The Myths of Ophelia (The Curse of Ophelia #4)

Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

Ophelia

Even the air was dismal as we trudged up the stone-lined path to the cottage late that evening. Like the pressure of the ordeal we’d undergone was weighing down the clouds, turning every breath thick.

Cypherion was unconscious, though entirely okay according to Santorina’s careful evaluation—his body had seemed to give out once he was back to us, as distressed as he’d been. Probably a defensive tactic, Rina guessed. Adrenaline and worry kept him fueled until he was safe and had told someone Vale was…

He hadn’t gotten far enough to tell us the details. But Vale was with Titus, her chancellor and apparent captor.

And Cypherion was now upstairs, Tolek and Malakai watching over him in the spare room the latter claimed.

Jezebel and Erista left to check on the khrysaor and Sapphire, Lyria and Mila going with them as Ezalia returned home. That left Santorina and me in the cottage’s cozy sitting room. Books and papers flooded the surfaces, a piano took up one corner, and it all felt crammed.

“Walk?” I asked Rina. Aside from evaluating Cypherion, she’d been silent since we returned, standing at the window overlooking the garden in contemplation.

She turned to me, nodding. “The beach.”

Still in those ridiculous fae gowns, we left the cottage and descended the dusty path to the white sand shore, tall grasses waving us along in the breeze. Moonlight glistened across the gently crashing waves. It was hard to imagine that a short boat ride away, the fae queen loomed in her palace.

“It feels like a weird dream,” I muttered.

“In a way,” Rina agreed. “But it also feels like a fate meant to strike.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, turning to her. My skirts slithered across the sand, the only sound besides the waves as I waited for Rina to continue.

After a long pause, she took a deep breath timed to the rolling sea and said, “I don’t belong here, Ophelia.”

“You belong wherever we are.”

“No.” She faced me, and the moon lit up the resignation in her dark eyes. “I don’t belong with the warriors. I should have stayed at the human training camp in Mystique Territory, at least for a few months. Or traveled between the larger ones, maybe. Provided aid where I could.”

The words landed like a blow to my chest, my ears hollowing out. “What?”

“Maybe that’s where I should be. I can’t help but feel like I could do more good there then I can with you all.”

“You belong with us , Rina,” I pleaded.

“I don’t.”

“Why would you?—”

“Because I’m just a human!” She stepped back, opened her palms before her as if that would show me the truth. With her deep purple lace gown absorbing the night, she didn’t look like just a human . She looked powerful. A creature that made the world bow to her whim. “I don’t have warrior blood in my veins, Ophelia. I am not blessed by your Angels or descended from them. I’m a lowly human whose parents didn’t even stand a chance when the first war landed at their door. I only happened to become friends with the Revered of the Mystique Warriors.”

“You’re not some meager being, and our friendship was not by chance, Santorina! You and I are meant to be in each other’s lives—you can’t tell me it doesn’t feel that way.”

How many times had she saved me? When Malakai left, when I kept drinking, when I fell on every bad habit imaginable, Rina never failed to smack much needed sense into me.

Or when her parents died, and she had been so alone, but I stayed at her apartment every night because she couldn’t bear to leave it.

Our friendship was not some happenstance. It was an intention of fate and the Angels. I’d always believed that of each of my friends. My family.

“I love you, Ophelia,” Rina said sadly, “but I’m not a warrior.”

“I don’t give a damn what blood is in your veins!” I pointed back toward the cottage. “None of them do either.”

“By the fucking goddess, I do!” she growled—the sound barely human at all—and my eyes widened. For a moment we stood there, looking at each other, both panting.

The steadiness of her voice flayed my chest wide open. And with it, a bit of my grounding force slipped away. Spiraled right off into the heavens, tugging the tethers of control I clung to so tenuously.

My voice was small, vulnerable, when I asked, “Are you leaving?”

I wouldn’t stop her if it was what she wanted—needed. But Spirits, would it wreck me to watch one of my best friends walk away.

Rina seemed to hear that pain. Her eyes softened. “No. I can’t leave you all. I would be too worried being away right now.” She framed it as if it was her choice, but a part of me was certain she’d made this decision for me. She took a few steps closer, facing the ocean again and hugging her arms to her chest. “Who would keep you all bandaged and safe?”

I nudged her with my elbow. “See, we need you.”

Santorina breathed a laugh, the tension cracking between us. “It wouldn’t be awful if I did leave. When that monster roared above me tonight, while I may have been stunned, I wasn’t afraid. I should have been, but instead, I thought of where my dagger was. Calculated how quickly it would take him to leap across the room and where my blow would need to land to meet him.”

I sighed, understanding. “And you want to help other humans feel that strength.”

