Azure (Drowning In You) (28 page)

“Oh god, Liv...” He jerked, his whole body shaking, and she had to close her eyes as fire ignited and erupted inside her, tearing her apart.

***

Olivia blinked against the early morning light. Kai was grinning at her, just inches from her face.

“Good morning,” he said brightly and brushed his mouth over her cheek. He drew back a little, his gaze moving from her mouth to her neck and lower. “God, I love your face, your breasts, your hips...”

She hummed, groggy from sleep. “Only that?”

“Your ass, your legs, your back...”

“And here I thought you were going to say something profound.” She stuck her tongue out at him.

He rolled on his back and she couldn’t help but stare at his lean chest and corded arms. “I love everything about you,” he breathed.

She swallowed hard, suddenly lost for words. Inside she felt like she was melting into a puddle of joy. “You’re not so bad yourself,” she whispered and watched his mouth curve in a smile.

 
She loved that smile. She loved him, oh god she did, but couldn’t say that — not now. Too soon. Besides, it couldn’t mean anything. Lust, worry, affection, those things had to be what she felt.

Kirsten was right in that at least: she wanted so much to save him she’d do anything, and after what she’d seen — or what she’d thought she’d seen last night, the scales and fins, the colors changing on his body, she didn’t know what to believe anymore. So confused.

Seemed to be a pattern, these days.

He sat up, running a hand through his messy hair. “I need to shave.” He got up, moving gracefully, with the assurance of someone whose body is strong and primed. Like a wild animal, she thought, a wolf perhaps, or a lynx.

But he didn’t belong on land. She thought of him gliding through the water, slicing through the waves, his hair a dark halo, bubbles escaping the corner of his mouth, and shivered.

The nets whipped at the windows, and a smell of rain hung in the air. She perched on the edge of the bed, observing him as he spread white foam on his cheeks and throat and began to shave it off. Such a mundane male ritual in the crazy magic of his life.

When he was done, he patted his face with a towel. He looked younger now. Boyish. He turned and grinned at her, making her heart skip a beat or two. “Will you come by later today?”

He’d go swim and then head to the beach bar for work. It was as if last night hadn’t happened, the revelations and the breakdown she’d witnessed. All back in their box, because what could he do about it other than swim and talk to the sea, ask if she’d take him?

Olivia nodded. “I’ll be there.”

She wouldn’t give him up without a fight, she thought, even if it meant allowing herself to believe in magic and mermaids and water that slept and woke full of anger. “Be careful.”

He frowned. “You too. Promise not to go—”

“—to the mermaid bay. I promise, I said so.”

He nodded, his brow evening out. “I couldn’t bear it,” he said. “If anything happened to you.”

And you
, she wanted to say, but that would mean asking him not to go out to the sea and she knew he’d say he couldn’t. Was it obsession? Was water like a drug to him and he couldn’t stay away?

Whatever spell kept him bound to the water was strong. In the blood, Panos had said. She’d said they were all mad, and now she was going mad, too, because she couldn’t deny something odd was going on.

He approached her, lifting a hand to cup her face. “Thank you,” he said, and before she could ask what for, he turned around and left the hut.

***

“What do you want from him?” Olivia stood on the rocks of Kai’s beach, the sea spreading like liquid crystal around her. “Why won’t you let him go?”

She was careful to keep some distance between her and the water. She couldn’t forget how that wave had grabbed her after she’d cursed the sea the last time.

“There must be something you’ll accept in exchange for letting him go free. I know he’s cute and you want him, but I don’t think he wants you.” She licked her lips, tasting salt. God, this was insane. “Bitch,” she whispered, and she thought the waves rose a little higher, white caps crowning them.

“Maybe you’re not a bitch.” She gulped. “But don’t you think he should decide for himself whether he wants to become a fish or stay human?”

A wave crashed on the rocks, spraying her. With a huff, she stepped back, wiping her face. “Listen. I’m only trying to understand, okay?”

Another wave, bigger than the previous one, washed over her and she backed further away.
Damn
. She’d thought she was safe there. She’d checked her guide that morning at the hotel.
Aegean
, a sea famous for its capricious nature. The name was etymologically linked to the word ‘goat’ — the waves looked like jumping goats or the sea was a goat deity.
Whatever
.

Stubborn as a goat, at any rate. Olivia resisted the urge to shake her fist at the heaving blue. “Stop spitting at me and give me a clue, will you? If he can’t break the spell, even if he wants to, I’ll do it for him. Tell me how.”

She didn’t know what she’d expected. Maybe something more dramatic, like the last time, or a real answer. Maybe the sea would toss her something to use.

In fact... maybe it already had.

Olivia lifted her pendant, the mermaid scale. “Is this it? Did you give it to me?”

Break the spell
, Panos had said. Did he mean it literally? Break the connection?

Well, what did she have to lose?

She pulled the pebble off the chain and held it on her palm, seeing how the sun and the sea sent iridescent patterns across its surface. It was now sky blue. Azure. Full of secrets.

The sea rippled, groaning low, as if waiting to see what she’d do. Sitting on her haunches, she set the pebble on the rock and cast around for something to use. A flat stone drew her gaze. She lifted it and brought it down on the pebble.

Lightning struck the horizon, startling her. It branched into a flaming tree, glinting off the navy blue water.

Gasping, she fell back. She glanced at the pebble. A fissure ran down its middle, going deep, revealing prismatic structures, shards of crystals. She grabbed it and checked the jagged line. The pebble wasn’t broken; only cracked.

She lifted the flat stone again, ready to smash it to pieces.

A huge wave rose from the depths of the sea, drawing her gaze, stopping her heart. The wave reared into a wall of glass, higher and higher, like a tsunami.

Oh dear god
. It was coming to kill her.

Grabbing the cracked pebble, she shot to her feet and ran. She didn’t know exactly where she was going, only she was distancing herself as much as possible from the furious ocean. She scrambled up the winding path to Kai’s hut and from there she took the path toward the bay where the hotel was. Thorns scratching her legs, her breath coming in gasps, she reached the highest point and turned to look down.

No sign of a wave.

She blinked, panting. The sea was choppy, tipped with white, the wind ripping paths on its surface, but the wall of water she’d seen coming at her had vanished, swallowed back into the blue.

What the hell
. Was it her own irrational fear creating illusions? Hallucinations?

Shaking all over, her heart banging in her chest, she headed for the hotel.

***

“Liv!” Markus waved from the breakfast table. “Coffee?”

“Yes, please.” She sat, drenched in sweat and salty water, the pebble still clutched in her hand.