Epilogue
A SHORT WHILE LATER
RUNE
The sweet sound of Odi’s moans carries through the bedroom.
Hearing it sends a fresh wave of pleasure through me like an electric current as I sink into her again.
My hands grip her hips, teasing her with slow, sensual thrusts.
She’s on all fours, head buried into the sheets, back arched perfectly for my viewing.
I shift my hips, watching my cock slide out, slick with her wetness. “Is this how you like to be touched?”
“Yes,” she says, releasing a sigh.
A grin spreads across my lips, and I grip her harder as I push back in, inch by inch. She moans softly again, arching into me further. I can’t drag my gaze away from the hypnotic way her ass ripples each time I pound into her. It’s a perfect arc, as if sculpted for my hands alone.
The sight consumes me, a want so sharp, a hunger that can’t be sated.
Warm sunlight pours into the room, washing across the floor, coating Odi’s collection of leaves and shiny things displayed so lovingly on the dresser.
It sends rainbows up the other side of the wall, filling the room with an ethereal glow.
We’ve been entangled in each other's embrace for days now.
The only time we stop is to hydrate and replenish ourselves.
Even then, we end up coming back together, on the table, on the balcony outside, under the stars. Wherever our hearts desire.
I can’t get enough of her.
“Rune—” Odi murmurs.
Her warmth gushes over my length as I pick the pace back up.
Her pants become quicker, harder, our bodies slapping together as we find our pleasure.
Release builds inside me, coiling tight with every thrust. Her thighs blush red beneath my touch, each sharp collision singing through us in waves that leave me trembling for more.
The bed creaks with a steady cadence, blending with my moans and Odi’s whimpers. She’s close too, I can feel it. I lean down—not slowing the pace—and grip her hair, gently tugging her head back. She gasps, pushing up onto her hands.
“I love the way my name rolls off your tongue,” I whisper against her ear.
Her breath catches. Lips parting slightly as her eyes flutter shut. I pull out, and thrust in again. I do this over and over, like a ritual. A sacred joining together of two souls destined to find each other across the sea.
She gasps.
My cock swells.
We repeat.
The rhythm builds until I can’t hold on any longer. “Say my name when you come. I want it to be the last thing that tumbles from your lips before you scream.”
Her body trembles, legs shaking as I feel her warmth clamp around me. Then she shatters. “Rune Caius Ahren, fuck me!” Her voice splinters through the halls of my mind. Bouncing around like a fallen star looking for a place to call home.
Behind my eyes, the galaxy splits open.
It hits like the sea in a gale, wave after wave, my body seizing, every muscle drawn tight until there’s nothing left but the crash, the flood, the drowning bliss of giving in. “Odelia,” I groan her name, voice breaking, forehead pressing between her shoulders as if I can anchor myself there.
After a moment, I sit back up, easing out of her slowly as I savour every inch.
The world softens, our bodies slick and heaving, the aftermath of our ecstasy lessening. My chest rises and falls, breath shuddering with uneven bursts. I let myself collapse onto the bed, wrapping her close.
She’s trembling, but not from fear. I smooth my palm over her hip, grounding us both. The aftershock fades, leaving only the quiet thump of her heartbeat, and the ache of knowing I've never felt so undone, so alive, as I do in her arms.
I close my eyes, content and boneless. Odi shifts in the sheets, twisting to face me. I softly smile when she traces her fingertips over the shimmering markings on my chest. “How many times is that for today?” she teases.
My eyes crack open, settling on her face. “Four if you count the one on the stairs earlier, where I tasted you, and then you tasted me, and then I came—”
Odi giggles, reaching up to place a hand over my mouth. “I know how that ended. I can still taste it.”
With a sigh I tug her closer. “I hope it won’t be the last for today either.”
“Aren’t you sick of me yet?” she says, surprised.
I offer her a grin. “Never.”
Eventually, she stretches, a delicate hum leaving her throat as she sits up. I follow, dragging myself from the safety of our bed. A gentle breeze blows through the open window. Filling the room with a mixed scent. Warm soil, and salt. Land and sea.
