Page 41 of A Storm in Every Heart (Enchanted Legacies #2)

KASTIAN, PRESENT

M y hand still throbs as I follow Odessa back through the dark swamp. My breathing is ragged, but I’m actually grateful for the pain because it’s the only thing distracting me from my agonizingly hard cock.

Good fucking gods.

Realizing how strong Dessa is in the water was possibly the hottest damn thing I’d ever seen, even if she did nearly break my hand.

I’ve only ever been with Fae women, and I didn’t realize until that moment that I’d been holding back. Now, I’m picturing all the ways I could have her without having to worry about being careful. Bathtubs, the lake behind the manor, the middle of the godsdamn ocean.

Maybe I should be glad she stopped us before I let her drown me, but I’m not glad—not at all.

I’m not sorry that I told her about my soul-bond either, even if it was painful. I wish I could have seen her face better to know what she really thought about it.

The bond in my chest throbs, reminding me it’s there. It feels like the bond itself knows I’m teetering on the edge of rejecting it altogether and is holding on stronger, trying to maintain a connection to a woman I can’t even remember.

I flex my throbbing fingers, trying to ignore the equal throbbing in my chest.

For years, I thought I might go search for my bond at some point.

It was a vague idea, dependent on my escaping Dyaspora, which wasn’t something I really believed would ever happen.

I tried not to think about the bond, and it mostly stayed quiet…

that is, until I escaped and it suddenly became more active—stronger—than it ever was before.

Absently, I reach up and rub my chest where my tattoo is.

Eventually—hopefully—Odessa will see it and that will take a fair bit of explaining. I can’t even imagine what she’ll say—but like the reality of the bond it doesn’t matter because I’ve already made up my mind.

Odessa is going to be mine. She’s already mine, and no fated bond or siren curse is going to stop me from claiming her.

It’s a feeling that has been coming on slowly for a while, and only became more intense the other night in the dining room, and even more so when I saw her on the boat.

I saw her face, and her expression wasn’t hatred or dismissal or any of the other haughty masks she wears when she’s trying to act like I don’t matter to her.

She wanted me just as much as I wanted her.

She showed her hand, and now I’m going to take her for everything she has.

The entire flight across the ocean, all I could think about was how to tell her.

I need to tell her she’s lying to herself if she thinks there isn’t something here.

Tell her that whatever I did to make her hate me can’t be so bad that I can’t fix it.

That “once” will never be enough. I’m fairly sure I could wake up with her beside me every day for the rest of my life, and it would still never be enough.

That she can pretend to hate me, but it won’t change the fact that whatever this thing between us is, it’s inevitable.

I’m already certain of all of that; I just need to make her believe it too…and I need to do it before she gets any more ideas about going back to Hydratta.

I don’t care if she’s gathering information for Vernallis.

Even if it’s just a political maneuver, the idea of her even pretending to consider another man’s proposal makes me want to murder something; find the nearest swamp creature and rip its head from its body, if only to relieve some of the pressure building inside me.

Add on the fact that Magnus is my lifelong enemy…it’s inconceivable.

If Odessa tries to go back to Hydratta once we’ve made it out of this swamp I don’t know what I’ll do. Lock her up, maybe, or follow her to Hydratta myself even if I am walking into certain death.

At this point, the thought of death might be a relief.

At least then I could have a rest from all this need. Need for retribution. Need to protect her. Need to be near her. Need for her…

“Kastian?” Dessa asks, pulling me from my thoughts.

I look up quickly, thinking wildly that she’s changed her mind and wants to go back to the river. Or, that she somehow heard my thoughts and knows how hopelessly obsessed with her I am.

I clear my throat and try to keep my tone even. “Yeah?”

“Where are we?”

I squint at her silhouette between the trees. She’s not that far ahead of me, but admittedly it’s still so fucking dark I can barely see my hand in front of my face and I haven’t been paying much attention to where we’re going. “What do you mean? Weren’t you walking back to Jett and the pirate?”

She backtracks a few steps and comes to stand in front of me, her face almost visible in the low light. “I was, but where are they? I can’t find them.”

An uneasy feeling creeps down the back of my neck, and I turn in a circle. All I can see are the outlines of trees and rustling leaves. “They were camped near the river, right? We didn’t walk that far to get away from where Jett was making that fire.”

“I know.” Odessa worries her lip. “It couldn’t have been much more than a quarter of a mile, probably less, but we’ve been walking longer than that and we should be able to see their fire. The trees aren’t that thick.”

