Levi carried the girl out of the club, ignoring anyone who asked what the problem was. His vision had narrowed until it was a tunnel, black all around with a pinpoint of light up ahead. Levi knew what he had to do now. If he'd found the girl drunk and high, he could've tried to cover this up. Gotten her some coffee, threatened her, helped her sober up before taking her home. This misadventure could've stayed between them. But if she was overdosing, and if Levi kept that a secret, Erwin would kill him. Even if Petra recovered, he'd have Levi's head. And if Petra didn't recover? If she died because Levi kept her OD a secret? Even worse, if she died and she was already pregnant with Erwin's child? Levi would not just die. He would wish for death.

He put himself and Petra on the moped, held the girl close to his body as he started the bike. She flopped this way and that, boneless as a rag doll. Fuck. A taxi would be ideal right now, but trying to get a taxi in the Greek Islands was like playing pin the tail on the donkey with your dick. You probably wouldn't be able to do it, and it was fucking impractical anyway. Before he drove off into the night, Levi called Hange and prayed to fuck she'd pick up.

"Did you find her?"

"She's drunk and took some Titan. She's passed out now. I don't know if she's dying or what."

Hange swore, but thankfully she got right to work. Levi waited a minute while she relayed this information to Erwin. If Tybur's people were still on deck, this'd have to be handled delicately. But Hange and Erwin could make that happen.

"How fast can you get to the port?"

"I can be there in ten." He'd run over whoever he needed to in order to make it. "We shouldn't try for a hospital or a doctor?"

"That's going to raise our profile too much. I can handle this. Tybur's men are finally leaving, so I have to play this carefully. We don't want them to know anything's wrong."

"How mad is he?"

She didn't need to ask whom Levi meant.

"I don't know. He plays these things close. Let's just hope she's not damaged."

Damaged, like she was a fucking car or piece of clothing. Levi hung up the call and drove them through the winding streets of Mykonos. Handling the moped while keeping Petra from falling off was a challenge all on its own. If it weren't for Levi's damn near preternatural sense of direction and balance, they probably would've crashed a bunch of times.

True to his word, Levi rode the moped along the dock of the port within ten minutes. Smaller boats were tied up or docking, and he instantly recognized one of Erwin's motorboats. He practically rode the bike onto the craft. Hange was waiting along with Moblit, the ship's doctor and her assistant. The younger man always looked like he was seconds from throwing up. This wasn't going to improve his nausea.

"Give her to me." Hange and Moblit collected Petra and lowered her to a stretcher on the floor. Levi took his seat beside the pilot and watched the lights of Mykonos grow smaller and smaller as they jetted across the black sea towards the yacht. While Hange performed her medical miracles, Levi stewed in thought.

What was Erwin going to do to him? There'd be questions, and Levi would have to tell the whole truth. That Erwin's wife had been out of his care for fucking hours. That Levi had told no one; he wasn't going to bring Hange into this, no sense getting her roasted, too. Levi would admit he'd kept the girl's disappearance to himself to try saving face. And as a result, the girl might die.

Levi loved Erwin as much as he feared him, and sometimes the fear was greater than the love. Even after sex, lying twined in each other's arms, Levi would look at that aquiline profile and wonder if Erwin would kiss him right before killing him. The only thing that might save Levi was his track record as a brutally efficient bodyguard, if not his record as a lover. But Erwin was obsessed with this girl. With her body. Her womb. The sanctity of her cunt. Erwin wanted exclusive rights to this woman's body.

Her body…

Levi tried to stop himself from looking at Petra, but his eye fell upon her no matter where she was. It's like his eye was magnetized now, and she was the magnet. She lay there in the near darkness of the boat, her creamy skin too pale for his liking. Even now, even when she was ODing or some shit, he could not help the way the sight of her body made him feel. How she had succeeded in reducing him to the animal Levi had once sworn he would never be again. Even when she was sweaty and disheveled, his cock began to throb with the wanting.

He wanted to possess her. He could understand now what drove Erwin to such lengths; the girl was temptation incarnate. She got past your defenses with those big eyes, that sweet smile, those fresh, farm girl manners. It was all camouflage to hide the sensual goddess beneath the well-scrubbed exterior. The way she'd danced with him had felt less like dancing and more like a ritual. A mating ritual from ancient times, when the girl would wear a flower crown and dance close to the man she wanted to rut with. Then the man would take her and lie her down upon the beach or in a field and plunder her soft, sweet, wet—

"Levi! We need help," Hange snapped.

