Page 104 of Beneath the Veil of Tides
But Evelyn…
Zahara and Calvin have promised to watch over her while Jun heals her. Raven knows to signal us immediately if she awakes.
He’d thought through it all.
Noctis continued.We are passing an isle I’m sure you’ll want to see. It will be good for you. Please.
Heaviness threaded through his pleading voice, and deep down, I knew he was right. I hadn’t bathed for days, my hair had accumulated oils along the roots of my tight braid, and the open sea only reminded me of the torture and trauma below the surface.
But what if Raven doesn’t—
The bird swooped before me, swiftly landing along the railing to my side and cawed, screeching loud enough to burst eardrums. His wings extended outward, flapping rampantly in my face. I smiled. My Zephyreon was one of a kind.
“See?” Noctis mused behind me. “Just because he has claimed you ashis, don’t forget that he and I have decades of training, wars, and missions under our belts together.”
“Are you jealous?” I chirped back, the interaction easing my stormy mind.
“Of a bird? No. But of the cloth whose embrace you wrap yourself in? Yes.” He stepped closer. “Of the time that was stolen from us? Yes.” He came face to face with me, breath swarming between us. “Of the tears that know the soft brush of your lips every day lately? Desperately so.”
Raven took off and sliced between us, catching Noctis off guard.
“Forgive me, darling.” He cleared his throat and stepped back. My breathing hitched at his sudden absence. I needed him. Needed the distraction.
I closed the distance, my hand gently rubbing against the collar of his nearly transparent tunic. Panic settled into Noctis’s gaze, his arms stiff at his side as he looked in my eyes. I lifted onto my toes, fisting the coarse fabric around his neck in my grip and pulled him desperately to me.
But Noctis reared back.
“Love…” It flitted in the space between us in a whisper.
“Kiss me.” I demanded affection—craved it. I might just have begged if he asked.
“I’d give my soul to kiss you. Believe me. I’ve gone decades in the shadows, stripped clean of all joy… Knowing you,” he dragged his palm across my cheek, pushing the hair from my face, “has been the brightest days of my miserable existence.”
“Then why pull away?”
My heart dropped low in my stomach. My cheeks flared with heat. Could I really have been that naive?
“Because I want you to burn with desire forus. Not the desire for a distraction. I would be the worst man alive to fuel you right now knowing how much you hurt.”
I cursed our shared emotions.
“I’ll say it again. Get out of my head.”
Noctis chuckled, a dark heated laugh that slipped from his throat. Slow, low, and burning.
“But I want to be right here with you through it all. And when Evelyn wakes—which she will—I cannot wait to light the flame that smolders in your eyes when you look at me.”
“I’ll have Raven pierce outyoureyes next,” I tried to joke, but it fell short in my humiliation.
“Not a chance. You love my eyes too much.”
I ignored the flirt, instead altering the course of the conversation back to the dinner plans.
“And where exactly are we going?”
“To the Mirrored Sky Festival.”
“Is it really necessary to carry me?” I asked, cradled in Noctis’s arms as we drove through the evening sky toward the distant island.
