Page 64 of Enchantment of Silver and Sea
“Hey, Kieran,” I said, so softly it was almost a whisper.
“Yeah?”
“Do you regret kissing me?”
For a beat there was nothing but silence.
Then there was a shuffling of blankets and a shifting of the mattress, and I realized he had turned to face me. He was raised up on one arm, leaning over me.
“Are you serious?” His tone was even. I wished that I could see his expression, even if that was often just as hard to read.
“You took off so abruptly.” The words kept coming. Why did I always seem to do this with him? “And then you barely spoke to me the rest of the time I was outside the walls. Barely looked at me. And left me here without even saying goodbye. Now you’re in my apartment, without Nya…in mybed, even…and I don’t understand why.”
He exhaled. “Maila,” he said in as serious of a tone as I had ever heard from him. “I came here because I wanted to see you.”
I rolled over to face him.
“You’re right,” he continued. “I was being distant. And I’m sorry for that. I just had a lot on my mind. I didn’t know what to expect that night on the beach. I thought maybe we’d make out for a while, and it wouldn’t be all I had built it up to be.”
“Ouch.”
He let out something between a sigh and a laugh. “That’s not what I meant. What I’m trying to say is…I just thought…” He trailed off.
I had never heard him at a loss for words before. I stayed quiet, giving him time to gather his thoughts.
After a moment, he laid his head back down on the pillow. Our faces were inches away from each other. When he spoke, his voice was soft. “Look, what matters is I’m here because I couldn’t stand not knowing when I was going to get to see you again.”
I felt a few of the tears that had been burning my eyes slip down my face. I lifted my hand to wipe them away, but instead I felt his fingers brush my cheek, wiping them for me. There was something so tender in it, I didn’t care that he knew I was crying.
Afterward, his hand drifted to my hair. The gentle tugging sensation as he trailed his fingers through the unbound strands was so soothing, I found myself closing my eyes.
His voice was just above a whisper. “It’s late, I look like I’ve been beaten to hell, and you have your—what do you all call it? ‘Work assignment?’ You have your work assignment to go to in the morning. Let’s get some sleep.”
Then he grabbed me, gently but firmly, and pressed me against his chest.
It was so unexpected that whatever response was forming on my lips completely dissipated. The feeling of being held by him, his arm draped over me and his chin resting on the top of my head, was pure bliss. Despite him saying we should both get some sleep, I could still feel him idly playing with my hair. Summoning some courage, I scooted my legs closer, so that they were touching his. He let out a hiss and I realized I had bumped his left leg.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“No worries. But wow, that actually did hurt this time.”
I furrowed my brow against his chest. “What do you mean ‘this time?’”
He chuckled softly, shaking us both. “You’re always surprising me with the things you choose to be oblivious about.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but he let my hair go and gave me a playful squeeze, pressing my face against his chest too tightly for me to get the words out. “Go to sleep, Maila.”
He didn’t have to tell me a third time. In his arms, in the bubble of heat that we had created, I was already drifting off.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
That night, I dreamt of Irene. But for the first time in a very long time, it was not a bad dream.
Irene and ten-year-old me were snuggled up in the bed we had always shared, and she was gently ruffling my hair as she told me the story of Larimar the water spirit. When she finished, I leapt from the bed, reached under the frame, and pulled out the necklace with the larimar stone. The moonlight streaming through our bedroom window glinted off it, making it look especially spectacular.
And then I was my present day, twenty-year-old self, telling her all about my encounter with the water spirit. How I had given them their name.
Irene was amazed. She hugged me closer and exclaimed, “Look at the adventures you’re having! You have no idea how proud I am of you.”
