Tainted Tides

Chapter 24

*Ant's POV*

I pushed myself off my bed, unfortunately fully-clothed, and walked over to my desk. Pulling out two crystal glasses, I placed them down and began filling them with amber liquid from a matching bottle.

"Sarha isn't my only sister," I said continuing our conversation about our pasts. "Emma is the youngest in our family. She had a different mum but she grew up with us and dad." I walked back to the bed, where Dec was leaning against the headboard, and handed him a half-filled glass. He wordlessly accepted before reaching for mine as well. I handed it to him so I could crawl back in and get comfortable, but as I did, I saw him pour his glass into mine and set the empty one aside before taking a sip. I looked at him with a cocked eyebrow, meeting his emerald green gaze and noticing a warm playfulness in them. He handed the glass back to me as I settled beside him, "I figured we could just share."

I huffed in amusement, bringing the glass to my lips, making contact on the smudge of liquid Dec had left on the rim. The amber liquid slipped into my mouth, coating my tongue in the bittersweet drink accompanied by the unmistakable taste of Dec's lips. I'd tasted those enough times to pick them out of a bouquet by taste alone.

As I sipped the drink Dec continued speaking, "so where is Emma nowadays? Did she also get some sort of powers when the sverdhvalur appeared?"

"Unfortunately- or maybe fortunately- not," I responded."Sarha was the only one who had any weird reaction, and we still have no idea why. But word of her prophecies quickly spread over the seas. As you've probably noticed, pirates can gossip like-"

"-like whores in a brothel..." Dec finished my sentence with a hint of annoyance in his voice. I chuckled at Dec's words before responding, "I couldn't have said it better myself. Anyway, Emma was still a pirate as far as I knew. When our father died, I had her escape. It was for her safety as much as it was mine- I couldn't have my weakness so exposed when trying to take new control of the ship. It would have been a death wish for both of us."

I took another sip of the drink and handed it back to Declan, who was drilling holes through my eyes with his emerald orbs. "So where is she now?"

"Last I heard, she found a place with Anne Bonnie's crew. I'm actually hoping I'll see her when we go there," I replied, noticing as Dec went silent at the mention of Bonnie.

"Bonnie..."

There was discontent in his voice. At that moment I wished that I was a mind reader. I wished that I knew what about Bonnie made his eyes lose their gleam.

*Dec's POV*

"Bonnie..."

Yet another reminder that Ant hadn't told me everything. Surely there was no reason to withhold information, but I still had no idea who "Bonnie, Beard, and the Monk" were. A single thought was left to give me solace.

Maybe he's just forgot.

Swallowing the intrusive thoughts of distrust, I moved forward. "I can't wait to meet her. I hope she likes me," I said with a soft smile. Instantly, Ant's arm tightened around me, pulling my head from his shoulder to his chest, looking up at his deep blue eyes.

"She'll love you. She'd be blind and stupid, not to," he said, leaning down to place a feather light kiss on my lips. Through the light kiss, I could feel the love he had for me. It filled every ridge of his puckered lips and flowed through me like the rivers of heaven, breaking down the dams of distrust my anxious mind so meticulously built up over and over again.

It brought me peace.

The kiss was followed by a comfortable silence. With my head still on his chest looking up at him,  Ant took another slow sip of our shared drink, pausing to lightly lick his lips after he'd swallowed.