At the time, Leo had been happy for them both, but he couldn’t grasp what they were feeling. That was, until now. Until Eina. His heart ached at the very thought of her name.
“Is she here?” He glanced out over the water. “Is Eina here?”
His heart hadn’t allowed him to hope before now, but as he gazed into the dark waters, he wished for one small glimpse of her. One last thing to take with him.
“You will not find Eina here.” Loriella flipped her red scaly tail and made a small splash. Sadness washed over her face. “She has left the colony.”
Leo took a step toward her. All his hopes shattered inside his chest, feeling like jagged pieces of glass up and down his esophagus. “Why? What happened?”
“She was offered the ambassador position at the castle, but she decided instead that she would be better served by journeying to our secret kingdom of Atlantis. She is a lost fish, swimming without a school.” Loriella gave him a sad smile. “I’ve never seen her like this in the near thirty years since her hatching. She always was a quiet one. But this was disconcerting.”
“This is all my fault.” He raked a hand through his hair and fought back the overwhelming feeling of shame that threatened to consume him. “She left because of me.”
He should’ve talked to her. Should’ve told her why they couldn’t be together. Instead, he’d given into his selfish desires to make a clean break. To skip over the hard conversations. As a result, he’d driven her away from her home and from a job that would’ve allowed her to fulfill her dreams of affecting the world. If he hadn’t been so stupid, he could’ve seen that. For once in his life, he’d tried to do the right thing and in the end still screwed it up.
“Prince Leo,” Loriella said in a low voice, her eyebrows raising. “Eina might have had many reasons for leaving. I believe she said she was trying to find herself. However, I believe that she would be happy to know that you fought for her and her people. You are a good friend.”
That explanation didn’t seem to ease any of his guilt. He still had a feeling that his abandonment of Eina had played a part in her leaving. And not a single two-legged creature knew the location of Atlantis. It was a secret mermaids guarded with their lives. Even if he chased after her, he’d never see her again.
It was all over.
“She may be right, brother,” Viktor said, laying a hand on his shoulder. “Listen to Loriella.”
She bowed her head the slightest. “Forgive me if that was impertinent, but I could not hold my tongue.”
He gave a bitter laugh and shook his head at the leader of the mermaids. “You laid me flat on my back and threatened my life with a sharpened sea shell and now you’re worried about being impertinent?”
The left side of her mouth twitched in a small grin and she shrugged. “I did what I had to in the moment. But I never intended to actually hurt you. It’s a rough sea out there. A mermaid has to play the part if she wants to swim with the sharks.”
“I would’ve paid money to see that,” Viktor said with a deep chuckle. “A mermaid taking out an ancient vampire? Who would’ve thought?”
“Oh, it’s not as hard as it looks,” called a soft voice in the distance. “He isn’t so tough.”
Leo squinted into the darkness. Even his sharp vampire eyes had trouble spotting the owner of the voice. A figure came walking down the shoreline, swaying her hips gently like the waves of the sea. As she came into focus, Leo felt his tongue go numb and his body tense. Maybe he was dreaming, but he would’ve bet every dollar he owned on the fact that it was Eina coming his way.
“Eina,” he whispered.
His undead heart threatened to burst from his chest. She resembled Aphrodite rising from the sea in most every way. There was a fierceness in her gaze that made him quake with desire.
“Hello, Leo,” she said, coming to a stop only a few feet away. She placed a hand on her hip and fixed him with a serious frown. “We need to talk.”
Chapter Seventeen
Eina’s knees trembled beneath the weight of Leo’s heavy gaze. She hadn’t expected to find him here. If anything, she figured he’d be off at another poker match, getting into trouble once again. But here he was, in the middle of a political meeting, fighting for her people.
“Eina...” He took a hesitant step toward her.
“Stop.” She held up her hand and looked around at the few dozen people watching their little showdown. This wasn’t how she wanted to do this. If she was going to tell Leo exactly how she felt, it couldn’t be in front of strangers. “Not here.”
He rubbed a hand across his chest and grimaced. “Would a walk across the grounds suffice?”
“Yes, but there’s one thing I need to do before we go.” Turning toward Loriella, she took a deep breath and squeezed her hands into fists. “I’m sorry if this seems sudden, but I’ve changed my mind. If the position is still open, I’d like to accept.”
A satisfied grin played on the ancient mermaid’s lips. “Of course it is, and we’re honored that you would accept.”
“Thank you, Loriella.” Eina bowed her head. “I hope to make you all proud.”
With that, she marched off onto the darkening grounds. Leo watched her go, seemingly at a loss of what to do. Viktor gave him a sharp nudge with his elbow and the vampire prince snapped to attention, hurrying after the mermaid.
Eina walked until they’d put at least a good quarter mile between them and the shoreline. The sparse forest had opened up into a grassy meadow. Moonlight from the inky black sky lit the field with a pleasant, romantic glow. The soft blades of grass reached nearly to her knees. She trudged through the meadow until they’d crested a small hill and she finally had the nerve to turn and face him.
“I’m not sure what your problem is, but this has got to stop.” Her face scrunched up into a grimace and she pointed a finger in his direction. “You’re not allowed to confuse me like this.”
