Page 40 of Tik-Tok

He snorted, releasing her chin. Of course she couldn’t comprehend patricide—Tin had wasted no time swinging his axe in her defense. “Not all fathers are as protective as yours.”

“Killhim, though? Is that necessary?”

“What does it matter to you?” he asked, genuinely curious. “You don’t know him or what he’s done. Why do you care if he lives or dies?”

North shifted, squeezing the fabric of her skirt. “You’re right—I don’t know him. But to go through all of this? You cut off your own arm and took me from my family to murder one male?”

A dry laugh escaped Tik-Tok’s throat. Yes—he’d cut off his arm. He’d stolen North. He’d betrayed Captain Salt, the asshole of a fae who’d saved him as an adolescent, taken him from a lifetime of slavery to the brutal King of Ev. And he’d donemore. Hewould domore to make sure his father suffered an excruciating death. Tik-Tok was going to rip the bastard’s limbs off, one by one. He would cauterize each stub to keep his father from bleeding out before he was finished. Then he’d carve his chest open and snap his ribs apart. Feed his intestines to wild beasts. Peel his skin from his body as he begged for mercy.And thenTik-Tok would deal the final blow.

“My father…” He eyed the cupboard holding his personal supply of spirits and sighed. It had been a long time since he’d talked about this with anyone, and when he was finished, there was no doubt he would need to drown away the pain. “To call him a fucking asshole is an understatement. My fatherandmy mother, actually. They were horrendous parents to me and my three siblings. Constantly berating and beating us. My oldest sister escaped through marriage when I was three and my older brother took a job in another town when I was four, which left me and my younger sister to deal with them on our own. If only they had stayed away…”

He closed his eyes, rubbing the lids in an attempt to erase the images of his siblingsbefore… Of them alive. Laughing. Protecting him and his little sister from their parents’ fury. And then, there wasafter. An ending saturated in blood.

“My oldest sister announced her pregnancy the last time she came home,” he said quietly. “She would’ve made a wonderful mother, given the chance.”

“What happened to her?” North put a hand on his knee in what had to be an attempt at comfort. All it did was make his pulse race.

“My parents killed her,” he said in a hoarse voice. “And my brother. And my little sister. And … me…” He glanced sideways to gauge North’s expression. Her wide eyes were glazed with a mixture of shock and horror. His lips curled into a rueful smile. “Obviously I was harder to kill than they expected, even at thirteen years old.”

“But …why?” she asked gently. “Why would they murder their own children?”

“Power.” He held up his left hand and let a small spark of red smoke twine around his fingers. “They used a dark spell to steal everything from my siblings then severed their spinal cords, but they couldn’t pry my magic out no matter how hard they tried. In fact, their attempt only made more manifest.”

He closed his fist around the swirling red magic, extinguishing it. His useless power to scent magic had suddenly been joined by the ability to turn living beings to stone. Then the more volatile ability to crush the hardest of rocks with a mere thought. The new power had exploded from him, fierce and untamed, doing for him what he’d always wanted to do.Crushing, maiming, in order to free himself.

He smirked maliciously at the memory. “And I used it to crush every bone in my mother’s body. A slow, agonizing death. Instead of helping her, my cowardly father ran off with my brother’s portal magic.”

“And disappeared through the portal?” North guessed.

Tik-Tok nodded once. “The world on the other side lacks magic, according to the tales told in Ev, and my parents wanted to become gods. My father, I assume, succeeded.”

North was quiet for so long that, if her hand didn’t still rest on his knee, he would’ve thought she’d left. He flopped back on the bed, staring at the wooden beams overhead. Anger stirred inside him, clawing, biting, frantic to find an escape. He wanted his fatherdead. Wantedvengeance.

“Captain Salt isn’t exactly what you’d considergood, but he was different toward me. He became something like a father after he snuck me out of Ev. He taught me to fight and, because I saw him doing so many wrong things, I learned to always do therightthing.” He looked down at his metal arm and felt the scab over his guilty conscience loosen. The right thingwasn’tto hold a mutiny against Salt. Was Salt the best male? Hell no. But Salt was the best male he’d had in his life while growing up. Perhaps, that one time, he should’ve simply acquired his own pirate ship another way. Abandoned Salt instead of actively betraying him.

North shifted onto her knees on the mattress and leaned forward, blocking his view of the ceiling. “I don’t know why Ifeltmy magic, but I know what else Ifeltat the time. Maybe … maybe if we recreate that, it will work again. I want to help you. You should have told me this earlier so I understood.”

Tik-Tok’s eyes snapped to her face, his gold hand fisting the blankets. Was she seriously going to resume her plan of seduction?Now?After what had happened because of Celyna. “North…”

When he didn’t continue, she leaned closer, breath shallow. “What?”

He suppressed a groan. Taking an innocent into his bed had always been a hard line for him—the females got attached and he didn’t need that kind of trouble. “You need to give yourself to someone better than me. Someone capable of doing more than fucking.”

“There are other things we can do,” she whispered. “Things we’ve already done.”

Blood surged to his cock.Yes,he wanted to tell her. He wanted to have his fingers in her again, have her touch him in places she hadn’t explored yet. His hard length pressed painfully against his pants and he groaned in his head. It wouldn’t take long. Minutes, if that.

But, as much as he wanted to take her up on the offer ofother things, he wouldn’t. Not if it was simply meant to draw her power out. He’d had enough exchanging of sexual favors for magic with Celyna. North meant more to him than that. He stopped breathing as that realization struck him.Oh, fuck no.That was a reality he refused to entertain.

If North needed …something… to help her release her potential, she would have to use her own hands. Or another crew member. Dax would most certainly be willing, but then Tik-Tok would be forced to toss him overboard.

He gave her a tight smile. “As much as I want to kill my father, I won’t use your body like that. There are other ways to achieve my goal—and for you to find yourself. I’m willing to wait a little longer to do this with my morals intact. What’s left of them anyway.”

She tilted her head, a tinge of sadness in her gaze. “It doesn’t have to be about my magic or the portal. It could be … fun.”

“Fun,” he echoed and lunged up, pressing his lips to hers in a quick, desperate kiss. Then he stood, pulling her with him, and crossed the room. “Forgive me, my star. But I can’t.” He swung the door open and gave her a gentle nudge. “Go to your room and practice feeling your magic some more, all right?”

North opened her mouth to say something, but he didn’t wait to hear if it was an agreement or a refusal. In a moment of desperation to be alone with his feelings—both mental and physical—he slammed the door in her face. He only made it as far as his desk before unbuckling his pants—an illusory image of North on her knees before him—and gripping himself with a low, desperate groan.

---