He knelt down as Hange opened her bag. She had Levi kneel by Petra's head and hold her arms while Moblit secured her legs. Hange filled a syringe with some kind of liquid, then jabbed it into the girl's neck. The instant she pushed the plunger, Petra's eyes snapped open.

The girl gave a shout and moved her limbs, fighting with a strength Levi hadn't imagined she possessed. Even for a man with his strength, it took some doing to keep her from tearing out of his grasp. Moblit squealed as she kicked and kicked, getting him in the teeth once. Finally, she stopped and lay panting, very much awake.

"Wh-What happened?" she whispered.

"You took a bit of Titan at the club, didn't you?" Hange helped Petra sit up and made her drink a bottle of water. The girl was shaky, but okay. "Did you take any other drugs? What alcohol did you drink?"

"Um. I had a few shots. Some beer. Some ouzo and wine with dinner."

"What kind of shots?"

"V-Vodka and tequila."

"Was the vodka flavored?"

"I don't know? Maybe?"

"Yeah. That could explain it." Hange wrapped a blanket around the girl's shoulders as Petra began to shiver. "Some Polish or Belarusian vodkas are sweetened with a particular aromatic herb, hierochloe odorata. Bison grass. It's harmless on its own, but it seems to occasionally have a bad reaction to Titan."

"What about the boys I was with?"

"You're also a tiny little thing. Could be you had a bad reaction because of your size. Either way, there's nothing we can do about them now."

The kids could be fine, or they could end up like many other sad Americans before them, dead from a party drug.

"We call this particular overdose 'titanization.' I haven't experienced it, but people have talked about feeling like they're trapped in a nightmare that won't end. If it'd gone on too long, it could have permanently scrambled your neural synapses. That would've been very bad."

"No shit," Levi growled. "She'll be okay now?"

"Yes. But she needs rest."

"Does…" Petra dropped the water bottle, which spilled on the floor. Levi nabbed it with a curse. "Does Erwin know?"

"Yes." Hange spoke quick and soft. "I had to tell him."

Petra hugged her knees and buried her face in the blanket. Everyone looked elsewhere as she started to cry. Levi winced, understanding her. This was going to be punishment like she'd never known.

That makes two of us, kid.

He noticed a motorboat passing them in the dark. The boat's lights washed over the occupants of this second craft, revealing a middle-aged man with large, protruding eyes and bracketed lines around his mouth. Magath, one of Willy Tybur's lieutenants. There was also a young, sleepy-eyed woman with shaggy dark hair Levi had never seen before. The two crafts passed each other. Levi was glad Magath couldn't see Petra.

They boarded the yacht, Levi carrying Petra. She was so light in his arms, and even though she was sweaty from all the running around and shopping and dancing, she had the sweet aroma of sunshine and sea salt. She leaned her head against the slope of his neck and shoulder, too tired to walk on her own.

"He's going to kill me," she whispered.

"Yeah, whose fault is that?" Levi winced; he could be a real asshole sometimes. She whimpered, didn't even fight back. "He won't kill you. You're gonna get punished, but so'm I. I'll probably get it worse than you will." Levi brought her to her cabin and laid her upon the bed. Petra tried to undo her sandals, but her movements were still sloppy. Levi did it for her, trying not to pay attention to how slim her little ankles were, how delicate and shapely her feet. She was put together like a dream, this one. A real doll. Levi placed the sandals in her closet. Petra was curled up on her side in bed, hugging a pillow. "Oi. He's not gonna kill you. I promise. He needs you."

"Okay." She was listless. Tch. Damn brat.

"I'm gonna check in with him and Hange. My advice? Take a shower, put some fresh clothes on. I'd, er, get rid of that dress if I were you. He won't like seeing you wear something that revealing. It'll make him jealous."

"You know him well?"

"Better than anyone." He felt so awkward before this girl now. She was soft, still woozy and tired from her ordeal. He bet that if this girl liked you, she'd treat you right. Kiss you gently on the mouth, sigh with pleasure as you slid inside of her. Levi imagined that kissing Petra would be like swallowing the sunlight. His cock ached some more.

He needed to get out of here.

"Okay."

"Also, I left all the shopping bags on the beach. Just so you know. I mean, not like I have shit to apologize for. You're the one who ran off like a brat."

