Chapter 35

CHAPTER 35

APRIL 6TH, 1667

N ot only was there a ring, but an entire set of clothes that fit Rowan perfectly as if they'd been tailor-made for him. Maybe they had, but he balked at the thought of what it all must have cost. If Yves bought it, a fortune. If he'd stolen it, a life.

The knee-high black leather boots were polished to a high shine, with silver filigree toe and heel caps. The black leather trousers were immaculately cut to hug his thighs and ass. The white silk shirt was open at the collar, showing off his throat. There was no waistcoat, only a wide leather belt and silken sash dyed in a spectrum of blues. Its color shifted like light under the sea. But the coat was truly a thing of beauty. It was deep blue velvet, embroidered with silver thread at the cuffs and collar. Its long, wide tails reached his calves and flared out behind him like skirts when he walked. Yves had given him earrings as well, sapphires set in silver, one for each piercing and delicate silver chains to connect them.

The only old thing on his body was the eyepatch. Yves hadn't anticipated that. But it didn't matter. None of the finery mattered.

Rowan belted his cutlass beneath the coat. It felt wrong going out without it, even in the relative safety of Illusion.

The rest of the island was fast asleep when he stepped out into the midnight darkness. Fox met him on the path beneath the trees, and they walked together in silence, listening to the waves grow louder as they approached their destination. Rowan touched the ring that lay heavily in his pocket. Yves had placed it there himself, and Rowan was grateful he didn't have to go marauding across the seas to find the perfect one, as Yves had done for him.

They'd intended to do this in daylight with their crews all around them, but a storm had raged all day and delayed them. Now mist clung in the low places between the foliage, and the leaves still dripped with rain. Beyond the trees, the sea remained restless.

But the clouds had finally broken, and Rowan didn't want to wait any longer. He and Fox trudged through the dripping trees until they reached the clifftop. His friends stood along the edge of the tree line. Ga?l, Logan, John, Robin, and Henri turned to smile at him. All dressed in their best clothes. Beyond them, Ana stood in a purple gown beside her brother.

Rowan's breath caught when he saw Yves. He was dressed even more immaculately than usual. He looked like a king from head to toe. The sharp spurs on his bootheels glinted in the moonlight. His trousers were a fitted black velvet, and his black shirt spilled a cascade of lace forth from the base of his throat. Over it all, he wore a white coat embroidered with deep gray swirls like smoke, and the epaulets at his shoulders dripped with onyx feathers and looping strings of pearls. In his ear, he wore his signature ruby. He was gorgeous, otherworldly. His skin shone like mother-of-pearl in the silvery light of the full moon, and the waves threw themselves against the base of the cliff below as if sacrificing themselves to be nearer to him.

Yves turned toward him as they exited the trees, and a shadow flickered at the corner of Rowan's vision. He blinked it away. Fox squeezed his arm and stepped back to take his place beside Ga?l. Yves started forward, but Ana beat him to it, rushing toward Rowan and throwing her arms around his shoulders. Rowan barely registered this before she pulled away, taking his hands in hers and pecking him on the cheek.

"I'm so happy to see you again, brother," she whispered with a teary-eyed smile. She squeezed his hand, then they both turned toward Yves. Ana led Rowan to her brother's side. She took Yves left hand and placed Rowan's in it, squeezed them once more then retreated to join the others. Rowan stood there bewildered for a moment, half mesmerized by Yves's beauty.

"You're beautiful," Yves murmured, breaking him from the spell. Rowan resisted the urge to kiss him right there and then. He looked over to their friends, who were either grinning, or in Ana's case, quietly weeping. None of them stepped forward, and Rowan realized as the captains, the only people on this island qualified to perform this marriage were the two of them.

The dark sea continued to crash below them, white caps like bits of lace floating in the tide. He looked back up into Yves's face, and a swell of love suffused his heart.

"Yves Francois LeSauvage." His voice was quiet in the face of the crashing sea and his pounding heart. He knew this wasn't Yves's full and true name, but it was how he knew him. "The Demon of the Deep, captain of the dreaded ship Kraken's Fury , do you take me, Rowan Faine, to be your lawful partner, until death separates us?" A flutter of nerves twinged in his belly as he asked the question, afraid even in the face of everything that Yves would abandon him.

But Yves's beautiful lips curved into a smile. He fished the ring out of his pocket and slipped it onto Rowan's finger as he said the words.

