Page 105 of Fallen Stars
Elara pulled him along as they followed a very pissed off pirate onto the walk-board to his ship.
He adjusted his hood, the bright heat of the Sinner’s Sands port making it near unbearable to wear a cloak.
His friends filed onto the boat, Leo happy-go-lucky as ever, joking and jostling with Adrian, who wasn’t giving any hint of goodwill back. Isra followed, practically dancing—he knew she was itching for an adventure—then Merissa who was smiling and nodding pleasantly to the sailors, their jaws slack as she walked past.
Elara stayed with him. “Soon we’re going to get all the time in the world to ourselves,” she murmured.
Enzo nodded, desire a familiar foe now. Gods, just the thought of him locked in a room with Elara caused him to heat. He knew they still had a lot to talk about, but perhaps it could wait until he’d made her come enough times for her to forget that they’d ever been apart.
Yes, he’d start by eating that sweet, perfect cunt of hers until she was writhing and screaming his name, and then he’d make her straddle him and lower her inch by inch onto his co—.
“Your Grace,” Adrian said, pulling him rudely out of his fantasies. He flared his nostrils at the pirate who was looking at him with disdain.
“You can call him Enzo,” Elara said.
“No, the fuck he can’t,” Enzo hissed. “Your Grace will do just fine.”
“Enzo, be reasonable.”
“I am. I haven’t set him alight yet.”
“Just what is your problem?” the captain drawled as the group found themselves on the upper deck of the ship. Members of the crew were eyeing them warily, strangers in their home, as they busied themselves cutting the ropes and drawing up the anchor to set sail. A surly Altalunian was watching him like a hawk, and Enzo made sure to give him his widest smile before turning back to the captain.
“My problem, Adrian, is that I’ve never liked you. I didn’t like you when I met you as a teenager and you swaggered around green as grass, thinking you could do anything more with that sword than impale yourself on it.”
“As I recall, I impaledmy swordinto your cousin. Tell me, how is Stefania these days? I swear she had the sweetest cu—”
Light lanced around Adrian’s throat as Enzo pinned him to the mast of his ship. There was a shout as the Altalunian ran over, footsteps thundering as his crew joined.
With a snarl, the man twisted his hands at Enzo. Enzo paused for a second, his light dimming as he began to splutter. He coughed, and water came out of his mouth as Elara took a step forward in alarm.
“Are you really…” he said between coughs, “trying to fuckingdrownme?” He grimaced, and a hiss filled the air as the spluttering subsided. “I can evaporate your water with my heat, you fucking imbecile.”
The man paled as Enzo stalked forward, one hand pressed to his chest, the other still raised and pinning Adrian up.
“Do you want to know what being burned alive from the inside out feels like? Now that would hurt.”
“Enzo, put Adrian down,” Elara sighed. Enzo narrowed his eyes for another second. He didn’t really give a fuck about Stefania—a distant cousin from his father’s side. But it was the principle; that this entitled little prick thought he could talk—
“Enzo,” his love said again, and he loosened his grip.
“So you two know each other?” Merissa asked.
Enzo scoffed. “I met him on my princely duties when we were visiting Neptuna years ago. He was just as arrogant then as he is now.”
“I’m sure there’s a saying about this,” Isra mused. “Something to do with a pot and a kettle.”
Elara and Leo snorted, earning a warning look from Enzo.
“And all of that would hardly matter, except he’s been trying to undress my soulmate with his eyes since he met her.”
“Hang on a second,” Adrian said. “Did you just say soulmate?”
“They exist,” Enzo drawled. “I’m sure you’d know. Isn’t yours a whelk? You share the same personality.”
Adrian stepped forward, but Elara came between them.
“Enough,” she hissed. “Enzo, you should know better.”