She winced. "Yeah. I know."

Not even defensive? Wow, overdosing really changed a person.

"It's fine." Petra sniffed. "It's just money. They were just things. I guess…I guess when you can afford anything, nothing's really expensive."

Strangely profound fucking statement. Or maybe Levi was just beat. Either way.

"Get some rest, okay? It won't be that bad." He headed out the door.

"Levi?" She balled herself tighter, but looked up at him. "Thanks. I'm…I'm sorry about all this."

Why did his heart pound? Why did he feel a million feet tall when she looked at him soft like that? She'd gone from sexual goddess to innocent schoolgirl in an hour. She was fire and sunshine. God, he'd never seen anything like her before.

"Well. Y'know. Maybe I was being a dick." He cleared his throat; he couldn't start getting soppy around this girl. He needed to stay in control. "But even if I was, what you pulled's no excuse."

"I know." She was cranky now. Fucking excuse him.

Levi trudged out, nodding at Anka. The girl waited outside the chamber.

"Go fix her up."

The girl got to work, and Levi wandered towards the main salon. He could see the lights on in that part of the ship, and imagined he heard Pixis and Zackley's voices floating towards him on the summer wind.

"Mr. Ackerman?" Moblit popped up out of the darkness. Nearly made Levi shit his pants.

"Damn, Berner. You move like a fuckin' nervous cat."

"S-Sorry, sir. Uh, Mr. Smith is talking with Dr. Zoe. He asked me to ask you to wait for him below deck. He'll be there when he's finished with everyone."

Levi felt like ice was forming in the pit of his stomach. If Erwin was relaying orders to Levi through other people, then Levi was extremely fucked.

And yet, still, his thoughts turned to the girl. Would Petra be okay?

Don't ask. Don't let anyone even suspect you care about her.

Levi wasn't entirely sure why he thought that, but he always trusted his intuition.

"Fine. Thanks."

He walked away, hands fisted in his pockets, and knew that the minutes would drag by like hours while he waited for Erwin Smith to decide his fate.

Petra had never felt so heavy in her life. Even her eyelids felt like lead. She remembered Levi, dancing with him in the club. She remembered how the touch of his skin had felt like orgasmic fireworks. He was so beautiful, with those sharp eyes and that pouty lower lip…

And then it had all been chaos, until she woke up shaking at the bottom of that boat.

Now she lay beneath the comforter, feeling as though she were suspended in a world of clouds. So comfortable, so cozy. She wanted to roll onto her side and sleep for days.

"Petra," Erwin said.

Like a nightmare, like a horror movie, Petra opened her eyes slowly and saw her husband at the foot of the bed. He was dressed in a button up white shirt, the sleeves rolled to his elbows, the collar of his shirt undone. The epitome of masculinity, like some of the crumbling marbles she'd seen along the Grecian coast. Memories of an ancient time, when gods and men had been two sides of the same rough coin. He regarded her with the coldest kind of glare.

"I'm…I'm sorry," she croaked.

What would he do to her? Tie her up? Beat her with a cane? Break her hipbones? She shivered, tears welling in her eyes as Erwin tugged the comforter away. It slid down the bed, revealing her body to him. She was freshly scrubbed, her hair soft and blown dry. She'd put on a white satin negligee in some vain attempt to please him. Petra began to sit up, but he ordered her to lie down.

For a while, only the sea outside made any noise.

"Hange says you'll be fine."

"Y-Yes." Petra swallowed. Her voice sounded weak. "I, I wasn't running from you. It was Levi. He made me so angry I wanted to get him in trouble." She was crying hard now as he approached her. "Please, I'm sorry. Please don't hurt me."

How pathetic, to beg her husband like this. Erwin sat beside her, his muscled weight sinking into the mattress.

"I'm not angry that you ran, Petra."

That stopped her tears. She held her breath as Erwin laid a gentle hand upon her cheek. He caressed her face, trailed a thumb along the contour of her lower lip.

"R-Really?"

"I believe that you weren't running away from me. I believe you when you say you only intended to frighten Levi." He lowered his head and kissed her upon the lips. It was a gentle kiss. "I believe that you made a mistake."

"I did. I won't do it again, I promise. Please, Erwin."

He kissed her again, his hand trailing along the slope of her cheek to her chin, then her neck. She felt the gentle pressure of his hand upon her throat.

