The Kiss That Saved Me (The Tidal Kiss Trilogy Book 2) (43 page)

“Can you stop looking at me, it’s freaking me out,” I ask him, snapping slightly. An anxious knot has formed deep inside me and he’s only making it worse.

“I liked it better when you were dark. Come here…” he moves to grab me, to kiss me again, but I punch him in the nose with a sudden, and unplanned, jerk of my arm. He swears. “Shit!!! What the hell did you do that for?” He backs away from me and I continue swimming forward, ignoring him as blood seeps out from his nostrils into the water.

“Don’t touch me,” I mutter, all business as I race through the waves.

“Alright, Love! No need for bloody violence now was there?!” He exclaims, his eyelids fluttering as he pinches his nose. It’s probably broken, but I’m too worried to feel bad.

“Do you realise what’s happening here? If the Psirens succeed they could kill thousands. I don’t have time for your crap, Vex!” I shout at him, not in the mood for banter.

“Alright miss bossy britches. Keep your bloody hair on,” he exclaims, making rage rise up in my throat. I don’t take the bait for another argument though and he doesn’t try to interrupt my rhythm against the water again. The silence resumes.

After a little while we begin to get close to the Occulta Mirum. I make way to see its towering green, sea-glass spires coming into view over the sea floor horizon. I’m fully aware that Vex won’t be able to see them because of the glimmer, but I’m also expecting to see masses of Psirens on the outskirts of the city trying to breach its defences and that he will be able to see. I’m keeping my eyes peeled for the stone edifice, marking the city’s entrance too, but instead I see nothing. As we move closer the Occulta Mirum comes into view, but its towering palace is gone.
 

“Oh my God…” The palace is a pile of shattered crystalline pieces and even from this distance the area where it was once erected is now crawling with Psirens. My heart drops and a single name screams out within me.
 

Orion.

I drop to the ground, losing all momentum, sounds lost to me. The city, the city I had loved, that I was supposed to be protecting was a pile of rubble. What had I done? What had happened here? How had the Psirens won so easily? We couldn’t have been more than a few hours behind them, so why was the place in ruins with Psirens crawling everywhere in a swarm of dark black fins and tentacles. I sit in the sand, silent, letting the weight of what has happened sink in as I look down upon the rubble. Suddenly, my senses return to me. This is when I realise that Vex is talking.

“This is what we’ve been fighting for? Looks like a crap-heap to me,” Vex shrugs and I turn to him, finding the strength to rise in the water.

“You can see it?” I ask, desperate, and he nods. He furrows his brow at me like I’m insane. “Don’t look at me like that. We’re too late. It’s all my fault,” I say the words, a cold torrent of realisation drenching me with guilt.

“The Psirens… you mean we won?” He looks hopeful, a spark igniting in the back of his too pale irises.

“No! You can’t want this. The whole human world is now defenceless.”

“So?” He shrugs again and my eyes widen.

“So…” I place my hands on his shoulders, feeling the need to shake him gripping me. “Everyone you ever loved in life, they will die. Screaming, bleeding, they will die… because of this. There has to be someone, someone who meant at least a little to you. Well… with the Psirens in charge the demons will come… and there will be no more sanctuary. Only death.” I sound like an oracle, but in this moment I need him to understand. I watch a memory flash across the back of his eyes.

“Okay, what do I do?” He looks at me, his expression deadpan.

“I know what you can do.” I hear the familiar tone and I turn, whipping my head around so my hair falls around my shoulders, long and blonde.

“Azure,” I utter her name. She looks different. Her eyes are icy blue and her tailfin is coated in chainmail. There’s a helmet on her head.

“So nice of you to finally show up. You missed the show,” she bites at me and I feel her insult sting. She’s right; I should have been here.

“I’m…” I begin to apologise but she holds a hand up. I blurt, abandoning my remorse and addressing the more pressing question at the top of my priorities. “Orion! Did he get out? Is he…”

“He got out, he was a mess though. Stabbed in the gut.” My heart plummets and I feel my breathing quicken. Azure continues, un-phased. “Vex…” She turns to him and I watch his attention focus in on her, his eyes dilate, I’ve seen that happen when they fell on me, too. He’s clearly attracted to her.
 
