She’s trembling, but not from fear. I smooth my palm over her hip, grounding us both. The aftershock fades, leaving only the quiet thump of her heartbeat, and the ache of knowing I've never felt so undone, so alive, as I do in her arms.
I close my eyes, content and boneless. Odi shifts in the sheets, twisting to face me. I softly smile when she traces her fingertips over the shimmering markings on my chest. “How many times is that for today?”she teases.
My eyes crack open, settling on her face. “Four if you count the one on the stairs earlier, where I tasted you, and then you tasted me, and then I came—”
Odi giggles, reaching up to place a hand over my mouth. “I know how that ended. I can still taste it.”
With a sigh I tug her closer. “I hope it won’t be the last for today either.”
“Aren’t you sick of me yet?” she says, surprised.
I offer her a grin. “Never.”
Eventually, she stretches, a delicate hum leaving her throat as she sits up. I follow, dragging myself from the safety of our bed. A gentle breeze blows through the open window. Filling the room with a mixed scent. Warm soil, and salt. Land and sea.
Odi drapes a slip of dress over her frame. Oyster-coloured silk. Her dark, glossy hair hangs down her back in waves, releasing a burst of pear and honey. I slip on some loose trousers, never taking my eyes off her. My thoughts flick to the memories of pleasure we just spent together and already my cock is half hard. I groan softly, padding across the room to pull her into my arms, nuzzling my face into her silk strands. “Do we have to leave this room yet?”
She spins in my arms, reaching up on her toes to thread her hands around my neck. “It’s been two weeks of our love bubble, we have to leave at some point.”
I lean down to press a kiss to her nose. “Says who?”
By the sea, our cottage has become a sanctuary. A haven where we can belong only to each other, free from prying eyes, from leering gazes, from the shadow of a map hanging over us.
Odi peels herself from my arms, taking my hand as we head into the kitchen. It's simple, but spacious. Bowls of brightly coloured fruits and fresh greens adorn the counter tops. No quail eggs in sight. And the air smells of wild blooms. As soon as Odi saw the flower fields that run parallel to the ocean she’d run straight into them, picking armfulls. Every flat surface in the house now holds a vase of blossoms.
As I sit at the counter on a stool made of driftwood, she plucks a fig from the bowl, tearing it down the centre before offering me half. “Have you heard from Tavi and Elio?” she asks, her voice soft. “Did they decide who wears the captain’s hat?”
I swallow the fig down before answering. “Not yet. They’ll work it out. Elio will say Tavi should be Captain, but I think she likes her freedom too much.The Gilded Hartis in good hands either way.”
“Do you miss her?”
“I do. But more than that I miss the crew.” I shrug, wiping my hands on a cloth. “But Otto will love that spice we found him in town last week.”
Odi’s smile is small, like she’s afraid to fully let go and allow herself to have happiness and love. Like she’s afraid I’ll long for the waltz of a ship and her song so much that I’ll sail away from the shore once again. I know it’s going to take time for her to see that she can trust me. My words. My promises. My embrace.
I reach across the bench and wipe my thumb across the corner of her bottom lip, catching the drip of juice from the fig. “I wouldn’t want to beanywhere else though.”
She grins wider, nipping at my thumb playfully “Not even Nareth? With your family?”
I huff softly before sucking the juice of my thumb. “Father and I might have patched things up when we visited, but I’m certain I don’t want to live under his rule.”
Odi and I had visited the siren kingdom over a month ago. It was more healing than I expected it to be. Selene couldn’t stop fussing over Odi, and Dash couldn’t wait to show her all around the palace.
I’d shared my mother's letter with my father. He would deny it to anyone who asked, but he’d shed a tear. Then he offered my mother's ring to me. It was a band of gold, carved to look like coral, with different blue shades of glittering stones wrapped around the band. I’d pulled him into an embrace, and he swore that I would always have a place beside him in Nareth.
We married under a canopy of shimmering pearls. Odi wore a dress that captured every essence of her. The bodice had clung close, shaped from silk the colour of sand. Delicate vines and tiny white blossoms were embroidered into the fabric, every stitch glinting faintly. From her waist the fabric shifted. Layer upon layer of sheer gauze and smooth satin flowing down in waves. Pale blues fading into shades so deep it looked like sapphires stitched together. She’d worn a veil, the colour of seafoam, with pearls scattered over it. And her hair had hung down in loose waves.
The moment we’d saidI dowas the happiest I’d ever been.
Odi saunters around the counter to wedge herself between my legs. “Are you going to show me what you’vebeen hiding downstairs? Every time you vanish I know you’re down there.”
I huff a laugh, standing from the stool. “You’ve been very patient, and I’ve finally finished.” I hold out my hand. “Come.”
Her palm slips into mine, and I lead her down the narrow stairs into the lower half of the cottage. The shift is instant—the light dims, cools, until we step into a room walled in living ocean.
Odi gasps. Her eyes are wider than a sea urchin. “Rune . . .”
Through the glass-like walls, the sea glimmers. A large sea stone bubble keeps the water at bay, clear as crystal. Beyond the barrier, shoals of silver fish dart through forests of rich green kelp. A pink and purple manta ray glides past, its colours so vivid it’s glowing. Its shadow spills across the stone floor, disappearing around the bend.
