24. Sea Witch
Chapter 24
Sea Witch
SONGBIRD
W aking up in Aidan’s arms could spoil me for all time. His sizzling warmth and the scent we made together lulled me into a heartbreakingly sweet slumber, and I grimace as I wake up, unwilling to let go of the glow hovering in my chest. We didn’t even bother to enter the cabin, so I’m still sprawled over the makeshift bed, tangled up in his embrace.
The precocious dawn that accompanies the shortest night of the year paints bloody warning signs on the horizon. Stormy clouds gather over the sea, creeping lazily toward the shore. They look like angry Red priestesses stretching their necks to judge us for our sins.
I trace Aidan’s calm, serene features one last time, desperately jealous of the princess he’s meant to marry. As sad and bitter as it sounds, I need to remind myself that it can’t be me before I lose sight of what this night really was.
An indulgence.
A bewitching exception.
I try to slip out unnoticed, but he squeezes me to him. I twist around in his arms, his amber eyes burning under the fiery dawn, clear and full of love.
“Good morning, Songbird.”
The sweet drawl of the nickname physically hurts. I might never hear it again after today. It’s a complex feeling to love something so fiercely and yet be so certain of its demise. But Aidan and I were a dream only meant to last one night.
I clear my throat, muttering a muted, “Morning.”
He brushes my hair away from my face, tracing the hollow of my neck down the valley between my breasts. His fire chases away the chill of the night, warm and hypnotic. I’ve got half a mind to bury my head in his chest and pretend we’re just another couple, sharing a lazy, uncomplicated morning.
He kisses the angle of my jaw. “I wish every morning could be like this.”
My stomach squeezes in response, and a breathless sigh whistles out of my lungs.
The statement stings like the tip of a double-edged sword, a unique brand of torture. It won't do us any good to spend the next few hours luxuriating in this impossible bubble, only to watch it burst the moment we step outside, listing all the promises we won’t be able to keep, and the things we will never do together.
Yet, Aidan seems intent on doing just that.
“Everyone will be gone on break soon,” he says with a naughty grin. “You should stay and spend one more night with me. Tomorrow morning, we could even walk down to the ocean and swim… naked .” He bites my earlobe playfully, but the hollowness in the pit of my belly throbs at the suggestion.
“I can’t stay. My father would worry.”
His furrowed brows call me out for my cowardice. “You could write to him that you’ll arrive tomorrow, instead. It’s not like he knows the ins and outs of this place?—”
The comment rubs me the wrong way, highlighting the divide between our circumstances. “And what would one more night accomplish, exactly?” I shift to a sitting position and wrap an arm around my bare breasts. “It doesn’t change the fact that I have to go home.”
It doesn’t change the fact that you’re not for me, I almost add, but the angry words get caught in my throat. It’s not Aidan’s fault that he’s the infamous Crown Prince of the Summerlands, and that I’m just a moth. That I’m engaged to a man I despise. And even if I weren’t, Aidan would never be free to court me openly. But it hurts .
“In two months, then?” he asks.
“Aidan…”
“Songbird.”
I crawl to my knees, keeping my eyes firmly planted in my lap and playing with a loose thread of the tartan blanket. “Aidan. We said one night.”
“As I recall, we said a lot of things. For example, you begged me never to stop licking your sweet, hot?—”
I seal his mouth with my hand. “Shush!”
Our gazes lock as I slowly peel it away, and his eyes wrinkle at the corners.
“I’ll miss you. Can we at least agree to revisit this one night policy next semester?”
I shake my head, turning away from him. If I let this dangerous hope take root inside me—that there'll be a next time—it’ll fester.
“Five more minutes, then,” he pleads with a boyish pout. “ Please .”
He snakes his arms around me, and I relax in his embrace, resting my head on his shoulder. “Oh, alright.”
I’m not as strong as I pretend to be. Certainly not enough to know what’s good for me.
His breath stirs the hairs at the back of my ear. “But you have to admit, that naked swimming lesson sounds heavenly.”
I can’t help but chuckle, then deny him with a regretful wrinkle of the nose and a firm head-shake. “I doubt there would be much swimming involved.”
“Oh, there’d be plenty of swimming…” His voice drops a few octaves, low and intense. “But after, I’d spread you out on the sand and drink the seawater off your skin.” He gives a sharp pinch to my nipple and dips his hand down to caress the space between my legs, his cunning, talented fingers stoking the embers of my need for him.
