Page 54 of Of Rime and Ruin (Sirens of Adria #2)

Chapter fifty-one

Nahla

This is my chance to run. Finally, I can accomplish what I left the Brine to do.

I can chase my dreams into the unknown sea.

Go where no siren has ventured, do what no merfolk has done, and be somebody important.

It’s what I’ve always wanted, but when given the choice at last, my feet grow numb and heavy.

Why do I feel so sick?

Aethan walks me to the shore in somber silence. We stop on the rocky beach and stare out over the churning water, watching the ice floes bob beneath a slivered moon in the aethersky. He takes my hand, swallowing mine with his palm.

“Is this okay?” He breaks the quiet with a gravelly whisper, lacing our fingers. “I’ve always wanted to do this. Figured I’d take the chance while I still can.”

I glance at our hands, an ache building in my chest. It feels nice, holding his hand. So simple, yet so sweet. “Yes, that’s fine.”

“Good.”

Tidewater washes over the stones, reaching our feet.

I’ve spoiled the mood. One minute, Aethan was lapping at my clit, and the next I’m dropping a bomb on him and blowing the whole evening apart.

When I asked him to break his final rule, I didn’t mean I wanted to leave the Rime now .

I thought I’d stay a while longer and have time to say my goodbyes.

Finish some of those books he so chivalrously picked out for me.

But then he nodded, so sure of himself, and led me away. To the edge of the Rime.

Have I ruined everything? Does he want me to leave that badly?

He tightens his grip on my hand, tight enough I’d have to chew my arm if I wanted to be free.

Maybe not, then.

“Aethan, I’m sorry,” I start. “I didn’t mean right now , but if you want me to go, I will.”

He blows out the air from his cheeks, turning to peer at me. He wears a sheepish smile. Snow falls around his face, sticking in his hair and eyelashes. “Really?” he says.

Godsdammit, he’s like an overgrown cuddlefish, way too cute for his own good.

“Really.” With my free hand, I reach for his cheek. Trace his sharp cheekbone with my thumb. A snowflake melts. “I just wanted to be equal with you. That’s all. I’m not ready to go yet.”

“That’s all?” His brow furrows, and he drops my hand to clutch my face between his palms. “Is that what this is about? You think I’ve kept you here as part of some sick power play?”

I nod, cheeks squished between his hands.

“Dammit, Nahla. I’m an asshole, but I’m not that heartless.

” He presses a kiss to my forehead. “Don’t you see what you’ve done to me?

” A kiss to my cheek. “What you do to me every time you enter the fucking room? I can no longer exist without you.” To my nose.

“I have never known peace like I do when I’m held in your gaze.

” My chin. “You’ve upended me, completely, entirely, and I am nothing without you close.

” Lips. “You’ve been inside my head, Sunfish.

I thought you already knew how much I love you. ”

I’ve never heard anything so fucking beautiful in my life. Aethan, the grumpy, temperamental, ravenously loyal king—he loves me.

Me.

I surge onto my tiptoes and kiss him. His mouth envelops my whimpering sobs, and his hands slide into my hair.

He tastes like peppermint snow, cold and delicious.

Perfect in every way. With a gasp, he pulls me impossibly closer.

I thrill at the joy of our kiss, at the truth of his proclamation.

He loves me, and my heart will sing his praise until the day I dissolve.

The tide washes over my bare feet, cool and crisp. Something bumps into my leg. Driftwood, probably.

Clinging more tightly to Aethan’s face, I ignore the driftwood. More. More. I need more.

The driftwood bumps me again, cold and soft.

I glance down to find a stiffened siren face floating in the water, frostbite speckled across graying skin, jaw frozen in a permanent scream.

Hair spreads in the currents like glacierweed.

His eyes are white glass, unseeing, as he bumps against my leg.

It’s Orson, the young hunter who joined me in the snowball fight against the king.

Dead.

I scream.

Aethan scoops me into his arms in an instant.

I can hear his rapid heartbeat through his shirt, where my ear rests as he runs.

The world has a hollow sound, echoing as though from a distance.

