Blood on the Tide (Crimson Sails, Band 2) - Softcover

Buch 2 von 3: Crimson Sails

Robert, Katee

 
9780593639108: Blood on the Tide (Crimson Sails, Band 2)
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0593639103 ISBN 13: 9780593639108
Verlag: Penguin Publishing Group, 2024

Inhaltsangabe

INSTANT USA TODAY BESTSELLER!

Set sail for adventure and love in the next spicy fantasy romance from Katee Robert, the New York Times bestselling author of the TikTok smash hit Neon Gods.

As a bloodline vampire, Lizzie has never had a problem taking what she wants, and right now what she wants are the family heirlooms that were stolen from her and a portal home. Too bad even that short list is impossible to accomplish on her own—and her allies have bigger things to worry about.

When they rescue a selkie from captivity, it’s the perfect solution to her problem. Lizzie needs a guide through Threshold and the selkie needs someone to help her get her skin back.  Maeve didn’t choose to give up her skin—it was stolen from her. Now she’s in an uneasy partnership with a dangerous woman who seems more apt to kill than to share a kind word. It’s terrifying…and a bit alluring. Even though she knows it will end in heartbreak, Maeve can’t help being drawn to Lizzie and her all-too-pleasurable vampire bite. 

Unfortunately, the danger to Maeve’s heart is the least of her worries. The ship Lizzie’s chasing belongs to the Cŵn Annwn, and they don’t take kindly to people who steal from them. Not even Lizzie’s viciousness or Maeve’s selkie strength will be enough to save them if the Cŵn Annwn seek retribution…

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Katee Robert (she/they) is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of spicy romance. Entertainment Weekly calls their writing “unspeakably hot.” Their books have sold over two million copies. They live in the Pacific Northwest with their husband, children, a cat who thinks he’s a dog, and two Great Danes who think they’re lap dogs.

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chapter 1

Lizzie

In nearly two hundred years, I've never once wondered how long it takes a vampire to drown.

Now it's all I can think about.

We might be damn near immortal, but we're not unkillable. It would take me longer to succumb to the lack of air than my human counterparts, but I couldn't hold out indefinitely. Eventually the cold sea would rush in and drag me to the depths for good.

Dark thoughts. Morbid thoughts. Impossible to escape while sailing on what amounts to a thimble in an Olympic pool. Everywhere I look, I see water stretching out to the horizon in all directions. Even in my cabin, protected by some kind of pocket dimension magic, I swear I can feel the dip and sway of each wave we crest.

Fixating on drowning, on the feeling I'm experiencing that certainly isn't fear, is still preferable to contemplating the sequence of events that led me to Threshold-more specifically to end up sailing on the Audacity with my ex and the new love of her life.

Only a few months ago, Evelyn was in my bed and making eyes at me. Now it seems like all she can see is that giant of a man who glowers at everyone who comes close. I can't even find fault with his battle prowess; Bowen is a powerful telekinetic and doesn't shy away from using his magic to defend Evelyn and the crew. Taking a hit from him felt like being rammed by a semitruck. I don't crave a repeat experience.

But every time I turn around, I find myself staring at them, analyzing all the ways they're so obviously in love. Comparing it to the way Evelyn and I were . . . and finding the past lacking. She never looked at me like that. I didn't even know I wanted her to, and then the possibility was gone before I realized what I'd lost.

It doesn't matter. It can't matter. I'm destined to marry another bloodline vampire within our extended family, all the better to create progeny to build power and ensure we don't fall behind the other bloodlines. There's little risk of that at this point, but my mother didn't become one of the most powerful vampires in our realm by resting on her laurels. She'd never be content for me to settle with a woman, let alone a human woman. If she knew I was dabbling with Evelyn, she would have killed her on the spot.

"Sickening, isn't it?"

I don't glance over at Nox where they lounge against the helm. They always seem to be lounging, draping their lean body over the nearest available surface. They're captain of the Audacity, and a royal pain in my ass. They see too much and delight in poking and prodding at sore spots. They jerk their chin, and I follow the motion to find Evelyn leaning against Bowen's chest and staring up into his eyes.

The tightness in my chest that never quite goes away squeezes harder. "Fuck off, Nox."