A bob of her chin had her ponytail swaying. “I wasn’t afraid tonight, but I once would have been. And every human on this continent—on all of Ambrisk—deserves to understand that confidence. What good am I doing if I have a first-hand account of it and am hiding away?”

Leaning my head against her shoulder, I said, “You’re not hiding.”

But the words weren’t only in defense of her, and we both knew it. They were a grapple at absolution for my own guilty conscience after so many weeks stashed away on Ritalia’s orders.

Frustration riled in my chest at it all, but I tampered it for her.

“Once we’re done with this Angelcurse mess, you’re going to help train the most courageous group of humans to ever grace Gallantia.”

“Thank you.” The corners of her lips tipped up. “And thank you for the support, though I know you hate the idea of me leaving.”

“I do hate it,” I grumbled, even though a large part of my heart swelled with pride. “And I hate that you are such a damn morally admirable person that I can’t even talk you out of it.”

Santorina laughed fully at that.

“So,” I said. “Bounties?”

“It’s nonsense.” She waved me off, staring back over the ocean.

“Sure.” I shrugged and dropped the conversation. She clearly did not want to be pushed on it, but she had said it herself. Perhaps tonight—perhaps everything Ritalia had revealed—had been a viperous fate with its fangs bared, and the queen finally set it free from its cage, commanding it to strike.

And we were left to wait and see who it poisoned.

Tolek, Malakai, and Mila were back in the sitting room when we returned, interrupting their conversation.

“Cypherion?” I asked.

“Sleeping,” Tol said with a straight-lipped nod from where he stood beside the fire.

“I’ll go check on him.” Rina gathered her skirts and disappeared up the stairs. The ruffling of all that unnecessary material sliding against the wood agitated me.

The pressure of the day clung to the room, threatening to overwhelm me. I shook it off, looking to Malakai to address the next in a long line of questions. “Do you have any idea what Ritalia meant?”

Get your cousin out of here .

“That’s what I was saying before you walked in.” He leaned forward on the couch, keeping one hand on Mila’s knee and grabbing a piece of parchment off the table. A letter, I realized. “I’m writing to my mother now.”

Akalain. If anyone knew something about what Ritalia claimed, it would be Malakai’s mom. Or Cypherion’s, but we didn’t have a way to contact her.

“Okay,” I said, nodding at the letter. “We wait.”

Again.

But Mila said, “There’s something else.”

Malakai grabbed two books off the table and tossed one to Tolek, handing the other to me.

“ Godsblood Heir? ” Tolek read the title of his aloud.

I flipped through the pages of mine, Gate’s Guardians . It was all folklore about Artale and sphinxes.

“You took this from the fae library?”

Malakai shrugged. “I doubt they’ll notice. We had permission…sort of.” His gaze flicked to Mila, a secret exchanged in that split second.

“Thank you. Both of you,” I said. Perhaps I should have been worried about borrowing from the queen, but a part of me was wholly satisfied. “These will be helpful since we didn’t get to ask questions about the gods today.”

And that reminder was the last I needed. Everything that had gone wrong today crashed over me, a roaring in my ears as my final semblance of control slipped through my fingers, my grip on the book tightening until I dented the leather.

We’d gone to the isle to meet the fae and left with little more than unexplained riddles and another bargain on my head.

Tolek saw it, setting his book down on the table and taking the other from my hands. “We’ll deal with it all tomorrow,” he said calmly, bidding goodnight to Malakai and Mila.

Then, he was leading me up the stairs and to our room, his spicy citrus scent filling all the voids dug out within me.

“Talk to me, Alabath,” Tolek said as he closed the door.

I strode across the small room, the walls tight and cramped, but in here it didn’t bother me. In here, with only Tolek—the rest of the world shut out—it was safe instead of stifling.

Or it had been, the entire time we’d been on the outposts. This had been the one place I’d been able to stop worrying.

Tonight, not even that helped. My fingers scratched at my Curse mark.

“Did something else happen?” he guessed.

“How did it all go so wrong?” I muttered, looking out the window facing the calm sea. I thought I could see Ritalia from here. See the frazzled state in which she’d expelled us from her palace. Feel the questions I hadn’t gotten to ask bubbling up in me.

“We’re going to figure it out,” Tolek assured me.

“Rina wants to leave.”

That made him pause. “What?”

“After the emblem hunt is done, she’s going to the human camps to help with training.”

“And that upsets you because?”

I whirled toward him. With his hands patiently behind his back and a brow quirked at me, he was as tempered as the level sea beyond the glass. A counter to my unruly fire.

“Because Rina is my best friend,” I said. He gaped, mockingly insulted enough to get me to crack a smile. “You know what I mean.”

“Santorina is important to all of us,” he said, leaning against the bedpost. “And that’s why I know there’s a part of you that’s thrilled she wants to explore this.”

