Order of scorpions, p.41
Order of Scorpions, page 41
“Nicely done, Baby Scorpion,” Rink calls from the entryway as she takes in the mess.
I turn and discover she’s covered in gore. Blood drips from loose strands of hair framing her face. The color is no longer golden blonde, but spattered and streaked with deep scarlet. Rink’s face is speckled with ruby drops of death, and what’s soaked into her cream tunic is already drying to a dark reddish-brown. Blood and bits of other things drip from the ax she still has clutched in one hand. She looks like annihilation in its purest form, and it’s beautiful.
Rink leans down and flicks a dead man’s vest open. She studies the body for a moment and then nods appreciatively.
“Any of these bastards have more than two wounds in ’em before they died, Baby Scorpion?”
“Don’t call me that,” I retort immediately as I look around before offering Rink a shrug.
I don’t know how many times I stabbed, cleaved, or slashed someone before they died. I wasn’t exactly keeping count as I went.
“Doubt they did. I’d expect nothin’ less from anyone worthy of the brothers’ notice,” Rink states as she stands. “And thank you very much, Poppet, but I’ll call you what you are, and this…” she declares, pointing at the dead fae spread around the deck, “this shows me that you’re a Scorpion.”
I sigh and shake my head. Rink grins at me, and while I’m tempted to argue with her, I decide against it. I feel good. Calm. Centered. There’s no point chasing all of that away to try to convince a stranger that the situation isn’t as easy to read as she’s convinced herself it is.
Rink lifts her ax and points it at me, her smile stretching even wider. “That stubbornness confirms it even more,” she teases, and I can’t help but smile at the goofy grin on her face.
Agonized screaming starts up somewhere toward the back of the boat, and I tense, preparing for some kind of attack. Rink tips her head back and closes her eyes, like she’s relishing the sound instead of being alarmed by it. I realize then that no one is going to come running at us, sword raised, ready to take us on. No. That’s the sound of Eacon going to work.
Satisfaction warms me as begging begins to pepper the shrieking. I can’t make out whether the fucker is pleading for Eacon to stop and let him live or to kill him quickly and end whatever torture is being administered. Rink wanders over to the far rail of the ship and makes herself comfortable. She sits down and leans back against the wood rim of the massive boat, soaking in the screams like they’re the most soothing thing she’s ever heard. It makes me think back to the times at the ludere when I’ve done the very same.
I take in the other ships that are moored further down on the pier. I expect crowds to be gathering on their decks as they search for the source of the tortured screams, but there’s not a soul in sight. Whatever Rink did to scare the fae nearby, it worked. I stroll over to where she’s sitting and slide down next to her. Stretching out my legs in front of me, I balance my sword on my thighs and relax. I have a feeling we’ll be here for a while.
“After all these years, I still can’t decide if the best thing in all the realms is incredible sex or the sound of some vile piece of shit breaking. It’s a tossup for me,” Rink confesses as the screaming suddenly cuts off and the faint sound of weeping takes its place. “How ’bout you, Poppet?”
I ponder the question, my thoughts suddenly drifting to that night in the kitchen with Riall. The way he kissed me, what it did to my body all on its own merit. I don’t know if I’ll ever get it out of my head. My heart speeds up at the thought of what it might be like to have more. More than just his tongue in my mouth and the hint of fangs nipping at my lips. What would it be like to have him moving inside of me, kissing and sucking? A sudden image of Curio flashing me his cock makes me fidget, and my thoughts quickly pull him into the mix. How would Curio kiss me? What would he taste like? Would he watch or join if I let him?
Hastily, I shove those musings away and clear my throat. I know it’s the bloodlust speaking, the thrill of the kill demanding even more release to feed the high. I’ve no doubt that’s to blame for being all at once parched and craving things I shouldn’t be. I do my best to ignore the building need and focus on Rink’s question.
