Chapter 12 - Zephyr
I stepped into the pool.
The water immediately crashed over my head, unnaturally strong for a small body of it. It dragged me under, pulling me down into green depths where water bubbled away through cracks in the rock.
I opened my eyes and grunted against the current that held me, holding my breath, but it was steadfast, keeping me under.
And then I saw him: my brother.
I screamed enough that a flood of water rushed into my throat, clogging my lungs. I choked and wheezed, but the water didn’t give. It held me down there like a vice around my body. I convulsed, my eyes wide, and on the swimming figure coming towards me.
His face was pulled into a smile, his hair longer than mine, always parted in the middle the way our mom hated.
Brother , Zane called. There you are, brother.
But then his face turned to rage, hands turning into claws that reached for my throat. Behind him was a red-headed witch— the witch who had killed him—and her own nails stained with his blood. Then I noticed my brother’s wound, the trail of blood seeping into the water.
“Zane,” I screamed, but all that came out were bubbles. I tried to grab for my brother, to save him, to protect him, but this was a memory—a memory brought to life, and I could only watch as the witch’s claws plunged into his chest.
Blood flooded my mouth until I realized I had bitten my tongue. The water spun around me, and I was flung away from the memory, and by the time it stilled, my brother and the witch were gone. I kicked to the surface, finding only one witch left.
I did not even give myself a chance to take a deep enough breath in.
I lunged.
But her smile grew wider as she snapped her fingers. On either side of me, the water rose, a tunnel of water that I expected to drown me once again, but instead, it only clamped around my body, forming another vice. I fought against her magic in the water as it held me back, diminishing me as a threat to her.
“Is this you proving yourself to me?” I spat. “It’s useless, Adalyn. A demon will slip right through these binds.”
“I don’t care about demons,” she answered, her voice ricocheting off the cavern. “I care about you and your disrespect in my home. I care about you laughing off vandalizing this cave. I care about you and the cold ignorance and the mocking and the teasing.”
“Adalyn—”
The water began to bubble as if it was boiling. It warmed up almost uncomfortably, like standing out in the sun for too long.
“Adalyn,” I growled.
“Do you know what this place is, Zephyr?” She gestured around her, water droplets sliding down her slender arms.
Heat flickered over my skin, leaving pink marks where it was getting too much. What was supposed to be a tormenting of Adalyn had swiftly turned onto me. I hated it. She was outsmarting me, only ever fuelling my name to take back control. I wanted to dominate her—not to suppress her but to have her to my whim, to find a way where everything she threw at me didn’t work against me but for me.
Where Adalyn’s eyes were usually black, now they sparked with silver, like tiny stars erupting.
It was the first time I was afraid of a witch as the water dripped off Adalyn’s arms, her palms raised to the cavern's ceiling, and the water bent to her whim. I didn’t know the extent of her powers, but I called her everything I could to diminish them. But here… Here, she wasn’t just flimsy shields and defensive tactics. She was powerful, all the power of this sanctuary of hers flowing through her.
“Adalyn—”
“No.” She shook her head, her voice echoing off the cave. “I’m done with this. I’m done with enduring you tormenting me, belittling me, doing everything you can to make me seem weak. I hone my powers, limit them when I need to, and know when to fight and when not to protect. Do not think I’m weak, Zephyr, because it will be your last mistake.” Her eyes shined—not with only power but with tears. While she held herself rigidly powerful, there was some sort of admittance to her posture. As if she was carrying a weight around.
A weight I had put there.
“I’m done with your bullying,” she said. “Your petty mockery, your disregard for anything I do or possess. I do not deserve your hatred, Zephyr.”
“Yes, you do,” I spat. “You and every last filthy witch does.”
She shook her head. I wasn’t ready to talk about why I hated them so vehemently, but she didn’t ask.
“Stop the attacks, Zephyr,” she warned. I struggled against the burning water. “Verbal and physical. We’re both down here. We can’t change that yet. Trust me, as soon as we can escape here, I want to be as far away from you as physically possible, but I can’t yet. You can’t escape me, yet.”
I fought against the binds. “I’ll tear you and this place apart, stone by stone, I swear to—” I bit back a shout as the water got hotter. “Adalyn.” She could kill me—she really could truly end me, just like I had made sure she’d known that same fact the night I’d chased her through the woods.
