Page 343 of Kingdoms of Night

I winked at him. “You first.”

He took a step forward, and reached a hand out to me. “Elian Westin,” he said. “Captain Elian Westin.”

My blood turned cold, it seized my throat and my entire body.

Standing before me was the very pirate I was hunting.

CHAPTERFIVE

AN ENCHANTED KISS

My heart rattled in my chest, and my breaths grew shorter.

He was suddenly a much bigger threat than a simple handsome stranger. Handsome strangers I could handle—but this could turn fatal if I didn’t play to my strengths and keep my wits about me.

His smile suddenly turned sinister, just barred teeth, and darkness in his eyes.

He was a ruthless wizard with the power to destroy my entire world.

I’d never wanted to run, and hide, and turn back time in all of my life.

I was a Sea-Knight, I should not feel like this. I should punch him in the throat and drag him back to the Colony. I should sing the call of the siren and bend him tomywill.

But—somehow—I could do none of that.

Malia was right. Now that I stood before the elusive pirate I’d been hunting for, I started to doubt everything.

Panicked, I tried to keep my composure, and not betray my utter fear.

This wasn’t how this was supposed to go—I wasn’t supposed to cower in fear once I found my target. But, questions and thoughts swirled my head that made me wonder whether he knew I was a siren or not.

What would he do if he knew? Would he curse me on top of the curse my people already suffered from?

I forced a smile, and accepted his hand. His swallowed mine, firmly and unrelenting. “It’s just a story,” I whispered, unable to think of anything better to say.

He helped me down from the bar, and we now stood face to face. We were so close that my chest nearly touched his abdomen. He towered over me, and we were locked in a gaze that I prayed wasn’t an enchantment.

He was the most beautiful human I’d ever seen in my life—beauty worthy of worship—beauty gifted by the gods.

Why would the gods bless him so?

A brief moment of silence passed between us as I tried to think of a way to change the subject.

“It’s pretty late, Elian. I think I need to close up and get home.”

I prayed he wasn’t suspicious that I’d changed the subject.

His smile widened, and terror deepened in my soul. There was a look in his eyes that confirmed my fears.

He knows. He knows.

I almost whimpered under the terror of what I’d realized.

“The kiss,” he said.

It was firm, like an order.

Swallowing the hard lump in my throat, I nodded. I forced another smile. If that’s all it took to get him away from me, I had to do it. I couldn’t afford to anger or offend him—not without my sword—not without any protection against his sorcery.

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