"I, Yves Francois LeSauvage, take you, Rowan Faine, as my lawful partner. By the brine in my soul and the blood on my hands, I vow to protect you and love you until we both succumb to our final rest beneath the sea." He reached up to brush Rowan's flushed cheek with his thumb, closing the small distance still between them. "Rowan Faine, Ghost Hawk, captain of the fastest ship on the seas, the Siren Song , do you so vow?"

Rowan leaned into his touch, blood pounding in his temples, dizzying. He took Yves's ring from his coat pocket, and slid it onto Yves's elegant finger. The large ruby shone like a drop of blood on his skin. "I, Rowan Faine, take you, Yves Francois LeSauvage, as my lawful partner. By the brine in my soul and the blood on my hands, I vow to protect and love you until death separates us." He swayed slightly on his feet, overcome by something he couldn't name, and Yves clutched his elbow to steady him. They gazed at each other for a long moment, one blue eye and two dark ones.

"Well?" Fox shouted from the tree line. "Aren't you going to kiss?"

Rowan's laugh was cut off by Yves's supple lips on his, fingers twining through his hair and waves swirling around his heart as the others whooped and cheered their approval.

Finally, blissfully, they belonged to each other. Rowan was still a little lightheaded, so he leaned on Yves's shoulder as they made their way up the stairs toward their rooms. Yves leaned down to kiss the top of his head.

"Now that we're married, will you be taking my name?" Yves teased.

"Your name isn't even real."

Yves chuckled. "Fair enough. Maybe I should take yours. Yves Faine. It has a certain ring to it."

"No it doesn't," Rowan snorted, but his heart fluttered at Yves's words. They were married. They were bound together now and only fate could separate them.

Warm light washed over them as Yves opened the door to his room. The four-poster bed was hung with garlands of foliage and spring flowers. Every surface was crowded with white candles which filled the room with a golden-orange glow. Yves locked the door and stepped up close behind Rowan. His arm snaked around Rowan's waist, and he bent to brush his lips up the side of his neck.

"Have you been looking forward to this?" Yves murmured against Rowan's heated skin. After Rowan accepted his proposal, Yves had insisted that they sleep apart until the wedding night. That meant no sex. Much to Rowan's chagrin, he found that his body was reacting quicker than usual after the long sexless winter and additional six nights of laying in his lonely bed with Yves untouchable in the next room. After all that, he'd been half hard since the kiss on the clifftop. Now a rush of blood hardened him further, his erection straining against the tight leather pants.

"I see you have been," Yves chuckled. His hand trailed down Rowan's stomach. "Were you lonely without me all those months? Did you touch yourself and think of me?"

Rowan leaned his head back against Yves's shoulder and looked up through his lashes in what he hoped was an alluring way. If he was going to be this turned on from just a little kissing, he was going to take Yves down with him. They were in this together now after all.

"I didn't—ah—" Rowan gasped as Yves's teeth nipped his neck. He arched his back so his ass would press against Yves's hard cock.

"It will be a shame to get you out of these clothes," Yves said. His hand cupped the bulge in Rowan's pants. "They suit you. You're gorgeous."

A shiver ran up Rowan's spine. No matter how long he and Yves were together in the future, he didn't think he would ever get used to being complimented by someone so astoundingly beautiful. Rowan knew he was good-looking, but Yves was angelic. Otherworldly.

And he belonged to Rowan.

Rowan spun to face him, ignoring the flickers in the corners of his vision and the brief dizziness that overtook him at the movement. The symptoms of whatever this was seemed to be getting worse since he'd returned to Illusion. But it didn't matter tonight. He would worry about it all in the morning.

Rowan fisted his hands in the front of Yves's beautiful shirt and rose up on his toes to kiss him. Yves groaned. His tongue immediately invaded Rowan's mouth. He hauled Rowan to his chest, hands framing Rowan's waist beneath the blue coat.

Yves's hands moved down Rowan's hips and unbuckled his belt, letting both belt and cutlass fall to the floor. The pearl strings on Yves's shoulders clicked softly as they moved toward the bed. The back of Rowan's legs hit the edge of the mattress, and his hands tightened in the soft fabric of Yves's shirt, popping jet buttons which clattered to the floor.

"Eager," Yves teased.

"It's my wedding night. Can you blame me?"

"It's all about you, now is it?" Yves released Rowan's hips and grabbed his wrists, pushing their bodies apart slightly so he could see his face.

"I am the bride," Rowan joked.

"I'm the one wearing white."

