Chapter 35
THE KEEPER OF MY HEART
RUNE
With a shuddering groan, the spikes halt, mere feet away from me.
There’s no sound, bar the constant dripping of water seeping down the crevices in the stone.
I drag a breath into my lungs, trying to steady my racing heart.
It doesn’t last long though because the wall spikes might have stopped moving towards me, but Odi hasn’t surfaced from the pool on the other side.
I press my hands against the glass. “Odi!” I yell, waiting to see the bubbles rise from the depths so I know she's okay. But there’s nothing.
I pound the glass with my fist over and over, but there’s nothing I can do. It doesn't budge. I’m stuck here on one side while she drowns for me on the other.
Rock grinding on itself sounds behind me.
I swivel to see a small door made of stone swing down like a draw bridge to reveal a hidden alcove.
I rush for it and shove my hand in to reach the shining metal inside—the last key.
My heart is pounding. This is it. We can get the treasure.
Success after everything we’ve gone through.
Yet I don’t have Odi, and at this point it’s all I care about.
I slam the stone door shut, pocket the key, and start pounding at the glass partition again. When it doesn't budge, I grab the sword at my side and begin to smash the hilt on it repeatedly. Something has to give.
Odi . . . little doe. I’m coming.
A groan sounds through the room, making me bounce away from the glass, caught off guard. I throw my gaze to the roof to see the wall begin to sink. A heavy breath escapes my lips. “Thank fuck!” I shout to the void.
The entry door on my side opens as the glass that bisects the room descends.
For a single breath, I hesitate. Is it another trick?
The instinct that pulls me towards the water could be wrong.
She could have found another way out. She could be waiting for me outside the temple, swept to safety once she’d made it down, but it doesn’t make any sense.
Really, there’s only one reason two ways would open at once.
It’s a choice. An opportunity for anyone on this side to take the key and escape, or leap in to save the one in the water.
Every temple so far has ensured that a land dweller couldn’t make their way through by force.
Even with coercion involved, this one guarantees the siren—or elemental—had the choice to make it out alone.
I turn my back to the door and sheath my blade, then I shove myself up on the lip of the stone that sandwiches the glass together. As soon as there’s room for me to squeeze over the top, I take it. Every second that Odi is down there is a second closer to losing her forever.
My boots slam against the small ledge of stone flooring that is left on Odi’s side of the room as I land, and without a second glance I’m diving head first down the circular looking well of black icy water.
The shift takes me in seconds, my darkvision kicking in as I frantically search for the one who has stolen my heart . . . my breath. But it’s impossible to see anything. It's a forest of kelp down here, and not the nice kind.
It's thick, brown and as wide as an oar. If I can’t even see down here properly, how will she? I grab the stem of some, and tug myself through the tangled web of foliage. “Odi!” I call. I need her to know I’m here, and I’m not leaving without her.
“Odi!” I call again, darting through the masses of kelp that curl around my fins. “Odelia, where are you?”
It’s not like she can yell back to me either. The moment she opens her mouth it’ll fill with this salty sea. Fear grips my chest. We’re so close. We made it through the first part. I have the key. I just have to get her out of here.
But how?
Not even the glowing beacon of the button can assist me now. It’s gone. Like she is.
I reach out, spreading my arms wide as I feel for her . . . for anything. Stone brushes my fingertips, I must be at the edge of the wall. I need to head back into the centre where the button is.
“Odi!” I scream her name as loud as I can, but the only sound that bounces back is my own voice.
What use am I as a siren, if I can’t find someone in the ocean? I stop and drag my hands through my hair, wracking my brain on how I can get out of this mess—with Odi breathing. Because without her isn’t an option.
As I pause, I feel the current shift. I drift towards it. A small tunnel opens up in front of me—the way out. There’s every chance she found it and has already swum to the surface, but I can’t leave this room until I know for certain that she’s not in here.
She won’t die . . . not for me.
I spin around, facing what I hope is the centre of the room, and I force my breath to steady, and my mind to focus. Then I part my lips.
With every ache, with every heartbeat, with every hitch of my breath from the moment I laid eyes on her as she sank into the depths of the Adamaris sea all those nights ago, I release my song.
It spills out, pulsing through the shadows, calling to her, beckoning her to me like the old sailor’s tales of sirens.
Low at first, raw and rough from the ache in my chest. The notes ripple through the water, carrying farther than I ever could. The sound isn’t just heard—it’s felt, vibrating in bone and blood, threading through the dark.
I pour everything into it. Her name. My fear. My need. The promise that I won’t let the sea keep her from me. My voice wavers, almost breaking, but I force it steady, stronger, until the cavern itself seems to hum. Her name tumbles from my lips, willing her to me.
If she’s anywhere in this cursed black, she’ll hear me. She has to.
From the corner of my eye I see something pale flash against the darkness. A hand. Her hand. A wave of relief washes over me, and I choke back a cry.
My voice pulls taut. The song silences as I dart for her. The moment my fingers curl around her wrist I yank her towards me. She crashes against my body, losing bubbles of air from her lips as I wrap my arms around her waist.
