The Kiss That Saved Me (The Tidal Kiss Trilogy Book 2) (2 page)

“And you are so handsome Orion Fischer.” I return and his eyes blaze, the flame behind them all-consuming. He towers above me, swooping down as we stand waist deep in the cool waves, cupping my face and allowing his fingers to tangle through my curls. His mouth meets mine leaving me gasping for air as I feel the change take me back to what I am at my core.

Underneath the warm ocean surface we spend the day travelling.
 

“Are you nervous?” I ask him half-heartedly as I watch an Emperor Tang circle my tailfin playfully.

“About?” Orion looks withdrawn, as is a usual state for him since the death of his father.

“You know what I’m talking about,” I smile at him slyly, trying to coax a response.

“Yes I do, and I don’t want to talk about it.” He sighs as we continue to journey through the sea, coral and sand passing below us, silently teeming.

“Ignoring it isn’t going to make it go away you know,” I pry further and watch his brow crease in distaste of the subject.

“All we’ve done for the past four months is talk about it, Callie. Aren’t you sick of talking about it? I would have thought you would have been sick of small council meetings, grand council meetings, and all the other stupid irrelevant shit we’ve been dealing with ever since my father…” He trails off, crumpling under the weight of his own memories.

“Left you his Kingdom?” I finish for him, trying to turn Atlas’ death into something positive. Something it really isn’t.

“I don’t want it, I’ve never wanted it.” Orion bites the words out as though they pain him.

“It isn’t your choice. The votes have been cast. Your people
want
you Orion… more than that, they
need
you.”
 

“I’m a warrior. Not a politician and certainly not a ruler.”

“Neither am I,” I remind him gently. He’s stopped stroking against the current with his long body and is allowing the water to carry him as he lies on his back looking up at the sun through the barrier that separates us from the air. I push myself forward, taking thick breaths of water and lie myself on his chest, looking down into his eyes with my palm over his heart. “Look, I know you’re scared about being the one everyone turns to. It’s a dangerous time right now. But it’s in your blood. I know you’ll be great, and Atlas knew it too.” Orion melts slightly under my touch and his eyes fill with fear.

“I’m sorry about the last few months. This isn’t what I wanted. I didn’t want this for us. I wanted to show you the world. Not have you stand on ceremony while I lead an army to war.” He runs his hand through his hair, resting it on the back of his neck in the way he does when he’s worried.

“You don’t know that there’ll be a war, Orion. No one knows that, not even Starlet and she can see the future.”

“I know she hasn’t said anything, but I can tell something’s bothering her. She’s barely been able to sit across from me in the small council meetings, other than that I haven’t seen her at all,” Orion responds and I can’t say he’s wrong. I’ve noticed Starlet’s discomfort around us too. I guess I’d just figured it was because she didn’t like me that much.

“No matter what happens, I’ll be by your side. You aren’t in this alone.” I wrap my arms around his thick body and nuzzle his chest. The water is fairly still around us and I find a peace I had been seeking since leaving the hotel room this morning.

“I… I know,” he falters and I raise my head.

“I’m serious, Orion. No matter how many boring ceremonies I have to stand through I’m not going to run. As long as we still make time for us.”

“That’s what I want to ensure. I think you and I need somewhere to go that isn’t a sanctum. Somewhere that’s ours. Where we aren’t crowned rulers… just us.” Orion muses and I smile.

“And where do you suggest… we had enough trouble finding a hotel to stay in last night after you so quickly decided we just had to take off yesterday,” I ask remembering being pulled through the water and away from the city so hard I thought my arm would come out of its socket.

“I needed to get away. The Alcazar Oceania is making me feel like a caged animal.” Orion admits and I do understand, after the last few months we had barely found any time to get out into the open ocean. Everyone was too worried about the Psirens’ increasing numbers to leave the city alone and they were looking to us to keep it protected. We had found ourselves trapped as Orion had sent the Knights of Atargatis to the coastline, trying to prevent what Azure had informed us was a large recruitment of ‘lost souls’ by Psirens. She had finally revealed that Psirens could make more of their kind through a transfer of blood with humans. It was a decision we had to make, but it didn’t make having the guardians as the only form of protection for the city any easier. Especially now that the Psirens had once been inside, showing a hole in the city’s glimmer of defence which was upheld by Saturnus. His red hair and green eyes float into my mind.

