Page 19 of Fionn
"There's no way I'll let you go back to her. You've done enough damage already."
"Damage?" He laughed. "She's mine. I can do with her however I please."
I let go of his ankles, swam up a tiny bit and kicked him in the stomach. He cried out and bowed over.
"She is not yours!" I shouted. "She will never be yours!"
To my surprise, he laughed. "And you think you can have her? A lowly guard, penniless, unworthy, the scum of society? You will never have a female. Not here, not on Finfolkaheem, not anywhere."
I could no longer think. Fury ruled me. I put my hands around his throat and squeezed. A lowly guard? I'd done two mooncrossings of training. The same training soldiers did. I was a warrior. I was stronger than him.
He tried to speak, tried to defend himself. His fingers clawed at my face, ripping through skin. He kicked me, again and again. But I didn't let go.
He'd threatened my mate. I could not let him go.
If it hadn't been for my holoband vibrating urgently, I don't know how far I would have gone.
The vibrations were just enough to push through the haze of anger to make me see what was happening. Kelon had stopped fighting. He was still breathing, short struggling breaths, but he was out cold.
I let go of him, disgusted with both him and myself, before taking the call.
"We've got a lock on her," Rainse said without preamble. "And I see you and Kelon are close by. Want me to bring you all on board?"
"No." My voice was harsh and raspy. I didn't recognise myself. "Kelon will make his own way back. And I will take Elise, unless you see any injuries?"
"None that our scanners could find. Are you sure about this, Fionn?"
I set my jaw. "No. But I will do it anyway."
I let Kelon sink into the depths of the ocean. Finfolk couldn't drown. He'd swim back when he regained consciousness. It would give Elise and me a head start. What we would do once we reached the island... I didn't know. Kelon would be furious. Best case scenario, he'd leave my brothers and me on Peritus as castaways. I didn't want to think about what else he might do to us. Or to Elise.
I'd keep her safe. It was the one and only duty left in my life.
With one last look at Kelon's prone body, I swam upwards, towards Elise.
10
Elise
I was treading water, but the waves were growing higher and higher. My eyes stung with saltwater, my mouth was dry, my throat sore. I ached everywhere.
Kelon had ripped off my mask and regulator when I'd told him that I wasn't going to be his wife. It had been swept away.
But now he was gone and I was alone. I couldn't see the island. Nothing but churning waves under a cloudless, searing sky. I had no compass, no way of knowing where I was. Even if the sun wasn't right above me so I could use it as a guide, I didn't know in which direction Kelon had dragged me.
He hadn't said much. He hadn't explained how he'd swam so fast or why he had green paint smeared all over his body. All he'd kept repeating was that I belonged to him. He'd not listened to me.
I was going to have a long, deep talk to the dating agency for allowing someone like him to be part of the process. He wasn't safe to be around women. His views were more than just antiquated. He wanted a woman as his possession, not as his partner and companion. Fuck him.
I took a deep breath and let myself sink underneath the surface again to search for him again. Nothing. One second he'd been threatening to take me against my will, the next he was gone, pulled under by an unseen force. I almost hoped it was a shark. But no, that wasn't me. I never wished bad things on anyone. Not even Kelon.
But he had been gone for at least five minutes now. He wasn't wearing a breathing apparatus - but he had survived our swim earlier, and not just survived, he had set a new speed record underwater. I didn't know how he'd done it. I was desperate to know, but first I had to get back onto land.
I resurfaced, my eyes burning. I wished he hadn't taken away my mask. I surveyed the water around me once more, searching for a glimpse of land. No luck. But there was the log that I'd seen from underneath, bobbing on the waves. Adrenaline was starting to give way to exhaustion. I wouldn't be able to swim forever. I shot one last glance into the darkness beneath my feet and swam towards the log.
I almost didn't hear the voice among the sound of the waves.
"And where do you think you're going?"
