Page 82 of Fearless

I chuckle at her insistence before standing up right as the ship bucks violently. Caught off guard, Paedyn comes careening toward me with a gasp. I catch her against my chest, feel her body melt against mine. My head dips until our noses brush. “Stay with me. Please.”

Her head shakes, but she’s wearing a smile. I nudge her nose again as I murmur, “My pretty, pretty Pae.” She laughs breathlessly. “Stay with me.” I press my forehead to her own. “Stay with me. Stay with me.”

“Fine!” She laughs out the word while offering a gentle flick to the tip of my nose. “Fine, I’ll stay.”

I smile for her, only her, always her. “I was prepared to plead.”

She gives me a look. “You would not.”

“Oh, darling, I would do so much worse if only you asked.” I tuck a strand of hair behind her ear with a smile. “Or, even more difficult, so much better.”

“You know,” she says slowly, “you’re not nearly as terrifying as you seem.”

“Not to you. Never to you.”

I sit down beside her, feeling the ship rock viciously all around us. She looks at me, eyes as bright as the sea itself. I stare into them, memorizing the multitude of hues they hold in the flickering lantern light. My favorite color is a shade of her, a sliver of the vibrance she exudes. And I will gladly drown, gladly burn, gladly fall into those blue eyes until the day she looks at me for the last time.

“Don’t look at me like that,” she breathes.

My lips twitch. “This is the only way I’ve ever looked at you, darling.”

Her smile grows uncharacteristically timid. I lean forward, grabbing our book to flip deftly through the pages. “Well, you might as well keep reading since you’re here.”

“So, that’s why you wanted me to stay.” Her scoff is accompanied by a shake of her head. “So I’ll read to you.”

“Among many other reasons”—she hits me with the pillow—“including your wonderful company.”

“You’re unbelievable, Azer.”

My eyes flick to the dimly lit bed we occupy. “Not the first time I’ve been told that in a setting like this—”

The pillow collides with my face, muffling her laugh behind it.

I’m jolted awake to the rumbling of thunder.

I lift my head off the pillow to—

Shit.

Pain pounds beneath my skull, growing sharper by the second. I vaguely wonder if my temple had met the bedside table during the night to cause this current throbbing.

My head feels heavy as I turn to face her.

Dull moonlight creeps over Paedyn to mingle with her silver hair. It’s fanned across the pillow, surrounding the placid face she wears in sleep. The covers have been kicked down below her feet, and I’m shocked to see she isn’t shivering without them.

My head aches as I sit up to grab the forgotten quilt. I’m about to throw it over her when I lean in close, my mouth mere inches from meeting her forehead.

I stop suddenly, my eyes scanning her face, the bridge of her nose—

There can’t be more than ten.

I jerk back, staring at the body beside me.

This is not my Pae.

I still my mind and focus on the distant thrum of powers beneath my skin. Flash, Tele, Hydro—

And that is when I feel it. Close and strong and to blame for this.

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