Chapter 9
The bay looked entirely different at night.
The moon was full, its pale luminescence cast over the land and water.
I stepped out of the estate and a shiver ran down my spine.
I’d tossed on a pair of sweats and a light tee and slipped into sneakers, but most of that would be coming off for my swim.
The temperatures had been warm enough today that I didn’t worry about the water being too cold, but I’d never been much of a night swimmer before.
However, after Ursuline had extended the invitation, I found myself drawn from my room and heading out of the estate at quarter to midnight.
The sand sloping down to the water was pale and purplish in the dark of night, and the moonlit waves glimmered with a mesmerizing rhythm.
My heart thumped a little harder at the sight.
Memories of the tug beneath, of struggling for breath, of fighting against the wicked storm that had reigned flashed through me like rapid-fire, and sweat broke out on my skin.
When I reached the sand, I kicked off my shoes, stripped off my sweats, and then tugged my tee over my head.
The cool breeze caused a shiver, since I was down to my boxer briefs, and goose bumps pebbled across my skin.
Had Ursuline skipped out tonight? They didn’t seem the type, but I’d also believed in people more than they deserved for a good part of my life, particularly my parents.
I walked up to the edge of the water, where the gentle waves lapped at the shore. The scent of brine tripped my wires, a familiar comfort and now a caution as well. The water lapped at my toes, the icy kiss shocking my system.
This was an unfamiliar shore, but the waves greeted me like a friend all the same.
As much as my nerves fluttered in the background, I couldn’t stay away from the water.
I strode another pace in, the cold water wrapping around my ankles. Some of my fear dissipated, but I couldn’t seem to move any farther. I’d been hoping for…well, companionship, I supposed. Arielle seemed to be uninterested, which was fine, but Ursuline had captivated me from the moment I met them.
I’d been longing for more time with them, if I were being honest.
A splash drew my attention.
Farther in, drops of water sparkled in the air,and a dark shape blurred right beneath the surface, just visible. I tensed, watching, waiting.
Then, in another burst of water, the dark form breached the surface again.
Ursuline tossed their head back, droplets glittering as they emerged and turned to face me.
Their pale-blue skin glowed like the moonlight itself as they swam in my direction.
They moved with easy strokes of their arms, most of the power generated by the tentacles beneath the water.
I took a few more tentative steps forward, until my calves were submerged, and they continued to slice through the surface, heading in my direction.
“Punctual, I see,” they said, their voice a low purr as they slowed a distance away, remaining in the depths rather than the shallows where I lingered. “I like that quality in a person.”
I squeezed the back of my neck as I waded a little farther in. “Then you’ll be sorely disappointed. I’m usually too lost in my head to be punctual…or effective at anything.”
Ursuline swam back and forth, the liquidity of their movements something I envied. There was a stark difference between a human swimmer and the monsters who emerged from the depths, like we were paltry imitators, reaching for the stars out of grasp.
“Which sounds like any artist I’ve ever met,” they said. “Just because you’re focused on the art you create doesn’t mean you’re ineffective.”
My heart squeezed tight. Their statement was the opposite of what my parents had drilled into me for years.
That my daydreaming meant I wasn’t focused, that my lack of skills in the business world meant I was a failure.
I waded deeper, the water settling around my waist now.
It was cool but not ice-cold, warm from the earlier sun.
And the waves were gentler here in the bay, without the power or intensity of the ones at Breakneck Beach.
Besides, Ursuline’s presence filled me with an undeniable calm.
“Nervous?” they asked.
“A little,” I admitted. “Last time I was in the water wasn’t a great swim. Got caught up in the storm a few weeks back.”
“And yet you’re still coming out here,” they said, swimming a little closer. I waded deeper, wanting to get near enough to feel the buoyancy of a swim. To get close enough for another casual brush, another casual touch.
I played with fire here. Ursuline wasn’t the person I was engaged to marry. In fact, they were bound to this family.
And yet, I couldn’t seem to keep away from them.
Each scrap of attention offered a balm to my battered soul.
I hadn’t realized how touch starved, how attention starved I’d been until they delivered those careful brushes, those long, intent looks.
Under their gaze, I bloomed in a way I hadn’t understood was possible.
