Page 37 of Battle Fluke

With gentle movements of her fluke, Honour made her way to where Hudson reclined.

“I guess you’ve met Nylah,” Honour spoke softly in the hopes of keeping Hudson in this gentle and relaxed state.

“I suppose I have.” Hudson glanced up at Honour for just a moment, but when their eyes met the idea of finding herself in Hudson’s eyes washed over Honour.

She pulled her eyes away quickly and focused her attention back on Nylah.

“Can I join you?” she asked and hated the way the question sounded far too much like pleading.

“Please,” Hudson replied, and though Honour waited for some remark to make her blush or flinch, none came as she settled herself beside Hudson. Her eyes remained on the ray, mesmerized by the way it moved, but more so, completely enthralled by the gentle brush of fingers from Hudson. Who knew she could be that tender with another creature?

“Can I ask you something?” What in Reine was she thinking? Where was she going with this?

“You can ask. But I don’t promise to answer.” Hudson’s words were honest, despite the gentle tone that rattled something loose inside of Honour.

She shook her head, dislodging whatever thoughts she was having and then quickly changed it to a nod as she felt Hudson’s eyes bore into the side of her face.

“Fair enough.” Honour took a deep breath, hoping the water running over her lips would eliminate the memory of Kyree’s lips on her own. “You want to defeat the Talons, yes?”

“I want to annihilate them.” Hudson’s words were so calm and yet fierce all at the same time. In this state, she’d never sounded more certain of something.

“Why?” Honour frowned. She’d never truly understood the Talon culture. She’d learned enough to make sure that she could communicate with them for her work, but beyond that, she’d never been invited into their world.

Hudson shifted, and Honour looked up. Their eyes met again. But this time something beyond a physical friction passed between then. Honour wasn’t certain what Hudson saw, but whatever it was made Hudson’s body sink farther into the sand where they rested.

Honour couldn’t take her eyes off of Hudson, even as she returned to playing with Nylah, her eyes focusing on the small ray and the corners of her mouth rising gently. It might be the first real smile she had seen on Hudson.

“Talon is a monstrous tribe. They’re brutes and they’re thieves.” Hudson’s smile disappeared, though she continued to play with Nylah as she spoke, a distant quality in her voice that caused a sharp pain in Honour’s chest.

“Living things shouldn’t be used solely for someone else’s gain. It shouldn’t matter what sex you’re born or how different you might be. No one has the right to enslave others.”

“Enslave?” Honour’s eyebrows furrowed at the word. “That’s a very heavy word.”

“It is.” Hudson nodded and chuckled as the ray on her hand did a flip backward, flicking out their fins at the end as though it were taking a bow. “It’s more accurate than you might imagine.”

“Who do they enslave?” Honour suspected she knew, but she wanted the confirmation. She didn’t want there to be any doubt in her mind. She needed the words, and she needed Hudson to say it out loud, to understand fully what pulled Hudson from her people.

“Us,” Hudson said, that distance in her voice once more. “They enslave women.”

“The women aren’t free to leave?”

Hudson’s laugh was a little louder and filled with a hard edge that all but cut Honour.

“Women are free to leave if they win a fight against the chief.”

“Okay.” Honour was certain she missed something, but she wasn’t sure how to address it.

“We aren’t shown how to fight. Women aren’t even allowed to watch the men train. We’re trained to be as passive as a piece of seaweed in the current. We go where we’re told to go.”

“But you aren’t.” Honour commented on the only thing she could think of. She’d seen Hudson fight, and those weren’t new skills she’d just learned. She’d been training for years to be as good as she was at destroying the krakens, and Honour doubted Talon started training her recently.

Hudson pressed her lips into a thin line. “No, I’m not.”

There was a long pause, Nylah rubbing their back against Hudson’s shoulder and cheek before moving back to her hand.Honour waited patiently. She didn’t feel right about speaking, not just yet, not with the heaviness that weighed them down.

“I want to show you something.” Hudson reached out with her free hand and gently placed it over Honour’s. After a moment, where Honour could have pulled away from the touch, Hudson lifted Honour’s hand with her own and moved it to her ribs.

At the first touch of Hudson’s skin, Honour quickly stifled a groan. Soft skin over the top of hard earned muscles—it was seductive and beautiful. A small chuckle from Hudson let Honour know she hadn’t quite stifled the moan as effectively as she had hoped.

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