A thought buzzes in the back of my head, and I get the sense I’m forgetting something very important. But when Thalassa edges forward on her underwater perch, her thighs parting by a single degree, my mind empties of everything but the haunting echo of her song.
A shaky breath passes over my parted lips. “Where do we start?”
Chapter Eight
Silas
No matter how much I pace, I can’t work off the nervous energy surging in my veins. “Something’s not right. She’s been gone too long.”
Taj checks the time on his phone—as if he needs to. He’s been glancing at the digital readout about every thirty second since Bryn disappeared behind the falls. “It hasn’t been that long.”
I stop to glare at him, and I’m not the only one. Calder and Poe look at him like he’s lost his ever-loving British mind before exchanging glances with each other.
“If the undine is in there, there’s no way she wouldn’t have shown herself by now,” Poe says. “And if she’s not, Bryn would’ve come out already.”
“Maybe the undine is driving a hard bargain for the information,” Taj says. “Or maybe there are very specific directions to get to the staff.” He glances at each of us, meeting my gaze last.
I almost feel bad for the guy. It’s clear he doesn’t believe what he’s saying, but he knows he can’t go in to check. None of them can. I’m the only one who stands a chance.
Typically, I’m not one for sticking out my neck on account of others. I’m not usually in one place long enough to get attached to people. But this isn’t a typical situation. If Bryn doesn’t come out of that cave, we’re all dead. It’s as simple as that.
At least, I keep telling myself it’s as simple as that. Because the truth—that this girl has managed to carve out a place for herself in my stone-cold heart—is too much for me to grapple with.
“I’m going in after her,” I say, starting toward the falls.
Shouts of argument rise up around me, and Poe steps directly into my path. “Why are you so desperate to get in there? That water temptress already tugging on your cock?”
I throw up my hands. “I’m not desperate to go in there. But I am pretty invested in finding the staff, which we’re never going to be able to do if Bryn doesn’t come out of that cave. Besides,” I mutter, raking a hand through my hair, “the undine won’t want me.”
“You know what? That’s the second time you’ve said something like that,” Calder says. “What do you mean? Are you saying you… you don’t have a soul?” He whispers the last bit like he’s afraid he might offend me with the question.
But it’s not offense that floods my body, but a sense of rage and indignation directed at the universe in general and not Calder specifically. “Not one that will do Thalassa any good. A daemon can be bound magically at just about any time. My essence isn’t up for grabs the way yours is. I’m of no use to her.”
“But Bryn is?” Taj asks, lifting an eyebrow.
The question hits me like a punch in the gut. The truth is, I’ve been asking myself that question since Bryn disappeared behind the falls. “I’m not saying that’s what’s happening.” It’s hard getting the words out because, frankly, that is what I fear. A flash of camaraderie for Taj lights up like a firework in my brain. For a fleeting moment, I understand why he’s been lying to us for the last half hour. “I’m saying someone needs to go check things out. And I’m the clear choice because even if the undine isn’t trying to claim Bryn, once one of you get close enough, you’re never getting out of there.”
For a beat no one moves. Then, with a curse, Poe steps out of my path.
My throat goes dry as I near the waterfall. I’ve been in plenty of dangerous situations before, but nearly all of them have been at someone’s command. When I’m bound to a master, my power is more focused and I can draw from more elements than I would ordinarily have access to. Left to my own devices, my abilities tend to be more spotty. Now, I whisper supplications to the spirits that they’ll grant me what I need to get both Bryn and myself out of the undine’s lair safely.
Once behind the falls, the croak of frogs and twittering of birds fade away. Only the rush of the water crashing into the lake below fills my ears. But as I draw closer to the mouth of a cave, an unearthly song makes the hairs on my arms stand at attention. And I don’t need the tingling sensation in my palms to tell me that magic isn’t just present here, it’s active.
I step into the cavern and scan the interior. But when my eyes fall on the undine’s form, all thought slips from my mind.
