Page 46 of Shadows and Flames
Chapter Seventeen
MELINE
The salt air stirred the tiny waves of Elián’s hair escaping the knot atop his head. Now far enough for the coasts to be lost in the expansiveness of sea and sky, we floated on dark waters matching the night above. The moon provided just enough light to allude to the creatures lurking below, but the deep red and orange glowing from Elián’s eyes looked on brightly in hot disdain.
“Are you sure you’re alright?” I asked, lips trembling. After tearing ourselves out of bed, we washed and went in search of food. The small dining room for passengers was full, the air close with a mix of perfumes and aroma of supper.
Elián’s golden brown skin churned with an interesting olive hue almost immediately.
Now, with supper abandoned, save for a few hasty bites before following him to the deck, I watched him fight with himself.
He grunted in answer, and I teased, “You know, it’s not the ocean’s fault. Maybe letting yourself vomit will help?” Elián turned his glower onto me, and I lost the battle with the snickers. I cooed with a few circles of my gloved palm on his back. “I won’t think less of you, you know.”
“I’m—” He clenched his eyes and jaw, muscle jumping as he took a pointed swallow. I clucked my tongue and continued my soothing. As much as I enjoyed taunting him, I didn’t enjoy seeing him so uncomfortable. After a few more moments, our fellow passengers milling about the deck and swaying from the waves or their own libations, Elián managed, “I am not going to vomit.”
“Well, you may be able to fool yourself, but I am not that easily deceived.”
He looked about to retort, lips parting in a weak sneer, but his stomach had other ideas. Using Lylithan speed, Elián darted to the railing and pitched his breakfast and whatever else overboard. I kept my amusement to myself as I caught up with him, resuming my back rubs. At least his hair was already up.
We drew a few concerned or amused glances from passersby, but the pointed stare over by the bow snagged my attention. They cocked their head, red eyes like drops of rubies under the moonlight.
Elián straightened after spitting spitefully over the sea. This evening, he wore clothing that was another nod to his heritage—the violet tunic with no sleeves exposed the striking tattoos up and down his arms, and the low cut in front once again displayed him from clavicle to sternum.
My own black and maroon blouse seemed quite subdued in comparison. But I liked him like this. The more vibrant of the two of us.
I reached up, caressing his lip as he’d done with me earlier. His expression harkened back to our first encounters, stony and closed down, so I pulled on the back of his neck, lowering him within my reach. I pecked his lips in reassurance—closed-mouth, but still—and he grumbled and huffed.
“And do you feel better?” I already had my answer with the color returning to his face, but I asked anyway.
This Elián, the one who’d shown me he was determined to rebuild in a new way, didn’t dismiss or bite my head off. With a sigh, he conceded with a, “Yes,” and for the first time in years, I grinned.
He paused, brow bunching slightly in thought. Elián swallowed again, licking his lips as he took my hand. He gave the gloves, matching the leather of my boots, two more breaths of consideration before glancing at me under black lashes. “You are beautiful, my queen.”
I blinked. “Oh, ah, thank you. And…” My words were tumbling more clumsily in the face of his earnest compliments than when I’d had his cock in my mouth.
The tight mounds of his arms, the soft loops of the gold in his ears and the waves of his hair. “You are beautiful, too. Otherworldly so,” I added that last part on a hoarse, vulnerable whisper.
Those dimples made an appearance, but one that seemed genuinely born from my words, rather than an action to placate me.
He didn’t need to do the pulling this time. The sea air was cool, certainly, but the temperature didn’t bother me. It was the air kissing my bare shoulders that forced to my awareness the fact his arms weren’t around me.
The heat was immediate as I walked into him, hummed into the embrace. Was this what we’d been missing the whole time we’d traveled together as bodyguard and royal charge? How different could the journey to Rhaestras have been if we’d had this?
I would’ve gotten a lot less reading done, but Elián certainly would’ve spent less time angrily pacing. The mornings in my mother’s homeland could’ve been spent luxuriating in the heat, naked and panting into each other, sweat-slicked skin joining over and over. Reading companionably by the pool.
“Do you bring any of those picture books?” I asked with a cheek resting on his chest.
“Yes. Two I had not heard of before, the third is the newest Joran installment.”
I snickered, pleasant swells of excitement in my stomach. “I’d like to read those with you, while we’re in bed.”
Elián grumbled, but it was a pleasant, pleased sound. He pulled me even closer. “I would like that, too.”
And maybe… maybe we could make plans. Learn more about each other and what we wanted this future to look like. Provided Tana and I won this contract. But even if we didn’t, Goddess willing, Elián would be here and so would I.
A scream cut through the night, one that communicated distress—fear—and I wrenched my gaze to where I’d seen those red eyes. Of course, the person was gone.
It took a while for the humans on the deck, with their weakened hearing, to notice something was amiss, but by the time confused then worried whispers started rumbling, Elián and I were already descending into the bowels of the ship, seeking out the danger and ready to snuff it out. We flew down the steps, maneuvered around fumbling bodies unaware of or startled by the commotion.