And he looked damn good in it too. Rowan's gaze swept down his body, taking in everything from his onyx hair to the sizable bulge in his trousers to his shiny boots. Rowan's dick twitched. He couldn't wait anymore. He didn't care that these clothes were probably worth a fortune. He needed Yves now .

Yves must have had the same thought. He pushed Rowan onto the bed, divested himself of his elaborate coat and pounced. His burning mouth found every inch of Rowan's exposed skin as he pulled Rowan's shirt hem out of its tuck and unfastened his leather trousers. The candlelight wavered as if responding to his movement. Rowan ripped Yves's shirt open the rest of the way, exposing his muscled chest and pale stomach. Yves growled and captured Rowan's right wrist in his hand, pressing it to the mattress as his other hand dragged Rowan's trousers down his hips. Yves's mouth was hard and insistent against his, and Rowan's body already ached for more. Rowan deepened the kiss, his hips bucking up to seek friction. He felt Yves's lips curl into a smile against his own, probably still amused by Rowan's eagerness.

Before Rowan knew it, his trousers and undergarments were off, and the shirt pushed up under his armpits. Yves caressed his heated skin, leaving trails of lightning across his body. He never broke the fevered kissing. Rowan slipped his hand beneath Yves's open shirt, trying to pull him closer. Yves's palm skimmed over Rowan's cock and Rowan groaned. When had Yves slicked up his fingers? Rowan didn't know. But it seemed that Yves was just as impatient as him. He spread Rowan's thighs wide and slipped one finger into his hole without preamble. It went in easily.

Yves's brow furrowed. Rowan suddenly remembered that he'd prepped himself before the ceremony so they wouldn't have to waste time afterward.

"What's this?" Yves cooed, but there was a dark edge to it.

"I…ah…prepped beforehand." Rowan moaned as Yves added a second finger right away and began to move them in and out slowly.

"Is this going to become a habit of yours, darling?"

Rowan clutched the front of Yves's shirt, his back arching as the pads of Yves's fingers found his prostate.

"Why? Don't you like it?" Rowan's voice was breathy with pleasure and anticipation both.

Yves leaned down to nibble at Rowan's earlobe. "As much as I love to be surprised, sometimes I'd like the pleasure of opening you up myself." His fingers massaged circles into Rowan's prostate.

"I just want you," Rowan moaned.

"You have me." Yves fingers pumped into him. He added a third and opened Rowan up even more, taking pleasure in the building moans coming from Rowan's mouth. Rowan's eyes slid closed as pleasure washed over him. His dick throbbed, leaking precum onto his stomach. Yves hit his prostate again, sending a jolt through his nerves.

"Yves, please…" Rowan couldn't wait any longer. He wanted, needed, to be filled up and fucked by his hu sband.

Yves's fingers withdrew, and Rowan's eyes snapped open. His fingers tightened in the fabric of Yves's shirt. Yves's hand closed around Rowan's cock and pumped him slowly for a moment. Rowan pulled him into another kiss, mouth open and wanting.

Yves broke away and released Rowan's wrist and cock. He stood, shedding the last of his clothing. Rowan sat up, stripping off his own jacket and shirt and reaching for Yves to pull him back onto the bed, but Yves grabbed him by the waist and picked him up. He crawled up the bed with Rowan in his arms and dropped him back to the mattress with his head on the pillows.

Yves leaned over him, looking at him with shiny eyes full of love and lust and the warm light of the candles. Rowan ran his hands over Yves's perfectly smooth skin. The bullet wound was still the only scar that marred his body. How had he escaped the battle with the Vaillant without a single permanent mark? Rowan suddenly felt self-conscious about his scarred and damaged body. He swallowed the lump in his throat as Yves cupped his chin between thumb and forefinger and leaned down to kiss him again. Rowan still felt a bit dizzy, and it didn't help that all of his blood seemed to have rushed from his head to his dick. He sighed into the kiss, his hands finding Yves's hard cock and stroking him. Yves groaned and pulled back, grabbing the corked vial of lube from the pillow and dribbling it over his own cock, letting Rowan's stroking hand spread it down his shaft.

Yves's hand moved from Rowan's chin to his thigh, gripping the pliant flesh and spreading his legs. He broke the kiss, and their eyes met. Yves positioned himself at Rowan's entrance but didn't move further.

"Yves…" Rowan whined. He wrapped his legs around Yves's hips, trying to draw him in.

Yves pushed in slowly, the girth of his dick stretching Rowan deliciously.

"Fuck," Yves gasped. "I love you."

