“Yes but I need help right now … this is all a lot to deal with.”
“Look at things from his point of view though, he waited centuries to find you Callie, and now you’re here … it’s so obvious he doesn’t know what to do with himself. Imagine the anticipation at meeting your perfect mate. You are no longer a possibility, you’re an actuality … and he’s terrified of losing you.” She looks out from the white sand at the moon and I notice it’s getting closer and closer to being full.
“Yes well, that doesn’t excuse caging me in like an animal.” I sigh, wondering if I should let him protect me or whatever he feels like he is trying to achieve. Maybe he would deal with my death better if he thought he had done everything he could.
“So, did you want to explain the scythe?” She queries. I look down at it, glinting and deadly, the turquoise edge of the blade giving no hint of blunt inadequacy.
“Yeah, about that, how do you know what it is?” I ask, narrowing my eyes suspiciously; I hug my shoulders as the breeze nips at my arms.
“Oscar … my partner, he created the spears you took on the trip with you. He’s the chief weapons forge. The metal master. The things that man can do with steel, you have no idea.” She looks dreamily out to sea, her white skin glowing alabaster.
“Seriously? So Saturnus told you what was going on?”
“Me directly? No. But the mer he needed to forge those weapons? Yes.” She looks proud, her chest puffed up, breasts smeared with lilac scales that capture the light, hold it prisoner, and release it more beautiful than when it fell on her.
“Saturnus sure has some double standards … he’s a hard man to figure out.” I admit and she smiles slightly.
“I don’t think he is used to being questioned. I’m sure you, being new and all, have had no trouble doing that.” She grins slightly.
“Well, where I come from we do nothing but question those in charge. That’s kind of a part of what a democracy is.” I retort.
“Yes, well we are a society built off the worship of a Goddess. We have a hierarchy, it may seem senseless to you, but it has worked for hundreds of years.” Sophia looks at me and I sense a slight bitter undertone. I change the subject.
“So Oscar built those spears?” I ask, wondering how long it must have taken him.
“Yes.”
“Do you know what happened out at the Temple of Atargatis?” I ask, prying to find out how much she already knows.
“Oscar said it was a retrieval mission, to keep the psirens from getting their hands on the scythe. But I don’t know any more than that. What happened out there?” The breeze stirs deliciously, sending tingles up my spine, my lungs finally getting used to the dry land air.
“Starlet was kidnapped and I fought Titus. I think I won.” I say looking at her as her jaw falls open, leaving her mouth agape like that of a dying fish.
“You?” she looks incredulously at me and I feel slightly smug inside. Yes, I, the newbie, actually did something noteworthy! I am not a china doll as everyone seems to think.
“Yep.”
“How?” is all she can manage.
“I absorbed his ability to cause pain and used it against him.” I admit and she looks confused for a moment and then something in her clicks.
“That’s how you beat Ghazi!” She looks stunned but has a massive smile on her face.
“Yes. I believe so, and so does Saturnus.”
“I wondered what had happened that day, you disappeared!”
“I was scared!” I blurt, wanting to giggle a bit.
“I bet!” She looks at me strangely, as though she is fond enough to want to say something sentimental and yet doesn’t know if I will accept it. We sit in silence for a moment until her eyes change, there is awe mixed with urgency behind her their glassy surface.
“What?”
“What’s it like? Having power?” She asks, looking shy.
“To be honest, I couldn’t tell you.” I say, feeling relaxed I flop my fin into the edge of the water, making a small spray that coats the rest of my scales which shine aqua from waist to tip.
“Come now! You beat Titus!” Her expression is incredulous.
“And if you asked me how I did it, I couldn’t tell you. I’m totally ill equipped for this.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m a girl from a world where, as I said, I can get pizza at 4am, I’m not built for all this life and death stuff.”
