Iâm standing on the helm of his flagship. Helos is beside me. Heâs somehow managed to source some clothes that fit me, though theyâre still menâs clothes, and I feel odd wearing them.
I have nothing on my feet, but I donât care.
The feel of the cold wood is refreshing against my bare skin, and besides, Iâve never been that keen on shoes anyway.
Weâre staring out at the open water in front of us, and Iâm itching to get in. To just jump and not give a damn what anyone thinks.
My wounds are almost completely healed, though the stitches are still in, and the doctor is refusing to give me permission to swim.
He thinks it will damage the healing process, as if he understands how my body works.
I groan as the wind blows another delicious spray of salt water into my face.
âJust a few more days,â Helos says.
I shake my head. âI canât wait that long,â I moan.
He sighs. âYou will get me into trouble.â
âWith who?â I ask.
âThe doctor. Heâs given me very strict rules to follow,â he states.
I smirk, moving to stand in front of him. âHas he now?â I tease. âAnd here I was thinking kings didnât follow the rulesâ¦â
He narrows his eyes at me.
All around us, soldiers are glancing. They probably canât help it, to be fair.
This is the first time Iâve been out so publicly, and after all theyâve no doubt heard about me, it would be hard not to want to catch a glimpse of the siren that set half the world on fire.
âStop, Kera,â he murmurs.
I flutter my eyelashes at him. âStop what, King Helos?â I murmur quietly so only he can hear.
âYou canât seduce me into having your way,â he states.
I laugh. âAre you sure about that?â I reply, stepping back, closer to the wooden barrier that stops us from simply falling over the side of the ship.
He shakes his head.
âKera,â he says more sternly. More loudly.
I step back. One more step. And I feel the barrier against me.
âNo,â he practically orders.
Everyone is watching us now, but I donât care. My sole focus is on Helos.
I can feel the water behind me. I can feel the waves crashing against the wooden bow of the ship.
I know Helos will punish me for this. But, in this moment, I donât care.
Let him punish me. Let him do what he wants because I need him just as much as I need this water right now.
Itâs like it happens in slow motion. He moves to grab me, to pull me back just as I let my body fall, and as he reaches out, I drag him down.
His enormous size loses balance, and we both fall over the side, crashing into the water. It rushes up to envelope us both.
I gasp out in delight and shock and everything in between.
Helos kicks out, swimming to the surface, and I laugh, watching him before moving to pull him back down.
He shakes his head. I can see his annoyance flashing in his eyes.
Heâs angry with me.
I laugh because right now thereâs nothing he can do. Nothing anyone can do.
I dive deeper, further toward the bottom, twirling, spinning, pirouetting, trying to ignore the fact that the clothes Iâm wearing are restricting my movements.
If I could, I would take them off, be truly free in this water, but Iâm done being displayed naked for them all.
I see the shadow of a rowing boat across the surface, and I can tell Helos has already climbed in.
Part of me knows I should return. That I should play the good siren, but now that Iâm here, now that Iâm back in the sea, it seems more than a little bad-mannered to just leave without fully sating my needs.
After all, what would be the point in the first place?
I swim down, swim further. I let the delicious salt soak into my skin and feel it rejuvenate me more than any bath could.
I pull my shirt out from the trousers and yank off the bandages around my wounds, and as I run my hands over my abdomen and my back, I can feel theyâre healed.
The stitches are gone. The wounds are sealed. I am whole again.
I let out a giggle. A laugh of delight, and then I fix my gaze on the boat.
Time to face the wrath of a king. I slowly swim toward the surface.
My head bobs above the water.
Helos spots me immediately. He shakes his head. He doesnât look amused, and I bite my lip so hard because I want to laugh so much it hurts.
âCome here now,â he orders.
I tilt my head. Iâm tempted to disobey him, just to see what he does. But then I notice all the soldiers watching. It feels like all the ships are surrounding us.
I sigh.
Helos is a king, and in this, I think I should obey him.
I swim up to the side of the boat, and he hauls me out. Not gently.
He shakes his head before we both realize my borrowed white shirt has practically gone see-through and I have nothing underneath. No undergarments, no corset. Just my naked skin that the fabric is now clinging to.
Someone passes Helos a blanket, and he quickly wraps it around me to cover my body.
âWhy did you do that?â he asks.
âDid you not enjoy it?â I reply.
âSometimesâ¦,â he mutters.
âWhat King Helos?â I ask.
He narrows his eyes. He can hear from my tone that Iâm still teasing him.
He yanks me to him and puts his lips to my ear so that only I can hear what comes next from his mouth. âDid the water not meet your needs?â he asks.
I shake my head and look up at him. âNo,â I reply.
Weâve not had sex, not touched, not done anything more than kiss after the night when he made me cum.
I think heâs held off, waiting for me to let him know Iâm ready.
And I guess, in a way, thatâs what Iâm doing right now.
My body is healed. So has my head.
I am ready.
âAnd you think after that display Iâm just going to give you what you want?â he asks.
I can feel his power, his authority radiating off him. Heâs using his aura as a king to try to overwhelm me, to somehow quell me.
âWonât you?â I reply, letting the desire show in my face.
He knows Iâm using my charms against him now. He knows the exact game Iâm playing right now because weâre both playing it.
He glances down at my lips and then back at my eyes.
Whatever it is between us is interrupted as the boat knocks against the hull of the ship. Someone throws a rope ladder down, and one by one, we climb back on board.
Iâm dripping wet, my clothes are drenched, and as I clamber over the side, Helos grabs me and throws me over his shoulder, and I yelp in surprise.
Without a word, without even a glance at any of his men, he struts to his cabin with me hanging there, captive in his impressive arms.