"You know it was wrong to drink excessively. You know that taking drugs is entirely forbidden."

"Yes. I know, I'm sorry." She was so small and pathetic now, begging for his lordly mercy, but Petra had never known fear like this. "It won't happen again. Ever. I, I've learned my lesson."

"I can forgive all that. I'm a generous man." He kissed her deeply…and squeezed her throat.

"Erwin. Please." She began to choke; he was crushing her windpipe. "I'm sorry, sorry, I…Erwin!"

She began to slap at his hands. He had both around her neck now, and was squeezing tighter and tighter. His cerulean eyes bored into hers, his enormous eyebrows knitting together in a look of combustible fury.

"I can forgive your running away. I can forgive the recklessness. The drinking, the drugs. But did you let them touch you? Those boys?" His full lips curled back, revealing those white teeth. He looked at her like a rageful primate in that moment. "Hange said you were with three boys. All day."

"N-No! No," she whispered, barely able to get a word out. She began to kick, tried to pry his fingers from around her throat, but her strength was nothing against his. Panicked, Petra realized she couldn't breathe now, couldn't make a single sound. Blood pounded in her ears, the world around her became spotted. She was dying.

He was strangling her to death. Petra fought with all her strength, but she was already weakening. He bore down on her with all his weight.

"You let them touch what belongs to me?" he hissed. "You opened your legs to them, you little slut?"

She tried shaking her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her movements slowed; she was starting to black out, slip into the deep, still pool of death.

"I told you I'd kill you." He sounded out of his mind now, a demon. "I'd kill you if you ever let someone else touch what was mine!"

Petra tried to scream, but she collapsed into darkness. Into death…

When she took another breath, it was like fire rushing down her throat and into her lungs. She coughed and coughed as the world flickered back into being around her, the lights turned back on. Erwin was gone; no one was with her in the cabin now. Petra tried to sit up, but a headache like she'd never known before slammed her back against the bed. She drew ragged breaths, clawed for more air. When she knew she could breathe again, when she knew her windpipe hadn't been crushed, Petra fell onto her side and sobbed. Even as it tore the muscles in her throat and chest, she wept and wept. The oxygen flooded back to her brain, tilting the world around her like the cabin was being tossed by a storm at sea.

He hadn't killed her. But she wanted to die anyway.

Petra shook as she finally sat up, checked every corner of the room. He wasn't there. Was he hiding, ready to leap out and attack her? Ready to beat her to death with a club, or a lead pipe? Petra's arms were beaded with gooseflesh; the night air was cold, but she didn't want to get under the covers. It felt like a death shroud now, those blankets and sheets. The bed she shared with Erwin was a tomb.

She'd known he was dangerous. But now she realized he'd meant it when he said he would kill her. Petra tried to scream, but only a tortured whisper escaped her enflamed throat.

Miserable, she collapsed onto the bed and curled herself in a ball.

The cabin door opened; a footstep fell upon the carpet.

"Oi, Erwin? When—"

Petra gasped and looked up at Levi. He was still dressed in his black jeans and black tee shirt from their outing. He frowned, looked at her with slitted eyes.

"What the…?"

Then Petra watched as his face fell in a look of abject horror. Levi put a hand to his mouth, staggered back a step.

"Oh my God," he breathed. Petra saw the fear in his eyes. The shame. He saw what had been done to her. Petra cried as loudly as she could; it came out weaker than a kitten's meow.

"I wanna go home!" she whisper-screamed. "Please, please, I miss my mommy and daddy." She was a little girl again, trembling in the monster's kingdom, snatched from her bed and spirited away to a world of giants and ogres. Petra clawed at the sheets. "Please, don't let him, don't let him hurt me anymore!"

"Oh fuck. Oh my God."

He sat beside her on the bed, and he pulled the comforter around her shoulders. Then Petra felt his arms around her. Levi held her close, so close she could feel how his body trembled. She cried, letting her cheek rest against his shoulder. He clutched her tighter, even rocked her back and forth a bit.

All of a sudden, she felt safe. For the first moment since Erwin had put her in the back seat of his car and driven her away from home, Petra felt safe and protected once again. Levi hushed her crying, hugged her against his body. His strong, agile body. Petra wept as luxuriously as a child, one who's woken from the nightmare and cries to know that she is safe as can be now. Levi petted the back of her hair.

