Page 129 of Ruthless Scoundrel
Good riddance.
My people are secure in the hold, along with several grumpy eksteinvas. When the creatures realized they couldn’t escape the island without help, they offered Alejandra a crystal, much like the ones they gave us, to barter passage. Who knows where to. The creatures don’t speak any language I know.
But my father and sister weren’t among those rescued. I haven’t had time to speak with my mother besides the tearful reunion, so I’m uncertain of their fate. Could they have escaped? Could they still be alive, out there somewhere?
I hold Reina close under the blanket Alejandra provided as we stare out at the darkening sea. It’s easier to navigate the pillars of stone without the mist, and so the helm is manned by thecaptain’s second while she speaks with my mother and the Illyan woman in her cabin.
“We almost died,” Reina says, looking down at the pink scars twisting along her arms.
My mother and Alejandra were able to heal us further, but the wounds were so deep it was too late to prevent scarring. She and I wear the same brand now, and something about that feels undeniably good. We destroyed a monster to earn these scars.
“Almost,” I say, kissing her temple.
“She’s not gone,” Reina says after a breath of silence. “I can feel her, like a looming shadow.”
“You don’t have to fear her. Shadows can be defeated by light,” I say.
She hums. “So poetic. You’re quite amicable when you’re being tender, you know that?”
“Do you miss my sharp edges?” I growl quietly against her ear.
She giggles, her fingers threading through mine. “Maybe.”
My heart feels lighter in the presence of her love. I want to wait, but I know I can’t any longer. We’re alone enough here on the deck with no one hovering and a blanket to obscure us.
“It means, ‘the soul’s other half,’” I say.
She looks up at me until our lips are so close it’s tempting to silence the oncoming question with a kiss. “What?”
I shrug. “It’s as close of a translation as it gets, I’m afraid. It means the gods split our souls in half when we were born and gave the other half to each other. We’re only whole when together.”
She takes a deep breath and looks out at the water. “I see.”
There’s something about her brevity that urges me to go on, to keep talking so the silence doesn’t eat me up. “It’s why I couldn’t stop getting erections around you. When you were, eh, fertile…I would go into heat. It happened about two weeks before your bleeding.”
“So, you couldn’t control your dick because the gods gave me half your soul?” The harsh way she says it, emotionless and yet loaded with anger, has my stomach flipping upside down.
“No, that’s not…” I growl in frustration. “Reina, you’re fire. You’re light and warmth and scalding fury. You’re so desirable to me, I would split my chest open and hand you my heart if you asked for it.”
She says nothing.
“It isn’t that the gods ordained us to be together…it’s you. It’s everything that you are. My feisty, fearless flame. You don’t let anything stop you, and you’re so eager to achieve not for your own benefit, but to be selfless. To give and see the prosperity of others. You are brilliance.”
Another quiet beat passes between us. My entire being seems to hold its breath, as if the world waits for her reply.
She looks over her shoulder with a broad, impish grin. “Is that all?”
I grip her chin and hold her still. “You want me to lavish you with words of affection, sunshine?”
“Maybe,” she says in a breathy whisper.
“Well, which is it that you want? My sharp edges, or my soft ones?”
Her eyes sparkle with desire. “I want all of you, Ohksano’amai.”
I nibble her ear with a needy groan. “I knew this conversation should’ve waited until we were completely alone.”
“Luvine!” Alejandra’s voice snaps through the air like a whip.
