Chapter 9 #4
"The ribbons we wear," Riven added, his rough voice thick with something I couldn't name—devotion, perhaps, or fierce possession.
He lifted the pink ribbon, pressing it to his lips for a long moment, breathing in its scent, before returning it to his chest. His golden eyes never left mine, burning with intensity.
"Your colors. Your scent. Carried against our skin, against our hearts.
So that anyone who saw us would know, we belong to someone. We belong to you."
"We are yours." Thane said simply, his gentle voice carrying the weight of absolute truth, of a vow spoken and meant. His amber eyes were soft and bright and full of hope. "If you'll have us. All of us. Whatever that means, whatever you want it to mean—we are yours."
The sun had nearly set now, painting the sky in shades of purple and deep blue.
Stars were beginning to emerge, scattered across the darkness like promises, like hopes, like the beginning of something new.
Four creatures in the water, watching me with eyes that held no cruelty, no calculation, no desire to own or control.
Just want. Just hope. Just the desperate, overwhelming need to be chosen.
"I don't know what I'm doing,." I admitted, my voice barely above a whisper, carried away by the evening breeze.
Tears were streaming down my cheeks now, warm and wet, and I didn't bother to wipe them away.
"I don't know your customs or your world or what any of this means.
I don't know the rules, the rituals, the right things to say.
I'm just a human. A runaway. Someone who's been hiding for so long I've forgotten what it feels like to be seen. "
"We see you." Kaelan's voice was soft, fervent, almost worshipful, carrying across the water like a prayer. His dark eyes were fixed on my tear-streaked face with something like reverence. "We have always seen you. From that first moment in the water, we saw you. And we will never stop seeing you."
"You don't have to know the rules." Thane added gently, his amber eyes warm with understanding, his voice soft as morning light.
He had drifted so close to the ship that he could have reached up and touched the hull.
"We'll teach you. Anything you want to know, anything you want to learn—we'll show you.
We'll be patient. We'll wait as long as you need. Forever, if that's what it takes."
Vale nodded emphatically, his silver hair swirling around him, his hands moving in an elaborate gesture that seemed to say everything at once, yes, please, we're yours, just let us show you, just give us the chance.
"You are perfect," Riven growled, the words rough with emotion, torn from somewhere deep in his chest. His golden eyes burned with fierce conviction.
"Exactly as you are. You don't need to be anything other than what you are.
We want you, not some version of you that knows our customs, not some perfect omega who follows rules and knows the right things to say.
We want you." His voice dropped lower, almost tender.
"The girl who gave a monster a pearl. The girl who sang to the empty sea.
The girl who waved at us like we were friends instead of nightmares.
That's who we want. That's who we love."
I was crying fully now. I couldn't help it.
Tears streamed down my cheeks, warm and wet in the cooling evening air, dripping from my chin into the water far below.
No one had ever said anything like that to me.
No one had ever looked at me the way they were looking at me, like I mattered, like I was valuable, like I was worth something beyond my designation.
"Tomorrow," I said, and the word felt like a promise, like a vow, like the beginning of something I couldn't yet name.
My voice shook, thick with tears, but I didn't care.
"Tomorrow, I'll come to you. I'll drink your potion.
I'll swim with you. I'll let you show me your world.
I want to see it. I want to see everything. "
Riven's growl of satisfaction rumbled across the water like thunder, his whole body vibrating with barely contained joy.
His tail lashed the water, sending up spray that caught the last light of the sun.
Thane's face split into a smile so bright it rivaled the emerging stars, his amber eyes glistening with tears of his own.
Vale pressed both hands to his heart, his eyes closing briefly in what looked like relief, like prayer, like the release of a breath held far too long.
Kaelan just watched me with those dark, fathomless eyes, and something in his expression made me feel like I was the center of his entire universe. Like nothing else existed. Like nothing else mattered.
"Tomorrow," he agreed, his voice low and reverent, thick with emotion he was no longer trying to hide. His pale hand pressed against his heart one final time. "We'll be waiting. We'll always be waiting for you. No matter how long it takes. No matter what happens. We will always be here."
They sank beneath the surface slowly, reluctantly, their eyes holding mine until the very last moment.
The water closed over their heads and they were gone, but not really gone.
I could feel them down there, could feel their presence in the deep like a weight at the other end of a rope, like a promise that couldn't be broken.
I stayed at the railing long after they disappeared.
Stayed until the stars were fully out, scattered across the black velvet sky like diamonds on dark cloth.
Stayed until the moon rose silver over the sea, casting a path of light across the water that looked almost like a road, like a way forward, like an invitation.
Kaelan. Riven. Vale. Thane.
I whispered their names into the darkness, learning the shape of them, the weight of them, the way they felt on my tongue. Four names. Four creatures. Four impossible beings who looked at me like I was precious.
Tomorrow, I would dive into the sea and breathe water like it was air.
Tomorrow, I would swim with mermaids who wore my ribbons against their skin.
Tomorrow, everything would change. I touched the pouch of gifts beneath my shirt—the shells and pearls and sea glass they'd given me.
Pressed my hand against them, feeling their familiar shapes, their comforting weight against my heart.
Tomorrow couldn't come fast enough.