"It's okay. It's okay now. Shhh," he whispered.

Petra's arms snaked out from beneath the blanket and wrapped around his waist. She hugged him as tightly as he hugged her, perhaps even more so.

"I want to go home," she whimpered.

"I know, kid. I know, baby. It's okay." Then his lips touched the crown of her head. He comforted her. "It's okay, baby. You're okay now."

Petra leaned back just enough to look him in the face. In the eyes. And in those eyes, those gleaming shards of gray and blue, she saw…

"Levi," she murmured.

"Petra," he growled.

Then he kissed her. Her eyes fluttered shut as he kissed her deeply. It lasted three, four, five seconds that first kiss, yes, only the first, because then he broke away and deposited another upon her lips. Petra's world spun again, but the dizziness this time was not from fear or lack of air. She had kissed only a few men in her life. She had thought she would only ever know Erwin's lips again.

This was more than that. More than any boy, more than her husband's kiss. Levi's lips were thin and chapped, but the touch of them lit an inferno inside of her. She hummed against his lips in contentment, relishing the kisses. She kissed him back, and the comforter dropped from her shoulders, and their bodies were pressed close together. His tongue touched hers, his tongue was in her mouth, and even though her breath was still weak and her body trembled in shock from Erwin's brutality, she wanted his kiss. His mouth. His lips. She wanted to climb inside this kiss, and her body wanted more. Wanted him.

Petra fell backwards, half on accident, half because she wanted him to lie atop her. Levi went with her, moaning as they both collapsed in a tangle of limbs upon the bed. His weight lay upon her, his hips meeting her own perfectly, his body almost the same size as her body. She felt like he'd been made to fit her exact dimensions.

Petra sighed as he nibbled her jaw and kissed her neck. She winced when his lips pressed too hard upon the bruised skin of her throat.

Levi noticed her whimper. That made him prop himself on his elbows and look down at her. Bits of jet black hair hung in those jeweled eyes; she wanted to slide them out of his face, look upon the severe beauty of his cheekbones and eyes and pointed nose.

"Holy fuck," he hissed.

Levi pulled away from her, almost flung himself off the bed. He backed up, running into the wall beside the door. His chest rose and fell, his breathing was rushed. He looked at Petra like she was some vengeful goddess, some Medusa risen up to turn men to stone with her snake-like beauty.

"Levi?"

"No." She didn't know what he was denying, and likely he didn't know, either. "We can't. Don't tell him. Don't tell anyone."

He fumbled for the door handle, looking at Petra as if she'd attack him the minute he turned his back.

"No. No, you don't tell anyone!" She was as terrified as he, if not more so. She'd let another man kiss her, another man touch what belonged to Erwin. She'd been innocent of his accusations before; now she was guilty, and the punishment would be death if he knew.

"Good. Okay. We both stay quiet. Fuck."

With those rushed words, he was gone into the night. Petra pulled the comforter over her body, bundled it around her. She lay in bed and tried to make sense of her thoughts and feelings, the jitter of her nerves, the horror that lay in her heart…and the desire coiled in a warm, tight knot between her legs.

Even as it scared her, all she could think of was Levi.

Fuck going below decks and waiting some more. Levi paced beside the railing as the yacht swept along the black Aegean waters. Only the knowledge that Petra was scared shitless of Erwin's wrath let Levi feel safe at all. Why had he done it? Why had he kissed that brat?

That angel?

That fucking goddess?

He could still taste her, the scented soap from her bath, the sun on her skin. He couldn't get his body to stop reacting, to stop wanting her.

Even thinking of those bruises on her neck didn't kill the desire.

Fuck, those fucking bruises…

The memory of that horrible, mottled collection on the fair skin of her throat tore Levi through time, deposited him in the sweaty grasp of an old, bad memory.

Shut up, you little fucker. I said to be quiet! Quiet! You lousy cunt, if you don't lie still on your belly and let me finish—

Levi clawed at his collar, at the tie that was not there, at the buttons that did not constrict his throat. He clawed and coughed, sure he could feel the man's hands around his windpipe all these years later. The pain, the agony, and the way that no one cared, no one gave a shit as Levi wailed and wept and pleaded for a mercy that would never come…

Erwin knew what Levi had experienced. He knew everything.

It's his wife. He got carried away.

Carried away. Sure. Look, spanking and chains and nipple clamps, all that shit, that was weird but it was a normal kind of weird. But Erwin could've killed the girl.