“To tell you the truth, I don’t think many mermaids could handle what you are handling. But we weren’t meant to.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“You didn’t know that only mermen were supposed to exist? Mermaids didn’t come along until Atargatis blessed Atlas with Shaniqua. After her, Starlet and Azure were the first as far as we know.”
“So mermaids are just supposed to sit around and look pretty?” I sigh. What kind of backwards misogynistic world had I swum into?
“Yes, we certainly were not meant to fight, that’s why the only offensive powers are contained by mermen.”
“Until me.”
“Until you.” she mimics me and sighs a little. “You wonder why Orion is struggling to let you do the things you want to do, but you must not forget Callie, that he is an old fashioned man. He wants you to be comfortable, not out on the front lines fighting. That’s not what you are supposed to want.”
“Perhaps not, but I’m stronger. I have a stronger will than he expected.” I argue, feeling as though my gender surely does not warrant this behaviour.
“Times have changed, I suppose.”
“I think that’s true. I can do anything a man can do.”
“I hope that’s true. If Atargatis really has given you an offensive power, you’ll have a greater purpose than any mermaid before you.” She comments looking pitiful. I smile slightly, if only she knew. The moon begins to lower in the sky.
“You will need all the help you can get.”
“I think this weapon is the key, I need to know how to use it, why it responds to me, why it called out to me, why it wanted my song.”
“Luckily for you, I know a weapons man.” Sophia smiles and yet it does not reach her eyes.
“Thank you for tonight, I needed this. Orion … he doesn’t understand.”
“I don’t think he can and that’s not his fault, Callie.”
“Why do you say that?” I ask, wanting to blame him and not circumstance. I can’t be angry at circumstance.
“Well, if Starlet’s been captured it means her sister is making it personal, that puts you directly at risk. I mean if you wanted to hurt him …”
“I would go at it through me.” I acknowledge and then I wonder, perhaps, just maybe, Orion wanting to protect me was okay under the circumstances. Then it occurs to me: who was protecting him?
“Come on! We have to get back.” I say hurriedly, scooting down the beach and grabbing the scythe that lay in the sand between us.
“What? Why, Callie? What’s going on?”
“If you wanted to get back at me after I drained your powers, how would you go about it?” I ask and immediately her expression changes from one of confusion to one of concern.
“Let’s go.”
We arrive back at the Occulta Mirum just as the sun is peaking over the horizon, throwing gorgeous light across the ocean floor that quivers with the movement of the water above. Sophia’s lips part and the protective dome of magic that encases the towering sandstone city slips away and allows us into its glistening depths. Sophia’s voice is beautiful, like a meadow of freshly cut grass. We undulate hurriedly, our bodies writhing, powering down into the bowl of sand that surrounds the Occulta Mirum. My heartbeat races frantically at the thought of Orion’s life being in danger. What if he did follow me after all? What if he was out in the open water and the psirens had already done something to hurt him?
“I need to go and see Orion. Make sure he’s okay and clear the air after our argument earlier.�
�� She gives me a simple and calm smile, her face remaining serious. Her auburn hair looks as though it is on fire with the early morning light and her brown eyes turn to a clay red as they reflect the rising sun back at me.
“Are you going to warn him?” She asks, her mouth twisting into a grimace with concern, her long straight nose twitches as her nostrils flare. I flare my own in distaste, breathing in the water deeply, an experience which had I been human would have sent my eyes watering and my head aching for hours.
“I don’t know. I think we need to sit down and have a proper discussion first. You know, the honest kind.”
“I don’t think that’s a bad idea.” She acknowledges. “I’ll be at my place, I’ll tell Oscar you will come round soon?”
“Yeah, that would be great.”
“Bring the weapon.”
“I will.” I begin to swim away from her, my shadow moving above the bottle lined pavements that are the circulatory system of the city. I hear her call back to me in her melodic tongue.
“Callie …” I turn at the mention of my name and in only a split second she has her arms around me, soft and light as we hang suspended in the water.
