Chapter Nineteen
I ’ve been in a hazy dream for a little while now.
In the dream, I hear Forsythia speaking to her father. I know I should open my eyes, but I’m afraid that when I do, I will discover that I’m still bound to that rock and covered in blood.
My hand.
I had almost gotten myself and Orobas out of there. Those binds were a total bitch. But we were almost free, then those fuckers caught us. They beat on Orobas for a little, but I managed to convince them that it was all my doing. They seemed content to believe that.
And to punish me for it, of course.
Then those assholes took my fucking hand.
I know there is no saving it. It’s been detached for too long. So instead, I plan to shove it right down the throat of the disgusting prick that was once called ‘Hudson Coakley.’
That final thought irritates me enough that I fully wake up. As my eyes slowly open, I notice several things at once…
First, I’m no longer in the cave.
Second, Forsythia is, in fact, here and with her father. Both of which seem to be in one piece.
Finally, I look down at my hand and discover that it was not a horrible nightmarish hell filled with pain. Oh no, it actually happened.
Sythia’s giant of a second mate, attached a hunk of wood to my wrist in a massively painful ceremony that I’m almost positive was a fae thing.
It’s not that I actually have a thing against the fae. It’s just that all of the fae I have ever met–even though that has been an incredibly limited few–have been complete self-righteous assholes.
When I finally focus my attention on what is going on around me, I see that Orobas has the biggest goofy grin on his face. With his current state–you know, covered in blood, bruises, dirt, and other stuff–he kinda looks like a crazy person.
There is only one explanation for that look. He just learned who that magnificent creature sitting across from him really is.
“Wait, does that mean that he is also…” Orobas asks her, gesturing in my direction.
“No!” Forsythia says quickly. “Blake’s father is a merfolk. His mother was a demon.” She wasted no time at all setting the record straight.
I guess getting asked if your mate–prospective mate?–is your brother, is kind of gross. But me being, well, me , I can’t help but laugh at it all.
Orobas turns his gaze to me. Eyeing me more suspiciously than he had during our entire time as bunk buddies. “What is your surname, Blake?”
The question is a bit of a punch to the gut, but honestly, that was why my father changed my name. That way, no one would know who my mother was. It wasn’t as if I had spent much time in the demon village anyways. My mother always wanted more than what she had, after all.
Myself included.
“Coakley,” I answer him. Hoping to the Gods that he doesn’t make the connection. Not many knew of my father’s connection to the demon faction, but Orobas had met him a time or two when he was trying to convince my mother into a courtship rather than a… well, I guess the nice term is ‘fuck buddy’.
Thankfully he seems to accept that answer, and instead directs his attention back to his daughter. Leaving me to quietly let out the breath I had been holding in.
“Now that Blake is up, we need to get ready and get moving,” Lucian states.
We all nod in agreement.
“I have a wrap to keep your arm immobilized.”
I nearly jump at his close proximity. For a big guy, he moves pretty quietly. It’s actually kinda freaky.
“Oh, uhmmuhm, thanks?” I say pitifully as he begins to move my new hand to my chest and ties a wrap around me to keep it in place. It feels a little weird, but it doesn’t hurt nearly as much as it did, and at least this way it will be safe and out of the way.
I’m not going to say I’m thinking it’s also ‘safe from my fucking clumsy mate,’ but I’m definitely not not thinking it.
After he ties it off securely behind me, he passes a water bottle over my shoulder. “Drink slowly,” he says as if he is talking to a small child. I don’t like that tone very much. When I glance up, I see Forsythia watching us earnestly, a huge goofy grin plastered firmly in place.
One that I know is just as goofy looking crosses my own in response.
How can I stay irritated with that woman around lighting up everything with her smiles and shit?
I let out a sigh in resignation for the insufferable sap I’m becoming and take small- ish sips of water. To be honest, though, I have been so deprived of water it felt like death after the first few days.
Merfolk need water every twelve hours.
As in, they need to be in the water every twelve hours, or they start to become ill, and they get these really awful rashes.
Since I’m only half-merfolk, I don’t have to worry about that part at least. Instead, I drink twice to three times as much water as others. When I don’t drink enough, I start having issues with heartburn, vertigo, headaches… it’s not a good time.
I have never been this deprived of it before, though, and as I swallow, I can feel the sores in my mouth and down my throat. I make the mistake of taking a drink that is just slightly too large, and it feels like swallowing a glass. I choke and cough up some of the water, which is clearly a little pinker than it should be, and groan a little.
Lucian is there in a second, gently grasping my chin. He nods at my mouth, so I reluctantly open it.
What a mother hen.