Odi drapes a slip of dress over her frame.
Oyster-coloured silk. Her dark, glossy hair hangs down her back in waves, releasing a burst of pear and honey.
I slip on some loose trousers, never taking my eyes off her.
My thoughts flick to the memories of pleasure we just spent together and already my cock is half hard.
I groan softly, padding across the room to pull her into my arms, nuzzling my face into her silk strands. “Do we have to leave this room yet?”
She spins in my arms, reaching up on her toes to thread her hands around my neck. “It’s been two weeks of our love bubble, we have to leave at some point.”
I lean down to press a kiss to her nose. “Says who?”
By the sea, our cottage has become a sanctuary. A haven where we can belong only to each other, free from prying eyes, from leering gazes, from the shadow of a map hanging over us.
Odi peels herself from my arms, taking my hand as we head into the kitchen.
It's simple, but spacious. Bowls of brightly coloured fruits and fresh greens adorn the counter tops. No quail eggs in sight. And the air smells of wild blooms. As soon as Odi saw the flower fields that run parallel to the ocean she’d run straight into them, picking armfulls.
Every flat surface in the house now holds a vase of blossoms.
As I sit at the counter on a stool made of driftwood, she plucks a fig from the bowl, tearing it down the centre before offering me half. “Have you heard from Tavi and Elio?” she asks, her voice soft. “Did they decide who wears the captain’s hat?”
I swallow the fig down before answering. “Not yet. They’ll work it out. Elio will say Tavi should be Captain, but I think she likes her freedom too much. The Gilded Hart is in good hands either way.”
“Do you miss her?”
“I do. But more than that I miss the crew.” I shrug, wiping my hands on a cloth. “But Otto will love that spice we found him in town last week.”
Odi’s smile is small, like she’s afraid to fully let go and allow herself to have happiness and love.
Like she’s afraid I’ll long for the waltz of a ship and her song so much that I’ll sail away from the shore once again.
I know it’s going to take time for her to see that she can trust me. My words. My promises. My embrace.
I reach across the bench and wipe my thumb across the corner of her bottom lip, catching the drip of juice from the fig. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else though.”
She grins wider, nipping at my thumb playfully “Not even Nareth? With your family?”
I huff softly before sucking the juice of my thumb. “Father and I might have patched things up when we visited, but I’m certain I don’t want to live under his rule.”
Odi and I had visited the siren kingdom over a month ago. It was more healing than I expected it to be. Selene couldn’t stop fussing over Odi, and Dash couldn’t wait to show her all around the palace.
I’d shared my mother's letter with my father. He would deny it to anyone who asked, but he’d shed a tear.
Then he offered my mother's ring to me. It was a band of gold, carved to look like coral, with different blue shades of glittering stones wrapped around the band. I’d pulled him into an embrace, and he swore that I would always have a place beside him in Nareth.
We married under a canopy of shimmering pearls.
Odi wore a dress that captured every essence of her.
The bodice had clung close, shaped from silk the colour of sand.
Delicate vines and tiny white blossoms were embroidered into the fabric, every stitch glinting faintly.
From her waist the fabric shifted. Layer upon layer of sheer gauze and smooth satin flowing down in waves.
Pale blues fading into shades so deep it looked like sapphires stitched together.
She’d worn a veil, the colour of seafoam, with pearls scattered over it.
And her hair had hung down in loose waves.
The moment we’d said I do was the happiest I’d ever been.
Odi saunters around the counter to wedge herself between my legs. “Are you going to show me what you’ve been hiding downstairs? Every time you vanish I know you’re down there.”
I huff a laugh, standing from the stool. “You’ve been very patient, and I’ve finally finished.” I hold out my hand. “Come.”
Her palm slips into mine, and I lead her down the narrow stairs into the lower half of the cottage. The shift is instant—the light dims, cools, until we step into a room walled in living ocean.
Odi gasps. Her eyes are wider than a sea urchin. “Rune . . .”
