Page 31 of Tempting Triton (Mated Myths #2)

Elena

I spend the next three days anxiously practicing blowing through a conch shell that Ichó found for me, to absolutely no success, while Triton does who knows what, disappearing for hours at a time and only returning late in the evening to woo me with his mouth and cock before drifting off to sleep.

If he wasn’t so good at dicking me down, I’d be annoyed.

But he’s so well practiced at getting me off that it’s almost second nature.

I growl, frustrated, throwing the useless conch shell, which doesn’t have the desired effect of hitting anything, but bobbing in the water before slowly drifting to the seabed instead.

I can’t get the stupid thing to make any noise, and my face hurts from trying.

My cheeks ache and a headache is forming behind my eyes from the pressure of trying to blow through the damned thing .

It’s the final hour. Time has run out, and so has any hope I had of sealing this bond.

I wring my hands. If I can’t get the conch around Triton’s neck to sound, then we are doomed to be apart.

I refuse to let Triton give me any more of his essence at the risk to himself.

What if he gave and gave and then just dropped dead because we have no way of measuring the remainder of his essence?

It’s not a risk I’m willing to take. I’ll spend eternity on shore pining for him if it means he gets to live.

I shoot the practice conch shell a glare, leaving it where it rests half buried in the sand, and dejectedly head back to the castle to prepare for this evening’s ceremony.

A heavy pit opens in my stomach, and I feel queasy.

Triton has spent the last three days working on the ceremony, but what that means, I don’t know.

I guess I’ll find out soon. I just hope there won’t be any others to witness my failure.

It will be hard enough to bear with only Triton’s disappointment to face.

The castle is quiet, quieter than usual since our guests moved in.

I trail upwards to our bedroom, pushing open the timber door to find the slowly darkening room lit with glowing glass baubles strung up with old fishing net, casting the room in dancing shadows.

The floor and clamshell are littered with the white petals of a flower I’ve seen along the coastline of the island. How did he get those?

“Wha—” Frozen in the doorway, I look around in wonder, mesmerized by the romantic picture.

Triton did all this for me. My eyes sting, and I wipe them hurriedly.

Stepping into the room, I spy a bundle of material nestled on the bed.

I pick it up and it unravels to reveal a dark green dress that looks as if it has been crocheted together with old fishing nets.

I assume Triton made it himself, and despite it not being the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, I still have to blink away tears that he made it just for me.

That he put thought and effort into creating something special to wear on the evening that determines the rest of our lives together.

My throat feels tight, and I swallow down a sob.

Stripping out of my exercise gear, I slip the dress over my head.

The green material floats around my shins, the netting artfully knitted together to cover the intimate areas of my body.

It’s a relief to be free of the tight material of my shorts and sports bra.

The dress is so light and flowy around me that I feel like a mystical sea goddess as I test it out in a twirl.

I sit on the bed, pulling my hair from its ponytail to let it fan out around me, drifting in the ebb and flow of the lazy current. I tilt my head back, finding a glass bauble to focus on as my eyes blur with unshed tears.

“Fates, if you’re listening, please don’t let me fuck this up,” I whisper into the ether. To be so close to having the only two things I could want, it would be a cruel twist to fail at sealing the bond.

Ichó appears at the door, ready to escort me to wherever Triton has set us up to perform the final steps, and it feels like a wedding march—Ichó as my escort, in place of where my father would stand.

I pause, causing Ichó to halt beside me.

Turning to him, I place my hand on his side.

I don’t know what I can say or how I can say enough to express my gratitude to Ichó.

For keeping Triton alive all those years ago, and raising him to be a good male.

For being here with me when my parents cannot be, even if we weren’t trapped within the confines of Aeolia’s protective barrier.

“Thank you, Ichó.” It’s not much, but I channel all those thoughts and feelings into those three simple words and hope that he understands how grateful I am.

Clicking, he nudges me onwards, and we continue outside the castle, towards the reef.

Ichó drops me off at a naturally made tunnel of sorts.

Coral twists over an archway made of rock in the reef, the inside glowing with the same light-filled buoys that were in our room, guiding my way deeper inside.

I take one last look at Ichó, twisting my bottom lip between my teeth before he disappears from view.

I’m relieved to see the new Mer aren’t tagging along for this one, easing some of my nerves.

The moonlight above filters through the water and between the open spaces of the corals, dappled light streaking across the shadows the buoys fail to illuminate.

It’s magical and otherworldly, and I feel as if I’m a princess in a magical realm of a fairytale.

I snort to myself. What is Aeolia if not a magical realm hidden away from the real world?

“Elena?” Triton’s voice echoes out from an opening ahead, the coral and rock melding together to create a hidden cavern that opens up in the center, letting the moonlight filter in unobstructed.

A bright shaft highlights Triton in the middle, his golden hair sparkling as it floats around his head.

I gasp at the sight of my mate. Triton looks every bit a mythical merman as his scales and tail flash in the silvery light. My mate. All mine.

“Come, my mate.” He holds his hand out for me, waving me forward, out of the shadows of the tunnel .

I swallow thickly, a lump stuck in my throat. I can do this. Steeling my nerves, I swim to him, placing my hand in his as he pulls me in close. His eyes sparkle with joy as he grins down at me. “You look divine, my Elena.”

“Thank you for the dress.” I blush.

He nods in return. “Are you ready?”.

I let out a shuddering breath. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

He slips the conch shell from around his neck and over his head, the thing seeming tiny in his large hand, before placing it over mine.

It drifts to thump against my chest lightly.

My hands shake as I trace the smooth and bumpy surface of the shell, lifting it to my mouth.

I hesitate, eyes flicking between Triton’s.

“What if—?”

Triton cuts off my worries, grabbing my hands with a squeeze.

“My Elena. My mate.” He tilts my chin up, ensuring I’m looking at him as he speaks.

“I do not doubt that you were made for me, and I for you. I have waited a thousand years for you, and I will not let you go now. I will follow you wherever you may land because you carry my whole heart. You are the other half of my being. I believe in you. I believe in us. ”

I believe in us, too. I hold Triton’s loving gaze, mentally cross my fingers and toes, and blow.