Page 20 of The Ocean's Heart
The fire blazes, a fire that this sword-wielding, boat-rowing princess has built. But why did she leave it, and where did she go?
For a moment, I’m not sure which way to run. Which way she will have gone, but then a desperate cry rises from the eastern side of the isle.
“Stay away! Stay back!”
Ice crystallizes in my veins because although the voice sounds like hers, it isn’t, which means she is in mortal danger.
I dive into the treeline at a sprint, following the resonance of that cry. It hangs in the air like a beacon, a crimson thread that I latch on to.
I burst into a clearing to find the manavis converging on a figure on the ground.
The princess!
A roar gathers in my chest, and I expel it in a sonic vibration that neither I nor the princess can hear, but the manavis scream and double over in pain, clutching at their heads.
The princess locks gazes with me from the forest floor, her eyes flare wide as she makes the connection, and a moment later, she’s running toward me. She slams into my chest, grabs my hand, and yanks me out of the clearing. She’s fast, but I’m faster, and so I scoop her into my arms and break into a sprint.
She clings to me wide-eyed and breathless, and the urge to protect her surges up to choke me.
We exit the forest in a valley that leads to the mountain pass, and I stop. The manavis won’t follow us here. Their domain is the forest. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t threats ahead. Any of which could kill this fragile human in my arms if she doesn’t follow my orders.
I can’t risk that. “Meredith told you my instructions? She told you to remain on the beach, that inland was not safe.”
“Yes.” She swallows hard. “But?—”
“She told younotto leave the beach. That it wasmyinstruction.”
A small frown mars her forehead. “Yes, but?—”
“Then why did you disobey me?”
She blinks rapidly. “Disobey? I’m not a child.” She shoves at my chest. “Put me down.”
I hold her tighter. “Why did you disobey me?”
“Because I thought someone was in trouble and?—”
“You knew inland was dangerous, and yet you disobeyed and put yourself in danger. You could have been killed!”
“Put me down!” She struggles in my arms, and I know what it is I must to do. She must fear disobeying me if she is to survive.
I stride over to the nearest log and sit with her.
She stills and stares up at me in confusion.
“You acted impulsively, like a child. And when a child disobeys, they are punished.”
“What?”
I lift here easily and turn her on my lap. Pinning her there with one hand, I bring the other up to deliver a hard slap to her backside.
She cries out in shock then squirms to get away, but I hold firm and deliver another smack.
This time she makes a sound that’s a cross between a grunt and a moan, and my lower spine tightens. I smack her again, more to hear that sound than anything else, and she rewards me with a gasp and a moan, and tides…I’m hard.
What. The. Fuck?
ChapterTwelve