Could've crushed her delicate throat.

Could've choked the breath from her body. That wasn't play, it wasn't ritual punishment. It was abuse. Levi existed in that hazy middle ground of morality. On the one hand, he'd blown up people in their cars, slit throats, yanked out fingernails to get information. He'd thrown living men to watery graves and chopped dead bodies apart to prevent identification. That was part of his job, that brutality.

But that was torture and death with a purpose, done to people who more than had it coming. Most of the time. Levi was a monster, but he didn't hurt kids. He didn't rough up women unless they were coming for his ass with a gun. That was the thin line that kept him from being as bad as those guys when he was a kid. He was a thug and a killer, sure, but he wasn't an abuser. He didn't pull wings off flies. He only hit what could hit back if given half a chance.

Erwin was the boss that he was because of the past, had his reasons for becoming what he'd become, and Levi loved him despite their shared brutality. But this? This…

And that girl and her soft, sweet lips and her sweet sweet sweet moans…

"Levi?" Erwin said.

Levi gripped the railing tight, looked down into the churning black waters and wondered if he should throw himself overboard to escape greater torment later.

"You were taking so long," he wheezed, not looking back at Erwin. "I came up to find you."

"That eager for your punishment?" Erwin sounded faintly amused. Levi could see nothing to laugh about.

"Thought you might be in your cabin. I…" He swallowed; felt like his own throat was swollen shut, purple with bruises. "I saw her."

Silence. Wind along the deck.

"Levi, please look at me."

That was different, unexpected. Erwin sounded almost like he was pleading. The man stood there in his shirt with the sleeves rolled, the night air playing with that golden mane of his. The moon turned him ghostly, except for his blue eyes that burned.

"I ain't gonna tell you how to live your life." Levi's voice was stiff; even he heard it. "But the way she looked, Erwin, the bruises, and I… You know what looking at that does."

"I know." Was that pain in those eyes? Sympathy? Or was he asking for sympathy for himself? "Levi. Levi, please."

What did this god want? What could Levi give to this divine man? A promise to protect the chastity of his wife? Fuck, Levi had barely kept to that promise five minutes before. He had to get off this boat, away from Petra. He needed space. Needed air.

Erwin saw the horror in Levi's face, the way the smaller man was melting down, and Levi knew that Erwin thought it was the past that scared him. It was the past, but it was also the past and its collision with this prickly moment in time, this horrible present.

Erwin couldn't know about that, though.

"Levi."

Erwin was with him now, Erwin with his large hand in Levi's hair. The boss, the god rarely deigned to visit mortals, but he visited a kiss upon Levi's lips. Levi clung to him, the only man he'd ever loved. He moaned as he allowed Erwin's kiss to wash away Petra's, or at least he tried to let that happen. The ocean waves washed upon the sand, destroying the image of herself she'd left behind, carved into the beach. Except that the waters didn't wash that drawing away completely, only faded it a little.

Fuck.

"I can't look at shit like that," Levi choked.

"I know. I know, my Levi." Erwin kissed his forehead. He held Levi against his large, solid body. "I lost control. You know how I hate to admit anything like that."

Indeed. Control was what Erwin Smith liked best. He'd practically made a religion of it, with himself as both the temple priest and the deity.

"I'm sorry I lost her. You can never trust me again, I know. I fucked up."

"Yes. You did." Erwin pressed his lips to Levi's almost in punishment now, the cruelty of a loving kiss. It let Levi know how badly he'd fouled up. "And that's your punishment. I know you won't allow it to fade with time. I want it to hang in your heart and hurt you."

"Wish to hell you'd beat the shit out of me or something."

"You know you don't enjoy rough love play." Another tender, merciless kiss. "Besides, that would give you some relief from the feelings of self-condemnation. I want you humble and sorry."

"Yeah. Got what you wanted." Levi could not stay with that girl, though. He could not be around her, not for a while. "I'll understand if you need to assign others to her detail. Send me home, put me in the time out chair. Make me earn my way back."

"Don't be absurd." Erwin cupped Levi's cheek in his enormous hand. "No one works harder than you when you've something to prove. I still trust you more than anyone else; I know that you didn't rest until you found my wife. If not for you, she might have met a far worse fate. You're going to stay glued to her now when I'm not there. And if this ever happens again," he said softly, "I'll make you beg for death."

