Page 63 of Crossbones
The world sharpens and the weight of want presses against my skin. I let myself linger on thewhat if, just long enough to wander down the path of possibility without turning away.
Yes, maybe I do want it to mean something.
“There you go answering a question with a question,” I say instead.
There’s a pause. “I don’t know.” He looks up and I feel the air thicken, catching on something unspoken unfurling between us. “I’ve never wanted something like that to happen with another man before.”
His words send desire threading through my veins, slow and certain. I lose myself in his eyes, a force drawing me in like the tide.
“Just me.”
“Just you.” His voice is a whisper, as though he doesn’t trust himself with the truth yet.
This was all easier when I thought it didn’t mean anything, when I thought I was pushing him to get out of his own way. But now I can’t ignore that it just might mean everything, and the worst part is how natural it already feels—familiar—like the burning flame of a star guiding me home.
The door opens, cutting off our conversation. Just like I knew it would. We don’t look away from each other as the others file into the room, talking amongst themselves as they fill in along the edges of the table.
“We’ll take the fight to Draco Ignam,” Blackwell says, his eyes still on me.
Only when the room quiets does Blackwell tear his gaze away and I’m left wondering when all of a sudden the lines blurred.
He sees me.
And I don’t like being seen—I’ve spent my entire life putting up walls and wearing masks, carefully curating my life. But now, I’ve found my sharp edges. Blackwell is intent on cutting all of that bullshit away. He’s demanding something real. I should be terrified but for the first time in my life, the only thing I’m scared of is going back to being unseen.
JAMES
Just you.
God, what the hell am I doing? Why’d I admit that?
I mean, itisthe truth—I’dthoughtabout what it might be like to do sexual things with a man before, but I’d never quite found the type of connection where Iwantedit to happen. Until now. With Caspian.Just Caspian. I was only speaking the facts, but why did those words sound like I was saying something else? Something more honest. More vulnerable.
Greystonehad been an unearthing. I’d let Caspian push me because I knew I wasn’t going to cross the line myself. But I think whatever happened in that room, and the intimacy we experienced with each other afterward in the fort—meant things were a lot more complicated now.
Just you.
Fuck. I don’t do this—this wanting of someone—not with anyone, much less a man. But Caspian sees me somehow; the same way I see him, and despite all of our efforts to not make it mean anything, I think we’re beginning to fail in a spectacular fashion.
As the door opens, whatever is hanging in the air between us slowly disintegrates. I hide my irritation and look away from the questions in his eyes—the same questions I’m sure are reflected in mine.
“We’ll take the fight to Draco Ignam,” I say.
Regardless of what’s going on with us, the one thing I do know is I’m going to remove Malik from this world so he can’t touch Caspian again. To do that, I have to focus on the pieces we’ve placed in motion and the plans ahead.
“The Fire Isles?” Flynt asks. “Bit dangerous for a skirmish isn’t it?”
The question pulls me from Caspian and I shake my head.
“We’re not goingintothe Isles,” I answer. “We’ll lure him into the mist that lingers on the south side.”
Latin fordragon fire—Draco Ignam is actually a chain of active volcanoes and as lava flows into the sea, it creates steam that envelopes the entire area and never dissipates. It’s treacherous—the volcanoes are constantly shifting the landscape. A channel that may have been deep enough before, could change within days. Ships run the high risk of sinking when traveling between the islands. With low visibility and an unknown underwater landscape, navigating through there is not for the faint of heart.
“If he can’t see, that means we can’t see,” Van comments.
“That’s where the burning torch comes in,” Harrison says. “We lure him in, torch his sails and then he’s nothing more than a burning beacon for us to focus on.”
“I take it you’ve done this before then,” Caspian says.