Leo held up his hands and took a small step backwards. “Eina, I’m not trying to confuse you. I don’t think...”
“No.” She slashed her finger through the air. “You’ll get a turn to speak in a minute. First, I need to get this off my chest.”
He clamped his mouth shut and stared at her with a tiny bit of fear and humor dancing in his eyes.
Eina inhaled sharply, suddenly aware that she had the floor. All the points she’d been running over in her head were fast evaporating. She’d had a whole lecture laid out for him. A powerful one that would’ve left the prince of vampires a quivering, fearful mess.
But as she gazed into his amber eyes lit by the moonlight, all those things seemed unimportant. What was important was this man, standing right in front of her, and the tug of her heart telling her to confess her feelings now or forever live in regret.
“I’m not saying I deserve anything after the stunts I’ve pulled,” she started slowly, turning away from his intense gaze to pace back and forth through the grass, “but something happened between us. I’m not sure if it was when I made you help me rescue the shark or when I found you huddled beneath the wreckage of the storm, but something happened.”
He huffed and shook his head. “You didn’t force me to rescue the shark.”
“Quiet, please,” she snapped. “I’m not done.”
It was hard enough to make sense of all her thoughts without him opening his distractingly handsome mouth.
His lips pressed together in an amused grin and he made a zipping motion across his mouth.
“Thank you.” She stared at him for a long moment, her mind fuzzy. “Where was I?”
He arched his eyebrows, but didn’t make a sound.
“Oh yes.” Her thoughts returned to her and she began pacing once again. “Something happened. I fought against it, but there it was. This strange feeling I couldn’t erase from my heart. I wasn’t sure if you felt the same, but when you took me to meet with the ogres, you kissed me. And not that I have a lot of experience in that area, but it wasn’t just any kin
d of a kiss, was it?”
She glanced up at him to see his face contorted in a mixture of emotions. Sorrow and desire seemed to be at the forefront. Finally, he frowned and nodded his head in defeat.
“That’s what I thought.” She took a step closer to him. “Leo, I wanted to swim away to Atlantis to get away from all of this. To hide from what’s happened the last few days and from what happened between us. But somewhere along the way, I realized that it wasn’t the right solution. I needed to face my problems. No more shrinking in the back. No more hiding. No more silencing my own voice.”
A wolf howled in the distance and then three more answered it. Eina looked up at the moon, sure those were werewolves. There would’ve been a time not too long ago when she would’ve shivered in fright. But after what she’d learned in her time on Monstrana, she was no longer afraid. This was her new home. She felt safe.
“I’m taking the position of ambassador for my kingdom,” she said, fixing him with a firm glare. “It’s everything I’ve always wanted. I’ll be making a difference in the world and for my colony. But that also means I’m going to be living in the castle. Under your family’s roof.”
Her heart pattered loudly in her chest. She hadn’t planned on saying it aloud, but here she was, standing inches away from him. There was something about the way he stared at her, as if she were the most beautiful woman in the world. She had to tell him. She couldn’t be silent any longer.
“I want to be absolutely clear.” She took a small step closer until their bodies nearly touched. Looking up at him, she took a cleansing breath and willed her pulse to slow. “I’m taking this job whether you like it or not. But I want you there beside me every step of the way. Believe it or not, I’m a better person with you. I love you, Leo.”
She bit her bottom lip and awaited his response. He shifted his weight between his feet, uncertainty flashing in his eyes. Every second that ticked by was like another fishhook in her flesh.
“Eina, I...” He glanced over her shoulder, unseeing. “I can’t say those words back to you.”
His words were a punch in the gut.
She took a step back, hot tears welling in her eyes. The stubborn side of her, the side that he himself had unleashed, was demanding more from him. “If you don’t love me, I need you to say it, Leo. Aloud. Put me out of my misery once and for all.”
“I can’t say that, either.” His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed nervously. “Eina, I don’t want to lie to you.”
A glimmer of hope dared to spark inside her. She reached for his hand and clasped it tightly. “Then, don’t. Tell me what you’re thinking. I think I deserve at least that much.”
He reached for her other hand and held them both. She thrilled at the feel of his fingers around hers.
“You’re an amazing woman,” he said with a sigh. “An amazing mermaid. I’ve never met anyone like you. You have passion and drive. A goal to be an agent of good in this world. There’s a fire in you. You’re a force to be reckoned with. I can’t tell you how much I admire that in you.”
A gentle breeze blew across the meadow, pushing her hair into her face. He reached out and brushed it behind her ear, his fingers lingering on her cheek.
“So, what’s the problem?” she asked.
This all sounded pretty great to her.
His lips quirked in a smile, flashing his dimples. “Quiet, please. This is my turn to speak.”
She quickly pressed her mouth into a contrite grin and squeezed his hands for him to continue.
“The problem is me.” His eyes narrowed in pain. “I’m afraid, Eina. Afraid if I let myself have you, if I let myself say the words that you so want to hear, I’ll be the water that douses your flame. I’m over seven hundred years old and I’ve never found an ounce of the passion that you seem to naturally exude from every pore of your body. You have so much to offer the world. I’m dead weight. I refuse to distract you from your dreams.”