“I don’t know that I’ve had either,” I admit bluntly before immediately wishing I could take it back. It’s a little too honest and deep to be discussing with someone I don’t even know. Even if I like her and we did just massacre the fae on this ship together.
Rink tsks and then shakes her head, but the smile on her face and in her eye gleams even brighter. “I’ll check back in a couple months and see if that’s changed,” she playfully taunts, and I can’t help but groan and press my head back against the wood of the rail behind me in exasperation.
“Oh come now, Poppet, ya cannae pretend with me. You’re good, great even, but the Scorpions will make you damn near invincible. They learned from the best and then became even better. We both know it’s not the worst deal you could stumble inta,” Rink defends. “I know those boys, have since Eacs collected each and every one of ’em and set them right. They don’t let anyone in, not anyone, and yet here you are.”
“So, what? I should show my gratitude by letting them own me?” I demand, the angry edge I try to infuse in my tone falling flat and sounding more petulant than indignant. “Should I throw away what I want and need all because the mighty and benevolent Scorpions stepped down from their pedestals long enough to choose me?”
“Partnership isnnae ownership, Poppet. That’s not how mates work. Trust takes time to build. You need to nurture it, give it a chance to take root, and then tend to it thereafter,” she advises kindly yet firmly. “Hell, I’ve loved Eacon since the moment I watched her charge into battle like a raging phanzu mother protecting her cubs. She was fearless as she impaled everything within reach of her sword, while bellowing threats that quickly turned into promises. She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen, still is, but I knew right then and there that I was lookin’ at the other part of my soul,” Rink confesses, and surprised, I turn to look at her.
“You and Eacon? I thought Eacon and…”
“Yaren?” Rink finishes for me.
“Right,” I admit.
Rink smiles and pushes back some of the loose bloody strands of hair that are sticking to her face. “All I’ll ever need is Eacon, my ax, and death. But Eacs was still finding her way when I met her. We had a couple hundred days before Eacon met Yaren, and it was easy to see that she was the piece that Eacon was missing all along. Yaren helped Eacon in ways that I never could, and I loved Yaren for that. Eacon was our center, and everything was just as it should be, until…”
A tortured scream shatters the sounds of squawking gulls and sloshing waves. I pull my gaze from Rink’s, the pain in her stare suddenly overwhelming.
“After Yaren died, I lost Eacon for a bit. She needed to find her purpose again, and I knew in time she would find her way back to me.”
“You waited for her?” I ask reverently, simultaneously stunned and in awe of that kind of devotion.
“I love her, Poppet. That means I will rip the realms apart if that’s what she needs, destroy anyone who’d dare ta stand against her. But it also means I’ll wait. Wait fer my strong incredible mate ta mourn and grieve and come back ta me. I’ll hold every piece of her shattered heart safe in my arms until she’s ready to put it back together. And do you know what’s so beautiful, so astonishing about it all?” Rink asks as my eyes begin to sting with emotion. “She would do the exact same for me.”
“Without question,” Eacon agrees as she strides out from the direction of the cabins.
Rink shoots up and in four strides meets Eacon halfway across the deck. They stare at one another for a beat, and then Eacon deflates into Rink’s arms. Rink wraps her in a hug so tight and secure it makes my chest ache. I feel like an interloper on a very vulnerable and raw moment, but there’s nowhere for me to slink off to without drawing attention to myself. I stare at the ground, doing everything I can to give them the privacy I’m sure they need in order to break down and be there for one another. Surprisingly though, neither Eacon or Rink dissolve into tears or start to purge what has to be years of pain and loss. They simply lean on each other, silently, like there are no more words to be said or tears to be cried.
“I only got halfway through what that evil fuck did to Yaren before he died,” Eacon whispers, and Rink brushes a soothing hand over her head and down her back.
“Males always think they’re so tough. Ridiculous, if you ask me. They get a mere taste of what they’ve spent their lives doling out, and they crumble faster than a sand house at high tide.”
