Chapter Forty-Six
ADRIAN
By the time Adrian got back to his ship, he was sodden and drained.
As he traipsed out of the lake to shocked faces, some came towards him to touch him, others muttered prayers, but most gave him a wide berth.
He didn’t say much, shrugging off their roaming hands and questions as he stumbled across the shore and down the crystal path that led back to his ship.
When he set foot on his gangplank, he sighed.
Footsteps hurried down the deck.
‘Thank the Stars,’ Santi breathed. ‘I worried you’d drowned.’ He made a droll face.
‘Something worse,’ Adrian muttered back. He hesitated before recounting the events to Santi.
‘Never seen a pearl like it,’ Santi finally said, inspecting it.
Adrian shook his head. ‘Nor I. Don’t you feel it? Its magick?’
Santi nodded. ‘There’s a thrum to it.’
‘And what about the song?’
‘What song?’ Santi frowned.
Adrian held it closer to his ear. ‘You don’t hear that?’
Santi shook his head.
As Adrian went to press him, he heard more footsteps and turned to see Elara, looking brighter than she had in weeks, Enzo right behind her.
All thoughts were pushed from his head.
‘I need to talk to you,’ he said at the exact same time as Elara.
‘You first,’ she said, smiling.
‘Enzo,’ he began, and Enzo flicked his gaze to him in surprise. ‘I know we haven’t gotten along for…well, years. So I come to you humbly, with everything I have, to ask you if you could please help me.’
Enzo’s eyes narrowed. ‘Is this a joke?’
Adrian’s stomach plummeted. ‘No,’ he said. ‘It’s my sister. She’s very unwell. And, well, I already explained to Elara—’
Elara nodded encouragingly.
‘A healer in Altalune believes that she needs the power of both fire and Light to save her. I wouldn’t ask unless I wasn’t desperate, Your Majesty. Please.’
Enzo blinked. ‘Your sister?’ he asked quietly.
Adrian nodded, trying to quell the lump in his throat.
‘Of course I’ll help,’ the Lion said, more softly than Adrian had ever heard him speak. ‘After all, you helped Elara. And nothing in this world is more important than family. Is she in Neptuna?’
Adrian nodded again, unable to form a sentence.
‘And how should we travel there?’
‘I can ebbflow us,’ he finally croaked. ‘I keep some seawater from home in that bowl below the wheel of the ship. We need only touch it as I use my magick, and it will transport us there.’
Enzo turned to Elara. ‘Are you all right with this, my love?’ he murmured. ‘Leo will stay with you. Merissa, too.’
‘Enzo, I would have killed you if you hadn’t gone,’ she replied, squeezing his hand.
‘Ah, you have no excuse this time,’ he said, winking. She grinned.
He turned to Adrian. ‘You have the most precious cargo aboard, Adrian. Do I have your word that your crew will do everything to protect them?’
Adrian nodded. He trusted his men with his life. ‘Absolutely,’ he said. His eyes flicked to Santi. ‘Santi will be coming with us. He can ebbflow himself. But he is needed.’
‘Thank you, captain,’ Santi said quietly, and Adrian didn’t miss the emotion plastered across his face.
‘Then Victor will be in command?’ Enzo asked.
Adrian nodded again. ‘With him, Davey and Pieter here, Elara and company will have no issues at all.’ His eyes flashed to Elara. ‘It’s wonderful to see you better,’ he said quietly.
She smiled. ‘It’s wonderful to be able to touch Enzo again.’
‘Speaking of,’ Enzo murmured, ‘though I’m to be torn apart from you, remember my promise. The moment I’m back, we’re spending two weeks in a locked room.’
‘Good gods,’ Adrian muttered, and Santi whistled.
Elara looked a little abashed, swiping a kiss from Enzo, and once again Adrian’s heart did a strange pitter-patter as he looked upon them—as though his heart longed for that too.
‘Tonight, then,’ he said to Enzo. ‘There’s just someone I must speak with first.’
Adrian felt he could time to the minute exactly when Oceanne would appear. He sat in the boat—blindfold on—and waited.
When the familiar small splash came, he smiled, realizing he’d become quite fond of the sound.
‘Good evening,’ he said out into the water.
There was a pause. ‘Is it?’ she replied tightly.
