Page 45 of The Ocean's Heart
“Thalia…”
The shield I’d been building back around my heart cracked a little at the sound of my name on his lips.
I gritted my teeth. “What do you want?”
“I want your forgiveness.”
His words knocked the breath from my lungs. “What?”
“I’m sorry, so sorry for the way I treated you. For walking away. For not coming to find you sooner. I…I was a fool. A stubborn fool.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “You should have stayed and listened. You should have given me a chance to explain.”
“I know. I’m here now, but I don’t need any explanations. I understand why you lied. I understand what was at stake, and I…I would have done the same. Truth be told, I was afraid of the feelings you evoked, of how they were not in my control, and your deception was the excuse I needed to justify running.”
For him to stand here and admit he’d been wrong. To ask for forgiveness…Could it mean…I had to be sure.
My eyes burned with the threat of tears. “What are you saying, Vaarin?”
“I’m saying that I exiled you from my waters, but I couldn’t exile you from my heart. I’m saying that I want another chance. I’m saying that I want you to marry me.”
My heart punched my ribs, blood rushing in my ears because I’d fantasized about this very turn of events over and over between bouts of telling myself I hated him. In those fantasies, I always turned my back on him. In those fantasiesIhurthim.
But the reality was something wholly different. The reality was flesh and blood and the scent of the sea, the reality was heat rushing through my veins and filling my heart.
The reality was that I loved this man with every fiber of my being, but I had fears of my own now. Fears he would need to assuage. “I won’t be hurt again, Vaarin.”
“I swear to Thalor I will never hurt you. Please…Thalia.”
I would be deceiving myself if I said no. He was my heart, but before I could give myself to him wholly, I needed to find out who I truly was. “I can’t go back with you. Not yet, not until I find my mother. I need to know where I came from.”
He exhaled sharply, his body going still. “Is that…Is that a yes?”
The surprise in his tone, the vulnerability on his face shattered the last of my reservations. “Yes. Yes, it’s a?—”
I let out a squeak as my feet left the ground and I was crushed to his chest. I melted into the embrace, inhaling his scent greedily.
He was here. He’d come for me. This was real. “What took you so long?” It was a light comment, but he tensed against me. “Vaarin?” I pulled back so I could study his face.
His mouth turned down slightly. “You’re right. I should have come sooner, but I didn’t want to admit I was wrong, and then I had a visitor. An ancient sea fae with crimson hair, she said she saved you from drowning. She confirmed what I knew already, that I was a fool for letting you go, and then…she told me that you were my soul mate.” His throat bobbed. “You, Thalia, are the key to my heart.”
I took a shuddering breath because I felt the truth of those words, had felt the longing for him even across the vast expanse of this ocean. But there was more. I could sense it, and so I held my tongue, waiting for him to continue.
“After she left, two things happened at once. Your people arrived, and I was given the news that there were four pregnancies confirmed in my undersea realm.” His gaze flicked over my face as if he was looking for something. “I had a suspicion then that maybe your adopted father was indeed your blood father, but he denied it, which left me with only one conclusion. That unlocking my heart freed my people from the curse of their infertility. My adviser confirmed it. The archives show that our fertility problems began after my ancestor sealed the abyss…after he lost his ability to love. It’s clear now that the fertility of my people is linked to the fertility of their monarch’s heart. Of my heart.” He lightly caressed my cheek. “By loving me, you’ve saved not only me but my people.”
I didn’t need more words. No more convincing. In truth, he’d had me as soon as he stepped on board my ship, and now…Now I wanted to lose myself in him.
I took his hand and tipped my face up to his. “How about we finish this conversation in my quarters?”
ChapterTwenty-Six
THALIA
The sea glittered with starlight, waves rippling gently as we cut a path through uncharted waters beyond Pincher Isle. The cages containing bloody bait had been dropped an hour ago, and Freya sat at the stern, violin to her chin, playing a lilting melody to attract the natives of this stretch of ocean.
I was hopeful that we’d make contact soon, but in the meantime, I was content to simply be.
I leaned back against Vaarin, and he wrapped his arms around my waist. We’d spent too long in my quarters, not talking. My body was satiated yet ever hungry for his. This feeling, this sense of belonging was something novel, and it was both exhilarating and frightening because what if it went away? What if he took it away again?
