Page 100 of Beneath the Veil of Tides
“Did you really think you could best me? You––” his sword dug deeper. “––amerfolk. You will all rot under our authority.”
Thundering footsteps cut through the moment. The commander’s face went ghost-white as he swallowed sharply, his nose twitching as if he’d smelled something wrong. The blade eased a fraction from my throat—barely enough for me to glance sideways.
My Blood Tie.
Like a wolf sensing his prey’s scent, Noctis closed the distance, hunger in every step. Blood soaked him, gushing from the decapitated head he gripped by the hair in his hand—the uniformed woman who found pleasure in my torture.
His quiet was the kind that needed no words. He said nothing, only attacked. His palms exploded outward with force, but it never reached Raoku. Instead, the energy seized the weapon and ripped it from his hand like it had been claimed.
A longsword pierced through the commander’s chest from behind, stopping inches from my covered face. Ruby blood dripped from the blade’s tip and seeped into the skull helm along my face. Raoku’s body fell in a heap over my knees, only to reveal a hooded, fury-stricken Jun.
It reminded me of the first time I met Jun, when his same emerald-hilted sword pierced the abdomen of the attacking Tide Reaper. This time, he looked relieved to see his father’s lifeless body, more liberated than I had ever seen him.
Then, his features snapped as he looked at his father’s dying body.
I rolled out of the way, yanking my legs from under the commander’s weight before Jun pounced. His fists pummeled Raoku’s face, bone crunching beneath his hits. The sound seemed to fuel his mania.
Heavens…
Noctis was beside me in a flash, blocking the gruesome view. His fingers trailed the ivory helm enclosing my head. A breeze from his powers billowed over my wet body, and I breathed clearly for the first time in two days.
I finally broke in his arms.
“I can’t take it off.” Tears streamed down my face, desperate to get the torture helm out of my skin. “I can’t take itoff. Please.”
“Stay still, love.” Even covered in blood and wrath, he was still so gentle with me.
Air wrapped around the bone, only a slight release offered as he pulled with his powers. But the bone helm did not break.
“Take it off… Gods, it hurts!” My cry became frenzied—shattered. I shook. “Take it––” I scratched at the bone, but the helm only tightened around me. “––off!”
The god gripped it between his hands and roared. He mixed the physical strength with his powers, each a monster of might on its own, until the bones around my head shattered.
Sobs wracked my body, but I didn’t care that Noctis saw every part of it.
“You found me,” I breathed between cries.
“Love…” he whispered back, guilt and pain riddling his words.
Noctis lifted my face with his hand. He leaned in, and his lips met my cheek. They pulled away, glistening with my tears.
Everything in me faltered, the truth pressing down until there was nothing left to resist.
He kissed another tear.
“I never stopped trying to get to you.”
His lips met another tear.
“Every second away felt like a lifetime.”
Another kiss. Another tear.
“You saved us,” he whispered into my skin.
Jun stepped around Noctis, his hood covering the majority of his face. His chest rose and fell with such intensity, as if he had been waiting for the moment he could wreak his vengeance against the male who sired him.
“Thanks,” he croaked, but Noctis only nodded.
