Page 41 of Shadows and Flames
I glared at my brother, who gave back a look drier than the Zonoran desert. In my first language, he droned, “I am happy for you, Nogón, but your enamoredness will cause us to lose this contract.”He jutted his chin toward over my shoulder, and I threw my senses in that direction. With a minute swivel of my head, vision casting in my peripheries, nose and ear searching.
“Shit,” the witch cursed. From their vantage point, facing the docks and ships behind Meline and me, they more easily noticed what I had not until that moment.
Paschal Von Herron, boarding a vessel and barking orders to a crew that’d been hustling back and forth when my queen and I had come to the harbor. Probably for hours before that.
The intel that we’d been given at the start of our contract had stated that the merchant would be home in Morova for multiple weeks. Enough time for us to find the right moment and descend.
The tumbling of canvas snapped in the air like a clap of thunder. Now that I was focusing, I caught Von Herron shouting to his crew to prepare for departure. To heave the anchor out of the water.
My queen groaned, slapping a gloved palm against her temple.
When I turned back to my brother, both he and Tana were gone, melting into the crowd. What if Von Herron was to be away for months? Did we follow and catch him at his destination? Lay in wait for when he returned? The possibilitieschurned in my thoughts, calculating, and by the tension in my queen’s shoulders, I could almost hear her mind doing the same.
We stood, holding each other and thinking while droves of humans flowed around us like waves splitting around boulders. Until Tana appeared first. She cut her eyes to me, then to my queen. “Not certain how long he’ll be away, but based on the destination, I’d wager quite a while. If we have any hope of finishing this thing,” her gaze on Meline took on a new depth, “we need to follow.”
Tomás appeared then, appearing out of the shadows. “Vharas. Caught some crew gossip but not much. An agreement fell through that he is to see to personally. We need to go now if we have any hope of catching up.”
I nodded, running calculations in my mind.“Are there any other ships going that way?”Von Herron’s was already pulling away from the docks. Not that booking voyage on a merchant ship was covert in the slightest.
Meline shifted in my arms, and I focused back on her. The slight furrow in her brow as she watched Tom and I go back and forth.
Despite what I’d said earlier and the inherent Shadow compulsion to finish what I’d started, towin, I imagined taking her back to my apartment. Making love to her for the rest of the day, until the wrinkle I now thumbed and bade to relax was a distant memory. Without this contract between us, we could enjoy the Morovan markets like we had in Rhaestras. Perhaps I would convince her to come to Banfas. Where the air was dry and the streets held the golden shadows of my childhood.
But my queen, she and I, had never been that simple. “Don’t even think about it, El. We’re doing this. Andwe, Tana and I, will win.”
Of course. Because she was a menace and just as ruthless as I was. And yet… I leaned down, brushing my lips against the shellof her ear. I whispered, “You will not. But we will go, and you will sleep inmybed.”
A slight puff of air punched out of her, and I tightened my fingers in my tunic she wore. Another sign that she was mine.
She swallowed, throat clicking. “Are…are you sure I won’t be holding your hair all night while you vomit over side of the deck?”
Mm. I drank up her words, the Fire within me they fed. The last time we had embarked on the water, I’d been holding onto the last vestiges of my sanity. Being in such close quarters while the floor shifted and tilted beneath me. Pacing and grumbling silently to myself, regretting signing up for the assignment.
This time, our days on the water would be different.
Chapter Sixteen
MELINE
Ireleased my half of our packs on the lumpy mattress as Tana did the same. The small cabin held a moderately sized bed, especially for a ship of this size, and a window that looked out on the darkening sky. Water lapped lazily against the hull, and heavy steps thumped overhead.
“If weather permits, we’ll make it to Vharas right on his heels. We need to close in as quickly as possible.”
Tana nodded and began to set aside her night clothes, checked her weapons. “Blackwood agreed to meet with us when we disembark, so at least there’s that. No telling what he’s arranged with the Shadows, though.”
Probably something similar. I chewed my lip, fingers fiddling with my unopened bag.
I wouldn’t be staying in here. Not really. But what did I even take with me to his room? Would we grow tired of each other on a weeklong journey?
Would he send me away when I finally built up the courage to tell him the whole truth?
I winced, shoving that sorrow away as best I could. I tried instead to focus on the flutter in my chest— something likelife—at the thought of his arms wrapped around me. Now, withinreach, were two things I’d longed for just a few short days ago—my Shadow in my arms again and a path to Francie.
“Fuck,” I wiped at my brow with the back of my hand. Whitley was out there, worrying over their lost mate while I was losing my mind over Elián. I was abandoning my cousin so I could spend the night in his bed, as he’d demanded. “I should just stay here. Hopefully this will be over in just a few weeks’ time, and then I?—”
Tana clamped her hands over my shoulders, giving me a hearty shake. “Leenie. No. Aside from the fact that Iam quite looking forward to sprawling out in my own bed for a change, you won’t squander this chance by avoiding him. That would be quite stupid of you, and that’s something you’ve never been.”
“Who said I’m avoiding him? I—I shouldn’t abandon you. After all you’ve done? All you’ve sacrificed?”
