Page 83 of The Pirate Queen of Ruin
Delphini applies a coat of lip gloss in front of the vanity in our room, the whole table strewn with her beauty supplies. The high-tech and vibrant-coloured tools and palettes are a stark difference from the dark wood and neutral furnishing. But her silk pillowcases brighten the bed. The extra clothing rack we bought for her sits adjacent to the bed and acts like a pink curtain for that half of the room.
“Yes.”Love answers. Through the reflection of the mirror, they wink at me. This new, playful side of them is dangerous and free, but it makes my heart race, too.
“We go for the whole meeting this time,” Delphini adds quickly.
“Did you call youryiayiaback?” I ask, changing the subject while I scrub the back of my neck, fingers digging into my one remaining mark before I tie my scarf off.
“Yes, she’s demanding to see us.” She turns to look at me before half morphing into Love. Tentacles float around her head, the tips kissing her neck before slipping back into Delphini’s curls. The three eyes and blue skin remain in place.
“It will be good to see the start,”they say.
Since they have escaped their void, Love is extremely weakened. There is no more controlling the tides or sinking islands, but there are moments when I can still feel them in my mind and can reach for them. That is enough for now as we start off on our new path into the unknown.
“Oh, wait,” Delphini gasps, shoving her stool back and rushing out of our room.
She runs down the hall to her old room, which still holds quite a few of her belongings. I lean against the jamb of our door and wait for her to return. There is a moment when I think I hear a giddy, familiar laugh in my head, but it is gone as she reappears.
As she approaches, her shoulders square like she is about to fight me. Her fingers curl into a fist, but I hold my ground until she stops directly in front of me again. She stares down at me, her incredible dark eyes glowing with mischief.
“Orthia,” she begins. “I have known you for a short time and for lifetimes. You are my soulmate.”
“Yes, I am.” I smile.
“Myyiayiagave these to me on my eighteenth birthday, with firm instructions to only offer them to someone who understood all I could.”
I think of that picture of heryiayiathat I saw weeks ago. Will she approve of me?
Delphini raises her hand, and as her fingers unfurl, two rings appear. One is simple, a silver band engraved with filigree similar to a tree branch. Around the band, it is dotted with tiny red gemstones. Next to it, is a much larger ring, atop the silver band sits a fat red gemstone surrounded by smaller white ones. The longer I stare at them, the more I believe that they are actually rubies.
“You are my wife. And I said I wanted to be romanced, for everyone to know. Will you please wear one of these, for us?” she asks.
“Holy shit.” I smirk, mimicking the phrase she says to me so often.
“Wife,” she pouts, her shiny bottom lip poking out.
I raise my bare left hand and place it in front of her. “Myomphalos, my goddess, you are my whole world. I would be honoured.”
Delphini lets out a shuddering breath, and a brilliant smile creases her face as she puts the simple band on my finger. I slide the other ring onto her finger before bringing her knuckles to my lips. I trail kisses over her hand, to her wrist, and up her arm until I am pulling her down to meet my lips.
The gloss sticks my lips to her perfectly, but she pulls away much too soon for my liking.
7 Days
I miss Greece.
I miss the sun on my skin, myomphalosnaked in the surf, and how Love shined beneath the waves. The three of us free and at peace together. A scowl forms on my lips as more memories of our vacation slip from my meditative state. It’s the middle of winter and I’m bored out of my fucking mind. Aoife has taken the commercial ship and most of the crew out to sea, so there isn’t much to fill my days, and I refuse to leave Delphini’s side. She slips her hand into mine without even breaking the conversation she is having with Joanna. The ring on my finger shines in the cheap fluorescent lights overhead as warmth blooms from her touch.
Nora sits beside me, preventing me from meditating further on my goddess.
“So, next Friday, you, me, the humans, and a bottle of my finest-” She doesn’t get farther in her proposal before Deg’Doriel storms through the doors of the basement. He has barely passed through the door before bursting into flames.
“Shut the fuck up and sit down.” He barks, and I roll my eyes at him. “Don’t start with me. Your little Greek escapade made the fucking news.”
“Cut the shit, Deg,” I grunt, but can’t keep the smirk off my lips. “It’s a miracle those women made it to shore after the freak storm capsized the pirate ship they were on.”
Truly a miracle. Much toYiayia’sdelight, I convinced Delphini we should spend the day on water rather than get sand in places it doesn’t belong. We happened upon some merfolk who knew about a ship trafficking women. The storm that brewed when myomphalosheard that. The hunger that burned in her eyes. A heat settles between my legs as I think about it, my fingers squeezing hard around hers.
This meeting can’t be done fast enough for my liking. Around me there is more conversation, but my focus drifts across a vast sea of more interesting things. Delphini’s thick thighs wrapped around my head, her tentacles teasing my tongue with the taste of her musk. Love’s tentacles taking over her lower leg until they can slip between my legs. Suction on my clit makes me groan into the wet pussy threatening to drown me.