Thalassa stands at the water’s edge, her dark hair cascading down her back in wild tendrils, coming to a stop just above the supple swell of her ass. Her creamy thighs are the stuff of dreams, and her breasts could sustain a man for days. Weeks. A lifetime. She’s perfect, and I shouldn’t be here, sullying her with my gaze. I should exit right now and leave her alone with her true companion.
The blonde girl standing before Thalassa is almost offensively mediocre in comparison. Her jeans and t-shirt don’t flatter her form, and her face is plain when viewed against the perfection that is Thalassa. That the undine has chosen such a homely person as her companion is an honor for the blonde girl.
Bryn. Not “the blonde girl.” Her name is Bryn.
I shake myself as the weight of the situation crashes down on me. We made a serious miscalculation sending Bryn in here alone. All the lore I’ve ever read says that undines only claim men, but as Thalassa’s hands cup the sides of Bryn’s face, I know that’s not true. Maybe this is an act of desperation on Thalassa’s part, or maybe it’s something she would have done no matter who crossed her path—it doesn’t matter. What matters is as soon as Bryn enters the water, it’ll be too late.
It’s not until Thalassa’s lips close over Bryn’s that I find my voice. “Bryn! Stop!”
“What’s this?” Thalassa asks, her voice coy. “One of your men come in after you? Perhaps this day will end better than I could have hoped.”
But as I draw closer, the undine’s nose wrinkles. “Get out, daemon. Young Bryn is mine, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
I ignore the nymph. “Bryn. Snap out of it. We’ve got to get out of here.”
But Bryn’s glassy expression is fixed on Thalassa’s face. The dark-haired woman tosses her head back and laughs. “I told you, daemon. She’s already mine.” As if to prove her point, Thalassa cups Bryn’s breasts and squeezes them, eliciting a moan from Bryn’s mouth.
Fear bites at my insides. If Thalassa has claimed Bryn, what does that mean for the rest of us? I doubt the nymph will care if her new lover is fated to die—especially not if she can get what she wants out of Bryn before it happens. Even if I grab Bryn now and try to take her with us, if she’s been claimed, she’ll fight us tooth and nail to return to this place.
But my gut tells me my initial assessment is right. Undines are powerful beings, and if Thalassa really wants me out of here, she should be able to manipulate the water around us to get her way. But if all of her power is focused on the claiming ceremony, it means there’s still time for Bryn.
“You’ve got to fight it, Bryn,” I say, venturing closer. “Think of Calder and Taj. Hell, think of Poe. And me. We’ll all die if we don’t get the staff. You have to come with me.”
Bryn’s head swivels on her neck, but when her eyes lock on mine, the expression is still glassy. Thalassa slips her hands up under Bryn’s shirt and Bryn takes a step toward the water.
“No!” I dart forward, but I stay out of Thalassa’s reach. While the nymph can’t claim my soul, the unnatural stillness of her pool makes me leery. I have a feeling if she pulls me in there, I’m not going to be coming out.
“I can give you everything,” Thalassa purrs as she pushes Bryn’s shirt upward. And despite the danger of the situation, spirits help me, when she exposes Bryn’s tits to the air, my cock starts to swell. It doesn’t matter that each of those magnificent orbs has been claimed by an
other guy—by two other guys. It doesn’t matter that I’m the one who cursed her and got us all into this mess to begin with. Spirits, what I wouldn’t give to taste her.
I shake myself. What the fuck is wrong with me? She’s about to be claimed by a magical water nymph and here I am imaging what it would feel like to be inside her. I need a serious reality check.
Thalassa’s mouth closes over one of Bryn’s nipples, and Bryn’s head tips back in ecstasy. “Taj,” she murmurs. “Calder.”
A reality check. Maybe that’s what Bryn needs, too.
I don’t know how an undine’s power works, except they use sex as a tool for temptation. Maybe somewhere in Bryn’s head, she thinks this woman is one of the guys she’s willingly given herself to.
The plan is still forming in my head when Bryn takes another step forward. Just a few more inches and she’ll be touching the pool—and then she’ll be lost to us forever.