Then Erwin kissed him again, with love. Fuck. If Levi tried to wiggle out of this now, Erwin would grow suspicious. The instant doubt entered Erwin's mind, Levi would be done. Erwin never let go of a problem when he had it in his teeth, and both Levi and Petra would die before too long. Neither of them could hide the truth from a man who wanted it found.

"Okay, Erwin. I'll do whatever you say."

"That's my boy."

More kissing, and for a moment under the Grecian moon Levi could forget that he'd kissed Petra, lost as he was with this man's arms about him. His cock throbbed for Erwin's touch as it'd throbbed for Petra's earlier. Levi almost never wanted to fuck; again, Petra and the fire of lust tonight had been an anomaly. But right now, he could've gone down to his bunk and lain with Erwin, moaned as he got that big, beautiful man on his back and rode him well. Since his childhood, Levi had sworn he would never let another person inside of him, physically or otherwise, but Erwin was different. He was the lover and the father who kept the ugly phantoms away from Levi's crib.

Yet even with that comforting thought, Levi still thought of how Petra had tasted and felt beneath him. A woman of satin and rosebud, of moonlight and firelight.

He stopped kissing Erwin, afraid the other man would read Levi's secret desires in his kiss like a blind man stroking his fingers along a line of Braille.

"Remember." Erwin took his chin between thumb and forefinger. "You'll never let her out of your sight again."

"It won't happen. I promise." Levi dared a little. "But she didn't let those boys touch her. I'd swear to it. They were acting like a bunch of goofy little kids with her."

"I believe your judgment." Erwin bared his teeth, anger growing. "But she's mine. Even though I didn't believe she'd let them have her, the thought of it makes me want to kill."

Levi pushed the discomfort that emerged at those words aside. Erwin got carried away, but Levi knew that Erwin hated to lose control. Besides, Petra would never get away again. This night would never be repeated. No matter what.

"Okay," Levi said.

"Now. Get some rest." Erwin kissed him greedily. "We're cutting the trip short. I need to be back in Rome on Monday. The meeting with Tybur's people was more irritating than informative."

"Fill me in?"

"Tomorrow morning. For now, sleep." Erwin kissed him. "Perhaps some night soon we'll find each other again. I miss you."

"Same. I love you." For some reason, Levi almost choked on those words tonight. He kissed Erwin once more, tongues touching a second, and then he and the man parted ways. Levi walked towards the stairs, ready to head below and sleep a little. He was an insomniac by nature, but sleep felt necessary right now.

Levi paused, the hairs on the back of his neck prickling. Was someone watching him?

He turned around, saw no one on the moonlit deck. Shaking his head, he went below to his bed.

Petra had watched Erwin and Levi together. She'd seen everything, her husband's affection for his bodyguard, their kisses, their embraces. It wasn't just sex; there was emotion lodged in all that as well.

She felt a bitter flare of jealousy, but not for Erwin. Levi had only just kissed her; was he comparing her to Erwin? Liking Erwin better?

This is going to get you killed.

She managed to hurry back to the cabin and dive under the blankets before Erwin reentered. She didn't know how to behave, if looking at him would make things better or worse. Exercising caution, in a moment of inspiration Petra slid to the floor and knelt before him at the foot of the bed, as he'd had her do last time.

"Should I take off my clothes? Sir?"

God, she hated herself for this performance, but her instincts had served her well. Erwin touched her face gently.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. I was too rough."

An apology was surprising and good, though she still wanted to bite his hand off rather than feel his touch. Erwin guided her back to bed, and she let him. While she ought to be wary around him, she kept thinking of Levi. Levi. Erwin kissing Levi, Levi kissing her, the two images mashing together into an obscene ménage a trois. Ugh.

"I was going to give you this when we went home," Erwin said, offering a large black velvet jewelry case. "But now would be a good time, I think."

Petra gaped at the necklace. It was diamond filigree, a collar that dripped diamonds along her throat and to her chest, ending in a pendant point right at the beginning of her décolletage. Petra was dizzy trying to count the stones; there had to be more than two hundred diamonds here. It must've cost a fortune.

"It's beautiful," she whispered. Erwin undid the clasp and fitted the collar around her neck.

"You look like a queen. You are a queen, now. In this new world, Petra, I have the wealth and power to change the shape of nations if I so choose." He kissed the back of her neck, right above the diamond collar. "You should be my queen. My consort."