A sharp, electric jolt of anxiety surges through my chest, pushing aside every other feeling. Maybe I shouldn’t have left Jett alone with that pirate, but Jett can more than take care of himself, and the pirate is immortal. So what the fuck happened to them?

“Jett!” I shout, feeling somewhat stupid as my voice echoes back at me. Odessa and I pause, holding our breath, waiting for a response, but we’re only met with silence.

“If something attacked them, we would have heard it, right?” Dessa mutters. “Jett! Jett?”

“What! Fuck—ahh!” Jett’s voice rings out through the woods, first sounding startled, then rising with panic in the space of a second.

My heart races as I instinctively sprint toward the noise. I tear through the dense, swampy underbrush, creating much more noise than I should, all the while following the direction of Jett’s yells. Odessa jogs after me, her labored breathing nearly as loud in my ears as Jett’s voice.

“Kas?” Jett yells. “Where are you? Help me!”

I skid to a stop, turning in a circle. I can hear him close by, but I can’t see him anywhere.

Dessa catches up, stopping behind me. “Where is he?” she pants.

“I’m here!” Jett’s voice yells from somewhere close by on the right. “Look down. I’m stuck in the fucking mud.”

I turn, scanning the ground, struggling to see anything in the dark. Then, I catch a glint of eyes and I jump a foot in the air, startled.

Jett is sprawled on the ground, his position unchanged from when we last saw him, but now half of his body is swallowed by the thick, sticky mud.

His head and most of his chest are still above the surface while his legs seem to have disappeared into the murky depths of the sand, creating the impression that the earth itself is trying to pull him under.

I jog over to him and bend down to see better, sure that the dark is making me hallucinate. Immediately I feel my boots sinking into the ground as well. I swear loudly, and leap back, a wet squelching sound filling the air as I pull my feet free. “What the fuck happened?”

“I don’t know.” Jett grunts as he shifts his shoulders trying to pull himself free. “I was so damn tired I fell asleep. I didn’t even realize this was happening until I woke up and heard you yelling.” He gasps for breath. “Can we talk about this later? Pull me out!”

Dessa falls to her knees on the ground beside Jett and starts trying to push the sand out of the way. She lasts about three seconds before she shrieks and tries to scramble back. “My knees are sinking!”

I grab her by the shoulders and pull her back, both of us tumbling into the swampy underbrush, panting.

“I wish I could fucking see,” I grumble, struggling to my feet and pulling Dessa with me. “It’s so dark that if we try to help and step in the wrong place, we’ll get stuck too.”

“Can you conjure a light?” Dessa asks.

I shake my head, then remember she can’t see me. “No. I mean, I could usually, but I’m spent, and fire isn’t really my strong suit.”

“You’re better with water,” she says, like she’s thinking out loud. “Can you try anyway? I can’t think of how we’re going to get him out if we can’t see what we’re doing.”

I close my eyes, drawing in a breath. It’s not as simple as just trying.

Magic, like everything else, comes with a price—and usually that price is your energy. I’ve already used an enormous amount of magic today, more than I’ve used at one time since before Dyaspora. I haven’t slept or eaten anything since yesterday, and I lost a lot of blood fighting those pirates.

Still, Jett is practically my brother, and with Odessa asking me with that hopeful note in her voice, I can’t say I won’t even try.

I take another deep breath and sit down on the ground.

“What are you doing?” Jett asks sharply.

“Sitting so if I pass out I won’t fall that far,” I say dryly.

“You’re not serious?” Dessa asks, bending down beside me. “Is that likely?”

I shake my head. “Likely? No. Possible? Yes. Just give me a minute.

“No offense, Kas, but I’m not sure I have a minute,” Jett says, a slightly hysterical note in his voice.

“Stop moving,” Odessa instructs him. “And don’t panic; you’re only going to sink faster.”

“How do you know that?” he demands, no less panicked than before.

“Just trust me,” she says, that soothing siren note creeping into her voice. “Try to stay calm.”

I tune out both Dessa and Jett as I try to focus. I take another deep breath in and, incredibly, I can still smell Dessa’s floral scent, even over every other swampy odor. I try my best to ignore it.

I inhale deeply, feeling the cool air fill my lungs as I concentrate with all my might. Usually magic comes easily to me, but right now it feels as if I’m trying to drag a boulder through water. My muscles protest with a dull throb, and my eyes sting from the strain.