Before I can think through all the reasons this is a shit idea, I trust my instincts and close the remaining distance between us. Still busy sucking on Bryn’s nipple, Thalassa doesn’t notice me until it’s too late.
I slide my hand around the back of Bryn’s neck, tilting her head until her face is turned toward mine. As I press my lips to Bryn’s, an ear-splitting shriek reverberates off the cavern walls. Bryn is stock-still as I cup her cheek with my free hand and try to coax a reaction from her mouth.
Sharp nails slash down my back, but the pain almost doesn’t register as Bryn stirs in my arms. Her lips twitch and part, and her hands slide up my back. My tongue brushes against hers for a moment before she finds my shoulders and pushes me gently away.
Confusion knits her brow. “Silas?”
“No time to talk.” Grabbing her hand, I pull her toward the cave opening.
“No!” Thalassa screeches. “You can’t leave! You belong to me!”
Water bursts through the entrance, rushing in with such force it almost knocks me off my feet. I just manage to keep my footing and shove Bryn toward the cave wall, away from the eerily still pool.
Bryn pulls her shirt down as she studies the scene, her eyes wide with panic. “What’s happening? Silas, what…”
I shake my head. “Long story short, Thalassa doesn’t want you to leave. Think you can use some of your witchy-woo to make us another exit?”
She blinks at me like I’m crazy, but when a waterspout begins swirling above the surface of Thalassa’s pool, Bryn nods fervently. Pressing her hands to the wall, she squeezes her eyes closed.
A surge of water continues pouring into the cavern, covering the floor and soaking my shoes. Thalassa chants a haunting melody as the water tornado above her pool continues to grow. I don’t know exactly what she’s planning, but I know I don’t want to be here when she’s ready to unleash her fury.
“It’s not working!” Bryn cries. “It’s like… Maybe Thalassa was siphoning part of my magic when she was doing… whatever she was doing.”
“But you’re an earth affinity.” I gesture to our surroundings. “We’re literally standing inside a mountain. Can’t you pull some more power from the ground or something?”
She shakes her head. “I’m trying, but…” She stops short, pressing her lips together. “I need you to kiss me again.”
I blink, unsure I heard her right over the inrush of water. “You need me to what now?”
But instead of repeating herself, Bryn grips the front of my shirt and pulls my mouth to hers. Unlike the last time, there’s nothing tentative about the way her lips move against mine. She’s an invading force, and as she presses her body in close, my entire being hums with a power I can’t name.
If we’re about to die, this is one helluva way to go.
The ground begins to shake below our feet, and Bryn pulls away, pressing both hands against the wall beside us. With a thundering noise, the solid rock splits from bottom to top, and chunks crumble out of the fissure until gap large enough for us to pass through appears. The last thing I hear as we escape amid a stream of water is Thalassa’s furious shriek.
Bryn slips on the slick grass as she sprints away from the cave, and even though I’m nearly at her heels, I’m not fast enough to help her to her feet. Instead, Poe—of all people—scoops her into his arms and runs her several yards away, where Taj and Calder stand. By the time I make it to the group, Bryn is folded within Taj’s embrace.
“What in the name of rivers happened in there?” Poe demands.
I tear my gaze from Bryn as Taj peppers her face with kisses. “The undine was using her power on Bryn.”
Poe’s eyebrows hike. “I didn’t think their kind took to women.”
I lift a shoulder. “Any port in the storm, I guess.” I can’t keep myself from glancing back in Bryn’s direction. She’s wrapped up tight in Calder’s arms now. My stomach twists at the sight, and I chide myself for caring. With whatever arrangement she’s got going on with those two, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that she’d seek comfort with them after what all went down with that nymph. But after what happened…
And what did happen, exactly? When I kissed her, it was an act of desperation to break the undine’s spell. But then she kissed me, and I’m not sure what to make of it.
“Did you get the information?” Taj asks. “Do you know where the staff is?”
