“Elb murcuoy yam traehre pap!”
The world became hazy until I was devoured by darkness.
SHIPWRECKED SOULS
Alec & Circe
The daughterof the sea sunbathed in the ocean’s arms at dawn.
Surely, her home had come with a tub, but the young lady craved his eyes on her—the escape in his gaze. So, it was there, on Weeping Hollow’s shore, where she bared herself to the sea. The fading night said its goodbye across her skin, and the warm rising sun shone down on her like Summerland’s spotlight.
At the cliff’s edge, Alec’s eyes had fallen upon Circe once again.
A year had passed of inescapable grins and barely caught glances. Alec adored her from the shadows, and through the year, Alec had become intimate with her in all the ways he could. He knew that on Thursdays she preferred vanilla rose moon milk, and how she braided her hair back on the mornings it rained. He knew the cream-colored dress was her favorite because she walked differently in it, more at ease, and that she clutched her necklace when she was nervous. He knew more about her than most others, without ever knowing her name.
On this day, however, she had become more brazen.
While almost a hundred feet separated them, Circe met his eyes as her dress slipped off her body and collapsed on the sand.
My god, he thought the second his eyes hit her.
He leaned against the cliff, his shoulder hitting the rock, almost sinking at the sight of her. He clutched his drawings in his shaking hand to hold himself back, his heart stampeding in his chest like a herd of wild horses. Alec memorized her edges, curves, and Circe’s smile was tempting, teasing.
A fire rose in his cheeks.
Then she turned her back to him and stepped into the ocean until the water came up to her ankles.
Brisk morning winds brushed his skin from all directions, sending his golden-brown curls to blow into his line of sight.
He shook his hair from his face and leaned his forearm against the cliff, using it to prop up his sketchpad to draw her. With every airy light stroke, every black line of the silhouette of the girl that stood in the shallow, his chest thundered. Drawing her was, after all, the only way he could ever really touch her.
Circe’s locks fell just above her waist and clung around her shoulders and back as she stood naked in the sea as if it were the only home she’d ever known, slathering every inch of her skin in stolen lavender oil. Her skin color was like a rich treasure as the sky illuminated, casting spotlights on parts of her, then drifting to others.
Alec watched with adoration as she smoothed the oil from her feet to her breasts, his breath coming out in a shudder. His arm fell to his side in awe. He could draw her every day for the rest of his life but no amount of talent could match her beauty. He was completely and utterly fixated.
Hypnotized, he turned, his spine meeting the cliff, and he dropped his head back, eyes falling all over her. Falling, sinking, going down. Why must she torture him before destroying him?
Bain Seldon, Cantini’s most loyal guard, shouted in the distance from the other side of the cliff, his voice closing in on Circe. She quickly wrapped herself in a dove-colored cloth, left her unnecessary belongings behind, and ran in Alec’s direction, unable to conceal her laughter.
Only Alec turned frigid as she passed, having never been this close to her.
Nearing, Circe turned her head just enough to meet his gaze, and she gestured for him to follow her.
Eager to be close to her, Alec tucked his drawing into his back pocket. This was mad. Insane.
If not now, then when?he asked himself.
So he chased her across the shoreline.
At first, Circe was hesitant to speak to him. She knew the musical sound of her voice could make even the cruelest man with a callous heart fall in love with her. However, this was the first time she had the chance to be close to the islander—the one who made her heart do the most maddening things—without anyone seeing.
No more gazing, she thought, unable to resist him any longer. With the utmost longing, she clutched the sapphire lying upon her chest until it glowed in her palm, trapping all her magic inside so this would be true. He was worth it, she believed.
Dear heart, be easy.
Circe turned just in time, Alec only a breath away.
The two locked eyes, trying to calm their hearts, their breathing, their feet halted in the white sand that was still cold from the night.
