Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 76583 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76583 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
A throat clears behind me.
I slump. Of course he’d come upon me nosing through his bags. Of course. He’s gone all day and returns the moment I touch his gold. It’s like the Fates are determined to show me their disdain by making my luck absolutely rotten. But I’m not going to let this beat me. Papa always said we make our own luck and I’m going to make mine right now.
So I turn and toss my hair, giving the sea-ogre my most winning smile. “It’s about time you came back. Do you have anything warm to wear?”
He crosses his arms over his chest—all four of them, which is an alarming, intimidating sight. “Stealing from me?”
His voice is low and raspy, gruff and full of anger.
“Looking for something dry to wear,” I repeat, and hold my hand out. “My fingers feel like ice, and jewels might be pretty but they won’t keep me warm.”
He eyes my hand but doesn’t take it.
That’s fine. I continue on. “My name is Valessa. You can call me Vali if you like.”
No response.
“What’s your name?”
Again, no response. He just glowers at me.
“I know you can speak. You just did. Silence only works in certain situations, and this isn’t one.” I tilt my head and study him. Gods, but he’s tall. The sail atop his smooth head just makes him seem taller, and his shoulders are impossibly broad. He’s still wearing nothing but that loincloth over his deep golden skin, and he doesn’t seem to be suffering from the cold like I am. “Since I’m your wife, don’t I at least get the benefit of your name?”
But he just continues to glare at me. He acts like I’ve done something wrong, when I’m the bride he requested. If this is how he acts around women, it’s no wonder he has to demand one like a pirate instead of acquiring one the normal way.
Has he demanded other brides from sailors in the past? If so, where are they? It’s a terrifying thought, and one I push away quickly. Instead, I focus on getting his expression to crack. I’m here now, and I must make the best of this. So I arch a brow at him, using my most flirty look. “Good sir, are you waiting for your wife to service you?”
His gaze flickers, but he still doesn’t speak.
It’s a start, though. I lift my chin. “I’ll happily do so.” It’s a lie, of course, but he doesn’t need to know that I’m less eager than I pretended. I’m excellent at pretending. “If I’m to service my new husband, however, I need for you to ask for it aloud. It would make things very odd between us if I started gobbling your cock and all you wanted was for me to pass the salt.”
It’s a tease, a joke. It’s meant to make him laugh, to open up, to respond. Even if all he does is drop his loincloth, I know what to expect. This is me figuring out what my new master wants from me so I can anticipate his needs. If I make him happy, life will be easier. Running away is out of the question. There’s nowhere for me to go and I have no coin. Parness is in ruins, and a woman alone on the roads to Aventine will be quickly enslaved once more.
This sea-ogre is the trouble I know, so I’m going to stick this out.
I almost expect him to continue to stare at me in stony silence, as if there’s some secret to making him respond that I’m unaware of. But he finally speaks. “Two-finger tease, eh?”
So he’s thinking about that, is he? “Indeed. Popular with all the sea-ogres back home.”
“Sounds like you’re more experienced than I am. Very well.” With his gaze locked on me, he unbuckles his belt and unwraps his loincloth, dropping it to the ground.
Not one but two cocks unfurl from the depths of his loincloth.
Two.
Two very large, very un-hard cocks.
“Oh.” For once, quick and easy words escape me. I stare, my jaw hanging open. I’d expected him to be large. I hadn’t expected two. And of course it seems reasonable that he might have two, what with the fact that he has two sets of arms. All right. I can handle this. I can.
Before I can say anything else, though, he snorts at my stunned expression and stalks away.
I’ve been completely caught in a lie.
Here the sea-ogre took me for a bride because I promised all kinds of naughty pleasures, and he’s realizing now that I have zero experience with his kind. My shock at his doubled anatomy made that plainly obvious.
I’m an idiot for thinking I wouldn’t be called out, and now I have to fix this. He’s storming away from me, and I need to do something.