I cry out at the friction and sink my nails into his thigh. “This is torture.”
The shape of Aidan’s desire swells against my lower back as he cups my breasts in turn, lifting them up and squeezing them tight. “Torture?”
I wish my voice didn’t tremble as I whisper, “Because I can’t have you,” but my walls have crumbled around me. Gone is the girl who played the long game, using her wits to shield herself from bad choices and worse decisions.
His playful tone vanishes. “You have me, Songbird. All of me.”
For now.
Sleeping with Aidan was like stepping into an avalanche. Now that I’ve slipped, there’s nowhere to go but down. Everything but him feels cold.
Tears sting my eyes as I spin around, swinging one leg over his hips and pinning him down. I dive down to kiss him, silencing him in equal measure, desperate to hide the conflicting emotions on my face, terrified that his lovely words might shatter what’s left of my resolve.
He adjusts his hold on my waist, guiding my hips. A sharp moan escapes me as I slide down the length of him to the root. I bite my lower lip, trembling with need and a hint of rage. No one else will ever fit so deeply inside me, or burn so divinely hot against my icy flesh. I’ll never know such bliss again. In one night, he seduced me thoroughly, awakening desires I never knew I had, and gave me a taste of a life I can’t have, a passion unmatched. The dizzying certainty settles deep in my bones—that no one else will ever compare, and that I’ve become addicted to something I’ll forever starve for.
Something I might never find again.
He lifts me just high enough for the tip of his cock to tease my greedy flesh. “Don’t give up on us before we even start. This is not our last morning together.”
“But what if it is?” I choke, the heaviness in my chest making me feel like I’m drowning.
Aidan utters a pained growl. “Then let me torture you until you scream.” He lowers me in one sharp, urgent movement, joining us together once more.
I kiss him hard, hard enough to bruise him, afraid to cut myself deeper at the altar of his love, yet terrified not to. I claw him closer, rocking over him, chasing both release and destruction. His hold on my hips is unyielding—wild. Delicious.
We reach a savage, bittersweet pleasure. The kind you only find in the eye of a storm. The type of heights you can only plummet from.
Slowly, the cabin comes back into focus. The sky and ocean are still ablaze, as if only minutes have passed, though it feels like I’ve lived and mourned an entire existence.
"I have to go," I croak, pulling myself off him in search of my discarded clothes.
"Then I’ll go with you," he whispers back.
The protective way he holds my hand on our way over to the girls’ wing wrecks me all over again, my rib cage painful and tight as I unlace our fingers. I inch up the vines, trying to keep quiet, and the vegetation plies to meet my needs, allowing for an easy climb. I don’t want Willow—or Thanatos forbid, Iris—to catch me sneaking in.
Aidan follows me all the way up to my bedroom window. “Wait.” He pulls me in for another delirious kiss. “Let me in.”
I crawl over the cushioned bench and turn back to face him, barring his entry. “We already talked about this.”
The dark, incensed look on his face melts away like snow on hot coals so quickly, I wonder if I imagined it. “Okay, okay. You’ve won this round. Go take a shower and wash me off of you if you must. Grab breakfast. Head home like nothing happened. But this isn’t the end, Songbird."
He sounds so sure again, he almost makes me doubt. After landing on the ground, he blows me one last kiss and spins around, burying both hands in his pockets.
I follow his silhouette until it disappears between the bushes.
“Morning.” My stomach clenches at the unexpected greeting, and I jolt around to find Devi sprawled over the empty bed on the opposite side of the room. What in the seven hells? How did I miss her, before?
Thanatos be kind… The gleeful smile on her lips is terrifying.
“So… you and Aidan. How long has that been going on?” she muses.
I open my mouth to blurt out a defensive mention of St. John’s Eve, but Devi doesn’t wait for my answer. “Since he helped you in the trials, I bet.”
My insides coil to a standstill, and my breath frosts in front of my face, the temperature in the room dropping below freezing.
“You know, it’s been driving Damian crazy, how you—a moth with no special training—managed to cross Aidan’s deadly maze in record time. But last night, as you were singing, I finally got it.” She rakes her black manicured nails across the pillow propped over her lap. “Aidan helped you. The thought had crossed my mind before, but I couldn’t figure out why. Aidan is a ruthless competitor. Why would he help a moth, of all people?”
“I suppose you’re not actually asking?” I crack.
She slinks to her feet. “What do you know of your mother?”