“Be gentle with him.” She smiles at me and I laugh a little. “They are more sensitive than we can ever know.” I nod, maybe I will never understand men, but that is surely the truest thing I have heard of late.
We turn from each other and I feel a warm glow, not of love, but of compassion, of a kind of friendship that runs deeper than movie dates and sleepovers. The kind that is born of companions who have lived through complicated and dark times.
The apartment is not empty when I arrive and the knot in my stomach unravels slowly in delicious relief as my eyes meet Orion’s. I place the scythe against the door, as though it were no more than a wet umbrella after a rainy day.
“Where have you been?” He asks, not looking up from where he sits at the harp.
“I went for some girl time with Sophia.” I respond, feeling nervous though I can’t fathom why.
“Girl time?” he asks, raising one eyebrow. His chiselled jaw twists his lips into a crooked and reluctant smile.
“Yeah, just talking … moaning about how my boyfriend is a jerk and the likes … you know, the usual.”
“Oh … I see.” He moves through water between us, I tuck my stiff hair behind my ear and move over to the couch to rest my weary tail. He slips through the water and takes my lightly tanned hands against his coffee coloured ones. “You ran away again.” He mumbles, lifting one palm to his lips and kissing the inside of my hand. I shiver, and then pull it away; this is no time for kisses that make me melt.
“I needed space. You said some kind of hurtful things.” I admit, folding my hands in my lap. He lies back against the couch and places one arm along the length of it between us, gently touching my hair with his fingertips.
“I know … It’s just not easy being in the middle of you and Starlet. I love her, she’s family … but I love you, too. I am going crazy right now, I want to go to her, save her, but you need me here.” I sigh.
“You see, that’s what I don’t like, Orion. You’re acting like I’m the problem here.” I say, pointing to myself and shifting my weight on my tail uncomfortably. I was in a way wanting to take the offensive and in another terrified of being too harsh and losing him. Everything was more complicated once you became emotionally involved. I had always known this, and yet with him I couldn’t resist. He was like a beautiful flame and I was Icarus flying too close, burning and turning to sand.
“How am I?” He asks with a frown, placing his hand lower and onto the bottom of my spine.
“You’re saying I’m what changed, and therefore it’s my fault that Starlet treated me unkindly. That’s not my fault. I didn’t ask for this. I would have been nice to Starlet if she had been nice to me, but all she’s ever been to me is awful.”
“She feels threatened by you.” He places a hand on the back of his neck and rubs. I think he’s seeing my point.
“So she should.” I say, scowling and folding my arms.
“Callie …”
“Has it not occurred to you that maybe she’s more than a little intimidating herself? She knows you so much better than me, what chance do I stand of winning in a fight over you?”
“Don’t say that.”
“Why not? It’s true.”
“You’re both just strong personalities, you clash because you’re both opinionated and you both care about me.”
“Yes and I’m happy to deal with that, but you can’t blame me for her attitudes. I’m not responsible for the fact I came into your life. You were the one who came after me, remember?” I explain, piercing him with an incredulous stare.
“Yes, okay … I screwed up. I’m sorry.” He reaches forward to kiss my forehead. I move backward to avoid him.
“We still have things to discuss, Orion.”
“Such as?” he cocks a brow; his icy blue eyes and mahogany hair stunning me into silence as he looks at me, almost pleading with me for my inquisition to be over.
“Such as …” I blink myself away from his face and try to focus. “Such as all this ‘I need you, you have to protect me’ crap.”
“Huh?”
“I’m serious, Orion, I can’t take it anymore.”
“I don’t understand.” He looks at me again with those eyes; I shut my own and continue talking, afraid I’ll lose my bottle if I don’t.
“I don’t come from 18th century England, I don’t wear corsets, I have never been waited on hand and foot. I’m not the kind of girl who sits by and waits for prince charming to ride up on a handsome steed and take me away to get married and have babies. I am an independent, strong, modern woman and damn it if you don’t try to start treating me like one … I don’t know what I’ll do!” I get so angry I am out of breath by the time I finish ranting, but he is smiling.
