tent entrance, and with a feisty grin and glint in his eyes, Aiden stared at Jade, then pivoted to Alora with a wink. “Après vous, mesdames.”

Jade only rolled her eyes and stepped inside, knocking a shoulder with Aiden’s as she gripped her spine and coin necklace and passed through. Eldacar and Thalon followed close behind.

When they disappeared into the distant sounds of the sea, Aiden followed, but Garrik hesitated, face covered in disgust.

“What’s that look for?” Alora asked, breaking his stare.

Garrik ran a calloused palm down the back of his neck and answered, “You will see.” With a deep inhale through his nose, Garrik pulled the entrance back and ducked inside.

A simple brush against the canvas later, her world transformed from that of a camp outside Alynthia’s front gates to …

If she thought she was hot before, then the humid coating of mist and sea was something seemingly unbearable, drawing a thin layer of sweat across her hairline almost immediately. How could Aiden stand such a climate?

She stepped from dirt to the slick wooden floorboards of a mighty ship with twelve sails and an endless ocean extending to the horizon, merging with a sky set with the colors of a calm morning sunrise. The sun cast an illuminated path across the waters, resembling glitter, and where the sun touched the sea, its clementine tone stretched to the deck and cast itself on the red oak boards.

It would take practice—walking to the sway of the sea—but somehow, she managed.

Alora spotted a brown and green railing. Its color disturbed from years of relentless waves splashing the wood, and placed her hands on the damp board before she leaned over and greedily inhaled the salt and brine. Scanning the rolling crash of the deep blue waves, she smiled at the darkened silhouettes of the creatures bumping into the ship’s hull.

The appeal was understandable. Especially on calm seas such as this—it was breathtaking.

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