Chapter 14
Jacques was missing.
I’d searched the past few days, trying to seek him out in his normal spots—the staff kitchen, the one out here—to no avail. I’d asked Maribella and a few of the others, but they’d given me tight-lipped answers and hurried away. None of which made me feel better about the circumstances.
My stomach churned as I raided the cabinet in the kitchen. The idea that he’d gotten in trouble lingered. Maybe Arielle had ratted him out to her father and he’d been fired.
Yet I couldn’t shake the lingering dread that curled within me, like the scorched clouds that preceded a storm. I’d gone swimming in the bay today, by myself again, and the loneliness here threatened to undo me. If I didn’t even have Jacques or the other staff to interact with, I wouldn’t survive.
Maybe an escape plan wasn’t a bad idea.
I’d spent my whole life trying to live up to my parents’ approval only to fail, and the Triton family seemed just as disinterested.
I grabbed some crackers and sliced up some cheese, arranging it on a plate, though not with the panache Jacques would have.
The sound of the front door slamming drew my attention, echoing all the way to here.
I carried my snack with me, taking a few absent bites as I wandered in that direction.
A shuffling sounded, and the creaking of footsteps trailed after.
I followed the source until I stepped in through the doorway of one of the entertaining rooms, this one featuring a comfortable arrangement of sofas and sitting chairs as well as a large wooden bar in the corner. The copper furnishings gleamed under the low light.
Frederick paced in the middle of the room, his shoulders tight and his brows drawn.
I paused. Was there a way to get out of this unnoticed?
His gaze zeroed in on me, a darkness percolating there that froze me to the bone. “What are you doing?” he growled.
“I just heard the clamor,” I stammered and lifted my plate. “I came up to get a snack.”
Frederick towered over me and crossed his arms over his chest. “And where is Arielle?”
I shook my head. “You know she’s a free spirit as much as I do.”
He glowered. “Except I told her she needed to spend time with you. You’re to be her husband, and if she’s out at the club by herself constantly, it could look bad for our families. You wouldn’t want that, would you?”
I swallowed hard. Was this his attempt at pushing me to rein her in? If so, he’d chosen the wrong fiancé for the task. Not only was Arielle the whimsical sort to do what she wanted, but I’d never been a domineering personality. If that were the case, I wouldn’t have ended up in this predicament.
“No, sir,” I responded, even if I didn’t have the slightest idea what he wanted me to do about his daughter. If anyone would have sway with her, he would.
“Besides, too much time in this place will make you idle,” he said, glancing over me. “You and Arielle need some excursions away from here.”
My heart thudded harder. What had inspired his sudden concern? The conversation with Jacques lay heavy in my mind. If Frederick was breathing down my throat, my window of escape had minimized if not vanished. All those hours and days when the family had barely been around, squandered.
“I’ll make sure it happens,” Frederick said, an edge to his tone that I perceived as a threat.
There was something about him, a darkness in his eyes, tension in the air in his presence, that had made me uneasy from the start.
My stomach twisted, and all I could do was bob my head with a nod.
I clutched my plate and took the silence as a cue to dismiss myself.
Walking by him felt like striding by a crocodile in the wild, where you were aware that at any moment, they’d snap their jaws and devour you.
The moment I stepped into the hall, breath filled my lungs again. Shuffling had sounded earlier, implying someone else had been here. I’d heard voices.
But not another set of footsteps.
My heart thrummed as I stared down this corridor, one that had become achingly familiar in the past few months.
One I’d traveled time and time again to go paint.
I walked in that direction, looking to put some distance between Frederick and myself.
Arielle had been around this morning, but after her phone rang, she’d flitted off to another social occasion, the same way she always did.
The closer I got to the studio, the slower my footsteps grew. A sound drew my attention at once, coming from the other room that Ursuline had showed me early on in my time here. From the music room.
A faint piano melody reached my ears, and excitement simmered through my veins. Only one person I knew played the piano in this house, and they were the one I’d been desperate to see for well over a week now. The one I’d dreamed of every night, who I ached for.
The familiarity of the melody stopped me in my paces. I’d heard it before. Somewhere.
Somewhere important.
Then they began to sing.
Their rich low voice swept through me like a caress, and with the steady saturation of a rainstorm, the realization rolled through me of where I’d heard that melody, that voice before.
I’d barely been conscious, but someone had held me. They’d sung the song while I ached all over, trying to recover, after somehow making it out of the storm at sea alive.
After someone had saved me.
My heart thrummed at a hummingbird’s pace. Could it truly be?
I stopped in front of the doorway. Their back was to me, but they played the piano with a fervor that enthralled me, their voice seductive and so memorable it engraved itself on my very bones. They continued to sing, the lullaby I’d awoken to on the shore what felt like a lifetime ago.
The memories crashed into me—of being tossed around by the ocean, of the slow, sure drag to the depths, of the panic, the fear, the choking realization that this was the end.
And then of safety. Of the warm sunlight and the immense calm.
Of being in their arms.
No wonder they’d felt familiar from the moment we met.
“It was you,” I murmured, unable to help myself. My heart expanded to the point it threatened to burst out of my chest. “You’re the one who saved me.”
The slight slipped key and hitch of their shoulders offered the only indication of their surprise as they continued to play and sing in their strong, steady voice.
