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“Frol help,” he stated, dropping them at the very edge of the sea, where the calm tide almost reached.

Edan unfolded the pile while I casually waded into the sea, my trousers moving in the calm waves. Minnows swam around my toes. Power flowed up my legs.

I looked back at Edan and Frol, who had transformed the beach into a boudoir. Blankets and pillows were arranged all around in a circle.

“A nest?” I slapped a hand over my mouth to stop the hysterical laughter from spilling out, though I didn’t quite succeed. “Frol, you brought me things to build a nest?”

“Yes,” he said, bowing to me once before he winked at Serak and vanished back into the jungle.

While I stood in the water, Edan made himself busy. He pulled out a half-coconut shell filled with fruit, along with a small, stoppered jug of what was probably water, and placed them on the sand. “Sit, mate,” he murmured, holding out a pillow.

I waded the few feet back to the dry sand and sat on it while he piled blankets on both my sides. He stepped back a few feet, then crossed his arms and stared at the blankets. Then at me. Then at the blankets again. Small sparks flared in his pupils.

“Are you waiting for me to build a nest?” When he nodded eagerly, I almost choked on a piece of pineapple. “Really?”

“Ah, I thought…” he stammered. “Is that not correct?”

“We do build nests in our heats.” I bit the inside of my cheek as I moved the blanket a few inches over, examined it, and inched it until the edge was well in the water. The next small wave lapped at the fabric and covered my toes for a moment. “Sometimes outside those times, when we get worked up. But it doesn’t have to be blankets.”

“It doesn’t?”

“Not at all. I may have made one or two out of kelp. The important part is for the Omega to feel safe. Cared for.” I set the food down and sat up, sliding my damp trousers off.

I slowed down as I felt his eyes on me. For a moment, they were Serak’s eyes, wide with something like awe, the pupils round and dilated. “You’re beautiful,” he whispered as I placed my shirt and trousers beside me.

I lay back on the blanket, the water lapping at my forearms as I rested on my elbows. The moonlight made my pale skin shine. “Kiss me.”

He kept his eyes on mine as he lowered himself over me. His breath was warm and smoky, his eyes shadowed. “After all this time, you are mine.”

He pressed his lips to mine. It felt exquisite. My throat warmed, as did places lower down, as he explored my mouth. I hummed in pleasure, at first. And then, as he dropped kisses lower, on my jawline and neck, my collarbone and shoulders, I hummed a song.

He went still, shaking his head like he was trying to scare away a mosquito.

My lips parted as his hands, hotter by the second, trailed over my arms, my waist, down to my abdomen. His head moved lower, too, and just as he pressed a kiss to the spot Skadi had marked, I slipped the nautilus pendant over his head and sang gently,

“The sea holds magic and mysteries,

Treasures and memories, it hungers for more,

Give the water your past, let it sink to the silt,

Let the hungry sea hold the memories for you,

Let the song wrap around, safe and sound, safe and sound…”

I embraced him, us both so our positions were reversed. The cool wind off the sea trailed through my hair as his burning lips moved gently over my breasts.

As I kept singing the song Lusca had sung to me, each kiss on my heated skin made me fear it wasn’t working. He’d said I was his Empress, that we shared our power equally. He’d promised that if I was in contact with the ocean, I would be protected.

“Have faith in the ones who love you,” Skadi had said.

“Look for weapons and ways out,” Vilkurn had instructed me.

I finished the song and started again, Edan’s kisses igniting fires inside my traitorous body. His claim on me had changed me, and his meddling with Serak had altered him, too. But I didn’t have any insight into Edan’s thoughts. I’d have to claim him for that, and that would be a lie.

I would never choose him. He’d killed so many, tortured and tormented humans and gods, and Serak’s influence was all that was keeping him from taking over the world.

My Serak.