Rowan's heart fluttered. "Say it again."

Yves withdrew, then thrust in again harder.

"I love you."

Rowan had been waiting to hear those words for so long. He would never be able to get enough of them. Now he'd be able to hear them whenever he wanted.

Rowan pulled Yves back down into a kiss, threading his fingers through the soft black hair on the back of his head. Yves rocked his hips forward, the thick veins of his cock brushing Rowan's prostate and sending a rush of heat through his body. He deepened the kiss, his tongue playing with Yves's and eliciting a low groan from Yves's throat. He reveled in the sensations of their bodies moving in tandem, the push and pull of their rhythm like the tides.

Yves trailed kisses past the corner of Rowan's lips and over his scarred cheek to the edge of the eyepatch.

"I want to see your face."

"You…" Oh. He meant the eyepatch which covered Rowan's fake eye and the worst of the scarring. Rowan's fingertips left Yves's hair and touched the warm leather. Self-consciousness spiked in his gut again. He considered denying Yves's request. But Yves brushed another lingering kiss across his lips, his hips rolling sensually, pleasure washing away the doubts.

"Promise you won't stop loving me if I'm ugly."

Yves chuckled. "You could never be ugly to me. These scars show your power."

Rowan took a steadying breath. He removed his hand from the eyepatch and closed his eyes. If Yves was shocked by what he saw beneath it, Rowan didn't want to witness his initial reaction. Yves's fingers traced the line of one scar up his cheek to the edge of the patch. He paused for a moment before pushing it up Rowan's forehead and off his head. There was a beat of stillness before he felt Yves's soft lips brush over his scarred eyelid.

"Let me see," Yves prompted. His other movements had stilled, but his cock still throbbed deep inside.

Slowly, Rowan opened his eyes, one ice blue with its pupil wide, the other the milky green orb Fox had won. His vision swam for a second before focusing on Yves still poised above him.

Rowan gasped, panic and horror replacing pleasure and clawing up his ribs. Yves still gazed down at him, but with eyes as pure black as pitch, even the whites devoured by the void. Not even reflections of the candles lit their depths. Behind him, a dark mass of tentacles took the place of his shadow. They shifted and curled like undulating waves, dark and blue and terrible as if they'd been dredged up from the bottom of the sea. One languidly curled around the bedpost, while another snaked down Yves's arm as if to touch Rowan's skin where Yves's fingertips still rested.

"What the fuck!" Rowan shoved Yves off him, out of him. He scrambled off the bed, falling to the floor on weakened legs before stumbling away and catching himself on the far wall.

"What?" Yves was sprawled naked on the sheets where Rowan had pushed him, looking bewildered. He sat up and the shadow tentacles moved with him, undulating around his shoulders as if cloaking him, armoring him. Yves moved toward him.

"Stay where you are," Rowan threatened, holding out one hand before him as if that would stop him. It wouldn't. Rowan knew Yves could easily overpower him if he wanted to.

Yves stopped, still half on the bed. "What's gotten into you? What's wrong?" He still sounded the same. Except he didn't. His deep voice was tinged with a watery echo.

"What are those things?" Rowan spat, pointing over Yves's shoulder. Yves looked back but seemed unfazed. Either he couldn't see the monstrous shadows or he'd already known they were there. His gaze fixed back on Rowan, depthless black eyes searching his face.

"What the fuck are you?" Rowan whispered.

Yves's eyes widened. Uneasiness rippled through the tentacles.

"Rowan." His voice was deceptively gentle. "What is it that you see?"

Rowan squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. His body trembled all over. Maybe it was his eye playing tricks on him again. He'd been seeing strange shadows for months. They weren't real. Maybe when he opened his eyes again everything would be as it was.

But no, when he opened his eyes, the shadowy appendages remained.

"I…I… There are shadows…tentacles…" That was all he could manage.

Yves flinched as if he'd been struck, and it rippled through the tentacles as well. He stepped off the bed, approaching where Rowan cowered against the wall.

"Darling, I??—"

"Don't call me that!" Rowan snapped. "Explain."

Yves stopped in his tracks.

"At least come sit??—"

"No." The wall was cold on Rowan's bare back, but it was the only thing grounding him to reality right now.

Yves let out a shuddering breath. He looked like he was on the verge of tears, and Rowan fought down the urge to go to him. Comfort him.

Yves held his hand palm up, a smaller tentacle threading between his long fingers. "This is the only reason I am alive. I'm a demon, Rowan. Or at least I'm possessed by one. I have been since I was a teenager."

