Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 144411 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144411 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
“We don’t even know if we’ll see Edonia,” I tell her, a coil of molten possessiveness forming inside me. “I don’t want to share you.”
She narrows her eyes at me. “It’s just blood. It’s not sex.” Then she pauses at that, frowning. “Good gods, I hope I just didn’t offer everyone sex.”
“No,” I tell her firmly. “It’s out of the question.”
“Bones,” Nerissa’s low voice rings out across the deck, “keep your jealousy under control.”
Everyone turns to look at her at the back of the crowd. “If Maren thinks they should have her blood, then they shall,” she says.
“They’ll drain her,” I stammer.
“For heaven’s sake, Ramsay,” Thane scolds me. “Do you really think your motley crew lacks that sort of control and finesse? We don’t have to feed directly from her, you arse. You can siphon her blood into a bottle and we can pass it around. You know only a little bit will do.”
I think back to when I fed from Maren. It had hit me so fast and I had so much of it, I felt like I could lift the Nightwind clear over my head. It also faded by morning, though there were still some residual effects. Even a little bit would suffice for the short term. A little bit amongst the crew might be enough to have a solid fighting front.
But even so.
“No,” I say firmly. “Absolutely not. She’s mine and her blood is mine too.”
“My blood is my own,” she cries out. “It’s mine to do what I wish.”
I ignore her and look to the crew. “I forbid you all from drinking her blood and, as captain, that’s an order.”
They all sigh and grumble amongst each other, turning around and heading back below deck and to their quarters, waving their arms in a dismissive motion. All of them leave except Crazy Eyes, who steps around Sterling’s body and takes his position back at the helm, and Nerissa who lingers and gives Maren a long knowing look. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that information was passing between them silently.
“Pray tell, what are you doing?” I ask. “Maren?”
Maren finally tears her gaze off Nerissa who walks off below deck, then looks at me with a scowl. “You say you own me Ramsay, but you only own my heart.”
I go still.
“Only?” I repeat, feeling the stillness fade as a wave of strange emotions crashes over me and I hold her closer. “Only your heart? Your heart is everything to me, luv.”
Is she saying I own it? That she’s giving it to me freely?
She swallows hard, her lip pouting. “You know what I mean.”
“I don’t,” I tell her, my chest growing hot. “You have my heart, Maren, but do I have yours? Do I truly claim you in that way, more than just a brand on your hip, more than my possessiveness, more than just the way I join with your body? Are you willingly claimed? Do you give your heart to me in return?”
She reaches up and touches my face lightly, a sweet smile on her lips. “Yes, I give you my heart, Ramsay.”
“Truly?” I whisper, afraid the truth is no. I pull her hands to my mouth and kiss her knuckles.
“Truly,” she says.
“Because I’ve fallen in love with you, cearban,” I tell her, holding her hands tight. “I’ve fallen for you, drowned in this pure delirium of what you are, this fever dream that won’t let me go. Your heart, soul, body, and spirit. Oh, how I love you fiercely.” I kiss her delicately, passion rising up through me like a spring. “I love you as fiercely as the fierce little creature you are.”
She grabs hold of me, kissing me back, and I feel like we’re both being pulled to the stars above.
“And I love you,” she whispers against my lips and I feel like the stars are raining down on us now, sinking into my veins. “My feral pirate lord.”
My god, how I love the sound of that.
Then we break apart, her chest rising and falling, and her eyes are defiant.
“But though I give you my heart and my body and my soul, though they now belong to you,” she goes on, breathless, “my blood is still mine to give. Let me give it to your crew. Let me help in some way.” She pauses and gives me a heartsore look. “They’re my family too.”
I shake my head. “I’m a stubborn man, Maren, you know this by now. You can do what you want, but they won’t be drinking it. Your blood is yours and mine and that is it. I do not share, not in anyway.”
She lets out a huff of disappointment but frankly I don’t care because she had just told me that her heart belongs to me. She just told me she loves me. After all that I’ve lost—my father, Venla, Hilla, Henry, I still found someone that loves me for me, and someone that I love back deeply. I love her and I’m never letting her go.