She sucked in a sharp breath of air. It felt almost as bad to hear him speak that way about himself as it did to think that he didn’t love her. No one spoke that way about her vampire prince. Not even him.
“Now, you listen here, you pampered prince.” Eina grasped his hands tighter and her lips pinched into a disapproving scowl. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned since meeting you, it’s that our flaws don’t control us. We can let ourselves shine or we can sink into oblivion. You have to be willing to go after what you want. And I want you. You’re not a distraction. I have so many dreams and now—you’re a part of all of them.”
His lips partly slightly and his chest rose with a heavy inhale. She smiled as his hands shook in hers.
“Listen, I’m not saying you’re a changed man,” she continued with a sly smile. “You’re still the sickly charming, suave man I met in the ballroom. You’ve got a wild streak that freaks me out and a dimpled smile that makes me forget what I was about to say. I’m pretty sure it’s impossible to be bored around you. You’re also deeply caring and sensitive. You make me feel safe. And most of all, you see the real me.”
It had been that unarming feeling that had first attracted her to the vampire prince. When everyone around her seemed to look right through her, he saw her and brought out the strength that had laid dormant inside her all her life.
“From what I heard on that beach,” she dropped one of his hands to point toward the dark shoreline. The lamps had been long extinguished and everything packed up. “You’re absolutely the opposite of dead weight. When you thought your brother wasn’t going to support my sisters, you fought for me.”
He grinned and his cheeks reddened. “You heard all that?”
“Every word.” She wrapped her arms around him and stepped in close. “Leo, let yourself be happy with me.”
He stared down at her for a long moment, his dark eyes glistening. His hands found her hips and he pulled her in tight. She could feel the cold, solid strength of his muscles against her stomach. Every inch of her wanted to be wrapped up in his arms at that moment.
“Eina, are you sure?”
She smiled, nodding her head. “I’ve never been more sure of anything.”
There was a moment of hesitation in his eyes. A glimmer of one last internal struggle. But just as soon as it had appeared, it extinguished and in its place was a smoldering amber gaze that sent shivers up and down her spine. His lips crashed down on hers and soon her head was spinning. She rose to her tip toes and worked her fingers into his blond hair. He responded in kind, entangling his hands in her hair and moaning into her mouth. They were lost like that for a long time before he gently pulled away and rested his forehead against hers.
“Eina,” he whispered in a hoarse voice. Her body trembled at the amount of feeling in that one little word. “I love you.”
Chapter Eighteen
Leo sat in the back of the dark car, watching Eina yawn in the seat next to him. She’d just awoken from a restless night’s sleep on the Monstrana private jet. They’d spent the last half of a day on a long flight overseas.
“Are you sure they’re going to want to meet with me?” Eina turned her dark eyes toward him.
Her long hair was still mussed from sleeping in the jet’s private luxury bedroom. She’d taken just enough time when they arrived to slip into one of her hundreds of pairs of dark jeans and a soft pink blouse.
Once she’d moved into the castle, she’d discovered her love for human clothes. Leo had never seen a closet stuffed so full of outfits. It had been her dirty little secret for months, until he visited her room one day and found the closet door too stuffed to close. He’d never forget the way her cheeks had flamed bright red in embarrassment. Even now, he chuckled just thinking about it.
With her messy hair, the little creases from the jet pillow still indented across her cheek, and her sleepy little yawns, Leo thought she looked more beautiful than ever. His hands shook with the effort not to take her into his arms and add to the messiness of her hair. This wasn’t t
he right time or place. They were on a mission.
“Vik specifically asked for you, shark bait,” Leo said, his lips twitching with a smile. “No one can do this better.”
Eina had already been in her role as ambassador for two years and she was magnificent at it. Like a fish to water, he thought with an internal chuckle.
“But water nymphs?” Eina peered out the blackened windows of their town car. They’d been tinted so dark, it was impossible to see anything except for the occasional looming building they passed. “They’re a different breed than mermaids. I’ve never met one myself. I should’ve brought Cascade. She’d know what to say to break the ice.”
“All Vik needs is for you to spin your magic and help us negotiate a treaty with the water nymphs,” Leo said, sliding across the black leather seat until he was able to put his arm around her. “Don’t stress yourself out. I’m sure you’re going to have a wonderful time.”
“Maybe...” She bit her lower lip and squinted her eyes at the darkened windows. “I just wish we could see where we were going. I’ve never been to Germany before.”
“Don’t worry. It’s not much to look at,” Leo replied, suppressing a grin.
He’d been planning this trip for months now. Eina wouldn’t see it coming—not if he could play it straight. He just had to think of this as another poker game. Sure, he’d pretty much given up poker since his run-in with Earl and his ogre brothers, but it was like riding a bicycle. He needed to maintain the suspense and keep her in the dark.
“Leo.” She reached for his hand and interlaced her fingers with his. “Thank you for coming with me to this meeting. I know you probably had better things to do than fly halfway across the world to watch me sweet-talk some new tribe of supernatural creatures.”
Something Fishy About Love: Vampire & Mermaid Romance (A Monstrana Paranormal Romance Book 3) Page 10