As his body straightens and his chest bulges forward, I wonder if I should feel jealous that he’s having this reaction, but my insides are desolate.

“Yes?”

“I need a man on the inside. It’s not an easy job, trust me, and you might betray us, but right now, you’re all I’ve got.” I look at him and then back at her, surprised.

“You want
him
to work for us?” I say it, sounding as incredulous as I feel toward the idea. It’s insane.

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?” He looks at me offended.

“It means that you’re not exactly the most reliable man I’ve ever met, you abandoned me remember?” I snipe back.
 

Azure looks between us and cocks an eyebrow, clearly amused.

“As I said, he’s the best I’ve got. I need someone in there. My sister is inside, Vex, and I need her protected. You up for it?” She brushes some of the sand up off the ground with her tailfin, moving toward us.

“Starlet?” I whisper, horrified. Another one of Orion’s family members is in danger because of me. I think back to the times I had felt jealous of her connection with her brother, with my soulmate, but it all seemed ridiculous and petty now.

“Yes. Solustus…”
 

“I’ll do it,” Vex cuts her off.

“Are you sure? If you promise to do this for me, I’m holding you to it. If you betray me or she dies, I’ll kill you,” Azure looks him straight in the face and gives a small smile as he chortles slightly. She comes up close to him with her sword, pressing it to his throat. “Do you know what takoyaki is?” She asks Vex and he shakes his head, gulping. His Adam’s apple bobs against the edge of the blade and his tentacles still.

“It’s what the Japanese call octopus that they grill and serve up on a platter. Now… listen up and listen good. I don’t care how bad you think you are. I can guarantee you if you’ve done it, I’ve done it fifty times worse. Think you’ve been through a lot? Well, I’ve been on this earth a hundred times longer than what you consider your mighty lifespan, so just think about that… unless you want to end up an entrée,” she threatens and I can tell Vex is on edge, but I think he’s also turned on. Azure drops the blade and gives a casual smile, fluttering her eyelashes. “Great! Thanks!” She’s acting so carefree, I’ve never seen her like this.

“Okay, so Callie are you coming with me?” Azure turns to me and I nod, twisting to face Vex. His sallow skin and sunken eyes are watching.

“This is where I say goodbye. Thanks for…” I don’t quite know what to thank him for. Has he really made me into a better person? Or was my time away from the mer just a sabbatical from sense and reason? My internal voice whispers
he took away the darkness,
but I shake my head, dissolving the thought. I still don’t understand what happened, why the darkness within me vanished, especially not when he was the epitome of darkness and I was kissing him.

“The tequila,” he finishes my sentence with a wicked grin and my mouth pops open in shock.
 

My mind flashes back to my lips gliding across his skin. His hands in my hair, pulling my head back. His finger’s clawing into my ass… us smashing in the television, breaking the desk. His expression feral and unyielding and his eyes alight with an eerie lilac glow. His eyes bare into me from memory, scorching themselves into the forefront of my thoughts. No! I snap internally, feeling my heart begin to pound.

I realise my mouth is still hanging open and I quickly return my expression to one that’s uncaring. I don’t have time for his innuendos.

“Sure. Whatever,” I bite out and he recoils, looking hurt.

“You know you can be a real bitch?” He looks me square in the face. He wants me to retort, to return to our normal argumentative banter, but instead I turn, sighing.

“I know,” I mutter as Azure and I turn away from him. Azure looks me in the face, curious, before something passes across her features, an idea or a memory, I can’t tell which.

“Vex, wait!!” She calls out, turning. Vex spins, his tentacles flaring out with his momentum. She moves over to him quickly and they talk for a few moments, I can’t hear the conversation but Vex bursts out laughing at something she says to him.
 

Behind them the Occulta Mirum lies in ruin. Some of the surface scrapers have fallen and the Alcazar is a pile of rubble. I want to sob for the loss of something so beautiful.

Azure returns to me, her tailfin undulating beneath her. Her brow is furrowed slightly and she’s studying me with a curiosity seldom seen crossing her features because she rarely cares enough for this level of intrigue.
 

“I don’t know what you got into with him, but whatever it is, you can be sure Orion won’t let him live for long once he finds out,” her eyes fall across my body.
 

She’s judging me? Really?
I take a deep breath swallowing down my instinct to sulk.

