Page 60 of The Withering Dawn
I couldn’t face him. Not with the shame I was suddenly feeling. So, I swam deeper, finding a cluster of sharp stones with a crook just big enough to fit my coiled body. I nuzzled inside, hugging myself when I realized just how frigid the uninviting water was. In the darkness, I felt like a hundred gazes were watching me, waiting for me to emerge again and suck me into an abyss. It was unsafe there. Uneasy. Cold. That shore was surrounded by fiends and they were all hungry. Hateful. Waiting.
This was not the ocean my mother talked about.
But I could not bring myself to move. Not yet.
Nazario
The day had been dark for some time, shadowed by thick clouds, but when night started to fall, it grew even darker and all the air in my lungs started to freeze. Aeris still was nowhere to be seen and I knew how the ocean frightened her. I knew she wouldn’t stay under for so long on her own and it only made me worry more. I had been sitting for a while, my coat draped over the boat to dry, but I was prepared to dive back into the dark sea to find her if I had to. I stood, wondering if I was going to have to do just that, when Cathal spoke up.
“Cap’n,” he said, drawing my eyes. “Maybe she went back to the Amanacer.”
“No. She’s out there.”
“How do ye know?”
“I just know.”
Saying it made it more real. I did know somehow. I knew she was afraid and hesitant to return to me and I couldn’t fathom why when I wanted to see her so badly. I wanted to call her to me and invite her into my arms where I could be certain she was alright.
“Cap’n,” Aleksi said.
He was pointing down the beach and when I turned, my breath left my lungs like it weighed a hundred pounds.
Aeris was walking toward me, her pale body practically glowing in the dark.
I quickly grabbed my coat and started sprinting toward her, my heart sinking to see how she was holding herself and singing at the same time just to see her alive.
“I’m sorry,” she muttered when I was close enough to hear.
I ignored her words as I scooped her up in my arms.
“Muñequita,” I said into her neck, my hand cradling the back of her head. “Thank God.”
“I’m sorry,” she repeated, her voice muffled against my shoulder.
I set her down on her feet, cupping her face between my hands and forcing her to look up at me.
“What are you talking about?”
“I took your vengeance from you. I didn’t mean to. I didn’t mean to kill him. I just… I knew you were in trouble. I couldn’t stop it. I killed him. I—”
I shook my head and pulled her into a kiss, forcing her to stop talking. In truth, knowing she was alright made me hunger for her more than ever. My beautiful little siren had killed for me again. Never had anyone fought so hard for me. I craved her. I wanted to lay her against the sand and drive my cock into her and claim her all over again.
“I don’t care,” I said, panting. “I don’t care. I just need to know you’re alright.”
“I’m ok,” she answered.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
I wrapped my coat around her, pulling it tight over her front to cover her naked form from prying eyes before I hugged her against my chest again.
“You’re a ferocious thing.”
“For you,” she said into my chest. “Only for you. I… I’m a killer.”
I chuckled, kissing her damp, salty hair. “Do not think you’re the only one with a body count?”
