Chapter 11
So far, my mate and I have avoided talking about anything important. She hasn’t asked where I’m from, and I haven’t asked what she was doing alone in a dangerous cave that would have filled with water at high tide. We haven’t talked about our sudden bonding or what it means for our future.
Instead, we’ve pursued other, more interesting outlets.
I still haven’t knotted her, but I believe we’ve both enjoyed the wait, the build up.
My Madi has had no shortage of orgasms. We did everything out of order, but I am trying to amend that by courting her now.
As much as I can without any resources in this world of hers.
If we were in the ocean, I would bring her jewels and fine adornments. Here, I pick wild flowers for her on the way to class, and hand feed her whenever she’ll let me. I feast on her even more often.
My inability to speak the language comfortably has been a convenient excuse for avoiding the things we should discuss. But we both know it won’t hold up for much longer. I’ve been watching the box she calls a television when we aren’t wrapped up in each other, and I’m nearly proficient.
Right now, we’re in another of her classes, this one much smaller than the lecture taught by the attractive older male she called Dr. Anderson. With only seven people around a table, I stand out like a shark among a school of minnows. I hope it ends soon so I can get back to worshiping my new mate.
“But what about the unexplainable events at Lunara’s temple last spring?
They said the torches lit themselves and the glow of the pools can’t be explained by any known phosphorescent.
There are plenty of stranger things than Vito’s accounts of an underwater city.
” Madison sits up a little straighter, the passion in her voice undeniable.
I perk up. Could she be talking of Ocearus?
“He meant that it was flooded, not that people lived there under the water,” a male with a pointy nose and a condescending air about him says. There’s something about the way he looks at my mate that has me clenching my fists.
“Have you read the original text?” Madi snaps back. She’s lovely when she’s fired up. I wish I could slip under this table and show her how much I think so. But I’m not sure she would appreciate that right now.
“Ocearus was real, and it was right here.” She jams a finger into the table to punctuate her point.
“She is correct,” I say, joining the conversation without thinking.
The students around the table give me varying responses of surprise and indignation. Madi beams at my defense of her.
There’s a beat of silence that stretches uncomfortably long, like they’re waiting for me to say more, but I’m not sure what else to say. It’s clear they’re as ignorant of my people as I was of theirs. They wouldn’t believe me if I told them the truth. Would Madi?
“There are records of Ocearus among my people,” I say cautiously.
“And where is that again?” The man with the pointy nose leans forward. “You’re clearly not from around here.” He says it like everywhere other than here is beneath him.
“Shut up, Branson. Don’t make this personal.”
“Madison,” the professor uses a tone that is not to be argued with. “Perhaps we should get back to the focus of this class.”
After that, the conversation turns to another student’s thesis, but I can’t stop wondering what Madi meant by Branson making things personal. Do they have a history of some kind?
The thought of my mate with anyone other than me makes my skin burn. The need to claim her again pulls at me like a riptide. Thankfully, class ends before I can act impulsively, and Madi drags me quickly from the room.
“Ugh! I’m sorry about that,” she says as we make the short walk back to her apartment. “He’s such an ass, never able to let things go, always trying to make my life a living hell ever since I dumped him.”
“Dumped?”
“Broke up. Stopped seeing him. Kicked the asshole out of my bed.”
“You were… together?” My worst fear is realized.
“Yeah, for a time, until he… You know what? I really don’t want to talk about this.”
She looks straight ahead, and I can feel she needs a moment to recover.
We walk across something Madison calls a kwad.
It’s a vast open area surrounded by buildings like the one we just left.
The vegetation is cropped short, and stone-like pathways cross and weave throughout.
Directly in the middle is a rectangular pool of water that seems to have several levels to it. Very odd.
“What would you like to talk about, my mate?”
“Your English is really improving.” She smiles at me, nervously spinning the ring on her right hand.
“You know… we should probably talk about you. I mean, Branson was an ass with how he asked it, but I would like to know where you’re from and how the heck you ended up naked in that cave. We haven’t really… talked.”
“I like how we communicate.” I grin at her, tracing a finger up her arm and back down again. Goosebumps lift on her skin, and I can feel a spark of lust through the bond. But she bats my hand away.
“I’m serious, Caspian. We barely know anything about each other, and we’re bonded!” She looks ahead again, wrapping her arms around her midsection like armor. “If you don’t want to tell me, it’s fine.”
“It is not that.” I stop just outside of her apartment. “I do not know if you will believe me if I tell you.”
She narrows her eyes like she’s trying to see if I’m telling the truth. I’m certain she can sense my uncertainty and concern. I push as much sincerity as I can toward her through the bond. Her palm cups my cheek. “How about we start with something easier?”
I lean into her soft touch.
“What do your tattoos mean?” she asks.
“Tattoos?”
“The symbols on your hands.”
“These?” I hold up my palms.
She nods, then reaches out and traces the marks with one delicate finger.
“These are my sigils,” I answer. “They delineate my status as a royal in the kingdom of Tythas.”
“You’re a king?!” My mate gasps, nearly jumping back from me.
“Ah, no. Simply a prince. Third in line to the throne, so it is unlikely I will rule. My role is to be married off for an alliance.”
My mate is wide-eyed as an incredulous laugh slips past her lips. “Well, I think you messed up there.”
“I did not mess up.” I back her against the wall of her building, boxing her in.
“You are the best thing that has ever happened to me.” She’s covered the bond mark at her neck with a scarf, so I kiss over the fabric, then work my way up her neck to the shell of her ear. “You were always meant to be mine.”
We kiss lazily for a few minutes, but my mate is not to be deterred. She pulls back, placing her fingertips on my lips to keep me from going back in for more.
“I’ve never heard of Tythas. Where is it?” she asks. “And why are you here?”
For a long moment, I debate how much I should tell her. She might not believe me. The truth of what I am might scare her. Will she think we’re incompatible? All of these questions and arguments flit quickly through my mind, but ultimately, I don’t want to keep secrets from my mate.
I choose the easiest question to answer first. “I am here seeking the lost city of Ocearus.”
Instantly, Madison’s excitement flows through the bond.
“So you were telling the truth in class? You truly think it’s real?
Finally! Someone believes me. Everyone around here thinks I’m crazy.
” Her excitement dims and is tinged with shame.
I don’t like it. I tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, studying her carefully.
Her eyes are sad as they meet mine. “My aunt, she used to tell me stories of an underwater city. An ancient place that belonged to merfolk and was full of history and technology like we’ve never seen. I’ve wanted to find it ever since I was a little girl.”
There’s more to the story. I can tell by the way the bond pulses with confusing emotions. Shame, guilt, determination.
My mate is full of complexity and so much strength. She believed her aunt’s stories. Maybe she’ll believe what I am.
“There’s something I’d like to show you.” I give her a brief kiss, nothing more than a peck. Fear of what she’ll think swirls in my stomach, but I will not keep this from her any longer. “Can we go to the beach?”