She hardly has the strength to cling to me.
The water closes around us, heavy, merciless.
Her eyes flutter closed. My gut twists, no time left to think.
My hand dwarfs her face as I pull her lips to mine.
The instant they touch my chest bursts with life as I breathe into her.
Delicate but firm fingers dig into my forearms as the colour comes back into her cheeks.
There’s no time for pleasantries but by the seas I want her.
She pulls back, tugging her lips from mine, and nods to let me know she’s okay.
I brush the pad of my thumb over her cheek. “Let’s get out of here.” With a sweep of my arm, I scoop her up to cradle against my chest and then we are gone.
The chilling water whips past us as we barrel through the tunnel, leaving the forest of kelp behind.
It’s warmer now and the light has shifted.
We’re almost at the surface. Odi’s face is tucked into my chest, her wild brown hair billowing around us.
With a powerful flick of my tail, the water spits us out of the hole and into undergrowth.
I shift just as our bodies collide with the land, and I’ve never been happier to be in my human form.
Odi claws for the edge, fingers digging into moss and dirt as she drags herself half way out.
She gasps, ragged and raw, the sound wounding my chest.
I haul myself after her, legs scrambling at the soil, clumsy and burning with strain. Once I’m free I grab her waist, and drag her the rest of the way until she collapses against my chest.
“We’re safe,” I whisper into her soaked tendrils.
Her chest shudders, dragging in fresh air into her lungs.
A rush of emotion washes over me. I nearly lost her down there. She’d risked it all for me, facing her fear, and nearly died because of it. We lie there, sprawled in the damp earth, both of us sucking in lungfuls of air.
“You alright?” I murmur, voice horse. My hand finds her back, steadying her breaths against mine. “Breathe with me.”
“I thought—” She breaks off, shuddering, turning her face into my shoulder. “I thought I was gone.”
“Not while I’ve still got you,” I rasp. And I mean it more than I’ve ever meant anything.
When we finally manage to stand, legs shaking, I glance back to the hole we clawed our way out of . . . and it’s gone. Just the forest floor. Roots and ferns tangled together as if it had never been there at all.
Odi grips my arm, wide-eyed. “Where—?”
I shake my head, jaw tight. “I don’t even want to know.”
Her eyes find mine. “Did you get the key?”
I nod once, my heart still hammering in my chest. “It’s safe.”
We both stand there, hands hanging by our sides as we lock eyes, saying a million things at once with our silence.
Then I can’t hold back anymore, and neither can she as we leap for each other.
Her hands tangle in the hair at the back of my neck, while mine grip her face.
I crush my lips to hers in a kiss so heated it could set the world ablaze.
Teeth, tongues, lips. All of them together. Biting, sucking, tasting.
With a low growl in the back of my throat, I walk her backwards until she slams into the trunk of a tree.
The bark is rough against my hands as I pin her there.
The kiss is sharp, hungry, all want and need—vicious love poured out in a single breath.
I drag my hands from her face and grip her hips, grinding into her with mine.
For a heartbeat she matches my energy with fire, as she drags her fingers up my back, nails biting my skin.
Then she melts—just for a moment—her body softening against mine, her mouth yielding under the force of my desire. Her fleeting surrender undoes me. I’m lost in her, and I never want to be found.
Odi rips her lips from mine, chest heaving and eyes dancing with venom. “I can’t believe you made me do that!”
I hate that she’s not in my arms, so I reach out, curl my fingers around her wrists and tug her back into my chest. “Sorry, but I really didn’t feel like getting impaled today.”
My head drops down and claims her mouth once more. She whimpers softly as my tongue brushes the seam of her lips. She opens for me, and I feel my knees weaken.
She shoves at my chest, tugging free again. “Rune—I nearly died back there.”
“But you didn’t,” I mutter, leaning in, lips brushing her jaw before she can dodge. “You’re still breathing. Proof I was right. You can do anything.”
Her hands slam against my chest again, but they don’t push as hard this time. “That’s not the point! I thought—I thought I was gone. The water, the dark—”
I cut her off with another kiss, gentler this time, lingering. “But you’re safe now.” I whisper as I pull back.
She exhales, shuddering, torn between fury and something else as she runs her eyes over my face. “You can’t just kiss me every time I’m frightened.”
“Why not?” I murmur against her lips. “Seems to work.”
The corner of her mouth ticks up in a smirk, then she grabs the damp collar of my shirt like she might shake me. “You’re infuriating.”
“And yet,” I grin, pulling her in again, “you’re still standing here.”
She reaches up to brush hair from the side of my face as she flicks her eyes to my lips. “Can we go back to the ship now?”
Looking up at me isn’t the vicious ghost of Nisse. It’s not the violent pirate who shares the Ivor blood. It’s not the wet dog that I dragged spluttering from the sea. No. It’s Odi . . . little doe. Fierce, loyal and brave. The keeper of my heart.
I huff a gentle laugh. “I thought you’d never ask.”