Angellight stirred at my fingertips, a subtle band of gold twisting around my hand, much tamer than earlier. “There are so many unknowns right now. Sapphire, the Spirit Realm, whatever happened to Vale’s visions. It scares me to consider anyone leaving,” I admitted. “Makes me feel out of control.”

“We’ll get the answers we need, regardless of what we didn’t ask today,” Tolek said, not a waver of worry in his voice.

“What happened with Lancaster was a show of power,” I said. “A command using whatever control Ritalia has over him, to make us feel like we’re nothing. Like we’re hers , though I am a ruler in my own right.” My voice dropped, fear snaking through it. “I felt like prey, like we were positioned beneath them, and for what?”

“For assistance,” he reminded me. “For answers to questions we don’t even know how to begin asking. And because they are a very real threat, whether we like it or not.”

My blood continued to boil beneath my skin, Angellight dancing around us. Thoughtfully, Tolek’s hands drifted over my shoulders and turned me toward the window. “Think of every warrior out there. Of Rina’s parents whose spirits were gone much too soon. Of every human who sheltered in Gallantia. That is why we allowed the queen to think she is above us and why you made that bargain, though I know you have no intention of delivering the emblems.”

“Spirits,” I said, my head dropping back to his shoulder. “I don’t even want to consider what will come of that right now.”

I didn’t want to consider why Ritalia wanted the emblems so desperately—enough to expose what the Bounties were in order to win my favor.

Tolek dragged his fingers up and down my arm, leaving chills in his wake. “All problems for tomorrow. For now, we play the game.” He dropped his head, placing a kiss to my shoulder, and his words shivered across my skin. “Remember, Alabath, I’m rather good at games.”

“You don’t play,” I breathed, my heart rioting as he traced my collarbone. “You win.”

Tolek had spent his life risking gambles, preparing for a standoff such as this with a queen whose hands were coated an unremorseful red.

“Every time,” he swore, voice husky. “So, let’s relax.”

I needed to, he meant, though he wouldn’t say it. Again, he was correct. But it didn’t soothe the beast riling inside me, the one who wouldn’t bow to this queen, this conqueror.

It needed another outlet.

I stepped out of Tol’s hold. Strolling across the room, I turned to face him and leaned back against the small, wobbly desk. “We need to make a plan.” I placed my hands on either side of me, fingers curling around the curved edge. I stilled for a moment, dismissing every concern, every threat into the furthest crevices of my mind and taking in the man before me. Hair in disarray, stubble darkening his chin, and sleeves pushed to his elbows. “But there are other games we could play first.”

His stare turned hungry as he watched my fingers tap the wood.

The air between us became taut as a bow string, each breath only pulling it tighter. “I believe I was promised some assistance with my dress?”

Chocolate eyes flashed to mine, amber specks now molten, and I quirked a brow in challenge. “If my queen demands it,” he drawled, “who am I to deny her?”

“I am no queen,” I bit back, but my voice was breathy as he stalked toward me with slow, agonizing steps, each echoing on the wood floor with those fae boots. My wildly beating heart filled the silence between them.

No matter how many times we played these games, my body always did that. A rush of lust and adrenaline when he was near, setting every nerve on an anticipatory edge until I was nearly squirming.

I stifled it as he stopped before me, toe to toe, and feigned complete calm he likely saw through. Heat coursed through me, and it was an effort to stay still.

Tolek toyed with the bargain charm strung on my necklace, studied the markings etched in the gold metal, a million observations passing through that beautiful mind.

As he gently set it down, he brushed my chest, goosebumps spreading across my skin, and a smirk lifted one corner of his mouth. He kept his gaze on his hand, unnervingly steady as he ghosted down my arm, right to the spot where I held onto the desk with a white-knuckled grip.

I knew what he was doing. He was lingering on every touch, every breath, to distract me.

And it was working.

His hand caged mine, slipping between the wood and my palm. Gently but demanding, Tol uncurled my fingers one at a time and guided me to turn. My back pressed to his front, and even through these ridiculous skirts, his cock jutted against my backside, hard and waiting.

Tolek gathered my hair over one shoulder, ducking his head and trailing his lips across bare skin. “You could be a queen,” he whispered. “You can conquer any world you want, titles be damned. Queen, Empress, Revered…doesn’t matter what they call you, so long as they say it from their knees.”

My breath hitched at the conviction in his voice.

The binding of my corset loosened, a kiss landing at the top of my spine. “And you want help with your dress?” Another inch of relief, another kiss down my back. “Whatever my queen wishes.”

And though I was not a queen—would never hold the title—the mix of reverence and antagonism in his tone had my thighs clenching together.

Tolek ripped through the remaining ribbons lacing up my back. “Fucking Spirits,” he groaned as the dress pooled around my feet.