“I know. Did you tell Saturnus you were leaving?” I ask and watch his expression turn incredulous.

“Are you kidding? Mr Grumpy Gills? Mr
You are the beacon of shining hope to our people in a time of encroaching darkness?”

“So that’s a no then?” I giggle, remembering the hideously angry expression Saturnus tried to hide when the votes were counted and he lost by an alarming differential to Orion. “I still don’t understand why Saturnus got so angry about having to stay hand to the crown.” I bite my lip, feeling uncomfortable as we continue to glide slowly across the ocean floor, allowing ourselves to fall to the depths of the ocean in lazy momentum.

“I don’t understand why he wanted to be Crowned Ruler. It’s a ridiculous job,” Orion sighs again and I laugh at him.

“Well, I still don’t understand why everyone voted for us.”

“I do.” Orion looks at me, adoring me so much in that second I feel slightly sick.

“You do?” I ask him curiously and he nods as we finally hit the sand and it billows up around us in the water. The conversation has dominated everything, stopping our journey. I stare into Orion’s glacial gaze as I lay on top of him, flicking my tail behind me playfully.

“It’s you, Callie.”

“What the hell did I do?” I ask accusatorily.

“You’re a hero to the people of the Occulta Mirum, I mean surely you’ve noticed…”
 

“My million and one new best mermaid friends?” I cock my brow and he nods fighting the urge to laugh. Things have certainly changed ever since that night, I admit to myself. I’m now the centre of attention at parties among the other mer after I sacrificed myself to save them.

“But what about you? You’re the real hero. Sophia told me about how you made that giant tidal wave and blew the army out of the city. All I did was hold on to the scythe and…” I stop, unable to admit to myself what has passed.

“Die.” Orion bites out the word like a curse and his gaze is feral. He looks angry and suddenly I can’t think of anything to say. I don’t want another argument. It seems that’s all we do these days, argue about my death and maul each other in a passionate frenzy. It’s exhausting and pointless, it’s not like I stayed dead.

“Yeah.” The silence engulfs us as we disentangle from each other, beginning our momentum again.

“Hey… why don’t you use your powers more often? I mean, I didn’t know you were that powerful.” I ask him, fluttering my eyelashes slightly.

“I dunno… I guess I don’t like using them, I want to beat my enemies on fair ground. With the Psirens, it’s hard to explain, but it’s not like with demons, it’s like a family feud. I don’t want to be accused of winning by cheating.” He shrugs and my brow creases.

“Titus didn’t seem to care about using his powers. That tidal wave thingy must have been amazing. You could protect the city indefinitely with that…” I muse. He frowns.

“I can’t perform this stuff on que, Callie. They were special circumstances.” He looks miserable at the thought of losing me, watching me fall still under the moonlight once more. This grates at me a little. I wish he would just let it go.

“We still have tonight free anyway, unless you want to head back. The coronation isn’t until tomorrow night after all.” I break the silence after a few moments of swimming side by side.

“I actually have a gift for you. I thought we could take a look tonight.” Orion looks at me and I can’t quite tell what he’s feeling. His jaw is hard set but his eyes have softened slightly.

“You know I don’t need any more gifts. You already had my dress made for tomorrow night’s ceremony,” I remind him, the image of the gown flashing across my mind as he nods.

“This is something I bought with the money Shaniqua gave to me, you know, from my father. I didn’t want to say anything until the details were finalised. Besides, I have more money than I need and I like being able to buy you things.” He pouts, his royal blue facial scales glimmering, and I instantly feel bad.

“You didn’t have to buy me anything with that money, Orion. That was your father’s, he would want you to spend it on yourself,” I say feeling guilty. I remember only too well my disgust over how the mer remain wealthy, selling their sorrow in the form of their tears which turn to diamond in sea water.

“This is for us, not just you.” He bites out the words again, still clenching his jaw. I could ask him what’s wrong, but it would just lead to another argument and I just don’t have the energy. The fight in me has gone.
 
It’s been lost ever since the night I returned to this world.