Ursuline shifted nearer, their movements so fast I almost didn’t catch them. The moonlight accentuated their pale skin, their defined muscles. Their pecs were solid, their nipples a darker shade than the rest of their skin, and heat roared through me. They weren’t even wearing a scrap of clothing.
My cock perked to attention, even with the cold water I waded through, and I chewed on my lower lip until I tasted blood, trying to keep a hold of myself.
Having this sort of reaction to Ursuline wasn’t right.
I was engaged to be married to Arielle. However, Arielle didn’t seem to care in the slightest about getting to know me more.
And since Ursuline had first picked me up, they’d offered solace, comfort, things I’d been craving for so long.
The water reached my shoulders at this point, and I floated in place, enjoying the bob and sway from the gentler currents that came into the bay. This was a better return to the water than facing Breakneck Beach again, after my near brush with death.
“Do you always swim out in the bay?” I asked, my feet lifting off the ground with a bigger wave.
“The ocean too,” Ursuline said, so close now that their tentacles could easily brush me. Fuck, I wanted them to. The urge to feel their touch raged through me, stronger than even the clutch of the water surrounding me. “But I’ve taken to nightly swims out here for a long while.”
“Why the night?” I asked. I’d always been more of a sunshine person, craving the warmth of the sand, the feel of the sun pulsing at my back.
“It’s quieter,” Ursuline said. “A peace exists at night that I could never find during the day.”
They weren’t wrong. A sense of the forbidden had filtered through me approaching the beach at night, and it only amplified as I swam beside Ursuline in the water.
And yet, despite the velvet darkness surrounding us, when I stared up at the sky, those stars glittered like the orichalcum beneath the sea, with an unearthly glow.
“I can see that,” I said, lifting my arm for a lazy stroke through the water.
I dunked my head under, and the caress of the water around me caused some of the pressure of the thoughts and worries circulating through my brain to ease.
When I emerged again, I’d moved even closer to Ursuline, mere feet from them.
Their tentacle brushed along my leg, and rather than jumping away, I stayed still.
The sensation sent a silent thrill through me, an endorphin rush I craved with all my might.
I bobbed in place, trying not to stare at them, even though the pressure of their gaze made me shiver.
When I glanced up, they watched me carefully, their dark eyes gleaming in the moonlight.
Their silver hair was plastered to their head from the water, and the sharp angles of their jaw, the noble arch of their nose lent them an air of regality that made me want to fall to my knees.
Their hungry stare kept me pinned in place, and the breath snagged in my throat.
Then they brushed their tentacle across my leg again, on purpose this time.
Electricity pulsed through my veins, and I sucked in a sharp breath. The salt-soaked air was heavy, charged, and I floated in the water, craving more, more, more.
“You don’t flinch,” they noted.
I tilted my head to the side. “Why would I?”
“Most humans do,” they said. “Even if they’re tolerant of monsters, they’re startled by the differences between us, uncertain about them. Yet you don’t react the same way.”
“Differences are beautiful,” I said. “If I painted the life my parents wanted of me, it’d be a muted palette and a dry and stark picture, void of emotion. However, capturing Peregrine City itself? The riot of color, of shapes, of contrasts create such a breathtaking composition.”
They brushed their tentacle around my arm this time, and they rested it there. The solid feel, even as I bobbed in the water, calmed me like little else did, all while setting my blood afire.
“You’ve got a beautiful mind,” they said, their voice low, throaty.
They shifted a little closer so mere inches separated us, their tentacle resting on my arm still.
The urge to run my fingers across it, to touch them in return, rose up ferociously.
A wan smile danced upon their lips and glittered in their eyes as they glanced between my face and where their tentacle and my arm met.
“I can see the curiosity in your gaze. You’re free to touch back. ”
Heat flooded through me in a fierce sweep, and even the chill of the surrounding water couldn’t dampen it.
The Triton Estate was illuminated in the distance by a few spotlights, some cozy glows emanating from certain rooms, but Arielle had headed out after dinner to the clubs in Peregrine City. Again, I hadn’t been invited.
Touching Ursuline back felt like crossing a line, and yet, I couldn’t help but reach out.