Traveler, page 14
Chapter 12
Aislin had drifted off to sleep after she had taken her enjoyment, taking a restful nap for a few hours until she had to get ready for the club. The sun had already set when she awoke, stretching like a satisfied cat. At least there was one thing that had given her pleasure today. She felt slightly guilty at that; maybe she should have given Alexander a chance to explain himself, instead of jumping. She got up from her bed, and went to go take another shower, bringing her dress, heels and makeup with her in there, not looking at Alexander when she went into the living room. If he didn’t want to interact with her, she’d play that game too..but she also couldn’t look at him for the shame that was beginning to well within her.
The shower was two-fold; it made her feel clean, and it helped wash away any remaining frustrations. She would get a taste of the real thing tonight, she’d see to that. The shower went too quickly, though, and soon enough she had to get dressed. Underneath her dress, she wore a silvery-gray pair of lacy panties, thong, and a see-through bra of the same color. The dress she was wearing was a black sequined thing, a present from one of her acquaintances at her 18th birthday. She never thought she’d have a chance to wear it, never thought she’d care how a man saw her...but this man was driving her up the wall, and so she would do the same. Aislin shoved the guilt that her conscience was feeling into the back of her mind. All she was feeling was vindictive, now. She slipped the minidress on and it fit her like a glove, clinging to every curve and swell of her breasts and ass in all the right places. Hot damn, her friends had been right. She should have worn it sooner.
Her hair she tied at the top of her head, letting the ringlets that formed naturally fall down her neck. Last were her heels and her makeup, just enough to make her face glow. Her heels were three-inch stilettos, leather, black, and they showed off her already long slender legs. She looked like a bombshell. She smiled at her reflection in the mirror. “God damn,” she murmured. She opened the door to the bathroom and stepped out, her heels clicking on the tile as she walked, the dress barely stopping below her ass.
Alexander had not wasted the last few hours in the least. When he had finally managed to pick his jaw up from the floor, he had gone into the basement to bring up the materials he needed to create the beacon for the pendant he had promised to give his student. He was determined to get this done as quickly as possible, and hopefully would be able to give it to her, along with the lengthy apology and explanation that he had worked on.
He had never been so open with anyone else, not even his own teacher. And if he was honest with himself, it frightened him more than he cared to admit. But Aislin deserved nothing less than the truth. Murmuring his speech under his breath, he didn’t notice when she left her room and went to the bathroom, not until he heard the water turn on in the shower. There was a brief flare of terror and anxiety before he ruthlessly pushed it down, reminding himself that this wasn’t about his feelings at all.
When he heard heels clicking on the tiles, he knew it was time to face the music. Carefully he set down the pendant, the silver phoenix glittering in the lamp light. He took a deep breath before lifting his head to look at her. His eyes widened in shock, and for a moment, it felt like he couldn’t breathe. Light help him, she was...there were no words in his vocabulary to truly describe what she looked like. And honestly...he was beginning to act worse than the honorless curs that worked for Silvertongue.
Perhaps if he kept his gaze away...but then again, it was common courtesy to look someone in the eye while speaking to them. Curling his fingers to fists at his sides to hide the way they shook, he met her eyes, making certain not to look anywhere else. “Aislin...might I have a moment of your time before you leave for your party?”
She tried not to smile smugly at his reaction. It was everything that she had hoped for in a reaction. Eat your heart out. He didn’t look at her, didn’t say how beautiful she looked...he just stared at her eyes. “Of course, Alexander,” she said coolly, walking into the living room and sitting in the chair next to him, crossing her long legs. “What do you need?”