My brows furrow at the sudden turn the conversation has taken, but I know better than to tell Devi Eros to mind her own business, not when she’s holding me by my metaphorical balls. “Not much. She died when I was young, and she had no family.”
She draws a sharp intake of breath. “So you don’t know.”
“Know what?”
“And your father has kept you away from the sea, of course. He never taught you how to swim,” she whispers, mostly to herself.
“What are you getting at?”
“You’re a siren, moth. That’s why Aidan helped you in the labyrinth. He never suspected of course, because of all the silly Summer legends about love at first sight, and his own vanity. He never suspected for a moment that you , a nobody, could have enchanted him .”
“Err— No chance.” I shake my head, her hypothesis absolutely ridiculous. “That’s impossible. Sirens kill their lovers.”
“How do you explain last night, then? You basically bewitched everyone.”
“No,” I repeat. “If I was a siren, the whole audience would have been under my thrall. There would have been a riot and bloodshed?—”
“I figure you might be half siren. A quarter? An eighth? I’m right about the trials, yes? I bet you sang your heart out in that labyrinth…”
The instinct to deny it at all cost takes a life of its own, and my fists curl at my sides. “It doesn’t mean that I’m a siren, because I’m not.”
Sea Fae aren’t allowed to live on the continent. They’re vicious and violent, luring many to their deaths.
“A man like Aidan, cheating himself of a major win against his nemesis and risking his mother’s ire for a girl he’s never even met? It doesn’t make sense.”
A small voice in my head agrees, and I swallow hard, replaying the trials in my mind. “You’re wrong.” I turn away from her, retreating to the foot of my bed, trying to put as much distance between us as possible.
“I’m not,” she deadpans, stepping closer.
A wince escapes me. “Wrong or not, people will believe you over me, no matter what,” I whisper. “So I might as well pack my bags and crawl into some hole in the wall.”
Her demeanor shifts in an instant, going from dry and accusatory to amused. “Oh, you haven’t been paying attention, moth. One day, this secret might become a weapon in some major battle, and I wouldn’t waste it just to see you expelled.” She takes a meaningful pause, then crawls over my duvet as though we’re friends gossiping at a sleepover. “But I do need you to tell me about the impending nuptials I caught wind of. Did you hear anything about it?”
Cold sweat pearls above my brows. “Who’s getting married?”
She squints, her stare raising goosebumps on my arms. “That’s what I’d like to know. It’s supposed to be a Summer wedding, and a royal one at that. I figured you’d be open to sharing secrets now that we’re... better acquainted.”
A Summer wedding? My throat tightens. Devi’s obvious enthusiasm for coercion sinks like an anchor in my chest, dragging all my hopes and dreams down with it.
“Aidan?” I gasp, cold tremors rocking my body.
By Thanatos. I feared Aidan might marry someone else, but I certainly didn’t expect it to happen so soon.
“Or Willow.”
I scoff at the possibility. “Willow would have told me if she was getting married.”
“And your boyfriend wouldn’t have?” Devi lets the question dangle like a hook, a grin spreading across her red-painted lips. “No, I guess he wouldn’t have. Well, I need to know today, so be a dear and ask him.”
“You want me to ask Aidan if he’s getting married?” I screech.
Devi shrugs in an overly nonchalant manner. “He’s fond of you, and he can’t lie, so it should only take a minute. Don’t let him play with words, though. He’s good at that. I’ll be anxiously awaiting your answer.”
I don’t want to acquiesce to her demand, but I have no choice, not if I ever want to return to the academy. And if Aidan is getting married this summer, I’d rather know now than read about it in the news.
I’ve never sneaked into the boys’ wing before, but today, I climb the stairs two at a time to the top floor, my hooded cape concealing my hair. My knuckles tighten around the handle of my second-hand travel bag as I reach the penthouse door. I knock softly, bracing myself for the conversation to come, and my mouth goes dry when it’s not Aidan who answers, but Ezra.
He scans me from head to toe, his blonde hair slicked over his head, which is a stark change to his usual disheveled-ness. “Ooh, a traveling salesman. What are you selling, milady?” He meets my gaze, and his playfulness cranks down several notches as he opens the door for me to enter. “Aidan, you have a visitor.”
I stay rooted in place, feeling eerie and hot.
“Songbird, hi.”
