Page 80 of Stranger's Choice
Chapter 24
It took fivedays to sail down the river from Kalitalo to the harbor. During those five days, Sebin had nothing to do. Nothing with which to distract himself.
He found himself touching his bare finger often. The absence of his ring was both a comfort and a torment. He liked knowing Auraelie had it, that he could at least do that much for her. He hated having nothing to touch that reminded him of her. Only his memories.
By the time he reached the harbor and transferred from the riverboat to the Lhanaperan vessel set to take him home, he doubted his decisions. He believed Auraelie that he needed to return to Moial for the good of all the people living in the kingdom, but would a delay of a few months really make that much of a difference?
Could he have waited, let Auraelie return home and see her family and then asked her if she wanted to join him? He hadn’t wanted to ask her when the choice meant giving up the chance to see her family. Or maybe he should have invited her to visit Moial, if she ever wanted to. A trip across the Mladin was expensive, but he’d have given her the money needed. Of course, she’d also be alone on a vessel where the sailors only spoke a few words of her language, and then landing in a kingdom where no one did, with no easy way to tell him she had come.
But if he had invited her . . . if she had said there was even the slimmest chance that she would come . . . they could have made arrangements. Forget what the oracle had said. Asking her to join him wouldn’t be robbing her of a home, would it?
Sebin boardedThe Spirit of Demni, the same ship that had carried him to Pynth months earlier. He stared past the sailors readying to set sail. He nodded at the captain, but turned away to stare out at the port in front of him. His last sight of Pynth.
He watched the people moving about and thought he saw Heolin. Sebin shook his head. That decided it. If he was at the point of hallucinating, then he needed to do something. He spun around and walked over to where Captain Sendion stood.
“Am I in the same cabin as on the way over?” He called out over the noise of the harbor.
“Yes, though there has been an addition to your room.”
Sebin cut the captain off before he explained whatever interior rearrangements he had made—though how he could fit something new into the tiny cabin was a worrying question. One Sebin didn’t have time for. He’d see it when he saw it, and it didn’t matter, anyway. What mattered was getting to his writing supplies before the ship set sail.
“I’m going to run down to write a letter. There’s time to drop it off in town before we set sail, correct?”
“We’ve got about an hour left before we depart.”
“Good.”
Sebin should talk to the captain now, arrange for Auraelie to be allowed free passage with the understanding Sebin would pay if she ever decided to sail to Moial, but he wanted to get that letter on the way to her first. He knew the captain wouldn’t object—and if he did, then Sebin would contact his cousin Khiran, who was married to Sendion’s niece. If Sebin and Khiran failed to convince him, Lisca would no doubt take care of it.
Sebin hurried down the ladder and through the passage to the cabin where his packs had already been stored. When he got to the door he realized he hadn’t gotten a key from the captain yet. Not wanting to run back up on deck and waste any more time if he didn’t have to, he tried the knob. Just in case.
It turned in his hand, and he swung the door open.
The door openedand Auraelie spun from where she had been staring out of the tiny porthole. Sebin stood in the doorway, gaping at her. She waited, wondering if he would welcome her or try to escort her off the ship.
“Auraelie.” He mouthed her name so softly that she saw the word more than heard it. Then he rushed into the room and kissed her.
The kiss lasted less than a second before he leaped back, leaving her reeling. “Do you have the charm?”
She held up her hand, where his ruby ring circled her thumb. The instant he saw it on her, he pulled her back into his arms and kissed her again. His lips moved against hers with frantic desperation. Or maybe that was hers on him. Either way, the kiss was nothing gentle, nothing tame. It was urgent, as necessary as breathing, and as unstoppable.
She knew she had made the right choice. After hugging her father and older brother, she had introduced herself to her sister and nodded at her mother. There had been tears. Relief and joy. And then awkwardness. She didn’t know her family, and they didn’t know her.
But she knew Sebin. She knew his taste and the feel of his skin against hers. She craved it. Needed it. Needed him.
They were both naked within minutes, somehow stripping their clothes off without letting so much as an inch of space separate their bodies. The bed in the cabin was small, but that hardly mattered. Auraelie fit on it, and Sebin climbed on over her. He began to kiss his way down her body, but Auraelie grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back up.
“Now, Sebin. Now.”
His eyes met hers, and he thrust into her. Her legs wrapped around him, her ankles crossing behind his back. She urged him to a faster and faster rhythm.
He leaned down, kissing her, his tongue tangling with hers. Every thrust, every lick, ratcheted her body higher and higher. She came in a rush, her body arching.
Sebin didn’t stop moving, didn’t alter his speed. Before she came down from her first high, he pushed her into another, this one even more intense. Her body became nothing but pleasure, bones and muscles melting away.
Sebin thrust one more time and joined her.
They sank deeper into the mattress, Sebin’s weight pressing her down. Auraelie ran her hands over his back, up his shoulders, and tunneled her fingers into his close-cropped hair.
