Page 34 of Fate of Echoes and Embers (Heirs of Elydor #3)

MAREK

Perhaps, after facing down death once today, I should not take us ashore.

But as a navigator, I simply had to know more.

What was this place? I had sailed the whole of Elydor, many times, and was certain this was not any of the islands off its coast. For starters, the air was different here, thick with an unspoken magic I couldn’t quite place.

“Do you sense anything?”

I could already tell she did.

“Aye. But it’s…”

“Different than usual?”

Issa nodded.

Despite assuring me she was fine, I could tell she was anything but.

Remembering my first violent storm, and magnifying that to account for her humanness, in addition to the Depths being much more than any ordinary storm, and I could empathize.

Going back through the Maelstrom Depths was not an option. Not one that I relished, at least.

I love you.

We hadn’t discussed it yet. Or the fact that Issa had put her life at risk to help me. There was no doubt, without her, had I fetched the Crystal alone, I would not have made it out alive.

“I feel it too,” I said, looking back at the map. “There are no markings, no maps that account for this stretch of land. Take the wheel?”

Issa slid seamlessly to it as I descended to the lower deck. “Where to?” she called.

I pointed to the shore, realizing belatedly Issa had never docked this way. Popping my head back up, I grinned. “Just keep her steady forward. I’ll do the rest.”

“But—”

With a wink, I positioned myself toward the shore, its sandy coastline clear of any rocks, and waited until we neared.

As we did, I lifted my arms and pulled on the calm water beneath the surface, coaxing it forth.

Mist thickened around me, eventually solidifying.

With a sharp crack, the mist condensed, water freezing beneath its weight.

Ice formed in jagged, uneven patches which I smoothed, stretching outward toward us.

A dock. Not perfect, but it would do.

I rejoined Issa, who was staring wide-eyed at me. “I’ve never seen… that is… you made a dock of ice.”

“I did. Would you like to learn how to bring us in? There are no other ships”—I waved my arms—“to concern ourselves with.”

“Uh…” Issa was staring at my dock. Though I pretended it was of little significance, that particular piece of magic was tricky. I knew few, and only one who was of a similar age as myself—Nerys—who could manage it. “Aye,” she said finally.

Taking the excuse to stand behind her, I guided Issa and Tidechaser to shore. Forgetting, apparently, that she’d worried earlier about what we might find on this particular stretch of undiscovered land, Issa raced down to inspect my ice dock.

Pleased she enjoyed it, pleased to be alive… I joined her, carefully leading us ashore.

“There,” she said, pointing to a rocky ridge close by. “If we climb it, perhaps we can see more.”

I’d been thinking the same. From the ship, we could see the island wasn’t mountainous. It was rocky, though, similar to Gyorian’s terrain. But its trees were more like the ones in Thalassari, not surprising since the climate was as temperate here as my home.

“What do you see?” I asked her, Issa in front of me, just in case she slipped. It was steep, made more so by the fact that Issa must have been exhausted after our ordeal.

“Nothing. No homes. No people. No animals that I can see.”

She was right. It was sparse, though much larger than I first assumed. An unmarked, abandoned island. Nothing more.

As we made our way back, I looked for food, berries maybe, but there was nothing to be found. We couldn’t stay here for long.

“We will rest,” I said. “And then start back. There is nothing here in the way of sustenance. Thankfully, we have plenty of fresh water aboard and some provisions.”

“Marek?”

We’d nearly reached Tidechaser .

“Issa?”

“How are we getting back?”

A fine question. We stopped before reaching the dock. Both Issa and I were soaked still. As the waves lapped gently in front of us, I pulled Issa into me.

“I will find a way that isn’t through the Depths.”

Her relief was immediate. She sagged against me and began to shake. It was the after-effects of what we’d been through, now that the danger had passed and the island proved not to be a threat. I held her, an idea forming.

“We’ll take off our clothes?—”

“Marek,” she scolded, pushing off my chest.

I laughed. “And lay them out to dry. Would you prefer to sail home like this or in dry clothing? Besides, I would prefer to navigate at first light.”

“We will remain docked tonight?”

“Aye,” I said. “And return home at sunrise.”

“Home,” she murmured.

Issa longed to return to Hawthorne. I cupped her cheek, wanting to hear the words again, but knowing it would be more difficult to leave if I did.

“I meant what I said back there.” I nodded toward the open sea. “I love you, Issa. I’ve always loved you. It’s the true reason I left the way I did. Loving a human…” My words were not coming out as I intended.

“I know,” she said. “I figured it out, the night you were having the dream, I think.”

“You know?” I teased. “That is all you have to say?”

“That and… I meant it too. I love you, Marek. And if you think loving a human is difficult, try loving a Thalassari smuggler?—”

“Navarch.”

“Sure.”

I kissed her.

We were alive, and so I kissed her, our lips melding together more familiarly now.

It was a kiss of longing, but of joy and relief too.

It quickly spiraled, though, into something more.

I couldn’t remove her clothing quickly enough, and Issa evidently felt the same.

She tugged on the clasp of my leather belt, and I was all too happy to accommodate.

Pulling away, I released it, placing it carefully on the sand.

“There is something in there,” I teased as Issa tugged off her boots, “we would do well not to lose.”