He looks around a bit and releases my chin, nodding again. “Chew this. When it feels like sand in your mouth, swallow it. It will help the healing along.”
He passes me a chubby, rubbery-looking leaf thing. The whole thought of putting this gross-looking thing in my mouth is kind of freaking me out a little.
What even is this thing?
On second thought, I probably don’t want to know.
I glance up and see that Sythia is busy getting her pack put back together. Well, it’s not as if the big guy would give me something that would kill me. He wouldn’t risk getting on Sythia’s bad side. I’ve seen her angry, and her fury is not something you want to be directed at you.
Ugh…
I pop the rubber leaf in my mouth and bite down. Of course, it pops and squishes like a berry, and I have to fight hard against the urge to gag. Steeling my resolve. I start chewing the thing. Only the flavor gets worse as I go. It starts off with a licorice root flavor and slowly morphs into what I can only describe as…bird shit.
If the bird had a strict basil diet.
When I literally can’t handle having the shit in my mouth for another second, the whole goop breaks apart and loses all flavor, while turning into what truly feels like wet sand in my mouth.
This is fucking weird. Probably the weirdest thing I have ever had in my mouth. That says a lot because I once went down on a–
Nevermind.
I swallow and reach for the water. Lucian opens his mouth, but I stop him. “Yeah, I know. Small sips. Got it.” Followed by a very manly grabby hands gesture.
A smirk crosses his face, and I begin the process of slowly washing the worst fucking taste ever out of my mouth.
Don’t eat bird shit kids. Or bird shit leaves. Or anything Lucian gives you.
In between some of my sips, Lucian passes me a hunk of bread. I tear into it like a crazy man when the first bite reveals that my grandmother baked it. After I pop the last of it into my mouth and wash it down with some more water, I look over to Sythia, who is standing up and securing the straps of her pack.
“How is she? Cordelia, I mean.” She freezes and, for a moment, seems to weigh her words.
“She’s good. She has been helping me train, and she packed my food. I think there is even a change or two of your clothes in here.”
Those words bring a smile to my lips. Cordelia may not always say it, but her actions always show just how much she truly cares about me.
Damn, I love that woman.
“I also got to meet your father and brother. That was–well, I can’t say pleasant.”
Ugh…
That was something I had wanted to avoid. My father is not a terrible man. A terrible father to me? Yes. But not a terrible man. He is a wonderful leader, and the merfolk are lucky to have him.
He can also be very egotistical, selfish, and downright mean. When it comes to me, at least. I did not want my father to try and force the Noctifer Witch to work at his behest. And sadly, I wouldn’t put it past him to try just that or worse. A lot of the older merfolk still use arranged matings, and that is absolutely something I could see Dagon trying to do with one of his ‘prized’ sons.
Before I can ask her more about it, though, she brushes it off. “Cordelia made some excuses for me to slip away. She and Ronan helped me get out of the village quickly.”
I let out a little breath of relief. Of all of my brothers, Ronan is the best. He is technically blind but says that he can see ‘energetic auras,’ whatever that means. It makes him the humblest merfolk I know, and because of that, he doesn’t judge me for being a half-breed. I’m grateful he was there to help because if father would have shown up with a different brother, Forsythia may have had a much more difficult time trying to escape.
Before I can say anything else, the big guy sticks out his big meaty hand to help me up. Since I’m not supposed to be using my other arm and do not possess the inherent balance of a dancer, I reluctantly place my now dainty-looking hand in his and let him basically hoist me to standing.
The leafy sluggo of doom helped to heal my mouth and throat to the point where I’m able to finish off the rest of that water bottle, but I’m still dehydrated enough to sway a little from vertigo issues.
Lucian wraps an arm around my waist to steady me, and I instantly feel…
Ridiculous. I feel like a fawning teenager. Why is this guy so fucking huge? He probably has a dick the size of–
“Will he be okay? We really need to get moving.” Sythia interrupts my internal rant, but I am good at picking up where I left off.
The only thing missing from this picture of pure weakness in the face of a clearly alpha male would be if he picked me up and carried me.
Ah man. That visual is terrible.
My brain can go fuck itself.
I’m so busy talking myself into being irritated about things I truly cannot control and comparing myself to someone who is an entirely different faction from a whole other realm that I must have missed some questions being tossed my way because now I suddenly find myself being swooped up into the big guy’s arms and cradled like a lover.
“I have him,” Lucian tells Sythia with a nod.
She chews on her cheek a little, obviously fighting her worry for me, and that small show of concern is all it takes for me to relax in these big muscular arms.
When she turns away, I look at Lucian and bat my eyelashes at him.
He quirks one eyebrow. “I will drop you.”
He says it so solemnly that I burst into a painful fit of laughter.