Bryn nods like she’s eager to change the subject. “It’s with something called the Order of Theurgy. She said it’s at their temple.”
I’m not sure what I was expecting to hear, but that wasn’t it. I don’t know much about the Order of Theurgy, but from what I know, they don’t seem the type to hold onto powerful ancient relics.
“Are you sure?” Calder’s bunched brows indicate he’s sure he heard her wrong.
“What would those peace-loving hippie monks want with Rahn’s staff?” Poe asks.
Taj blinks before shaking the bewildered expression off his face. “I suppose we can ask when we get there, yeah?”
Poe nods. “We can try to puzzle it out on the way. I doubt that nymph will come after us, but I don’t want to test our luck.”
As Poe leads the way back into the woods the way we came, Calder releases Bryn. But while Taj and Calder start after Poe, Bryn hangs back.
“Thank you for coming in after me,” she says. “If you hadn’t…”
“The undine would be feasting on your soul right about now?” I offer.
Her mouth twitches like she can’t decide between a frown or a smile. “She had me convinced I wanted her—I needed her. That she could give me everything. If you hadn’t gotten through to me, I’d belong to her now.”
She reaches for me, and for a moment I’m sure we’re about to repeat what happened in the cave. Instead, she squeezes my upper arm, offering a small smile. “We should probably catch up with the others.”
“Why’d you kiss me?”
The words hang in the void between us, and I could kick myself for letting them slip out. When she doesn’t answer immediately, my fool mouth starts talking again. “I mean, I know why I did it. I figured I could snap you out of your trance, and I did. But why’d you do it?”
She bites her lower lip, and I swear to all the spirits her gaze drops to my mouth before she answers. “I needed to jumpstart my magic to get us out of there. It’s like you said—when you kissed me, you pulled me out of that trance. I figured another kiss might give me enough juice to get us out of there. I’m sorry.”
Her apology hits me like a punch in the gut. She was using me to save us from drowning in Thalassa’s cave. Of course that’s all it was. Bryn already has Calder and Taj wrapped around her little fingers; she doesn’t need me, too. Let’s be real—it isn’t as if she would want me anyway. And even if she did, it wouldn’t matter. Whether or not we find the staff and get it back to Elowen in time, I’m destined to be a bit player on the stage of Bryn’s life. My time with her is fleeting at best, and it’s best if neither of us gets too attached.
I roll my shoulder
s in an attempt to loosen the knot in my chest. “Apology accepted. And, in the future, do your best to control yourself around me. I mean, I know it’s hard to resist all this.”
A giggle bubbles out of Bryn’s mouth. “So very hard. You have no idea.”
She holds my gaze for a split second longer than necessary before turning toward the forest. “We should catch up before the others get too far ahead.”
Without waiting for my response, she starts walking. I follow, keeping a careful distance between us. Anything that might have been fizzles away as we move farther and farther away from the undine’s cave. We had a moment, and now it’s over. I did what I had to do to save her, and she did what she had to do to save both of us. That’s the end of the story, even if I’d give anything to write at least one more chapter.
Chapter Nine
Bryn
The dark forest surrounding the Temple of Theurgy hums with insects and the calls of birds bidding each other goodnight. Although at first I was grateful we’d be traveling the last leg on foot—after hours upon hours in the car from Thalassa’s cave—the hike is turning out to be less enjoyable than I imagined. Poe has strictly forbidden the use of anything to light our way, and he’s paying with his own irritation. None of us can see as well in the gloom as he can, and while he doesn’t voice his displeasure, his stiff posture and huffing sighs are enough to let me know he doesn’t find our pace fast enough.
“I still don’t see why we can’t just go in the front door,” I mutter as my foot catches in a snarly nest of brambles.
Poe barely suppresses a groan. “We’ve been over this. What kind of excuse would we give them for why we’re showing up? If we claim we need healing, they’ll be able to tell pretty fast there’s nothing wrong with us.”
“Except the whole curse thing,” Calder says as he crouches to untangle my foot.
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