As I pulled off my own, Issa paused. She might have let me pleasure her, twice, but Issa was still innocent. She was embarrassed.

“Take off your clothing,” I said, turning around. “And lay it on the sand. I will join you in the water.”

I turned, and waited. Heart pounding, as if I’d never been with a woman before, I stopped thinking about what this meant. How much of herself Issa would be willing to give me, knowing I wanted all of her. Body, heart, soul. I wanted to sail Elydor with her by my side.

She is human.

Issa will never leave Hawthorne Manor.

“Marek… I…”

The sound of water splashing punctuated the steady flow of the tide. I pulled off my shirt. The hesitancy in her voice… She was scared. I never undressed so fast in all my days.

Turning to face her, Issa submerged now to her shoulders, I strode toward the water, relishing in her expression. If Issa liked what she saw, her admiration was only a fraction of my own for her.

“You took out your braid.”

“You… are quite nude.”

Laughing, I reached for her, and there was no turning back. Our bodies pressed against each other, my hands roaming downward as the warm, gentle waves rose and fell around us. As my hands covered her breasts, I flicked my thumbs against her nipples, Issa pressing deliciously against my hands.

As our tongues tangled and Issa’s own hands explored, I encouraged them to roam, to learn my body as I was learning hers. When she pulled from our kiss, and looked down between us, the blue-green water crystal clear, I couldn’t resist a small chuckle.

I laid my hands on her shoulders, waiting until she looked at me.

“Talk to me, sereia. Tell me what you want.”

“I want you,” she said simply. “I’ve saved myself for a stranger, and for what reason? Draven threatens to take Hawthorne?—”

“He will not have it, Issa. I promise you.”

“I want you to be my first, Marek.”

First, and last. But that discussion could come later.

“You are certain?”

“As certain as I was”—she shivered, nodding to the sea—“out there.”

The full weight of what Issa had done, what she’d been willing to sacrifice, washed over me.

I pulled her close once again, kissing her with all that I was.

Reaching between us, I caressed her breasts, her stomach, her outer thigh, and then moved inward.

Memorizing every curve, I finally reached my goal.

Slipping a finger, and then two, inside, I couldn’t resist a smile.

“Already so wet for me,” I murmured against her lips.

“Mmm, I like how that feels.”

“Do you?” I winked since it seemed to bring a smile to her face every time. And I loved it when Issa smiled.

“Aye, I do.”

“Issa,” I said, when I thought she was ready. “This will hurt, but not for long.”

“I know,” she said. “I’m ready.”

What a gift she was giving me. Spreading my legs apart and positioning myself between her, I prayed for her not to experience too much pain.

I wasn’t in the habit of bedding virgins, but knew all too well the first time was not always a pleasurable experience.

Vowing to ensure the opposite were true, I entered her slowly.

Her eyes widened as she held onto my shoulders. The sea lapped against our bodies as I relied on years of restraint not to move too quickly. She was so tight, and the sight of her… Was this truly happening?

“Issa,” I ground out, prepared to withdraw. “This would be the time to change your mind if you wish it. In a moment, you’ll no longer be a virgin.”

No longer able to give that gift to any other man.

Control, Marek.

“I am certain.”

Without giving her time to think, to worry about the pain, I thrusted deep, tearing open Issa’s maidenhead and burying myself deep within her.

Kissing her, a distraction I hoped would ease the sting, I did not dare to move.

But when Issa pressed against me, I said, “Straddle me and hold on,” lifting under both buttocks as Issa did as I’d said.

Mimicking with my tongue our movements below the water, I held onto the thinnest threads of control, the feeling of being buried deep inside her as I moved her against me… her moan of pleasure was nearly my undoing.

Faster and faster, I thrusted into her, the pace well beyond normal now.

Nothing about this was like any other coupling.

Determined for Issa to find release, I pressed and circled against her, unable to reach between us with my hands.

She was not shy about reciprocating, and soon our pace was almost as frantic as Tidechaser being bounced around in the Depths.

Faster and faster, we moved in the same perfect rhythm as the tides. Water splashing, our bodies grinding together, we were one. Finally. Irrevocably. Issa was mine.

“Marek,” she gasped, her head falling back as she held on. I continued to circle and thrust, willing her to let go.

“Go ahead, sereia . Scream as loud as you want. Release all of yourself.”

She did.

Calling my name, Issa’s entire body shuddered as I buried myself deep, releasing all of me into her. Deep, unabiding, complete.

I couldn’t hold onto her tight enough, her backside shaking beneath my hands as I attempted to catch my breath. It was as if we were being pulled under, unwittingly surrendering to a force greater than ourselves.

Holding each other’s gaze, Issa and I remained that way for so long, I wondered how my arms weren’t tired, especially after the exertion at the Depths.

“I could hold you like this forever,” I said, kissing her again and again.

“I would like that, I think.”

It was enough, for now. Certainly not a plan, but confirmation that, she too did not see this as a passing fancy. As a way to release all that had built up between us as we fought for our lives today.

Tomorrow was uncertain, especially given our present circumstance and the Maelstrom Depths separating us and the Gyorian coast.

But for this moment, at least, we had each other.

And it was enough.