Fuck... There was no way he could answer that the way he really wished he could. He took a deep, cleansing breath through his nose before speaking calmly, trying to remember the speech he had rehearsed. “About...earlier...I am truly sorry for the way I acted. I should not have pushed you so far...should not have taken things so far. I betrayed your faith and trust in me, and in doing so, in giving into such carnal desires, I have put a slight upon my honor and yours. I treated you as little more than a harlot for hire and that is...it is not how I view you at all. You are my student...my charge. It is my duty and my honor to bear your trust and faith.” He let out a breath before finishing. “I will understand if you wish for me to find you another teacher. I hope that you can forgive my impulsiveness and allow me to make amends for my actions.”
Aislin straightened her back. He saw her as a student...nothing more. It was becoming increasingly obvious to her that a student was all she’d be to him. “Thank you for telling me,” she said softly. “I don’t want another teacher. You have done so much, been there through so much already with me...no, another teacher is not an option.” She stood, looking down at him. “I understand that you hold honor and the right thing above all else...and I can respect that. I am...sorry about flaunting everything before you...earlier. It was petty, and unnecessary. I was just frustrated, and I had no other way to take it out. I didn’t force you to try to kiss me, Alex...but I can understand why you don’t want to again. You can begin to make amends tomorrow, okay?” she smiled a little at him, crouching down next to him and taking his hands in hers briefly. “Thank you for being honest with me.”
Alexander stared at her for a moment, blue eyes searching her face before he nodded slowly. “Very well, if that is what you wish.” He murmured, trying really hard not to stare at her body or to react to the feel of her hands on his. This was going to test his resolve and will-power, but he would do his damnedest not to make another mistake. He would regain his honor even if it killed him; in the end, honor was all that he truly had. “Honesty is no less than you deserve...and I will do my best to not betray your trust again.”
Aislin squeezed his hands softly, smiling gently at him. “You know,” she remarked. “This was so much easier when I thought you were gay...but it’s nice to know that I have someone looking out for me.” She stood, letting his hands slip from hers if he wanted them to. “I have to go, though,” she murmured apologetically. “My ride will be here soon.”
He stood as well, reluctantly letting his hands fall from hers. “If it makes you feel better, just assume that I am asexual.” He murmured almost under his breath before speaking up. “Be careful, and if you need anything, call, alright?”
“I will,” she promised walking away from him and smiling over her shoulder. “I promise.” A honking outside the door confirmed that her ride was here, one of the acquaintances from the school she used to go to. May as well go out with a bang, right? Aislin opened the door, offering him one more sad smile, then let it close gently behind her.
***
Aislin stepped into the club, stopping for a moment to catch her breath. It was very busy here, a lot more crowded than she thought it was going to be. And Aislin was the least provocatively dressed out of all of them, it seemed. That was a scary thought. She spent most of the night against the wall, like a wallflower, though she didn’t miss the looks the men in the club sometimes gave her.
The music was infectious, and it began to beat in her blood like a drug, making her hips want to dance and move across the floor, wanted to make her dance with someone. She caught the eyes of a man, probably in his mid-twenties, tall, with dark eyes and blonde hair and a body most men would kill for. His eyes were a little too dark, his hair a little too light...body not as chiseled, not as perfect...but he was the closest she could get. Aislin smiled at him, and he gestured to her from where he sat at a table with his friends. Aislin walked to him, her eyes dark as she watched him, moving onto the dancefloor with him to dance.
They moved together like one organism, dancing close, bodies pressed against one another, Aislin’s blood still hot from the events earlier that day. He had her pressed flush against his body, and when he kissed her, Aislin’s world blew into fragments. It had been too long since she had been kissed.
“Let’s get out of here, hmm?” he asked, his voice soft and hot on her ear.
Aislin nodded, and she led him outside, her hand held in his. They got into his car, driving to Alexander’s house--her house too, now, she supposed. “We can’t go inside,” she whispered, looking at the man whose name she still didn’t know.
“That’s ok,” he answered, looking at his folded down backseat in his SUV. “ I think we can manage something.”
