The Pirate Queen

Chapter 31

Two weeks later at dawn, land was spotted. Eric saw it first, perched on the bow with a cup of tea in hand, mind blissfully empty. Today was Ariel's birthday. He felt bad for not having a gift for her, but on the other hand, where did one find a gift in the middle of the ocean? Jora told him not to worry about it, Ariel never celebrated her birthday anyway beyond the neutral acknowledgment that she was another year older.

But Eric loved birthdays. And this birthday would be different because, for the first time, she would have him to celebrate with. Him to dote on her.

In the two weeks since the supply island, Eric and Ariel decided offhandedly not to tell the crew about whatever their relationship was. They didn't try hiding it, but they didn't act much differently either. Ariel nor Eric liked public displays of affection, so the lingering glances, hand touching, and lack of personal space was nothing new to the Dauntless crew.

Behind closed doors, however, any scraps of personal space went out the window. They were glued together. Ariel preferred sitting on Eric to having her own chair. Whenever Ariel would sit at her desk Eric would come up behind her and rest his chin on her head, gazing down at her work and rubbing her shoulders until she got distracted enough to give him attention.

They held hands, gave absentminded touches, and the kissing. Eric held firm to the belief that he never felt drunker than when Ariel would stop whatever she was doing and kiss him like that was the last time she'd ever feel his lips.

The kissing never went further though, and Eric let Ariel decide where his hands went, what most of his body did. His favorite place to hold was her hips, or tangled in her hair,  or anywhere he could feel her heart pounding just as fast as his was.

They did their best to ignore the looming threat of the spice island and the choices and mystery that waited for them there. They didn't talk about the war. They just... Talked about everything else.

But the island... It was here. There were finally going to have to face it. No one else awake on the deck spotted it until his boots landed with a thud on the wood and he went running to Ariel's cabin. He knocked once, heard a noise from inside, and pushed open the door.

In the two weeks they spent passionately learning each other's mouths, Eric never saw Ariel in anything but a shirt and pants until he opened her cabin door and was struck dumb by the sight of her in nothing but a long tunic ending just below her bottom. 

Legs. Ariel's legs. Legs, legs, legs. His mind looped around these thoughts as he took in the pale, sculpted muscles of Ariel's legs bare before him in the morning light.

She half-turned to look at him, eyebrows raised. "Did you hear me say enter?" she asked, holding a pair of pants in her hands.

Eric stepped inside the cabin and closed the door so no one else on the deck could see the angel currently before him. He leaned heavily against the door and licked his suddenly very dry lips, forcing himself to meet her gaze.

"I- I'm sorry."

"I don't think you are," she teased, turning to face him fully and crossing her arms over her chest.

He shook his head slowly and squeezed the mug clutched in his hand. "No, I'm not. Fuck." He ran a hand through his hair and Ariel laughed, shaking her head at him as she stepped out of his view to finish getting dressed.

"So why are you here?"

Eric shook his head, trying to get his thoughts and his blood to redistribute itself evenly throughout his body again. He took some deep breaths, thought of his dog Max and sleeping on cold rock floors in the mountains, but couldn't get his words to work until Ariel was back in front of him, fully dressed now.