Chapter 23
Bellanca watched from the narrow spit of rock as Carver swam toward the cavern. He was fluid in the water, a natural swimmer. She wasn’t. It would take some effort to drown her, but she wasn’t exactly efficient, and she hated putting her head underwater. Washing her hair was one thing. Bobbing around in a large expanse of water with waves and currents shoving at her was entirely another. Water she couldn’t get out of could douse her fire as fast as she could make it. She’d faced down monsters with a grin and, to be honest, savage anticipation a lot of times. She’d known she could win .
The sea, though, could beat her.
Her pulse sped up as Carver swam into the shadows under the overhanging owl. He turned and waved once before vanishing beneath the surface. He searched systematically, moving from side to side and deeper into the cavern. The first dozen times he dove, Bellanca held her breath until he surfaced again. As repetition set in, she stopped dreading every time he disappeared and started worrying about not finding the Shard of Olympus.
“I’m going farther in,” Carver eventually called, sounding a little winded.
She nodded, uneasy. He swam away, the cavern’s darkness swallowing him whole as if gobbling him up for dinner. What might’ve been the longest several minutes of her life followed until he finally swam back into sight again. Relief left her shaky as he headed for the edge of the cavern and a sheltered, flattish rock he could sit on.
He hauled himself up, visibly fatigued now. “I saw it!”
She exhaled the air she’d been holding. “Can you reach it?” she shouted back.
He shook his head, wiping his face and eyes. He slicked his hair back. “It’s deep inside a crack at the back of the cavern. I can almost reach it, but the opening gets too narrow right before where the shard is. Your hand should fit. You’ll have to do it.”
She recoiled. “How do you know it’s the shard?”
“It’s glowing. It’s bright—and cold. The water temperature drops all around it.”
She shivered. “Are you sure I’ll fit?” Her hand and wrist didn’t have the same heft and muscle as Carver’s, but that didn’t mean she could slip them in and out of wherever.
“I think so. It’s close for me, and you’re smaller.”
She breathed through rising panic, pushing back when it tried to constrict her lungs. “Okay. I’m coming.” Reluctantly undressing, she left her boots, belt, and clothes next to Carver’s. The only thing she kept on was her medallion. She wasn’t about to let it out of her sight, especially this close to the Shard of Olympus.
Nerves tightened her body as she eyed the distance she’d need to swim to reach Carver. He watched her, his gaze fixated, and if she hadn’t been so anxious about heading into deep water, she’d have been shy about her nakedness. As it was, fully revealing herself for the first time was the least of her worries. She shuffled forward to the very edge of the rocks, their roughness digging into her bare feet as she peered down into the water. The bottom was right there, clearly visible, but Carver hadn’t been able to stand. Those inviting sandy ripples were deceptive and a lot farther away than they appeared.
Her heart pounding, she shifted her weight back again, wincing when a jagged rock poked into her heel. Just being able to stand, feet on the ground, head above the water, would make all the difference.
“Do we have something you could use to grasp the shard? Like tongs? Or a hook?” she called over to Carver.
“Not that I can think of,” he called back.
She swept a searching glance over the beach, not seeing anything that could help them. “What about your sword?”
“I might just push it farther back.”
She rolled her lips in, pressing hard. “So putting my arm in a narrow crack of rock underwater is the only option?” What if she got stuck? How long could she hold her breath for?
“We’ll come back with tools.” Carver slipped into the water, ready to swim back to her.
“No.” She held out a hand to stop him. That would take days, and they might not be as lucky in avoiding magical creatures. She squared her shoulders. “I’m coming.”
This time, she didn’t let herself hesitate. She jumped in feet first, her magic flinching as she sank underwater.
She surfaced, gasping in a shocked breath. The sea was warm, so the only real jolt was feeling her fire suck inward with a numbing suddenness that chilled her skin and probably dulled her hair ten shades in color.