Grinning mischievously, Aislin climbed into his back seat, allowing him to follow right behind her. Once back there, they continued as they had in the club, kissing each other, tongues entwining with each other as their bodies gyrated together. His hands started at her waist, sliding the minidress up and off her head, her heels already having been abandoned a few minutes before. Her bra was soon to follow, hooked on one of the man’s buttons on his shirt. Aislin’s breath came fast and short through her mouth and she reached to completely undo his fly, when her world fractured, again.
With a start, Aislin looked around her, seeing the now all-too-familiar signs of her cabin on the Captain’s ship. “Mother fucker!” she growled, slamming her fist against the wall. “Not again!” Something was digging into her hip. Her cell phone! She forgot she had hidden it in her pantie line. She pulled the phone out, surprised to see...signal? She called the only person she knew to call. Alexander. It was connecting. Mother of God, it was connecting. It had just begun to ring, when the phone went completely dead and Aislin slid down the wall, her eyes squeezed shut. Shit.
***
The man she had been with, whose name was Derek, froze as the woman he had been about to make scream like a banshee disappeared below him. His eyes were wild and crazy. “What the fuck?” he asked, staggering out of his car, his pants half falling down, her minidress clutched in one hand and her bra still hooked on one of his buttons. He staggered to the front door, raising his hand to bang on the door as if his life depended on it. “Help!”
After his charge had left to go to some party, Alexander had spent the bulk of his evening working on the pendant that he had promised her earlier in the day. Just as he finished securing the last tendril of magic to the silver, there was a loud, frantic banging on his front door. He set the pendant down on the cocktail table, wiping his hands on his jeans as he walked to the door. When he opened it, he was shocked to find a crazy looking man on his doorstep asking for help. His blue eyes narrowed, filling with icy rage when he noticed the bra hanging from the man’s shirt and the familiar dress clutched in his hand. “What’s wrong?”
“She disappeared, man!” he said, eyes wide and frantic. “We were getting hot and heavy...and then she vanished! Right from underneath me! What the hell, man? I’m freaking out, man! Where did she go?”
Oh for the love of...! He froze for a moment before quickly pulling tendrils of magic from the air, using the mystical energy to make the dress and bra disappear from his grip...making them return to Aislin’s bedroom, along with anything else she might have left in his car. Lacing his voice with a compelling thread of magic, he replied calmly. “Relax...you must have been slipped something wherever you were at. When you pulled into my driveway, you were alone in your car.”
The man looked at him with wide eyes. “Of course...by myself in the car...no one else with me...” He turned away, walking as if in a trance. “Just myself...going home...”
Maintaining a calm facade, he stood there and watched until the man had driven away from his home. When he was gone, Alexander hurried back inside, cursing under his breath. He should have just stayed up last night to work on the pendant. Why hadn’t he thought of it earlier? Shaking his head, he snatched up the delicate necklace on his way towards his bedroom, only to stop in surprise when his cell rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and almost dropped it in shock to see Aislin pop up on the caller ID. Before he could answer it, the phone stopped ringing. Damn...hold on...I’m coming...
***
Aislin scowled at the now-familiar cabin. Great, back here again. She opened the trunk, thankful for the seemingly endless supply of dresses inside. The one she pulled out was a deep forest green, and it showed off her eyes. A knock on her door sounded soon after she dressed, and she looked up in surprise. Who could that be...? She opened it to see the Captain standing there. “Captain?” she said in surprise. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
Rahim smiled at her, his smile not reaching his dark eyes. “I need to speak to you...in private, please.”
Frowning, she let him come into her cabin. “What’s going on?”
“Why is Brileia questioning what I told her?”
“What you told her? Do not get me started on what you told her, Captain. You are a heartless bastard for what you told her! Your timelines don’t match up. Why? Why tell her a lie...is he alive and just doesn’t want to see her? The truth, always, is better to give someone than a terrible lie.” Alex’s words popped into her head, and she smiled a little. She didn’t know how true his words were...until now. “You make it right....or I will have to do something rash and find the truth out for myself.”