"Yes," she whispered. She saw herself in the mirror, a young woman in a negligee with an ostentatious collar of diamonds that covered her from the chin to the chest.

And that hid the bruises, she realized. No wonder Erwin had wanted to give this to her now.

"I didn't let them touch me," she said.

"Yes. I know." Erwin laid down, placing his head upon her lap. He kissed her satin-clad belly over and over. "Moblit examined you while you slept. He saw there'd been no penetration."

"What?" Her heart hammered, and she wished she could punch him. "Then why did you hurt me?"

"Because the thought of anyone else touching you drives me mad," he snarled. He buried his face against her, groaning a little. "I didn't expect to love you so damn much."

He loved her? He loved her and he raped her, he loved her and he choked her to the point of death? Petra wished she could plunge her thumbnails into his eyes.

"I love you, too," she lied. She passed a hand through his hair.

"Don't do that." Erwin kissed her stomach. "Don't tell lies to placate me. I know you don't love me yet." He pushed her to her back and hovered over her. Petra had never seen him look so vulnerable before, so demanding. It was the scariest thing in the world. "But you will. I'll make you love me as I love you."

"Yes, Erwin. Yes."

She let him fuck her, let him ride her while she wore nothing but the diamond collar. She praised his size and his rhythm, praised the feel of him in her body.

She did not think of Erwin as they fucked. She thought only of Levi, and she came to a few conclusions as Erwin finished inside of her, as they lay together in the dark with him nestled against her back, asleep, arm around her.

Erwin loved her, in his sick way, and he loved Levi. Levi loved Erwin; she'd seen how painfully Levi loved this man, and it made her hate Erwin all the more. Hate Levi for that burning kiss he'd given her and then taken from her.

Petra did not expect to live a long life. She would never be able to get through five years as Erwin's bride, let alone fifty.

She did not think she could kill him. But she could, perhaps, break him. She could smash what he loved and leave him with nothing but ashes.

He loved her and Levi? Then she would seduce Levi. She would spend their time together making him want her until he could die from it. She would fuck him, fuck his brains out. She'd wreck Levi's mind, his health, his sanity. And even if she died, too, she'd watch Erwin kill Levi first when he found out their secret.

Petra would go to her grave laughing, laughing because Levi was dead, too, and Erwin was alone and broken forever.

That would be worth death. She wanted Levi so badly that she could taste him on her tongue; she wanted to break Erwin more than she wanted to breathe.

She would have them both just as she wanted them. And then she would have the last thing she wanted: her freedom from this cruel world.

Two days later, they docked at Ostia. Levi kept a lookout alongside the security detail, making certain none of Tybur's goons were waiting at the dock. No criminals, no police, nothing. They were safe.

He went back to the Smiths' cabin, and found it empty. He heard the shower running behind their bathroom door, and knocked.

"Oi, Mrs. Smith. We're docking. You'd better get dressed."

"Thank you, Levi."

The sound of her voice made him hard; everything about her made him hard, but he'd manage it. He had self-control that could match even Erwin's. Levi cleared his throat and headed for the door, heard the bathroom door open. Felt the cloud of steam against his back, smelled the lavender of her shampoo.

"Levi?" she purred. Fuck, that woman could purr like a fucking animal.

"What?"

He shouldn't have turned. She was wrapped in a towel, or rather, she'd draped a towel around her body. The cloth barely covered the tops of her nipples, and only just hung below the sweet thatch of hair on her sex. Petra was pink and pearly from the shower, her hair rumpled from the steam, her cheeks and lips coral with the passion she must've experienced with Erwin just before hopping in the bath.

"Uh." Levi's mind shorted out as Petra Smith slunk across the room to the closet doors and flung them open. She peeked at him from behind her hair, come-hither as an old school movie star.

The top of her towel fell, revealing a rose-pink nipple. Levi loved her breasts, so perky. So sweet-looking, a handful of cream each. His cock hardened with scarcely a look.

"What?" he choked.

Petra tossed her hair and pouted at him, that lower lip looking particularly succulent and bitable.

"Close the door on your way out."

She dropped the towel completely and, naked and gorgeous, began selecting her clothes.

Levi didn't close the door. He fucking slammed it, then hurried below decks cursing himself out. They were docking, but hopefully he had time for a very fast, very cold shower.