Page 21

Chapter twenty-one

T he sound of water in the distance tormented Thessa as they made their way through the tangled mangroves and climbing lianas. The heart of the island was maddening close, but the thick undergrowth cut them up into ribbons.

What should take a matter of minutes was becoming impossible. Thessa studied the corded muscles of Raggon’s forearms flexing with each swing, a thin sheen of sweat making his sun-bronzed skin gleam in the filtered light. He occasionally paused to examine broken twigs or disturbed earth, searching for any sign of their pursuers.

Thessa took advantage of the unplanned rest to catch her breath, her own arm aching from clearing the pathway of debris. The silk banyan had become unbearably hot, but she couldn’t bring herself to abandon it—the oversized linen shirt hardly covered her. She rested her fists against her hips. “Any sign of Circe?”

Raggon turned, his blue eyes striking against the backdrop of green. “No, no sign of her.”

Then why had they stopped?

A sudden crash in the undergrowth sent them diving for cover. He pulled her down behind a fallen log, throwing himself between her and this new danger. They crouched motionless, barely breathing. A snorting creature waddled through the clearing with sharp tusks and a round belly.

Her hand dug into Raggon’s arm at the horrific beast, recognizing it as the same beast displayed on Circe’s flag.

“Wild boar,” he muttered. His grip tightened on the jagged piece of shell. Thessa clutched at him, not sure how the makeshift weapon would fare going up against that thick bristled hide. Fortunately, for man and beast, the boar tottered further into the brush and away from their blundering hands. Her head sank against Raggon’s back.

This world was still too new and unfamiliar.

He made a sympathetic sound and ran his fingers through her hair. “You got this?”

“Yeah.” It came out too breathless.

“You’re doing great. I mean, if I had to face the ocean like you’re facing the jungle…?”

She burst into a laugh at his attempt to make her feel like she was some Amazon warrior. “You can quit trying to spare my feel—”

A roar sounded behind them. A heavy body crashed through the underbrush, followed by something heavy colliding into them with brutal force. The boar had returned! Its shoulder caught Raggon in the thigh, sending him sprawling against a gnarled root. Thessa screamed, seeing its tusks rake across his back, tearing the remains of his shirt and leaving crimson trails in their wake. Raggon shouted out, slashing the creature’s snout with his shell blade.

“Raggon!” Thessa scrambled forward to help, her ankle twisting beneath her. Pain lanced up her leg as she fell. Crying out, she twisted to find any weapon. Her fingers closed around a fallen kapok branch. She wielded it like a whip, the wood connecting with a satisfying crack against the boar’s haunches. The beast squealed in rage, wheeling toward the new threat.

Raggon lunged for its hindquarters, trying to draw its attention. “Hey!” he shouted, voice ragged with exertion. The boar pawed the ground, preparing for another charge, this time for Thessa. She scrambled painfully to her feet. The boar lowered its head, tusks already stained with Raggon’s blood.

A loud ominous flap of leathery wings displaced the air around them. The powerful wind sent her back to her knees, just as a shadow fell over them. The canopy above them exploded inward as something massive descended—a blur of obsidian scales and ruby undertones. Tree limbs snapped like kindling as Raggon was thrown backward by the downdraft. His body slammed against a kapok trunk with enough force to rattle its branches.

The boar squealed mid-charge as it was lifted skyward, seized by enormous talons. The dragon’s wingspan blotted out the sun momentarily, its eel-like neck arched in triumph at its new catch.

Tobias! He’d saved them!

Thessa shot to her feet, ignoring the throbbing protest from her ankle as she hobbled toward Raggon. Was he okay? Each step sent jolts of fire through her leg, but nothing would keep her back.

He stared up at the disappearing form of his brother. “I think… we have… a friend.” His gaze shifted to her halting approach, and his eyes widened. “Are… you hurt?” He tried to sit up hurriedly, then doubled over with a groan.

“ You’re the one who’s hurt!” she accused.

“No, just… Tobias knocked the… breath out of me. I’ll be… fine!” he grunted out, one hand pressed against his ribs as he struggled to steady his breathing, though his gaze remained fixed on the gap in the trees that his brother had flattened. Sunlight streamed through the newly created opening, illuminating a path through the dense vegetation. The crash of water was louder now.

Thessa knelt beside him, one hand gently supporting his back. “Can you stand?” She offered her shoulder as leverage.

“No, you’re not helping me!” he argued. “Let me see to your ankle.” Using her shoulder to get to his knees, he examined the throbbing skin, thumbs pressing carefully around the joint. “Not broken, but we should rest it.” He braced one hand against the ground and rose with the steady resilience of a man accustomed to finding his balance on storm-tossed decks.

“We don’t have time for—” Her protest died as he swept her up and into his arms in one fluid motion, his calloused fingers slipping beneath the damp silk of her banyan. She was horrified, staring at the bruise darkening across his shoulder where his shirt was torn away. “After what you’ve been through?”

“I’ll rub some dirt in it.” He adjusted her weight against his chest. “Put your arms around my neck.”

“Don’t even think about it!” she argued, acutely aware of the strong, steady beat of his heart against her side. Their faces were inches apart, and for a moment, the hunt for Undine’s Blade, the danger that surrounded them—all faded to insignificance as they broke through a final curtain of vines.

There, amidst the melodic trilling of unseen and foreign birds, a hidden paradise awaited them. A waterfall cascaded down a stone face, splashing into a pool so clear they could see the sandy bottom. The water sparkled like scattered pearls where shafts of sunlight penetrated the emerald cathedral of broad banana leaves and flowering orchids.