“I just want to keep you safe, angel, if anything ever happened …” I place my finger up to his sculpted lips.
“No, you don’t get to think like that, and please don’t call me angel, it’s: A) Gross, and B) you know I’m far from innocent.”
“That I do.” He nips the pad of one of my fingers with his teeth and I giggle a little.
“I’m not the same as the other mermaids around here. I can look after myself. I took on Titus … and won, Orion.”
“I know,” he runs his hand through his hair and blows outward creating a few bubbles in the water before him. “I guess I just need to get used to the idea that you are your own person, not just an extension of me.”
“I’m not an extension of you. I choose to be with you. No Goddess can make me stay. I’m here because I want to be.” I lean forward and kiss him sweetly.
“But –” He starts but I cut him off and he breathes out heavily, his massive body sagging like the water’s pressure is weighing him down.
“Please, Orion, don’t baby me.”
“I’ll try, from now on. I promise.”
“On the other hand you also need to be careful. You know if Titus wants to get revenge for my taking his power he will come at me through you.” I explain my reasoning and he looks surprised.
“I hadn’t thought of it that way. Mermen aren’t used to having such strong mates … we don’t usually have to worry about the enemies of our women.” He says in a sly tone.
“Well, you had better get used to it.”
“I suppose I better had.” He breathes towards me and I lean in for a deeper kiss, the heat between our lips growing. I feel a slight need for him, to be close to him. I curl up against him tucking my tail underneath itself, bending at my would-be knee. His chest is solid sheets of muscle bound together, encasing his heart. I lean against it, hearing its muffled steady beating. I am surprised, assuming that surely someone who has lived as long as he would have stopped having a heart beat years ago. I place my hand over the scaly line that lies over my own heart, the beat matches with his, stroke for st
roke, pulsation for pulsation, synchronized in more ways than one.
We lay quietly for a little while before I realise I have something I need to do. “I need to go and see Oscar.” I say as I lean upright and Orion looks surprised.
“Oscar?”
“Yes, Sophia said he would take a look at the scythe for me, seeing as he already knows about it from Saturnus.”
“Oh, I see. You sure that’s what you want to do?” He questions me, seeming unsure of whether showing Oscar the scythe is a good idea.
“I need to know why this weapon is linked to me, it’s important.” I hold his hand as I rise from the couch through the water filling the room.
“Okay then.”
“Really?” I ask, feeling surprised at the fact he is conceding to my will so easily
“You asked me to let you be you. So I am.”
“Thank you.” I look up into his icy blue eyes, my heart constricts at the depth of concern and love for me that is held there. I kiss him and wrap my tail around his, loving the feeling of his scales against mine.
“Can I come with you?” He asks my permission, respecting my right to go alone. My heart constricts again at this small gesture of trying, trying to be what I need.
“Sure.” I smile happily, holding his hand in mine.
“I can’t wait until the next full moon.” He smiles at me and my heart pains to hear these words, I want him, and yet I want to keep him forever. Will the next full moon be the last I experience? Or will I have to wait another month until my foretold end. I smile at him, feeling devastated at the prospect of my death hanging over me like a storm cloud. In that moment I want to tell him, but I stop myself, saving him the grief, not wanting to colour the time we have left together.
“Me neither.” I agree. I kiss him on the cheek and then grab the scythe while heading out the door.
I am immediately glad Orion is accompanying me as I realize I have no idea where Sophia’s apartment is. He shows the way, his sculpted back making a fine view as we glide, suspended, above the streets that sparkle.
“Thanks for showing me the way.” I say shyly, amazed at how he can still make me feel ugly against his simmering masculinity.
The Kiss That Killed Me (The Tidal Kiss Trilogy Book 1) Page 41