Chapter Sixty-Three
ADRIAN
Adrian was vaguely aware of the ocean around him making way for hard rock that scraped upon his back as Oceanne hauled him up on to shore. He attempted to shift his body, to blink, but his entire being was still racked with pain.
‘Don’t try to move,’ came her soft murmur. He felt her delicate hands brush wet strands of hair from his face. ‘It’s Scorpius’s trident,’ she said sorrowfully. ‘The venom is in your bloodstream. I need to suck it out.’
He felt her hands again, now threading through his. He let out a rattling breath.
‘How long have you swallowed your anger and let it poison you from within?’ she whispered, now stroking up his chest towards his neck.
He thought about it. About every time he had wanted to say something, to fight, but had instead swallowed it with a laugh and a joke. ‘As long as I can remember,’ he said.
‘Scorpius’s magick seems to know it.’ Her fingers tenderly pressed on the wounded flesh, and he hissed in pain. ‘You must let the poison go—both from your emotional body and your physical. Otherwise, the wound will never heal.’
‘I didn’t realize mermaids were so wise,’ he mumbled.
She gave a soft laugh, then Adrian felt her lips skim his throat. His whole body, tense as it was, only grew tenser.
‘Forgive them, Adrian. Those who wronged and betrayed you. For they are dead now, and to hold on to it is to push your head underwater and expect the other person to drown.’
Adrian focused on his breathing, on her voice, as he felt her tongue lap along his neck and then suck.
He arched his back, letting out a cry of pain as he felt the poison within him being dragged towards the mermaid’s lips.
Her mouth disappeared and he heard her spit before her lips were back on him, sucking again. More pain lanced through him, though his head began to clear, a tingling sensation returning to his limbs.
With a few more draws, he felt the anger, the bitterness, draining out of him along with the poison. His hands twitched, and he was able to curl them around Oceanne’s wrists.
‘I owe you something,’ he breathed as the pain finally, finally left.
Her thumb brushed his hand. ‘You do?’
He reached into his boot, so relieved that he could move again, to retrieve the pearl he had taken from Karkinos.
‘But Adrian, I…I want you to keep it.’
‘It’s yours.’
‘No,’ she said, and he heard a smile in her voice. ‘It’s yours now.’
Her body curled around him, and he tried not to gasp, not to change his breathing at the beautiful creature now embracing him.
Desire, hot and needy, washed over him at the feel of her, the scent.
He felt his heart throb, though the feeling was quickly swallowed by the grief and the weight of the godsawful circumstances he was now in, the battle he had just survived.
‘Did you know who I was?’ he rasped.
‘Yes,’ she admitted. ‘The moment you awoke with the Sun and the Moon, I felt you. Like a river to the open seas, I was led to you. I only followed the song.’
‘Which song?’
He felt the faintest brush of soft lips against his as he sank back into the dark waters of his mind.
‘The song of my heart.’