“Thank you, Tobias, for clearing the way to sanctuary,” Raggon murmured. He carefully set Thessa down on a flat rock at the pool’s edge. “Soak that ankle. I promise cool water helps!”

Sighing in relief, she sank her toes into the crystal water and jumped in surprise—it was colder than the sun-warmed shallows she expected! The sheltered lagoon was protected by the dense mangrove canopy that blocked the tropical sun’s heat, and still the refreshing waters were better this way. The aches and pains from their harrowing escape drained from her as she soaked in this hidden oasis. The clearing was enclosed by towering trees and dense foliage, creating a refuge that felt worlds away from Circe’s threats.

They’d reached the Hallowed Currents! At least this was what she imagined heaven must look!

Raggon knelt by the pool, cupping his hands to drink deeply. The sunlight filtering through the lush shelter of leaves turned the pool a mesmerizing shade of turquoise that glowed from within. She noticed Raggon splashing water over his face and neck. Droplets clung to his eyelashes as he looked up at the massive rock formation above the waterfall, where natural arches overlapped on either side in semicircular loops, broken at the center.

Thessa rubbed at her tender ankle, noticing the man was covered in blood. “How are you still standing?”

“I won’t be for long.” He peeled off the blood-stained fabric clinging to the sculpted terrain of his back, revealing more of those angry red welts. Her breath caught in dismay. Without hesitation, he dove into the pool, cutting through the water with the same powerful grace that she’d only known from her own kind.

He surfaced with a shake of his head that sent droplets flying from his black hair, before swimming to where she sat. He grinned up at her, running a thumb across her knee, and sending a delicious shiver up her spine. “If not for these legs, I’d think you were a mermaid sunning on that rock.”

An appreciative chuckle tickled her throat as he reached for her waist this time. He rose up from the water, rivulets streaming from his bruised shoulders onto her skin. Her legs jerked involuntarily. “So cold!”

“What? A mermaid who doesn’t like the water?”

Despite her worry, another giggle escaped her throat. “I didn’t say that.”

“Good.” Immediately, he tugged her into the lagoon with him. She gasped as the refreshing water’s coolness embraced her. The momentary shock quickly melted into relief as Raggon’s arms encircled her waist, his heat radiating to her through the waterlogged silk of her banyan. It billowed around her like exotic seaweed. His fingers tangled in the fabric, and he used it to pull her nearer until his lips found hers, gentle at first, then with growing hunger that sent more warmth spiraling through her.

“Do you miss this…” his eyes turned serious on her, leaving her even more breathless, “the water, I mean?”

She did, but she was falling in love with this world too—or maybe it was with one man in particular? Her hands spread out behind her, and she kicked, her legs tangling playfully with his, the banyan flowing around them like a living thing, binding them together. “I never left the sea.”

He stilled at her playful movement, his gaze darkening on hers before he quickly gathered her against him, one hand splayed across the small of her back while the other caught in her hair. His kiss was like a soft lullaby, gentle, his lips savoring her like the life-giving water all around them.

Yes, he’d sufficiently warmed her up now!

The water felt like a reunion with a long-lost friend, as he guided her beneath the waterfall. A deafening roar engulfed them in a blast of frigid water, flattening her long red hair against her back and shoulders.

She clung to him under the waterfall, burying her face against the rough stubble of his jaw, cherishing his solidity amid the torrential force as they emerged on the other side of the rushing waters into blessed calm. Her silk tunic was plastered to her like a second skin. “You—you bilge-rat!” She barely got the words out through her shrieks and laughter. “You did that on purpose!”

His fingers tightened possessively over her waist. “Did we break Scylla’s curse with a kiss?” A playful curve pushed up his lips as he asked the ridiculous. “Does this mean you’ll be human forever?”

Love was how Undine’s deal with Scylla was supposed to end—if her prince had only returned her love and married her, although Thessa’s destiny had a more sinister twist. And with Circe sniffing them out like a relentless dog, it wasn’t hard to figure out who the blade was meant for. Already fate seemed to be on her side, and it wasn’t very nice.

She tried to forget all of that in Raggon’s smile, with his wild grace, with the eyes that held the sea itself. “You’re going to have to try harder than that to break the curse,” she said.

And yes, she’d meant that as a challenge.

Without hesitation, he answered it, claiming her mouth with a fervor that stole her breath and made her forget whether she was creature of land or sea. His hands cradled her face with reverent tenderness even as his lips demanded her heart.

Ah, tides take her! He’d left her breathless. She clung to his shoulders to keep her balance, but seeing her dilemma to keep both feet on the sand, Raggon tickled her under the ribs, and she twisted away with a giggle, her face tilting up to the palm-framed sky. The arches on the waterfall above them were unusual shapes. From here, woven together they looked like… “a heart!” she murmured.

Raggon’s shoulders stiffened. His head tilted back. “Undine’s Blade,” he whispered in shock. It was within their reach.

A shiver of fear ran through her, despite the safety of his embrace. The providences had truly led them here, and none of it possible without the witches’ dark aid. There was only one way to return the dagger to her father’s trident—fulfill Undine’s curse and kill her enemy with it. And then what? Would she become a mermaid again and lose Raggon forever? That brief happiness bubbling through her senses turned heavy and sank to her toes.

She never thought that she’d want to stay human when she’d made her bargain. Perhaps, this was what Scylla was counting on all along.