Page 9 of Pirate Witch
“I fostered with the Solars for a full year. In that time they gave up on me, and I am infinitely more patient than you.”
“I’m trying to be supportive here,” Cas says, but he’s smiling.
“I think meditating would be more successful without the two of you distracting me,” Nos begins. “But I appreciate the thought.”
“Now, when can we have makeup sex?” Cas’s voice deepens to a husky purr, and I can’t help the way my body responds.
But I have another condition before I let things go any further. “Who says I’ve forgiven you?” I reply. “There’s still one issue. The thing that set off Nos’s beast.”
“Dominance.” Cas spits the word like it’s a curse. “Fuck.”
“What are you both going to do if something like that happens in the bedroom?” I ask. “What if I’m sandwiched between you, we roll over and Nos’s leviathan decides he doesn’t want to be on the bottom? You need to sort this out.”
Cas looks at me as if he’s never considered that, and Nos drops his head to the table with a solid thunk.
“She’s right,” my seer says. “It’s clear now that my beast is here to stay. I’ve been a fool to think shutting him away was going to work in the long term. It’s a miracle I’ve lasted this long.”
“No sex until your beasts are getting along,” I insist. “Is that fair?”
Both of them nod, their jaws set with determination. They’ve never looked more identical than they do at this very moment, and I’m already seriously regretting my own rule.
“I have another reason for making you do this,” I admit, sliding onto the bench now that the heavy conversation is over. “What Elsie and Reva will do… you’re more likely to survive if you’re healthy—both mentally and physically. Staying on the border between life and death is hard, and it will be harder if you’re fighting with another part of yourself.”
“Don’t worry about us, Princess.” Cas grins that sexy, sly grin of his as he makes his way around the table until he’s standing right next to me “We’re not going to give you up now that we’ve found you.”
He bends down, and I raise my lips to meet his eagerly. His kiss is soft, the action more of a gentle apology rather than an expression of the lust that we both want to give into.
“Now, Rysen has lined up just about every awful job on the ship for the two of us for our stunt.” He pulls back and looks at the door with a resigned expression. “Including checking inventory.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad…” I begin, only to be silenced as Nos appears behind me and drops another kiss on my lips. His are even softer than Cas’s and heartbreakingly unsure.
“It’s boring, but we earned it,” he confesses as he moves away, leaving me kiss drunk on the taste of my shifters. “Get some rest, mate. You need it.”
Just like that, I’m left alone with too many thoughts. Somehow, my men managed to inhale their food in the short time when they were all here. Unlike them, I finish my bowl of oats slowly, enjoying the chance to justbe. I haven’t stopped moving since I stepped foot in Cirio’s Cove and now all of it is catching up to me. I finish and push the bowl away before I slump over the table. My heavy head falls to rest on my arms, and I sigh as I struggle to summon the energy to get up and go back to my cabin.
I fall asleep without realising it's happening. Half-waking only when I’m scooped into a large, familiar pair of arms.
“Sleep now, little witch,” Rysen murmurs. “Kier and I will take care of you.”
I open my mouth to protest that they need to rest too, but all that comes out is an embarrassingly loud yawn. I don’t have the energy to complain when he climbs into a warm bath with me and starts methodically cleaning me from head to toe while I drift between dreams and reality. I must have nodded off again, because when I wake, I’m in my own bed, sandwiched between two male bodies.
The moon is high overhead, her soft light spilling through the window in a reassuring puddle that covers most of the room. Behind me, Ry’s arm tenses, tugging me closer to him as if, even in sleep, he can keep me here if he holds on tight enough. I twist until I manage to press a soft kiss to his temple, revelling in the contact before turning back to the male in front of me.
Kier is awake, his grey eyes guarded as he watches me. He doesn’t speak, but I can feel his questions pressing against my skin.
Things between us are complicated at best. Just a week ago, I’d been so close to revealing my full name to him and breaking his curse, and then we’d been interrupted by those assassins sent by his brother. Now I know he can only return to Faerie if his curse is broken. He talked himself into unconsciousness, taking on unbearable pain, to try to explain himself.
He swore he’d never return, and fae can’t lie.
He even gave me his full name, the only thing which can command a fae.Kieran Froshtyn.
Yet, if I give mine in return, he can command me in return. Names have power to the fae. So much so that I’m not sure it’s wise to give him mine while he’s bound to the Eagle. I trust the Kier I know to never use my name against me, yet I can’t say that he’ll be able to resist if the Queen orders him to capture me at any cost.
I can’t jeopardise my own escape from the ship when so much rides on me reaching Isablis and meeting up with Cirio, Elsie, and Reva.
“After the bargain is broken,” I whisper. “I will break your curse, then. I vow it before the Moon.”
His eyes widen slightly in surprise, but he gives me a slow nod just the same, accepting my decision, before moving out of the bed and extending a hand to help me up too.