She blinked salt from her eyes and kicked off in the direction of the cavern. Her long braid soaked up the water, turning heavy and dragging behind her. It wouldn’t spark now. None of her would. She tried not to think about it as she struggled her way toward the cavern. It wasn’t far, but it still took forever to reach Carver. She’d never been a strong swimmer, and the tide seemed to be pushing against her, even the small waves and light breeze impeding her progress.
She finally grasped Carver’s outstretched arm, and he hauled her up onto the partially submerged ledge with him. Water lapped at their hips. Their legs brushed underwater. The clear sea hid nothing, and distorted what they saw.
Breathing hard, she muttered, “At least it’s not cold.” She crossed her arms over her chest. Her body was the only thing she was modest about, and she wasn’t ready to brazenly flash it, even for Carver.
“You did well.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and squeezed, kissing her wet temple.
She reluctantly smiled, his husky voice and easy show of affection doing more to reassure her and rekindle her fire than it had any right to. Leaning against him, she said, “It isn’t over yet.”
“It’s not too deep.” He gently squeezed again. “And I’ll be right beside you.”
She glanced over her shoulder into the dark cavern and chewed her lip, the harsh bite of salt stinging her taste buds. “Next, you’ll say, ‘Don’t worry.’”
He shook his head. “You’re entitled to your fears. You have so few of them.”
Did she? Or was that just what Carver thought? Frowning, she asked, “Why do you say that?”
“Because you don’t overthink. You just do.”
She snorted. “That sounds like stupidity.”
He burst out laughing, sharp and short. “That’s not what I meant. I just meant that, in the action, you can make split-second decisions and fear doesn’t control you. You get things done. I admire that.”
Warmth swirled inside her. “You’re pretty good in a pinch yourself,” she murmured.
As incapable of accepting praise as ever, Carver didn’t answer. He turned his gaze ahead, his eyes on the coastline.
Sighing, she gazed at him . She knew exactly what an ideal man was supposed to look like, and Carver… He was perfection. “We’re naked together for the first time.” Slightly nervous heat darted across her chest and dipped into her belly.
His gaze swung back to her, his grin returning. “And you have no idea how much I wish we had time to fully appreciate that and see where it takes us.” Despite his words, he lowered his head and kissed her as if he had all the time in the worlds. His teeth grazed her lower lip and his tongue swept into her mouth, exploring with hot, languid strokes. She kissed him back, deep and slow, and as if by magic, all her awkwardness and shyness burned away, leaving her simply craving him, and craving more.
Drawing back a little, she breathlessly whispered, “I’ll bet it takes us to claiming.”
He chuckled, his hot, silvery eyes flicking over her. “A little fixated, are we?”
“I want to know.” They’d come this far. She wanted to know what Carver felt like inside her now.
A rough, needy sound ground in his throat. “Another thing I admire about you—always straight to the point.” His hands slid down her arms. “But our time to act is shrinking like a grape in the sun. We’d better get moving.” He glanced around, squinting against the bright light reflecting off the great basin.
“What do you mean?”
“The tide’s on its way in. It’ll make the water in the cavern deeper.”
She looked down, noticing the sea had risen to nearly touch the undersides of her breasts. She inhaled slowly, exhaled. “You’re right. We should go.”
Carver slipped off the ledge, making room for her to slip off, too. The water instantly doused her returning fire, and within a few strokes, their scorching kiss already felt like it happened a year ago and her magic yanking abruptly inward again left her chilled to the bone.
“Why am I the only one who knows about your fear of swimming?” Carver glanced over at her as they entered the shadows.
“You’re the only one here.”
His lips jerked up. “No, I mean, we took to an open ocean and sailed to an island before we came here. That didn’t seem to bother you.”
“We had a boat.” She frowned in confusion.
“It could’ve sunk.”
“Then we all would’ve died. Even you can’t swim across an ocean.”
Carver found the breath for a beleaguered sigh, even though she was already struggling to fill her lungs. “So you were completely calm the entire time? Not worrying about mixing fire and water?”
She just barely kept her chin above the surface and spat salt water from her mouth. “I had a job to do, so I did it.”
