Chapter 29 Rada #2
“On its southern edge sits an active volcano. They call it the Alldyns Vug, or the maw. Their ship wrecked on the southern edge, not far from the volcano, and they sent up a white flag for help.” I wiped what had to be salt spray from my face.
Surely I wasn’t crying. “That sailor was the only one the priests of Pict left alive when they came to the beach. They sent him back to the continent as a message to the rest of the world not to intrude again.”
I took a deep breath. I hadn’t told this part of the story to anyone, at the sailor’s request. But he was long dead, and Lachlan needed to know why I had to get to Pict.
I would need his help. “The sailor had to repair his own ship to return home. One night, there was some kind of ritual, at the very edge of the maw on the night of the new moon. He said he watched them lower a woman into the lava, like they were feeding a monster, one inch at a time.”
His scratchy voice echoed in my memory. “The whole beachfront smelled like despair and jasmine for a half hour as she burned. And something was laughing the whole time she died. They held me there, ropes all around me, and made me breathe her in.”
“Tell me that’s not where you’re going.” His grip tightened. “Tell me you’re not planning to plant an apothecary in the middle of the cult.”
“I’m not. I’m planning to rescue all of the Omegas that are left there.
I’m going to get them back to the continent, to a safe place.
” The sea roared even louder for a moment, like it was listening.
“My mother died saving me from that island. They’re breeding Omegas somehow, and killing them in some sort of sacrificial ritual. I can’t leave them there, Lachlan.”
“You’re not planning to… attack the fire god?” Panic spiked in our bond.
“I haven’t lived this long by being stupid.
” I pinched his arm, then pushed away from his embrace, pretending to be annoyed, though I wasn’t telling the whole truth.
I took a few steps toward the beach. “I’m a spy, remember?
A sneaky, thieving, trained spy. What, do you think I’d just walk into an active volcano and shout, ‘Honey, I’m home? ’”
For some reason, those words popped and fizzed in my memory like champagne… “Honey, I’m home.”
A deep voice answered in my memory. “I thought I was cutie?”
Rubbing my pendant absently, I whispered the words that I could remember saying, though not who I said them to. “Cutie. Honey. Fish boy. Does it matter what I call you?”
“Not as long as you call me, my beloved Empress,” a very loud voice answered from behind me. I spun around in the water to find Lachlan bowing so low, his forehead was touching the waves.
“Emperor, we are honored.”
I didn’t bow; I was caught in a trance. “So many gemstones,” I murmured, stepping toward the enormous creature.
He was as tall as some mountains I’d seen, his enormous carapace covered with barnacles, and more.
Gold chains draped in between clusters of gemstones of every kind, all of them shining brightly in the sunlight that split the gray clouds.
Tentacles rose up all around his shell, though I could see a mass of tentacles peeking out from behind the carapace that held some sort of boat. A sailboat?
He wasn’t even remotely human-looking, so I wasn’t sure why I had to bite my lip to keep from making an inappropriately lustful sound.
Then he blinked one of his enormous, ocean-dark eyes, and spoke through his beaked lips.
“Every gem is yours, beloved. Every treasure in all the oceans of the world belongs to you.” He leaned forward and began to change.
“As do I.” The large head, shoulders, and torso dissolved into the form of a man, though the kind of man I’d never seen before.
Except I have, haven’t I? I shook the thought away as I watched the enormous, glittering shell sink beneath the waves, until only a mass of tentacles below his waist, with the boat snared in them, still showed his true nature.
The man in front of me was twice as tall as I was, a bit taller than Skadi’s final human shape had been.
This creature had chosen skin the color of the deepest ocean trench, and blue-black hair that sparkled with silver and gold as the sun caught it.
His eyes were whirlpools that wanted to draw me down, and his lips curled into a smile that pulled at something.
I went ahead and made a lustful sound. “You’re… you’re…” A small tentacle snaked toward me and caressed the nautilus shell necklace I always wore.
“May I return your memories now, my Empress?” My tongue was glued to the roof of my mouth, so all I could do was nod. He lifted the pendant carefully over my head, pursed his lips, and sang one word, in a gorgeous, deep bass. “Remember.”
I did. All of a sudden, I knew him. “Cutie!”
Beside me, Lachlan choked out a warning.
But I didn’t need to fear this male. I flung myself at him, though my own efforts would have had me landing on his thighs.
Not a bad idea, given the solid handhold that lay between them.
But a wave lifted me higher, into his outstretched arms, and I embraced the mate I’d forgotten until now.
His lips met mine, though his kiss turned to laughter when I asked, “What’s a girl gotta do to get some tentacle action around here?”