Page 176 of Bewitched By the Sea Monster
Which, if I was being honest, I was already overwhelmed, with the frenzy still happening around us. Alistair made me over-overwhelmed.
Tears burned my eyes. Clogged my throat. Made it too hard to breathe.
I ripped myself away from the kiss and buried my face in the crook of his neck as the tears took me.
“Oh dear.” Alistair stroked my back and wrapped a blanket around me.
And I loved the way he said that, “Oh dear,”in his hemming and hawing way.
I loved the way he felt. Physically, of course, but emotionally most of all—so squishy and happy. A big teddy bear.
I loved how easily he gave affection. Kissing my brow. Nuzzling me. Soothing me.
And when he sniffled, shedding tears alongside me, I loved that too.
Alistair was warm and open and soft and kind. All the things Jackson hadn’t been. All the things I’d been missing but hadn’t realized I was missing. Hadn’t realized I’dneeded, until now.
We soothed each other’s tears. And calmed each other, resting brow to brow, breathing each other in.
“Ye two make me sick,” Onyx grumbled.
Alistair sighed and kissed my forehead. “Why did you use love as the key then, Onyx? Thatiswhat broke it, yes? Or am I barking up the wrong tree?”
Irritation boiled off her. “Because I figured no human’d be mad enough to fall for a feckin’ sea monster. And I figured even if ye did love, and were loved, ye’d never beselfless.”
“Ah. So it wasn’t that Pippi needed to fall in love with me. I had to…?”
“Put her ahead of yerself. Like yedidn’tdo for Indigo.”
Alistair hummed thoughtfully. “That was a good key, Onyx. Complex, but not impossible. I’m surprised Rune let you build it in.”
“He didna have a choice. There needed to be one. And he figured the same as I. For what it’s worth, Alistair…I’m not entirely mad I was wrong. I dunna know that ye deserve to be absolved. I guess time will tell. But I didna like ye bein’ used the way yer were—a clown for tourists.Blegh.” Her heels clinked as she stomped along the deck away from us.
“For what it’s worth, Onyx, I’m still your friend,” Alistair called. “And always will be.”
She muttered a thick, “Feck off,” and kept walking away.
“Was I supposed to follow any of what just happened?” I murmured.
Alistair cupped my face between his hands and kissed me.Hard.“I’m afraid I got distracted telling you the first half—I do that, sometimes. Actually, I do ita lot. But—Pippi, your hands!”
I’d reached up, swiping my floofy hair out of my eyes, which gave Alistair a gander of my mangled knuckles. He hissed lightly and drew my hands to his mouth, peppering feather-light kisses over the cuts. “I’m so sorry,” he murmured.
I freed one hand and touched his cheek. “They’re okay, Alistair.”
“They’re swelling,” he murmured. “I’ll get you a tonic. As soon as we’re…not on this ship.” He peered around us blearily. “Hopefully they’ll not have issues sailing it. Anyway, what was I saying before? Oh! I wanted to fill you in on the basics.”
And he did.
People scuttled around us, wild-eyed and pale-faced as they looked at Alistair—the man who had been a beast—and then leaned over the railing, ogling at Rune—the beast who’d been a man. There were spiels of confusion. Calls to sail the ship back to the isle. The crackling and popping as the anchor was raised and the geriatric vessel, damaged by the breaking of the curse, began to move. From the sea, Rune exploded with curses, demanding that someone help him,and whining plaintively when the ships sailed away.
Through it all, Alistair smoothed his hands over me, fretting and fussing over my bumps and bruises as he told me his story. Of Indigo, the woman he’d loved, who perished on a ship he’d championed—and the grief and guilt he’d felt after, unable to understandwhythe tragedy happened. Although, after seeing Rune’s involvement in the curse, he now suspected foul play.
He told me of Onyx’s rage, as she believed Alistair’s negligence had stolen her twin. He told me of her powers, and of mine.Sensitives. I still couldn’t wrap my head around that. And he held me, vowing to teach me to better guard my heart.
Rune’s tale was a more complex one—an insidious yarn of a man who bent and broke rules on a whim and charmed his way out of the lawsuits.
“Rune’s operation didn’t take kindly to mine,” Alistair said. “Which is why I’m wondering if he did something toSaturn. And maybe I should’ve wondered about it before because he lobbedso manyempty claims against SorcerSoft over the years, and lost all of them.”