Rink scoffs and Eacon sighs. They step back from one another, the blood spattered on each of them making their tunics stick together. Something about that must be hilarious to them, because they both start laughing…a lot. Trilling guffaws and cackles rent the air as Eacon and Rink collapse into each other. They lean on one another precariously, looking as though they could topple over at any moment. Blood drips from Eacon’s sword onto the deck, and I watch the drops steadily, rhythmically fall to their end while the two fae lose themselves to a fit of hysterical laughter.
My chest aches with longing as I watch Eacon and Rink cling to each other. They both have experienced such profound loss, and yet here they stand in the peals of exquisite love despite what someone tried to take from them.
What would it be like to have that?
Someone who you could kill beside one moment and lose yourself to laughter in the next? Someone who not only understood what my soul needed but reveled in those needs themselves? What could it be to have someone willing to not only rip the realms apart, but also quietly wait, wait for me if that’s what was needed? The distinct faces of three someones rise to the murky surface of my mind.
Could I have all of this with them?
Is that what I’d be choosing if I said yes to what the Scorpions are offering?
“How do you feel?” Rink asks Eacon as she plops back down next to me, pulling Eacon to her side and wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
Eacon sighs, her eyes far away for a moment as her gaze tracks the flight of a large golden sea bird who’s enjoying a smooth float through a strong current in the air. “I don’t know. I wanted him to suffer more, but it’s done, and that’s more than we thought it’d be at one point.”
Rink nods and kisses the top of Eacon’s head as she pulls her closer. Part of me feels odd lingering here among the slain, while another part dares anyone to cross the bridge from dock to deck and do anything about it. The three of us grow quiet, each of us lost to our thoughts while still being sustained by the tranquil support of the other. I think about what both Eacon and Rink have said, what they’ve taught and shown me in their way, and I know I’ll walk away from this seeing things differently. I just don’t know exactly how that will impact all of the choices I have yet to make.
“Why didn’t Tarek want me to do this?” I ask Eacon after some time, the question growing hotter and hotter on my tongue until I have no choice but to spit it out.
I recall the small argument he and Eacon had before she used her thura to steal me away. The look of fury on his face when she refused to listen is an image burnt into the back of my lids. I worry I’ll see it every time I blink for who knows how long.
“The Scorpions are the best at what they do, and this…” Eacon states while gesturing to bodies and blood dotting the deck, “is not what they do.”
“I don’t understand,” I confess.
“They stalk and silently annihilate. Fae don’t see them coming until it’s too late. Winding through a busy dock, stomping up to a ship, and then destroying everyone on deck during broad daylight is an exposure risk they felt was unnecessary. They had a different plan,” Eacon explains. “I thought my approach was better.”
Rink laughs at Eacon’s statement, and Eacon smiles. “Aye, there’s no arguing with Eacs once she’s made up her mind. I can attest to that,” Rink teases.
“But why’d you want me to come?” I press.
“If I’m being frank, I felt there wasn’t an exposure risk for you, Auset. No one knows who you are, including you.” Eacon winces as though she expects me to be offended by that, but she’s right. “Aside from that though, I truly did hope that this might help you find what you needed. I know the Scorpions want the best for you, but how they go about convincing others to see things their way can be a bit…”
“Stifling?” Rink offers.
“Arrogant and insufferable?” I pitch in too.
We all laugh and Eacon nods her head. “Yes, that,” she agrees. “They’ll be mad for a while, but they’ll get over it.”
“I’ll pound on each one of their arses if they don’t,” Rink threatens, and Eacon tilts her head up and places a soft kiss on Rink’s smiling lips.
I look away and study the blade still balancing on my knees.
“The thing I want you to know, Auset,” Eacon starts, and I glance over expecting to find Eacon’s eyes on me. Instead, her gaze is fixed to Rink’s adoring face. She brushes a strand of hair back from her mate’s cheek, her blue eyes filled with matching tenderness and veneration. “No matter what you choose after today—death, life, Scorpion or not—you deserve to be loved. You deserve to find others who make you happy. Build a life around that, Auset. I vow to you that you can never go wrong if that’s what’s at the center of your purpose.”
