Page 107 of Beneath the Veil of Tides
My eyes trailed the glistening sweat along Noctis’s chest that cast a sheen in the afternoon light. Red streaks of hair fell across his face, tousled from the half up bun that he messily attempted at the nape of his neck.
“You’re staring,” Calvin continued in a singing tone, probing for more answers.
He’s right,Noctis sent down the bond, his eyes not leaving the mallet he used to strike the stake into the ground repeatedly.
“Yes. To the gods like Noctis.”
“Did anything else happen?”
He wasn’t going to give in.
“Nope.” I walked off, heading to check on Evelyn.
“You’re lying,” he cried like a child, and I chuckled.
“And you’re prying. I’m sure you wouldn’t like me to probe into your love life.”
“As if I even have one,” he tried to snap back, but his voice strained around the words, as if forcing something he couldn’t quite hold onto. “Jun and I are just friends. Like brothers.”
“I didn’t even mention him. You did.” I threw my hands up while he casually walked himself into a confession.
“You rat.”
“Raven…” I taunted.
“No, no.”
The bird on my shoulder fluffed out his wings as if preparing to catch flight, but I rested my hand along his back.
“Having your bird fight your fights, eh?” Calvin joked and walked off to give me privacy.
Evelyn still slumbered peacefully in the lantern lit captain’s quarters. It made me feel more at peace at night to have my sister safe within the walls with Zahara. Every day, she breathed a little deeper, twitched a little more frequently. I could tell that it would be any second that she would awake, and when she did, I wanted to be at her side to welcome her back to life. Even if waking up meant landing herself right back into harm's way.
I quietly left and closed the door, leaving my sister a note in case she awoke and set forth to help the men dock the ship.
How can I help?I sent down to Noctis, who was finishing his knot around the makeshift stakes.
He didn’t answer my question. Instead, he shot into the sky, rising fast enough that I had a moment to register it before he arced back down and, in a blur of motion, scooped me off my feet. Raven immediately broke into a frantic scurry from my shoulder.
I yelped, not in fear, but excitement that this time he wouldn’t allow me to fall. That we would soon end the dangers that lurked nearby, awaiting to display a show of power. Thatwhen it was all over, we could all live in peace—no more war, no more pain, and no more unmanageable expectations.
“You can help by coming with me,” Noctis whispered close to my ear. It sent chills through my body at his proximity and intimacy at having his breath caress my neck. “Raven will stay to monitor Evelyn.”
“And what if we need his ravenous appetite with the titan?” I quipped back, a smile etching my mouth.
Noctis’s eyes caught the emotion and paused. They roamed over my lips and slowly lifted to meet my gaze.Hewas the one that looked ravenous.
“That’s what we have you for, love.”
The trail to the inner village was overgrown and decayed, but the crew knew mostly what to expect based on stories and history that had become bedtime stories over the generations. I questioned a vast majority of the accuracy of those stories of the village, but Calvin’s eagerness was enough for me to relish in the excitement.
Playing a game of sorts is the price we would have to pay to gain access into the shrine. Roll a die, get inside the door. Between the five of us, the chances to roll a three were great, but if we were unsuccessful, it could be the downfall of protecting the realms. Denying the game and barging in would upset the god, cursing our blood for the remainder of our years. Luck would taunt us, laughing as it ensured the god denied every want and need.
According to Jun, it was an ancient ritual, one that symbolized the role luck played in life’s successes and honored Neyari, the God of Luck.
We tore through the greenery and shrubs, careful not to brush against the thorns along the vines. Light filtered throughthe canopy of trees, and I was eager to be out of the confined trail. I struggled to breathe, not because of the hike we took to get to the titan, but the images that replayed in my mind of the cylindrical chambers. They had a habit of assaulting me in in times of silence. Times I wished for peace and ease.
Warmth slithered across my mind then seeped through my body like spilled ink. Noctis didn’t need to use his words to provide comfort. Instead, he sent his own images into my mind—his shirtless, sweaty body reflecting sunlight, the arch of his lips up close, the curves of the muscles that ripple along his back at every one of his movements…
