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Helion sat on the barrel, a playful smirk playing on full lips that his tongue slowly traced before his teeth bit into his bottom lip.

I clamped my thighs together, desperate to settle the obscene throbbing between my legs.

My fingers dug into the belt of Rythos’ pants, and Helion’s gaze somehow only made me more heated.

“You like being watched, don’t you, Sunshine?”

Power threaded beneath my skin, absorbing both of their lust like a sponge dropped in water.

Helion winked as Rythos pulled back and cupped my face, his thumb brushing softly beneath my cheekbone and I pulled my eyes back to his endless dark gaze.

“Come back to bed with me,” he murmured, the words carrying none of his usual command and sounding dangerously close to a plea.

“I go where you go,” I breathed.

Something in his expression softened, the tension around his eyes easing as though those five words had soothed a fear he hadn't dared give voice to.

I looked over my shoulder at Helion through the curtain of my hair.

His eyes darkened, a dangerous smirk playing on his lips as though he were daring me to ask something as he leant back and adjusted his trousers.

I turned back to Rythos, and whatever heat had been building inside me cooled when my gaze dropped to the black veins spreading beneath his skin. They looked darker beneath the moonlight, reaching farther across his chest than I remembered, withering as shadows dove into his skin. The sight of them made something cold curl around my heart.

“You need to feed from me.”

Rythos’ expression hardened instantly. “No.”

“It wasn't a question.”

“I will not drain your strength to delay the inevitable, love. It does not help as much as it once did.” His fingers tightened around my waist, frustration bleeding through the bond.

“I won't stand here and watch you die when I have something that can keep your heart beating for a little longer.”

Until I can fix it forever.

His jaw flexed, but I didn't give him the opportunity to argue. I took his hand and pressed it against the frantic beat of my heart, holding it there as his dark eyes searched mine.

“You told me you wanted me back in bed with you,” I murmured. “Take me back to bed and drink from me.”

Heat immediately replaced some of the resistance in his expression.

A quiet chuckle sounded behind us.

“You should listen to our bonded,” Helion drawled. “Dying before we reach the throne won’t benefit anyone.”

Our bonded.

My heart skipped a beat, and I let out an unsteady breath.

Rythos’ gaze shifted over my shoulder with enough violence to make Helion's amusement bleed straight through the bond, despite the wall he had built between us.

“I did not ask for your opinion,” he growled, jaw clenching together so tightly I feared his teeth would crack.

“Here I thought we were on the same side,” Helion said as if he were genuinely wounded.

I pulled Rythos towards the stairs before either of them could ruin what little progress they had apparently made.

Behind us, Aldric and Solas worked to raise the anchor, the groan of rope and timber carrying across the deck as the sails began to catch the night wind. The ship shifted beneath my feet and slowly turned towards a destination that would deliver me to my fate long before Astaroth would catch us.