Rowan stared at him in disbelief, mouth hanging open. If the evidence wasn't here before his eyes, he wouldn't have believed him. But it wasn't a hallucination. The tentacles were moving with Yves, a part of him. No matter how hard he stared and wished it wasn't true, they were real and they wouldn't go away.

The flickering candlelight, which was romantic just a few moments ago, now seemed menacing. He flattened his palm against the wall, trying to cling to something solid and real to calm his growing panic. He was suddenly hyper-aware that he was stark naked.

"Rowan."

Rowan's gaze snapped from the tentacles to Yves's face. Rowan swallowed painfully. He didn't know what to think. Yves had lied to him again, if not by word then by omission. How had he let himself be drawn into his charms again? Was it some underlying demonic power of persuasion that allowed Yves to capture his heart so thoroughly? It was their wedding night, he'd…

Oh gods, he'd married a demon.

Rowan's already shaking legs turned watery, and he slid down to the floor. He couldn't seem to catch his breath, and he covered his eyes with shaking hands as if that would make everything go away.

"Rowan?" Yves's voice was much closer than Rowan expected, and he flinched, hitting the back of his head on the wall. He hadn't heard Yves approach, but now Yves was kneeling in front of him, horrifying tentacles writhing like a dark halo around his naked body. He raised his hands to cup Rowan's face, but Rowan shrank away from his touch. Yves's eyelids dipped over his flat black eyes.

"Trust me one more time." His voice made Rowan feel like he was drowning. "Close your eyes."

Trust. It had been the eternal question in their relationship. Yves had asked so much of him already, but Rowan's body obeyed without question.

He inhaled sharply as he felt Yves's familiar hands on the sides of his face, then the smooth leather of the eyepatch settling over his false eye.

When Rowan opened his eye, Yves was back. His Yves. The shadow tentacles were gone, and the blackness in his eyes had retreated to his irises, the familiar stars returned.

The relief that washed over Rowan was short lived, quickly replaced by confusion, and he pushed Yves hands away. Yves's eyelids dipped again, but now it was easier to tell what it meant. He was hurt and trying not to show it. He didn't try to touch Rowan again, but neither did he back off.

"Please let me explain," Yves said. Even his voice was back to normal. "Let's get you dressed." He stood and held out his hand to help Rowan up. But Rowan's body was still shaking, and he knew that the demonic tentacles were still there, even if he couldn't see them. He touched his eyepatch gingerly. It was obvious even to his addled brain that his ability to see Yves's demonic form had something to do with the false eye that Fox had given him. Thinking back, the hallucinations—he wasn't so sure they were hallucinations anymore—had only started when he was wearing it. Yves seemed to have come to the same conclusion.

Rowan didn't get up. He heard Yves retreat back to the bed, then return. The sheet from the bed settled over Rowan's shoulders, and he drew it close around him. He looked up to see Yves had settled cross-legged on the floor across from him with another sheet draped across his lap like a drift of snow. The silence expanded between them as Rowan's panicked heartbeat started to slow. His terror was turning to heartbreak and anger instead. Yves waited for him to speak.

One thought broke through the rest of the jumble.

"You tricked me."

Yves blinked at him, wide-eyed.

"I didn't…" He'd never sounded so unsure of himself in front of Rowan.

"We're married. That's a contract, and you're a demon."

Yves's body jolted. "That's not—" His jaw clenched shut over the words, muscle jumping under his skin. "That wasn't my intention," he gritted out.

"What was your intention?" Rowan's voice had smoothed out, sounding cold even to himself. Cold and collected, nothing like the pain that was slowly constricting around his heart like a vice. "Do you even love me?"

"Yes." It sounded like a plea. Yves reached for Rowan's hand before stopping himself. His fingers curled into his palm. For the second time in their relationship, Yves's eyes brimmed with tears. "Please believe me. My name may not be the one I was born with, but I made a vow on it, and I intend to keep it. I love you more than anything, and I will protect you as long as I live."

The pressure around Rowan's heart increased, cracking it.

"How can I believe you?" Rowan rasped. "Were you ever going to tell me?"

One of the tears broke the dam and slid down Yves's cheek.

"I…I don't know."

Rowan pulled the sheet closer around his naked body. He wanted to believe that this time Yves wasn't hiding anything. That this was the last secret between them. That when they exchanged wedding vows not even an hour ago, Yves had done so with no ulterior motive.

"Tell me. Now."