I leaned against the doorframe, the surprise cascading over me.
Of course Ursuline would’ve been my savior.
They’d been rescuing me over and over again, whether in large or small ways. Guilt prickled through me.
And I’d pushed back at them after we’d kissed.
They hadn’t said they didn’t want me. They’d said we couldn’t do this.
Because I was betrothed to a Triton.
I swallowed hard, the lump forming in my throat. Even still, yearning bloomed within me anew, a desperate desire to be theirs.
They’d saved me from the sea. A sense of inevitability settled over me. Ursuline was the only reason I stood here today.
I didn’t want to walk away from this.
Their voice trailed off, and they played the final notes of their melody.
It resonated through the air, a steady hum elongated by the tension that bloomed between us.
They’d been avoiding me for over a week now, but tonight, they were here.
And the feelings and confusion that had percolated inside me bubbled up to overflow.
Ursuline pushed up from their seat at the piano bench, and they glided in my direction. Their eyes contained a hungry intensity as they looked me over, the sort I’d surrendered to. And with their broad shoulders, their height, they loomed over me, even from feet away.
“A guileless human had been swept away in a storm,” they said. “What was I supposed to do? Let him drown?”
“Others would,” I commented. Their kindness sparked in my chest, kindling that now burned.
They’d shown that care and consideration with me every step of the way through my time with the Triton family, but knowing they were my mystery savior?
I wanted them more than ever, with an unabating ache that carved into my chest.
“I’ve seen enough cruelty in this world to not want to contribute more,” they murmured, averting their gaze.
Boldness gripped me, and I closed the space between us, step by tentative step.
When I reached up, they didn’t jerk away, even though I telegraphed my movements.
I skated my fingertips along their jawline, sharp and undeniably sexy.
Their demeanor, their features were cool, remote, distant.
Yet gods, they were so warm. So real, when everything else in my life wasn’t.
A shudder rolled through them, slight but undeniable. They opened their eyes, and pain shone in their dark gaze. “You have no idea what you do to me.”
A lump formed in my throat. “I’ve never felt this way around anyone before. I can’t…” I sucked in a sharp breath, my eyes stinging. “Please don’t go away again.”
They reached down and wrapped their hands around my hips. “You belong to the Triton family.”
I stared up at them, heat blazing within me, a stubborn resistance born and bred from their resignation. “I belong to myself.”
Their eyes widened, and their grip on my hips tightened.
My heart thrummed at the closeness between us, at the feel of their hands on me.
I’d craved this for so long, to the point I’d dreamt of it this week, whether in slumber or reality.
I wanted them to take me apart piece by piece until I was screaming, with their mouth, their teeth, their tongue.
I wanted their tentacles thrusting inside me until all I could feel was them.
I wanted them to claim me until I felt utterly possessed.
“The look on you, sunshine,” they said, a hoarseness in their voice. “You’ll be my undoing.”
I dropped my hands to their chest, their heart thump, thump, thumping at an accelerated pace beneath my palm. Even with the fabric of their tunic separating our skin, I could feel the heat there, amplified by my own.
“Please,” I begged, not sure what I even begged for at this point. For them to stay? For them to make my fantasies come true?
Truly, I just didn’t want to be without them again.
They were here with me in this room, and their hands on my hips settled the rising panic in my chest like nothing else.
They were the calm in the wake of a storm—the one who’d saved me from the worst storm of my life.
My heart squeezed hard. If they rejected me now, if they walked away—I couldn’t bear it.
“Please, what?” they asked, bringing a thumb and gliding it slowly across my lower lip. The deliberateness of their action sent a violent shiver through me.
“Take me,” I gasped. “However you want. Just make me yours.”
Maybe the admission made me shameless, but I didn’t care. I burned with need tonight, with pent-up desire I couldn’t contain any longer.
Their eyes widened and then scorched. The blaze in them was the hottest inferno I’d seen, and I lit up from it. My whole body sparked with awareness, like it had awakened from a long slumber.
“Careful what you wish for, sunshine,” they growled.
Their hand traveled underneath my shirt, sliding up my side in a slow and sinuous movement, and their tentacle twined around my leg, climbing up to tease the inside of my thigh.
I gasped from the burst of lust that coursed through me.
My cock stiffened from the touch, from the sheer hunger in their eyes as they regarded me.
“Please.” The word came out in a mewl, my body so sensitized from being near them. All my fears, my concerns with my current trajectory flew out the window when they were near, their presence scrambling my brain.
I wanted to be claimed by them with every ounce of my being.
Tonight, more than ever, I needed the reminder I wasn’t alone. That I was more than some chip to be bargained with.
That I could still choose.
Ursuline withdrew from me, and disappointment swept over me in a fierce wave. That ache would go unabated, doomed to fester inside me, growing more agonizing by the day. I opened my mouth, but before I could say anything, they slid over to the door—and closed it.
They flipped the lock, the sound echoing through the room.
My heart lodged in my throat.
They leveled a voracious look in my direction.
“I’ve tried,” they admitted, their voice hoarse, wrecked.
“I’ve tried to avoid you, to stay away, because I know you’re betrothed to Arielle.
” Their gaze burned into me, setting me aflame.
“But I can’t any longer. I’ll make you mine, until you’re screaming my name, until you can’t feel your legs.
“Even if it’s only for tonight.”