Adrian frowned. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Why don’t you tell me, thief?’
‘Thief?!’ He laughed. ‘I’ve been called that before, but tell me, how exactly could I have stolen from you? I don’t even know what you look like. A blind thief can’t be a very good one.’
There was a sarcastic sound.
‘You have something of mine,’ she said.
He paused, trying to think of anything it could be.
‘Something a certain crab was guarding.’
Adrian’s heart drummed as he felt for the pearl in his pocket. How in the blazes did she know?
‘I certainly don’t,’ he replied.
‘I have lived far longer than you, pirate. I know when someone is lying.’
‘Pray tell, how?’
‘Your voice breaks. You begin to stutter.’
Adrian snorted. ‘Well, that itself is an outright lie.’
‘This isn’t a game,’ Oceanne hissed, and Adrian raised his brows. The edge to her voice was lethal, and not a note he’d heard yet; she usually sounded so soft and lovely.
‘But games are so fun,’ he teased. ‘Tell me why it’s so important, and maybe I’ll give it back.’
‘Over my dead body.’ There was a lurch from the boat, and Adrian cursed as he stretched his arms out to either side in an attempt to settle it.
When something thudded on to the boat, he nearly tore the blindfold off in shock.
‘You took what isn’t yours,’ said Oceanne, closer now. He heard footsteps pad along the boat, which seemed impossible, until he remembered the tales—that mermaids could transform, their tail splitting into two legs once they were out of the water, though only for a short time.
‘Then maybe you should come and get it,’ Adrian purred.
He wasn’t sure why he was teasing her. Maybe because he’d seen what Enzo and Elara shared and longed for even a smidge of it. Maybe because he’d gone weeks now—yes, weeks—without sex.
She made a frustrated sound and, finally, she drew close enough that he could smell her. The scent of oceanflower—mouth-watering and delicate—filled his senses. He felt the pearl thrum in his pocket.
‘I’d do as I say,’ Oceanne said softly, a hand bracing Adrian’s shoulder. ‘You’re rather at my mercy.’
Adrian’s hand whipped out to take her other hand and pull her to him. She yelped as she landed on his lap. ‘Funny, that. I’d say you’re at mine.’ He leaned back, a smile playing on his lips. ‘But feel free to search me.’
He held up his hands, and Oceanne huffed, her sweet breath fanning over his lips. He licked them as she began to pat him down. When she got to his pockets, he tutted.
‘I’m a gentleman, you know. Not a piece of meat.’
She muttered something under her breath as she delved her hands into them.
Though he was playing a part, he sucked in a breath as he felt her hands roaming awfully close to an appendage that had only grown with having her upon his lap. He tried to force the swell of desire down.
When she found his pockets empty, she made another sound of frustration. ‘Where is it?’
He shrugged, biting his lip to keep from laughing.
His father had taught him a trick or two, always fascinated by Asterian illusions, and Adrian had tried to mimic them with sleight of hand. He’d been moving the pearl around as subtly as possible, and it was now in his boot.
‘Please,’ she whispered. And suddenly he sobered, the game finished. He didn’t like how defeated she sounded, as though she truly thought he wouldn’t give it back.
‘Don’t you trust me, even a little?’ he murmured.
‘I trust no one,’ she responded tightly.
He tilted his head, as though he could read her. ‘I won’t ever hurt you, Oceanne. If you truly want it back, it’s yours.’
He reached into his boot and produced it, holding it between them. He felt her relax a little in his lap.
‘But please, let me just say this. I felt a call to it,’ he said. ‘One I can’t explain. I heard a song, and I followed it to the bottom of the lake. Everything within me urged me to take it. I fought that fucking mythas for it.’
She stilled.
‘So here.’ He held it up higher. Felt her breath fan across his face once more, though closer, so much closer than she had ever been before. Her hand closed around his—soft and small.
And then she kissed him.
The press of her soft lips made him groan, the taste of her like salted toffee. But just as quickly as it had started, it stopped. Suddenly, there was only air, and he lurched forwards as she sprang up, desperate for more than the drop she’d given him.
She didn’t say a word, not even a goodbye, and he heard a splash, leaving only the stillness of the evening air as he remained clutching her treasure.