Through the glass-like walls, the sea glimmers.
A large sea stone bubble keeps the water at bay, clear as crystal.
Beyond the barrier, shoals of silver fish dart through forests of rich green kelp.
A pink and purple manta ray glides past, its colours so vivid it’s glowing.
Its shadow spills across the stone floor, disappearing around the bend.
Inside, the space is inviting. A large rug fills the centre of the room, covered in plush pillows and blankets. Plenty of room for . . . activities.
I glance at Odi. Her eyes are still fixated on the school of fish swimming past. She walks towards it, pressing her palm to the surface. “I’ve been so worried that you gave up the ocean for me.”
Three strides and I’m across the room, pulling her back into my chest, leaning down to murmur in her ear. “I didn’t give it up. I found a way to have both. The sea for me, and the land for you.”
She turns to look up at me. Her smile hits me square in the chest, knocking the wind from me harder than a weapon ever could. “It’s beautiful.”
I kiss her then. Slow and tender. The kind of kiss that sears into a soul. Never to be forgotten. When my lips leave hers, it’s bittersweet. “Are you up for round five yet?”
Her eyes darken in the way that makes my cock twitch, then they flick towards the stairs. “Only if you can catch me.”
She’s gone before I have time to grasp her. Slender, powerful legs bounding away from me. A feral grin spreads across my face, and I half-shift. Incisors, talons and scales. All of them on show. I become the hunter, and she is my prey.
“You’d better run fast, Odelia,” I hiss, lingering on each of the letters that spell her name.
She giggles, but it’s barely there the further she gets from me. With a low growl, my legs are moving. The wooden stairs creak with every leap. I catch her dark hair disappearing through the doorway that leads outside just as I reach the top level of the cottage.
My heart rate accelerates. Blood pumping to all areas in my body, the thrill of the hunt coursing through my veins. I’m outside, feet hitting the deck as she darts onto the sand, throwing a grin over her shoulder. “You’re getting slow, siren.”
The laughter on her tongue makes my heart sing. Never did I dream there would be someone out there for me, as perfect as she is. My chest aches with the love I have for her, and I plan to show her every day for the rest of our lives.
I go faster, feet pounding against the wet sand as I run through the waves that kiss the shoreline. “I’m just giving you a head start,” I call after her.
She laughs, pushing her legs harder. But she could never out run me. I’d find her in every lifetime, under every moon, across every ocean.
The waves curl against the shore, spraying salt across my legs as I run, muscles burning.
Each time she flashes her brown eyes over her shoulder, it only drives me faster.
She is radiant in the morning sun. Oyster coloured silk dancing in the wind, hair knotted by the chase. It reminds me of a dream I once had.
A few more strides and I’m inches from her. She shrieks when I finally catch her around the waist. We tumble together in the waves, cool water breaking over us as I pin her to the sand. “Caught you.”
Her breathless giggle mixes with my own ragged breath. She’s grinning up at me and I can’t keep my own smile at bay. Reaching down, I brush strands of sand-crusted hair from her cheek. “How shall you have me, little doe.”
“Like this,” she whispers, shoving the arm that is holding me up, so she can twist and roll onto me, straddling my hips.
I moan when she drags my cock free, positioning herself to sink down on it. My mind fractures when she slowly rocks her hips. All thoughts are gone. My brain is completely empty.
She places her palms on my chest and arches her back, moaning to the skies as she grinds against me.
I need to taste her lips. It’s been too long.
I sit up, place one hand on her hip, the other tangles in the back of her hair, dragging her closer.
Her eyes glitter with pleasure as my mouth hovers under hers.
“My prince,” she whispers, pressing a soft kiss to my lips. “My peace.” She kisses me again. “My husband.” On the third kiss I’m drowning, and the only soul I want to rescue me is her. How did I get so lucky?
I grip her hip harder, fingers digging into her pliable skin, eyes locked on her as we move together. “My sea,” I murmur, kissing her back. “My heart.” I kiss her again. “My wife.”