The skirts of that abhorrent thing were sheer; there wasn’t room for layers beneath, so he’d known there had been very little standing in our way. But the top had required an extra, tighter corset beneath the thin fabric, and I’d hidden the details when asking him to tie up the back.

As I stepped out of the dress and turned to face him, his stare could have incinerated every inch of my body. Could have boiled through my Angelblood as he slowly tracked across my skin, up my legs—bare down to the heels I still wore, except for the dagger at my thigh.

That heated intensity traced over the high-cut arch of the lingerie around my hip and the gold lace fabric barely covering between my legs. The tight bodice connected to it hugged my body to the strapless neckline, that same material but accented with the smallest clear gemstones that shimmered in the candlelight.

“How are you real?” Tolek breathed, voice low and rough.

I rolled my eyes. “Cursed by Angels.”

“My own personal gift from the winged bastards,” he said, unable to stop staring.

It was better than being bare before him, hiding enough to drive him wild, accenting my curves and pushing up my breasts.

I was certain this wasn’t what the fae had in mind when they’d placed the lacy item in that dressing chamber, but I might have to thank them. Tolek looked ready to fall to his knees before me.

Too bad that wasn’t the game I had in mind.

Tugging the fae tunic over his head and tossing it aside, I ran my hands down the defined planes of his chest. He said I was a gift from the Angels, but Tolek’s body was sculpted by them, every line and muscle perfectly crafted, the scars only adding to the beauty.

I undid the buttons of his pants—so different than the leathers I was used to him wearing—rubbing a palm down his thick length beneath the fabric. Tolek groaned at the touch, stumbling as he kicked off his boots.

I pulled down his pants and sank to the floor. Once he stepped out of them, I gripped him over his undershorts, and he twitched in my hand.

“What are you doing?” he asked a beat later, like his mind was still catching up.

“You said whatever your queen wishes.” I smirked up at him, fingers curling around his waistband.

“But—”

“Please, Tolek.” I dropped the game for a moment. My grip tightened, and his eyes flashed to it, not missing the slightest movement. “I need to feel in control.”

It wasn’t the first time I was on my knees before him, but it was the first time I needed to be like this.

Tolek nodded, and I tugged his shorts down. He was already hard, the tip gleaming, and even the sight had my core aching for him. I licked my lips, gripping him at the base, my other hand braced on his hip.

Slowly, I licked up his length, swirling my tongue around the crown before repeating that motion.

“Who’s the tease now?” he asked, voice gravelly.

My gaze flashed up to his, holding eye contact as I took him between my lips, only an inch.

He groaned, bracing himself against the desk. His other hand tangled in my hair as I took more of him, rotating my hand to accommodate for his size, and he held tightly. Demandingly.

“By the fucking Angels, Alabath,” he muttered.

I nearly smiled around him, using my free hand to grip his backside. My nails dug into his skin, and he hissed. In pleasure, I knew. Always pleasure teasing the edge of pain.

He was hard as steel now, and I finally took him all the way into my mouth, until his length hit the back of my throat and my eyes watered. He released another of those delicious groans, hand tightening in my hair, restraint causing the veins in his forearms to stand out.

I didn’t want him restrained.

I wanted both of us wild and untamed. Free.

I moved faster along his length, sliding to the tip and sinking forward again and again, frantic and desperate. Tolek noticed the shift, gripping the back of my head tighter and meeting my pace.

“So fucking good, apeagna ,” he groaned, thrusting to meet me. It wasn’t a punishing force, but it was luxuriating in the pleasure I was giving him. Granting me the power I so desperately needed after tonight. After these weeks stagnant in the outposts, indulging the queen’s requests.

“Angels, Alabath” he purred, praise and lust deepening his voice. “Look how good you are.”

I moved faster at the thought, taking him as deep as possible on each stroke. Heat pooled between my legs, and I squirmed for relief.

“Ophelia.” The guttural growl of my name on his lips spurred me on. With my free hand, I cupped his balls and squeezed gently. “Fuck,” he exhaled, the desk rattling as I drove him to ruin. “I’m close.”

My gaze flashed up, his turning near savage to make eye contact with me while my lips were spread around him. With that stare I told him to let go. Commanded him to give everything to me now because I could take it.

He knotted his fingers in my hair, thrusting until he came down my throat with a groan that rippled along my bones and satisfied the ravaging need igniting within me.

Tol pulled me to my feet, lips slamming to mine and one hand curling into my hair, the other dipping between my legs to tease the soaked lace. He kissed me until I could barely breathe, until my knees were the ones threatening to give out. All I knew was him. Every sense was swarmed by Tolek Vincienzo.

When he picked me up, my legs wrapped around his waist, and he whispered, “Your turn.” And I wasn’t sure if it was a threat or a promise.

He spun, setting me down on the desk. I reached to remove my heels, but Tolek gripped my wrist. “Leave those on.”