“I know. I don’t know what I was doing with him really. It was just… there was no expectation.”

“You don’t need to explain to me, Callie. I was with Titus, remember? I’m not exactly the Queen of great decisions,” she pulls her helmet from her head, shaking out her hair. “We should move on, away from here. I don’t want to know what it’ll be like in these waters once the Psirens get bored of smashing up the city.” She frowns, but her eyes are glassy and as we pass over a small section of coral reef, crawling with crabs, I notice how much she really has changed. She’s no longer twitchy and the veins that once mapped her skin intermittently are gone. Other than that she seems to have found a kind of control over her rage. The Azure I had known before would have tackled Vex to the ground without a second thought. This time she’d only threatened violence. It isn’t a completely new Azure, but Rome wasn’t built in a day. It makes me think about my own actions and I realise I owe her an apology.

“Hey, I’m sorry about before. When I, you know, attacked you,” I lack the ability to feel bashful like I once had, but I can’t help but notice my cheeks warming slightly.

“I killed you. I’d say we’re even,” she isn’t looking directly at me, always uncomfortable around public displays of emotion. I nod in response, not wanting to make an issue out of it just to make myself feel better. We move together, silently, but it isn’t as awkward as I thought with her, in a way we’re more similar now than I’d have ever thought possible. She’s seen the darkness too, but she hasn’t been so lucky in getting rid of it. It’s a part of her now and I don’t envy her. Always keeping her emotions, her rage in check. Not listening to the voices in her head telling her to kill, to destroy everything she touches. I look at her differently now and I know she’s stronger than anyone gives her credit for.

“So where are we going?” I ask aloud, not filtering my thoughts as I watch a lowering sun throw silver lines across the ocean floor.

“I told Orion to go somewhere safe. He wanted to set a place but I was too distracted by the news about Saturnus and I told him I’d manage,” she shakes her head, clearly regretting her decision. She increases her speed as she rises toward the surface. I follow her.

“What do you mean the news about Saturnus?” I ask her and she looks at me. Her expression is impassive, which for Azure is a restrained translation of grimness.

“He’s evil, Callie. We don’t know how long it’s been going on for, but he dropped the glimmer and left the city defenceless. He turned it from a fair fight into a blood bath. According to Orion, he can glimmer his own image, like a chameleon. Lucky bastard.” I can’t tell if she’s scared or jealous, but her pale skin glows slightly as we near the surface, the sunlight making her ghostly.
 

I pause a second as I feel the water run across my skin, the light pressure from the lack of depth exhilarating me. No matter how bad things get, I can’t deny that slipping through the ocean’s liquid bounty brings nothing but pleasure, despite the desperately melancholy knot tied deep within my gut. I try to wrap my mind around the information that’s just been imparted. Something inside my brain clicks into place and my synapses fire in a quick assault.
 

“Yes!” I suddenly burst and Azure falters in her stroke.

“What the hell?” She exclaims, demanding I answer for my outburst.

“It all makes sense now! I touched him… and he freaked out, the first time in his office right before Titus tried to kill me, he practically tackled me to the floor. Orion was furious. I knew it was about more than me seeing that stupid prophecy! He was worried I would steal his glimmer! It happened again right before the coronation… Why didn’t I see it before? I kept seeing this… weird alternate version of him in my head.” I’m pleased with my own ability to see what before was a mystery.

“Thanks for letting us in on that little titbit,” Azure’s tone is droll and her expression is unimpressed.

“So you share every vision you have?” I ask her, she frowns slightly.

“No.” Her reply is a mumble.

“I didn’t think so,” I retort, feeling numb.
 

I don’t want to feel bad about the past anymore, it isn’t like I can change it now. I feel myself let go, and a weight lift off my shoulders. I can only move forward. After all, I’ve come so far from the girl who awoke a mermaid, so confused and weak… I think about Orion, about that first afternoon were I opened my eyes and went crashing to the floor of the marble chapel. I remember how he held me, how he told me to breathe. How he became something for me to cling to among waves of disbelief that continued to crash down over me despite my lack of readiness to believe in Atargatis, in her magic. He had been my rock on that day and for many that followed, I couldn’t deny that, even if I didn’t like him very much. Suddenly something within me clicks again, sparking more inspiration.