By first light my cheek had scabbed over, and Oren was still coughing in his blanket.
Then boots hit the ramp outside. More than one pair.
Aria: Oren. Under the blanket. Do not make a sound.
Oren: It is not Mott. It is the Alpha. I can smell him on the boards.
Aria: Then breathe slow and let me talk.
The door banged open. Galen filled the frame, and Jarvis and another enforcer stood behind him.
His eyes went to the scab on my cheek, then to Oren's blanket.
Galen: Search it. Every board.
Galen did not need to search. He walked to the bait bucket, sniffed once, and put his hand in the guts.
His fist came out with the oilcloth.
Aria: Do not. Please, do not.
He peeled the cloth back. One vial of tonic sat in his bloody palm.
Galen: One vial. All this time, and this is what you were hiding.
Aria: It is medicine. It is not yours.
Galen: Medicine for a boy not on my registry. Medicine you paid for how?
He held the vial up to the window light, and his fist closed around it.
Glass cracked. Tonic ran down his wrist, pink with his own blood.
Aria: No!
I lunged, and he caught my wrist and twisted it up behind my back.
He walked me into the tonic shelf until the wood edge bit my spine, and the jars rattled.
Jarvis laughed behind us. The other enforcer laughed with him.
Galen: Your tonic has a price, and this whole harbor has watched you pay it on your back.
Galen: You spread those legs, and a vial lands in the dirt for you.
Galen: Did you think my cock made you a mother to that rat?
Jarvis pulled Oren's blanket off and hauled him up by the hair.
Jarvis: You hear that, boy? Your sister is a whore.
Jarvis slammed Oren's head into the wall. The crack went through me.
Blood ran from Oren's hairline down his cheek.
Aria: Get off him, you sick fuck!
I kicked back and got my boot into Galen's shin, and he grunted.
His hand came down on my chin and hauled my face around, squeezing until the joint ached and my eyes watered.
Galen: Jarvis. Drop the boy.
Jarvis let Oren fall in a heap. Oren coughed and held his head.
Galen: You look at me, Aria. Not at him.
Aria: I will kill you. I swear on my mother, I will gut you like a fish.
Galen: You keep saying that.
His thumb dragged over my split lip, and I tasted his blood and mine together.
Heat crawled up from his fingers into my chest, and my eyes flared bright gold against my will.
Galen: There it is. You hate me, and your body still knows what I am.
Aria: Shut up.
Galen: Make me.
He kissed me hard, one hand in my braid, the other flat on the shelf.
He bit my lip until it split, and blood filled my mouth.
I grabbed his coat and kissed him back like I was starving.
His palm found bare skin under my shirt and pressed flat on my ribs, and my whole body leaned into that warmth.
Jarvis smirked from the wall, and I could not make myself give a shit.
Galen: You are soaked through those shorts. Tell me you do not want my cock.
He pulled back and wiped my blood off his mouth with the back of his hand.
Galen: Here is your choice. Pack house by nightfall.
Galen: You sleep under my roof, or the boy takes the ferry to the mainland.
Aria: The mainland would kill him. He has no tonic. He has no one.
Galen: Then I will see you at the pack house.
He dropped the crushed vial at my feet and left. The door swung shut behind them.
I dropped beside Oren and held my sleeve to the split in his scalp, and my fingers jumped against his head.
Oren: Aria. Your lip is bleeding.
Aria: It is nothing. Can you stand?
One vial gone. One night to decide. That kiss still burning on my mouth.
I hated him. I hated that I wanted more.