Rahim stood up to her, standing tall over her. “Do not dare to threaten a pirate Captain, Traveler,” he growled. “Or you will regret it. Think carefully on your words before you speak to me again.” Then he turned and left, leaving Aislin alone.
***
Luc carried a platter of food, bread and dried meat down to Brileia’s room, as he had every day, twice a day, since she had been on their ship. It had only been a few days, but he felt that he had a connection to the girl. He raised his knuckles to knock on her door. “Bird? It’s Luc, bird. Your Rogue.”
Blue-embroidered white silk clung to her slender body as Brileia sat against the headboard of her bed, staring listlessly at the opposite wall. The sound of Luc’s voice brought a faint smile to her lips as she glanced towards the door. As difficult as this entire situation was, that man was one of the few nice things in her life. He was so kind and gentle with her, making certain that she ate regularly even when she really did not feel like it. Her voice was soft, yet just loud enough to be heard through the door. “It’s open, Rogue. You can come in.”
He smiled and pushed the door open, placing the platter on the bed beside her, looking at her with his dusky green eyes. “Bird...you haven’t been eating,” he admonished. “Where have you been putting the food I’ve given you? You need to keep up your strength, please. Your attitude lately...it’s been very down. And I don’t know what I can do to help.” The look he gave her was pleading, unbecoming on the face of a pirate rogue more accustomed to dangling women on his knee. “What can I do to put a smile back on your face?” She reminded him of his younger sister, but he had never felt like this for a sister before.
“I am just not hungry...” She murmured softly, lowering her eyes to hide the tears she felt building up. “What does it matter if I keep my strength up? It won’t change anything for me. The Captain will do what he wishes with me...and I will never have what I want. I wish you would not worry so over me...”
Luc sat a little closer to her, placing an arm softly on her shoulder. “Bird...please talk to me...what is it you want? You’ve never actually told me, all the times I’ve asked you...” He tilted up her chin so he could see her face, wiping away the beginnings of tears on her cheeks. “You know you can be honest with me...”
Cerulean eyes stared up at him for several moments before she whispered sadly. “That’s because it is nothing but a child’s naive wish...one of those things that will never happen, no matter how much you wish for it. I am trying really hard to put it behind me now.”
Luc sighed softly, and kissed her forehead before standing. “If there is anything I can do, please let me know.”
“Of course...but please..don’t worry about me, Rogue.” She gave him a very faint smile, hoping to reassure him a little. “ I really do appreciate your visits. They are...the only thing that keeps me going in this place.”
Her answer lifted his spirits a little, and his heart clenched in his chest. It was very soon to fall in love with a woman, but when Luc fell, he fell hard. He heard the call for land abovedecks. “Prepare yourself, Bird...we’re pulling into the island chain now. I’ll try to see to it that you are safe.” He opened the door and swiftly closed it. He needed to help the boat dock.
Rahim stood at the helm of his ship. “Raise our colors, Petra!” he called. “Our banner flies high here!” The cabin boy ran to raise the Captain’s colors, a black flag with a red dragon flying across it. Calls on the shore of “Ho, the Captain’s ship!” “Prepare to port the Captain’s ship!” could be heard even in the belly of Rahim’s vessel. Luc looked up at his captain and nodded his head. Rahim smiled; they were finally in port.
Aislin ran on decks, her eyes scanning the new environment that now loomed before them. They were moving into a beach, with long wooden docks jutting out into the water. The people here were dark of skin, with tattoos across their shoulders and faces in some tribal pattern. They were all dressed in strange looking clothing, loose and organic looking as if they had made it themselves.
One man in particular, taller than the rest and darker of skin, climbed up the side of Rahim’s boat like a spider. He grasped Rah’s forearm in greeting. “Captain...we’ve missed you in port, and the dragon banner you fly,” he rumbled in the deepest baritone Aislin had ever heard.
