Chapter 10
Dripping with sweat, Finn cradles my head in his hands after he cums for the third time in less than so many hours. Me, I’ve never been so sore, not even after I gave birth.
I feel used and abused—everything down below aches and burns. I lost count of how many times I flew to that euphoric height of unyielding bliss. Each time was better than the last. I’m going to pay for this for weeks. It might be a month before I can walk right again.
“There’s no way you can keep at this pace for seven days,” I say as he leans his forehead against mine, then kisses my nose. It’s amazing how raw and animalistic he is when he’s fucking me, in contrast to how sweet and tender he is after the fact, in the few minutes he allows me to recover.
“I’m only stopping betweentimes to give you a chance to catch your breath. I waited twenty-nine years to find you. I need to fill you up over and over again to make sure you’re with child.”
I run my hands through his dripping wet hair. I don’t know if it’s because we’ve been going at it non-stop that he’s sweating so much or what, but his hair doesn’t seem to dry.
“What if I’m not pregnant after seven days? It’s more complicated than how often you have sex. Will you run off to find some other woman to knock up?” He looks at me questioningly. He doesn’t understand the term. “Impregnate?” I clarify. “How do you not know what knock-up means? Where are you from?”
He looks away with a shy smile on his face. “There is no other woman I want to be with. If you haven’t conceived in the seven days, I’ll go off and fight a worthy opponent for land and gain battle scars. That way, when I return to you, I’ll be man enough to impregnate you.”
I blink a few times. Is he crazy? “Are you a ghost?” That would explain a lot, along with his very old-fashioned way of thinking about men, women, and babies. “Did you die like a hundred years ago? Fighting for land isn’t something men do anymore. I mean, they do in wars, but that’s not how you mean it, is it?”
“No, it isn’t. I never quite fit in on the island I was raised on, so my parents kept me hidden away.” He grabbed a chink of my shattered heart.
“Aww, Finn.”
“I had a very sequestered existence on the island, so I didn’t fight as much as the other children growing up. They battled their parents and hunted for food.” He says, making it sound as if he missed out on cotton candy and unicorns. “And I’m a vegetarian, which is seriously frowned upon. Maybe these things keep me from truly crossing over into manhood—”
“GET THE HELL OFF OF HER, KELPIE!” The thunderous voice roars, and Finn is pulled from me.
“Em, no!” I scream.
Ignoring me, he struggles with Finn, attempting to tie something around Finn’s head. Finn is no weakling. He holds his own until Em forces his mouth open by squeezing his cheeks and shoves something between his teeth.
Finn squeals in pain.
“Stop!” I plead, crying as I get to my feet to try and help the man I’m falling for. Once the contraption Em works around Finn’s head is fastened, his struggle weakens. I catch a glimpse of his blue eyes, and the dimming of their light terrifies me. “Emerald Hickory!” I shriek, “Stop it! You’re killing him!”
“That is to be seen,” the leshy I once worshiped glares at me as he drags Finn to the edge of the spring.
“Em, please.” My body shakes and racks with sobs. “It’s my fault. He didn’t do anything wrong. Please!”
“Look, Masha,” Em hisses, “See what he really is!”
Em throws the tamed Finn into the deepest part of the spring. His legs hit the water with a crack of lightning, brightening the sky and evoking thunder louder than Em sounds when he’s angry. The second his body breaks the surface, it jerks and contorts as he transforms.
Finn no longer has legs. Instead, he has a giant whale’s tail.
I hug my arms around myself. Shivering, I watch in horror as the man that entranced me turns into some sort of animal. His head and hair turn into that of a horse, like the horse I thought belonged to him. A horse with webbed front feet and a giant tail. He isn’t even an animal. He’s a monster.
I feel sick and back up so I can lean my hand against the trunk of a tree. Bile rises to the back of my throat, forcing its way out. I vomit violently at the sight of the thing I let ravage my body. I can’t bear to look at it thrashing in the water. He lied to me. Made a fool of me by impersonating a man and pretending that he cared just so I would have sex with him.
No wonder he had difficulty restraining himself. He’s an actual animal. I feel the disgust in my chest settle on my face. I won’t look at him again. I can’t. Never, ever again.
Hiding my face, I reach for my clothes and dress without a word to either man. Correction, either monster. I feel their eyes on me, watching me.
I feel like thousands of ants are crawling up and down my skin. Safra lies on the ground with her head between her paws, ears back like she’s frightened. She lifts her head as I get close, letting out a low groan. Even she can’t look at me.
“Good for nothing!” I yell at her. “You can’t look at me? Ironic, isn’t it? You had one fucking job to do, protect me, and you sucked at it,” I grind out through clenched teeth as I walk past her and head to my cottage.