“Apologize,” she hissed.
“No.”
“Is it really so hard? Apologize and mean it, and I’ll release you. You wanted to dare to enter this pool? Face the consequences. You need to understand and pay for your actions. I hate you, Zephyr. I despise you, and I wish you had never infiltrated this island—”
“I belong here,” I yelled.
“No, you don’t,” she cried. “Because I have spent so many hours, sleepless nights, and energy into protecting this island, no matter what. You don’t care . You could walk away tomorrow, and your life would go as normal, but I would still be here, loving this place, loving every person I know in it, and protecting them all. But you .” Her voice was a snarl, accusing. “You’re draining me. Provoking me. All I do is try to prove I’m not worth your comments but it's taking too much of my energy. I can’t physically defend myself, as you keep pointing out. All I have is my magic, and it is not endless.”
She shook her head. “I can’t keep doing it, Zephyr.” There was a new sort of helplessness in her eyes. “It needs to stop.”
I bared my teeth at her but said nothing.
The way she looked… Powerful, her hair billowing around her with the cave’s draft of air and the power of the water, a witch in command of her powers…
The water began to cool, but her threats lingered.
Adalyn stalked towards me, wading through the water, droplets sliding down her breasts, pooling in her collarbones, down towards her navel where the rest of her was beneath the surface.
My eyes went back to hers. The silver had died down, but there was still a wild look to her, something manic and unrestrained.
She’s beautiful , I thought. My jaw clenched when she brushed against me. Those binds still didn’t release me.
Adalyn drew a sharp nail down my chest, and I winced when she drew bloodspots. She smiled, something dangerous that said she had the upper hand here. But then her hand went lower, trailing along the dark line of hair leading to my groin. Fingers went lower, and I couldn’t stop her, even if I wasn’t held back.
“Tell me to stop,” she purred.
I only gazed at her, every muscle in me tight as she finally found the very thing I had hoped she wouldn’t notice. That I was extremely turned on. It was something I had tried to ignore, but now… With her proximity, and the fact that I could feel her power sizzling around me…
I swallowed as she wrapped a hand around my cock.
“I hate this,” she snarled, tightening her fingers around me. “I hate that this has aroused you.” And yet she didn’t take her hand away, didn’t stop slowly stroking the length.
“Don’t think I wasn’t listening,” I murmured, a brief moment of vulnerability.
“I know.” Her words were spat, that grip tightening around my cock almost painfully, yet it made me twitch. “You’re disgusting.”
“I know.” I grinned at her, taunting her. “Do you like feeling in control, witch? I know that’s what you think you have right now. Control over me. But it won’t last.”
“How so?”
“Well, if I promise to ease up, to stop provoking you and attacking you, then you need to release me. We begin again, start over. Find a way to coexist.”
“Pretty words,” Adalyn said. “Shame you don’t mean them.”
I bit back a groan as she thumbed over the tip of my length.
“I do,” I answered through gritted teeth. I was at her mercy, and I hated it. Yet there was something so arousing about it. She could do anything she wanted to me, and I didn’t even think I’d stop her.
“I won’t attack you,” I swore. “You have my word.”
She still looked skeptical, but slowly, she withdrew her hand from my body, flattened her palms, spread them outward, and the water cooled to the normal, warm temperature, and the vice released me. I gasped in relief.
My eyes locked on hers—and I dived for her.
She went to throw up her hands, but I grabbed her wrists and pinned them behind her back. I dragged her under the pool’s surface with me, and she shrieked, the sound swallowed up by the water. I yanked her body to mine, letting her feel my length against her thigh.
I meant to do something, to pin her more, to have her under my control.
But instead, I kissed her.
And instead of swimming away, Adalyn pulled herself free of my hold and wrapped her arms around my neck. Her legs clung to my waist as we sank beneath the water. She blinked when our mouths parted, as if she had surprised herself.
After ignoring her for two days, I knew I couldn’t keep resisting her.
Not when I felt like this. Not when I needed her. The last two days of pent-up silence collided once again, and tension and need met.
Why couldn’t I get enough of this woman?