Finally, on the third try, water sputtered up from her mouth. The girl coughed, spitting up what was in her lungs before she passed outagain.
“Ohhhh, Adrian.” Moona was swimming back and forth anxiously along the shore. “This is bad. This isverybad.”
“She’s breathing,” Adrian whispered. He was enchanted by her. “Isn’t it amiracle?”
“Just leave her there,” Moona said. “She’ll be allright.”
Adrian wasn’t so sure. “I’ve got to make sureshe’sokay.”
“Her friends will find her. They’re looking for her,” Moonainsisted.
That wasn’t good enough. His tail flopped in the sand. He wanted to be the one to save her, not her friends. He didn’t want to leave her side, not when she waslikethis.
“Wait for me back at the palace, Moona,” he told her. “I’ll betheresoon.”
“What am I supposed to tell your father?” she hissed. “That is, if he doesn’t chop me up for fish foodfirst!”
“You’ll make something up.” Adrian pulled himself farther onto the beach, and Moona let out an unhappy sound. She dove back into the sea and swam away, listening to what Adrianhadsaid.
When Adrian was on his back, lying beside her, he closed his eyes and willed his powers to work. Slowly, his tail split and knit itself into two legs. Adrian stood shakily, and stumbled a few times trying to catch his balance. One thing about being on shore— he wasn’t good at walking. He was sure he looked like a drunken idiot. The magic wouldn’t work for very long. In less than two hours, the pain would be unbearable, and he’d lose the ability to breathe out of water. He’d have to return to the seaeventually.
But two hours would be enough to get the girl tosafety.
Adrian headed into the cove to get some jeans he had hid in a crag behind a large rock. He put them on, then headed back to the beach. Dawn was starting to rise now. Adrian knelt in the sand, to take the girl in his arms and carry her tosafety.
But as Adrian stooped downward, something happened that he didn’texpect.
The girl’s eyes opened… and they latched onto Adrian’s for thesecondtime.
There was no going back now. The strong connection that formed in that moment, Adrian knew, waspermanent.
He’d found his queen. But she was the one person that Adrian could never,everhave.
ChapterSix
Isamaria
There wasa boy with a glowing haloaboveher.
He was beautiful. He had dark black hair cropped short around his head, which was glistening wet with droplets from the sea. His skin was pale, like the foam that rose over the waves, and he had blue eyes that reflected thewater.
Isamaria thought he was the most gorgeous person she’d ever seen. It didn't help that he was half naked. God, those abs. They looked like they'd been chiseled by theheavens.
“Hey,” he said softly, and the sound of his voice was like the wave she’d rode— gentle, yet powerful at the same time. “You're awake. I was worried you wouldn'tmakeit.”
Her head was pounding. Just how much salt water had sheswallowed? “I…”
“Easy,” he said as she tried to get up, and then fell backwards. He caught her before her back hit the sand. “You took a bad tumble through the water. If I hadn'tsavedyou—"
“Saved me?” The words came out slurred through her lips. This was impossible. No one, and Isa knew, no one, could swim through the storm that had nearly drowned her. An Olympic athlete would’ve been swallowed up like they were a guppy. She didn't care how good a swimmer… or how muscular… this guy was, there was no way he was the one who'drescuedher.
But yet Isamaria knew… she had to have been rescued. There was no way she’d just washed up on the beach. Not with the way those waves were. She should be floating in the middle of the ocean, and yet, here she was, safeonland.
The guy grimaced, like he’d said too much. “Never mind. We need to get you to ahospital.”
“I’m…” Isa’s weak protests were muted when she felt a harsh wave of nausea press in on her, and her stomach rolled. She'd never taken this bad of a fall before. Her entire body was numb. Something could be broken and she wouldn't evenknowit.
Isamaria could feel the waves slowly wash over her as they swelled in and out. As the breeze passed her by, she caught the scent of her savior. Salt water and sunlight, a bit of pineapple. Though her lungs were filled with saltwater before, they were working fine now. She took a deep inhale and reveled in the guy’s sweet scent. It was just perfect. Talk about an aphrodisiac. Smelling him made Isa go crazy for him, though she was half out of it and didn't even knowhisname.
