Page 23 of Daughter of the Dark Sea
Blake shifted his weight to the side and lazily stroked up and down her stomach, tracing the edges of earned scars before his fingers navigated to the quivering apex of her thighs. Her breathing hitched at the unspoken promise between them.
This male had saved her life countless times. He’d been to hell and back with her in the Darkoning Trials, and Kora had professed herself to him when they’d finally reunited a year ago. Not quite an admission of love, but she’d promised to give her whole self, and he’d vowed to serve her to the end.
If we do this, you give me everything, Kora. Your heart, your soul.
Everything?
Everything. You’re the light in my life—a shining star. Anasterya.
Everything then.
I will follow you to the ends of the earth.
And Kora would never let him go.
Those three dangerous words lingered on her tongue, as Blake’s fingers grazed her slick wetness, and she gasped in pleasure. Circling her entrance, he groaned her name and she bit her lip, holding in her moans, gripping his strong, toned shoulder as his fingers plunged—
CLANG—the alarm bell rang from the centre of the ship.
They froze. The bell continued trilling erratically in the distance, followed by bellowing shouts of her crew. Kora leapt off the bed. Blake rolled to the side in surprise, and she frantically began putting her clothes back on. He hastily dressed, his movements rapid and fluid as he chucked her boots towards her and sheathed his blade to his hip with unnerving speed.
“PRISONERS ESCAPING!” a familiar voice screeched from outside. The ringing intensified.
“Shit!” Kora grabbed her daggers and back holster, briskly securing it around herself as they sprinted from her quarters onto the main deck.
11
An unsettling silence fell uponHell’s Serpent.
A splattering of blood streaked across the deck, and Kora quietly followed it. Her boots were near silent on the wood, until she discovered one of the guards from the pit, lifeless on the ground, his throat slit.
“Damn it, William,” Blake hissed, anger radiating from him.
Kora’s stomach churned as she peered at a shadowy figure by the main mast, near the alarm bell. Fog had fallen during the night, and she strained to see against the faint illumination of iron lanterns at each end of the ship. The light of the moon barely pierced the grey veil coating the body ofHell’s Serpent.
She signalled to Blake in their code.Move in, but stay hidden.
As they neared the mast, a current of smoky air curled from the crew’s quarters, their door broken, the wood splintered. The dark smoke wafting out thickened the fog, and her brow furrowed. What in the gods had happened?
“Where is everyone?” Kora whispered sharply to Blake.
He shook his head, motioning to lower themselves into a hunting crouch. They quietly approached the heart of the ship, and the moving shadow hissed, followed by a pained yelp. Using the darkness as a cloak, they raced forward. Dread coiled in Kora’s stomach, and a foreboding chill crept into her bones as the fog thinned, reprieving her blindness.
Covered in blood, Jack panted as he threatened a sailor with a cleaver knife to their stubbled throat, and an arm tightly pinning their lean torso.
“Finlay!” Kora gasped.
Jack whipped his wild gaze to her as she revealed herself from the shadows, and her heart thundered as Finlay trembled, his tremor worse than ever. The knife pressed deeper against his throat.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
She held up her hands as Jack eyed her suspiciously, spitting on the floor near her boots.
“Jack, what are you doing?”
“Guess again, lassie.” His features twisted into a hideous smile.
A tattoo blazed on hisrightarm, paired with a red grog-blossomed nose from excessive drinking, spreading across a squared, menacing face.