We pass the day in denial. Escaping our prospective responsibilities and losing ourselves in the magic of the sea. A pod of Commerson dolphins befriend us as the sun reaches its full height in the sky, Orion and I take to playing with them, creating a makeshift ball out of a buoy we fish from the surface. Orion uses his ability over air to cause the buoy to sink and we devote our afternoon to pure fun, so sick of all the meetings and the formalities that have taken over our lives. The dolphins, a hearty party of six, enjoy this immensely, nudging me and Orion with excitement as we pass the ball between us, trying to get it over the dolphins as they race, batting the ball off course whenever they can. We race them too, speeding through the water and jumping out of its cooling clutches at regular intervals, pulling somersaults and corkscrews as the dolphins match our height and agility stroke for stroke. We don’t really talk, because that’s dangerous right now, but we do enjoy one another’s company, laughing and splashing loudly, forgetting the weight of the world which in no time will once again be lying on our shoulders.

“It’s getting late,” Orion says as the dolphins depart off to find some dinner, taking the buoy with them and nudging it along the top of the water in the cutest fashion ever.

“So where to?” I ask as I note the sun lowering in the sky.

“Not far, we’re just off the coast of L.A”
 

“We’ve come that far north?” I ask feeling surprised at the distance we’ve covered in one afternoon.

“It goes by quickly when you’re racing a dolphin pod, doesn’t it?” For the first time in a while, Orion’s expression is like it used to be, when he was showing me his world but viewing it through my eyes. He looks joyous and proud of the seas which he protects and all that they hold. In this look I see the Crowned Ruler he can be. That I want him to be.

“Yeah, it’s been a great afternoon.” I smile, hugging myself as I feel a little tension that I didn’t even realise was in my gut unknot.

“I know you’re going to love what I got you.”

“I thought it wasn’t
for
me.” I say rolling my eyes at him incredulously.

“Hey I’m just saying… I would have been happy with another hotel room.” Orion winks and I slap his arm playfully through the water.

“You mean you got us somewhere to stay?” I ask looking at him with wide eyes.

“Not just any place to stay, Callie.
Our
place to stay. A place where, as promised, there are no crowned rulers… just you and me. Callie and Orion.”

“Thank you,” I gush reaching forward to stroke the side of his face, he grabs my hand.

“Don’t thank me yet. You might hate it.” He smiles and places a hand on my back, ushering me forward as we begin to undulate against the current racing against the setting sun.

“I doubt that, you have impeccable taste, it’s actually really annoying.”

“How’s that?” He asks, his brow cocked and his mouth twisted at one side.

“Did you ever even contemplate being slightly imperfect?” I ask him with a sly smile. He returns and runs his hand through his tousled locks, knowing it turns me on, as he turns to swim on his side next to me. He flashes me a Hollywood smile and I feel my heart flutter unwillingly. Goddamn him and his eternal beauty.

“Nope. Not a drop.” He grins wickedly and races forward. I pout as bubbles fly up in my face, tickling my skin and enticing me to accept his speed challenge as always. I pick up my pace, a grinding, gruelling rhythm that isn’t even half as fast as his, though being quicker than any dolphin or whale in these waters I still couldn’t match his speed, and it wasn’t for a lack of trying either. I catch up to him eventually, but it’s only because we reach the shoreline and he slows to a halt grinning. I never question how he knows where we are going in the hundreds of miles of ocean that all look similar to me, but without fail he always gets me where we’re supposed to go.

“Ready?” He asks, holding a hand out to me. I nod in acknowledgement and his expression remains beautifully passive. We wait in the shallows for the last dying embers of sunlight to flicker out on the horizon, sat in the shallow sand with our tails concealed by the waterline and our bodies out in the dry air. If you walked by we would look like any other couple.

“Aren’t you worried about people seeing us?” I ask him and he laughs.

“Nope.”
 

“Because….”

“Because I own this beach and everything on it.” Orion looks at me with a deliciously satisfied smile as my mouth pops open.

“You know what most guys get their girlfriends Orion? Jewellery, maybe a bunch of flowers?”

“Yes, but you make two assumptions. That I am both a guy and normal. Which I thought you would have figured out by now is false at best.” I scowl at him but he chuckles again, laughing at me.