“Just like now.” He touched the back wall of the cavern, smiling. “See? Already there. Your fears don’t rule you.”
Grinning, she reached out and grabbed whatever she could hold on to. Eons of tides had carved out jagged handholds and she gripped one, keeping her churning legs away from the coarse stone as her eyes adjusted to the dimness at the rear of the cavern. “I still don’t like swimming.”
“Hmm.” He looked her over. “Maybe Zeus chose the wrong kingdom for you.”
Instant disagreement thumped in her chest. “Well, I don’t mind the occasional wading. And the views are pretty.”
His smile flashed in the gloom. “I guess we’re in the right place after all, then.”
She hmphed. “I’d happily never come here again.” The cool, slick wall was hard to hold on to, and just like Carver said, the water swirling around her legs was noticeably colder. “You’re right. It’s frigid here.” She peered down, just barely seeing a faint brightness below her feet somewhere.
Carver huffed in agreement. “Wait until you get close to it. I nearly froze my hand off.”
“Wonderful,” she muttered. Waves sloshed against the edges of the rock cavity, echoing in the hollowed-out chamber. It sounded eerily like the roar of battle. “Let’s do this. I just want to get out of here.”
Carver moved closer. “I’ll go with you. On three?”
She nodded. Carver counted and they dove together. Bellanca swam as fast as she could, her ears aching and her lungs burning before she even got to the crack in the wall. At eye level, the glow from the shard was so intense that she squinted, her eyes already burning from the sting of seawater. Bracing one hand against the top of the crack to keep herself steady, she reached in with the other. Half her forearm disappeared, and rough stone grazed her skin, tightening around her. Bits of air she couldn’t hold in bubbled out of her as her fingers finally brushed the icy tip of the shard. The coldness of the water around the narrow gap in the wall made everything harder. Shivers and the imperative to breathe set in, but she pushed forward to her elbow, grabbed the shard, and dragged it out, scraping her knuckles in her hurry. Blood trickled from her hand, the thin, floating line illuminated by the Shard of Olympus as she kicked hard, aiming for the surface.
Her head broke free, and her huge inhalation resonated in the cavern. It was even harder to swim gripping what felt like an icicle, and she floundered, half sinking again.
“I’ve got you.” Carver grabbed onto her and maneuvered her onto her back. “Just float for me.” She did as he asked, trembling and breathing hard as he swam them back toward the cavern entrance.
“It’s really cold.” Her teeth chattered. She moved both arms toward her chest, trying to hold in her body heat somehow.
The second the shard got close to her amulet, it flew from her numbing fingers before she could stop it. Power cracked in the air, in the water, through her, and the glowing crystal clicked into the empty space in the center of her medallion with a blinding pulse of magic.
“The shard?” Carver asked urgently from behind her.
“Just completed the amulet!” The bronze disk turned glacially cold, and she gasped, her chest curling inward. Her lungs froze mid-inhalation, then the temperature immediately neutralized. A sharp breath punched out of her. Carver dragged her along while she gripped the amulet, lifting the palm-sized circle to see it better. The metal stayed cool to the touch but not icy. It didn’t hurt her skin with cold the way the naked shard had. She touched the glowing center, testing the feel of it. “The shard itself is still chilly, but not unbearable.”
Carver grunted in response. He seemed to be slowing down. A breeze blew against them as they reached the mouth of the cavern, creating some chop on the water. “It reminds me of Cat’s ice shard necklace. It came from a glacier on Mount Olympus.”
“This is bigger.” She paused, studying it. “And I think a lot more powerful.”
Carver suddenly hissed in air, the sound of his surprise sending a shock of panic through her. They both sped backward through the water for a heart-jolting second, then he abruptly let go of her.
She flipped over and looked frantically around. Terror scalded her veins and tried to paralyze her.
He’d vanished.
Her heart heaved in dread. “Carver?” Her breath coming short, she spun, treading water. “Carver!”
There was no sign of him, and the sea didn’t answer.