I throw him an awkward wave, my heart bleeding at the obvious joy on his face. The fact that he’s fresh out of the shower and only wearing a white towel doesn’t help my concentration, but the possibility of hearing about his betrothal certainly tarnishes his appeal. A bit.
Ezra’s gaze flicks between us before he tucks his hands deep into his pockets. “Well, I suddenly feel like I have urgent business elsewhere. I’ll wait for you in the hall, boo. Lady Snow, I wish you a glorious break.” He kisses my knuckles and slips past me with a wink.
“You too.” Warmth floods my cheeks as Aidan walks to take Ezra’s place by the door, his bare chest filling my line of vision. He looks so pleased as he asks, “Did you change your mind about that swimming lesson?”
“Afraid not,” I say quickly, avoiding his stare. “But I had to see you before I left.”
If only he knew the real reason I came. I still don’t believe Devi’s claim that I’m a Sea mutt, but I’m acting as her spy all the same.
Aidan holds the door wider, stepping aside. “Please, come in.”
I press my lips together, and the soft thud of the door closing behind me sends a shiver through my body.
Once we’re alone, he grabs my waist with an ease and confidence that makes me want to untuck his towel.
“I have to admit… that cape is incredibly sexy. I fear you might have woven me a new fantasy. And you can’t imagine how many times I’ve pictured you in that uniform…” he trails off.
He steers me to the side, pinning me against the kitchen counter. The top edge of the marble slab presses into my back as he kisses me, and the purpose of my visit is forgotten.
“I have to leave soon,” I gasp.
He drags his lips down the slope of my neck. “How soon?”
I push him off gently, palms flat to his naked chest, and wince. “Too soon for any of that.”
With a chuckle, he runs his hands down my arms to lace our fingers. “I’ll be good, then.”
Now that we’re together, I’m almost sure Devi was mistaken. This man can’t be planning to marry someone else.
“I have a question. And I don’t want you to spare my feelings, alright? I need to know the whole truth.”
His brows furrow. “I’m all ears.”
“I heard there’s a summer wedding in the works… And that’s it’s going to be a royal wedding.” My heartbeat pounds in my temples, dizzying me, but Aidan doesn’t look as guilty as I feared. He even smiles.
“Oh, Songbird. I’m not getting married.” Our fingers still entwined, he kisses the back of my hand. “Unless you’re hinting for a proposal, because if you are, I’m in,” he adds in jest, the off-hand comment painting my cheeks scarlet.
“So it was all just a rumor? There’s no royal wedding in the works?”
He draws in a sharp breath, his jaw slightly askew. “Now, I didn’t say that .”
I wait for him to elaborate, but his uncomfortable grimace doesn’t relent. “Willow?”
His relieved sigh confirms my hunch, and he nods.
“But she didn’t say anything about it.” I’m flabbergasted to learn this, truly.
“She doesn’t know.”
By Thanatos…
“What?” My mind flashes back to my best friend, the sweet pixie-like woman who’s been vociferating against the rules of high society for months now. Even though I agreed with most of her arguments, it was a bit jarring at times to hear about injustice from the mouth of a privileged princess. The threat of famine that would condemn most common Fae I’ve grown up with to work their fingers bloody in the mines in exchange for a meager salary was more vivid to me than Willow’s fear of destitution and having to live below a certain status if she chose to blaze her own path.
Sometimes, I couldn’t connect to her philosophical crusades, but this is different.
“How could you not tell her?” I blurt out without thinking.
“My father forbade it and sealed my promise with his magic, but don’t worry. Ezra is going to break the news better than I ever could.”
“Why would Ezra—” I pause, my heart in my throat. “Wait. Willow is engaged to Ezra ?”
“It’s not official, so please keep it to yourself, but yes.”
I would have never imagined.
“Are you…upset?” he adds quietly.
I shake off the dumbfounded look. “No, just surprised. Why would I be upset about that?”
He dips his head to kiss me again. “I’ll write to you.”
I open my mouth to argue, but Aidan tucks a strand of hair behind my ear.
“Don’t worry. I’ll use the same spell as before to conceal my handwriting. No one will be able to figure it out, I promise.”
He shouldn’t make such promises. Not in the world we live in.
I stop by the bibliotheca on my way out, my pen trembling over the parchment as I scrawl Devi a note with only Ezra’s name on it. She’s clever enough to piece together the rest. The scrap of paper weighs nothing, yet it feels like I’m writing a love letter to someone else.
I cheated my way into this school, and now I’ve betrayed Aidan.