Eacon’s weighted stare moves from Rink’s eye to mine, and I feel the impact of her words through every fiber of my being. It’s simple advice and yet far more complicated than I ever thought anything could be.
“Let’s get you home,” Eacon offers, and with that, Rink pulls Eacon’s mouth to hers in a devouring, passionate kiss.
I push up from where I’m sitting on the deck and wander away from them, offering what little privacy I can as the word home floats around in my mind. The more I think about it, the more the concept settles unexpectedly deep in my chest. I realize as it does, that I might not be as opposed to the thought as I once was. Maybe home isn’t as far off and foreign as it used to be. Maybe.
Chapter
Thirty-Four
The door to the washroom flies open, slamming against the gray stone of the wall with a sonorous boom. I’m on my feet, the sword and dagger I perched on the lip of the tub now gripped firmly in each of my hands, before I register that it’s Curio in the doorway and not some other unanticipated threat.
“What are you doing in here?” he snarls, his nostrils flaring and his eyes narrowing with fury.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” I bark back, pissed that I was so relaxed that I didn’t hear Curio in our room until he was busting down the door.
My heart feels like it’s trying to race right out of my chest, and I’m breathing hard in preparation for a fight that I now know isn’t coming. Instead, I get to deal with a pissed off Scorpion, which I knew was an inevitability when Eacon dropped me off in my room, but I was really enjoying my soak and thought I’d have a little longer.
“Why are you in the bath?” Curio demands, his hickory-toned eyes dropping down my body for the first time.
Desire instantly begins to swirl with the vexation in his gaze, but he blinks and shutters the heat almost immediately. My body responds to the flash of need I just witnessed. My nipples go hard, and a warm tingle settles low in my belly, but if he can fight his need, so can I.
“It is what one does when they’re dirty and don’t want to be,” I snark, and Curio’s glare deepens.
He steps closer before noticeably stopping himself just past the threshold.
“Not why are you bathing,” he grumbles menacingly. “Why are you here in my room at all? When did you get back?”
“My room,” I correct.
“Our room,” he counters. “You know what? Leave it.”
Just as abruptly as he arrived, he spins on his heel and marches out of the bathroom. I can hear his angry stomps all the way out of our room and even further down the corridor until they finally fade away. Sighing, I step out of the tub. I set my weapons down on the window seat and grab a large towel. I expected to feel some frustration from the Scorpions over what happened, but Curio’s display is unwarranted. I was with Eacon. They knew what she wanted and what we would be doing, so why are they being so dramatic about it? Yes, there was a moment when I thought Eacon was trying to kill me, but they knew she wasn’t, so what else is there to freak out about?
I run a comb through my hair, having to pull my ends forward over my shoulder to get to them. It’s getting too long, and I can’t decide if I like it or if it’s time to take some shears to it. I’ve never had control of how I look before. My head was shaved when I was first thrown into the ludere, and Tilleo only approved Wilik growing it out after I’d begun to prove myself in the pit. I’ve always been coiffed and styled to his liking. In the past, I’ve associated the length of my locks with success, but now that I can choose how I want to look, I’m not sure what suits me best.
The towel is soft and cozy against my skin as I wrap it around my body. I turn toward the door, ready to dress and deal with a little Scorpion drama, when the distinct sound of heavy tread reaches me. I thought maybe Curio ran off to sulk, but I was wrong, he went to get reinforcements. Squaring my shoulders, I prepare for the onslaught that’s headed my way. Just as I pull a fortifying breath in, three tall, muscular frames spill into the large washroom perfectly in sync. They move so fluidly and confidently that it’s impossible not to be slightly intimidated and impressed. Eyes filled with fire, arms crossed over broad chests, and clenched jaws meet me as I look them over.
I exhale. It isn’t laced with the irritation I intended, sounding more relieved instead.
