Sea Gypsies: The Draga Isles

Chapter 23: The Princess

When Ria woke up, she was well-rested despite falling asleep on the cold floor. She felt the warmth beside her, where her head nestled on a perfect curve. She slowly opened her eyes and sensed the rise and fall of the shoulder that cradled her. She blinked, surprised. She might have fallen asleep like this because of exhaustion, and she had been crying.

For a moment, she contemplated lifting her head from Gin's shoulder, but she didn't want to. Her body didn't want to, and she wanted to stay within that comfort against whatever horrors had happened the day before.

She felt Gin's shoulder rise.

He took in a deep breath and murmured.

She realized he'd woken up too, and she bolted up, sitting back to look at him. "I'm sorry," she said, her voice a whisper of embarrassment.

"What?" Gin rubbed his eye with the back of his palm, and his question came groggy.

"Nothing," Ria said, easing and sensing his unawareness. "We fell asleep on the floor."

When Gin blinked the night from his brown eyes, he gazed at her face and smiled.

She apprehended then that he knew she'd leaned on him last night. And she wondered if he also knew they'd been that way until morning.

"Are you hungry?" he asked.

"Not really." After all that's happened, she didn't have the appetite to eat. All she wanted was to get back to the ship and meet with the crew and Migal. Migal--his name sounded so distant.

Was that all she wanted? It seemed her body was telling her differently, to stay here longer, sitting like this and staring at Gin.

The brown of his eyes glowed brightly in the early morning light, and his hair reflected coppery. "Are you alright?" he asked when she ventured to gaze at him.

"I'm fine," she said, averting her eyes. "Thank you for saving me."

"It's my job, princess." He started to get up, and his movement came like a sting to her--that he would be the first to leave their intimate moment. "Besides, if we lose you, we won't get paid." And those words stung even more.

Ria sensed Gin's attraction toward her, but his words said otherwise.

"Please stop calling me princess." She couldn't stop the irritation in her voice as she followed him to stand.

Gin paused and looked at her, and something like pity emanated from him.

"Stop it," she said again, but she didn't mean to yell at his emotions. Her psychestringere was just capturing everything--good and bad.

He raised his chin. Proud. Annoyed. He had not been told to stop it before. Or maybe he just didn't like that she did. But when he lowered his face to meet hers, the attraction came on like a crashing wave that made her gape.

He came closer, leaning until his face, eyes, and lips were merely inches away from hers.

Ria stilled herself for what he was about to do and anticipated.

But a blink of hesitation emerged from him, and she wanted to pull him back, to use her psychestringere to control his feelings and return him to the state of longing, but she stopped herself. She expected the oncoming withdrawal.

He glanced down at her lips, making her shiver. The longing was still there, but--

"We'll be alright," he said. He smiled, stepping back. "We have to leave."

"Where are we going?" Ria asked, swallowing the yearning.

"We need to find a way to get to Basiago. The Opal will be waiting there."