"Lizzie, my darling, at some point you're going to have to make your peace with the fact that you're second best. You could always fall tragically into my bed. The best way to get over an ex is to get under a new one."

Nox is beautiful in a near alien kind of way. Gray eyes, pale skin, white-blond hair cut short on the sides and slightly longer on top, the kind of bone structure to make the angels weep, if they ever existed. They're also one giant complication, and I've had enough of those to last me several lifetimes. "Pass."

"Lizzie, you wound me." They don't sound like they mean it, though. It's just as well. If they were to push in the slightest, I wouldn't hesitate to separate their head from their body, captain or no, elemental magic user or no.

Trust Evelyn to come to a different realm and end up in a plot to overthrow the current power structure. I'm still not quite sure why I haven't left this ship and crew to go my own way, but at least with Nox acting the part of a double agent and working for the rebellion in Threshold, things are never boring. In the three months since I reluctantly joined with the crew, we've fought monsters, ferried refugees to portals that will take them home, and drank our weight in wine in nearly every port we've put in at.

Our current task falls on the rebellion side of things. A week ago, Nox got word on the wind-the literal wind-that one of their assets had been taken by a Cŵn Annwn crew. Technically, we are a Cŵn Annwn crew as well, one of the peace-keeping monster-hunting crews that sail the seas of Threshold.

In reality, Nox and their people would like nothing more than to bring down the Cŵn Annwn and the Council that rules them, as the Cŵn Annwn are like any other policing force across history-inclined to abuse their power over the very people they supposedly protect.

I won't still be around when the rebellion finally takes the fight to the Council. I wish Evelyn wouldn't be, either, but she's up to her nose in this rebellion, and I don't see that changing no matter how many times we argue about it. At least tonight there will be some action to keep boredom at bay. I might even get to murder people soon. That should cheer me right up. "How close are we to the ship that took this asset of yours?"

Nox narrows their eyes, shifting from flirty rake to ruthless captain in the space of a heartbeat. "Close. The Drunken Dragon completes the same circuit from Viedna to Khollu to the Three Sisters and back again. Brady isn't smart enough to know what he has, so he'll still be heading north on the same path he always does. We should be able to catch sight of them on the horizon soon."

All this cloak-and-dagger shit is a pain in the ass. I prefer a more simplified-and hands-on-approach to dealing with my enemies. Sneaking around, pretending to be part of the very group they want to bring down . . . It's all so tedious. Better a bloody fight that lets everyone know who the victor is. If it's bloody enough, you won't have to fight again. Not while the memory is fresh.

If this asset of Nox's was important enough to divert us from our previous course, they should be good enough to take care of themself. "What's so important about this one person that you're willing to risk someone finding out that you're not a perfect little Cŵn Annwn soldier?"

"Maeve is a vital part of our network, and I need her back where she belongs." Nox speaks coldly, but I think I detect a softness under the words. They like this little victim.

"If you say so." I don't really give a fuck about the cause everyone on this crew seems to believe in so strongly. There have been corrupt governments since the beginning of time, and if the rebellion somehow manages to depose the Cŵn Annwn's Council, something even worse will step into the power vacuum left behind.

This rescue mission is wasting my time. I don't care about this asset who's been taken by the Drunken Dragon or whatever noble purpose Nox and Bowen have dragged Evelyn into. The only reason I'm still here is because Threshold is a big watery world, and without a ship and crew of my own, it will take me years to track down the Crimson Hag and my stolen family heirlooms.

I can't go home without them. If I'm even able to go home at all when the portal back to my realm has been destroyed. I push the thought away. There's no point in worrying about how I'll get home until I have the stolen jewels, and I won't have those until I find the Crimson Hag. And before I can do that, we have a damned rescue mission to pull off.

I pinch the bridge of my nose. "This Maeve could be dead."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a terrible pessimist?" Nox's grip tightens on the helm. "It's possible that she's dead. But we're going to act like she's not until I have proof otherwise." They curse under their breath. "Maeve's a good girl. People talk to her, share secrets that they never would with a stranger. Even if she wasn't good at her job, she deserves better than to suffer at the hands of...

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Verlag
Penguin Publishing Group
Erscheinungsdatum
2024
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0593639103
ISBN 13 
9780593639108
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
336
Kontakt zum Hersteller
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Softcover