The rush of water. Clacking stones beneath his feet.

My scream, ringing in my ears as if it belongs to someone else.

The hunter is dead.

I just saw him last week, on the hunt. He was hooting excitedly as the woollygoat charged, as his arrow made its skillful mark.

Dead.

How can he be dead?

Aethan’s chest vibrates, turning cold beneath my touch. Before my eyes, I watch the blue scales crawl over his chest and up his arms. His fingers turn to claws, digging into my flesh.

He sets me on the ground near the gate and bends down to look me in the eye. His claw brushes beneath my chin, tilting my face. Dark blue eyes. Sharp teeth. Horns sprout through his hairline, spiraling toward the sky. “Stay,” he growls. “I will fix this.”

As he turns, charging toward the sea, long quills burst out of his spine and shred his shirt. The moment his feet touch the water, he howls. His head snaps back, his body expands to twice his size, and his tail slithers out.

The clawbeast hunches over Orson’s dead body, grasping at it with panicked hands. But his claws only make it worse. Fresh blood washes into the Rime. His fear crashes over me—Aethan is drowning in it.

Shit.

“Help!” I screech. There’s gotta be a guard around here. Someone who can figure out what’s going on, why this happened. “Someone help!”

The gate flies open on shrieking hinges. Guards hurry onto the shore, stopping short when they see Aethan.

The clawbeast looks up. The guards raise their weapons, point them at their king. His face falls.

No. Not him. Can’t they see the dead hunter in Aethan’s arms?

“Beast!” They charge instantly, battle cries rising.

“No!” I scream, but my voice is lost on the wind. I scrabble for stones and lob them toward the guards, to get their attention. What the fuck are they doing, charging their king?

Aethan turns to face them, seething. A guard stabs him in the side, and he howls, dropping the body to clutch the wound. He swipes his paw, knocking the guard into the air. The guard lands with a sickening crunch and moans.

Emboldened, I run down the beach. Tears sting in my eyes and freeze in the wind. “Don’t hurt him!”

One guard turns, finally noticing me. His face is stern, reprimanding. “You shouldn’t be here,” he says. “Get back inside, Your Highness. We’ll deal with him.”

“But—”

He wraps his arm around my waist, dragging me back the way I came. “You don’t want to see this.”

“Let me go! You don’t understand. He’s not an animal, he’s your king!”

The guard hesitates. “What?”

Aethan roars. Water splashes. Stones rattle. I glance behind me in time to see him charge. With outstretched claws, he rips the guard away from me and pins him to the stones, snarling. Drool dangles from his pointy teeth. The skin on his face shifts, patches of white peeking through.

His emotions slam into me: jealousy. Anger. Hate. For a moment, he locks his gaze on mine, and I hear his voice ring in my head: No one touches you, Sunfish. Are you hurt?

I shake my head. This has all gone terribly wrong.

He will pay, all the same, he says.

The Beast lifts his paw, claws glinting wet, and aims for the guard’s face. Before I can stop him, before I can scream, a burst of golden light flashes across the shore. Glowing tendrils wrap around the Beast’s body, wrenching him away from the pinned guard.

Aethan writhes in the magical grip, but he can’t break free. The light plunges beneath his skin and weaves until it grasps every inch of him. He’s dragged through the stones. Feet kicking. Snarling. I turn, following the line of light to its origin.

Lucas stands in the open gate, hands outstretched, singing. His eyes illuminate with matching golden light.

Relief hits me like a punch in the gut. Finally, someone who can help. Lucas will guide Aethan through this and calm him down enough to function again. He will heal the guards, attend to the dead.

“There’s a dead body down there, Lucas. And a wounded guard. Can you do something?”

The healer swivels his gaze to me, and he smirks. “If you’re going to leave, Princess, now’s the time to do it.”

Aethan scrambles in the grip of Lucas’s magic, collapsing at the healer’s feet. Lucas frowns at him. “My, my,” he says. “You can imagine my disappointment when you didn’t show up to our session tonight, Your Majesty. Pity. You could have prevented this.”

Then he raises his fist and knocks the king out cold.