The Kiss That Saved Me (The Tidal Kiss Trilogy Book 2) (5 page)

“Yes, Mr Fischer. I’ll come at sunrise.”

“Good.” I hang up the phone bluntly and run my fingers through my tousles. I hang the robe up again, feeling the weight of it, and walk from the closet.

CALLIE

I stir from the depths of forced sleep. My hands reach out, gliding over the sheets, searching for him.

“Orion?” I murmur looking around me. He’s gone. He usually waits until I’m awake before leaving. I wonder if maybe watching me sleep reminds him of how I looked when I was in my mystical coma. Technically dead.

“Yes?” I hear him before I see him as he exits the left wall.

“Where did you go?” I ask, pushing myself back and kneeling up, wrapping the sheets around me like the petals of a rose.

“Just checking out the closet,” he murmurs. He’s wearing jeans and a white shirt now.

“Closet?” My ears prick at the word.

“Want to come see?” He asks and I nod. I move off the mattress, gliding forward, pulling the sheets around me tighter at the front but letting them hang loosely down my back. They reach just above my buttocks, low enough to reveal the ribbon tattoo Orion is fond of. I move over to him and he walks me through the sliding panel in the rock face and turns a quick right. The closet is long and narrow but expansive. A red chaise longue sits propped in front of a dressing table and tall mirror. I move toward it and sit. Orion’s eyes blaze.

“What?” I query nervously. He looks like he might take me right here. His mouth contorts.

“Nothing.” He replies as I stand and kiss his cheek, distracting him from whatever images are running through his mind.

“Thank you for this. Everything. It’s beautiful.”

“Would you like to see the rest?” He asks.

“Can I get dressed first?” I ask him, eyeing the racks of untouched clothes still in transparent dry cleaning bags.

“Sure.” He leaves the room quickly. Like he can’t stand my proximity all of a sudden. I sit back into the chaise longue again, letting the curve of the seat hug my spine. I wonder what Orion’s problem is. He’s switching between two personas. The first is fevered with a passion unlike anything I have ever seen within him before. The second is as cold as the ice blue of his eyes. I stand to dress, deep in thought, trying to discern how he must be feeling. I know his father’s death has affected him, but this runs deeper. Is it something to do with me? I wonder this to myself as I run my fingertips down the long rack of clothes. Silks, velvet, and satin prickle the pads of my fingers and I hesitantly pick out a floor length silk night gown.
Orion really likes me in these, he relishes pulling the skirt up to my waist
I remember, noting that he hasn’t actually ever provided me with any night gowns that come above the knee. The sheets I leave discarded in a pool on the floor as I brush past them. I step out into the bedroom and Orion takes my hand, admiring my plunging neckline appreciatively. I say nothing but he eyes me hungrily once more as he leads me from the room, to continue the tour of the rest of the house which he has built for us.

We stand in the kitchen together, leaning against the white graphite of the kitchen island. I’m chopping bacon, preparing to make Orion my famous mac n cheese and bacon. He’s got his hand on my belly, arms around me, his fingers interlock over my navel with his head on my shoulder. He kisses the side of my neck, fingering my curls.

“I’m trying to cook,” I comment and he laughs huskily.

“I can see that.”
 

“Well then you should know I’m not great at multitasking,” I comment.
 

“I am,” he whispers into my neck.

“Please, Orion. I’m hungry,” I whine at him.

“Me too.”

“I meant for food.”
 

“I didn’t.” I can’t see his face but I feel the lions smile spread across his lips as they pull back, baring his teeth. He sucks at the flesh of my neck.

“Look… Orion….” I try to worm out of his arms.

“Stop wriggling. I can’t devour you if you wriggle.”

“I don’t want you to devour me,” I pant, finding his arms immovable as stone. I feel something dig in at my back. My mouth pops open.

“Please tell me that you are poking me in the back with a rolling pin.” I turn back over my shoulder and he flips me, using my change in weight to leverage me, trapping me between his body and the counter.

“Nope. You don’t need a rolling pin for mac’n’cheese.” He purrs, kissing me.

“Orion! Stop!” I squeal. I really am hungry. I really don’t want to placate him with sex and if I were a normal woman I’d be putting up a stronger front of defence. As it stands if I don’t let him take me now he won’t have his hands on me for potentially another month and I just can’t stand that thought. He growls, a deep sound escaping him desperately and in one flail swoop knocks the knife, chopping board, and meat to the floor with a clatter.
Holy crap.
I think to myself as he starts to kiss me.
This is getting out of hand
. He leans me back over the white granite, holding me to him and lifting my ass so it tops the counter. He pulls up my skirt with two hands, predictably sliding them over my legs as he climbs in a graceful leg motion on top of me. I could push him back. Reject him. Tell him we need to talk. But we can talk tomorrow. We can talk after the sun rises. For now I let my denial overtake me once more, let it roll over me in a sensuous wave of momentum. I let Orion make love to me on the kitchen counter. Then on the floor. The icy blue sofas. On the rug next to the fire place which burns lavender. I lose track of time and before I know it I am truly and utterly lost in the ever present rose-tinted haze of his glacial blue and burning gaze.

Sometime later we descend into the depths of the house. I am naked and so is Orion, but it matters little as the sun is rising and we know what we must do. I slip from the chocolate stone steps into the pool beneath the bridge that leads to the master suite. Orion follows in after me as I turn to look back at him. He gets a guilty look on his face.

“What’s wrong?” I ask him and he looks hesitant.

“I may have… left you slightly love bitten.” He coughs, plunging into the water as to avoid my shocked expression. I look down at myself and notice he’s right. Red flecked areas of my flesh show the shadow of where his mouth has been on me.
Oh for craps sake!
I snap internally.
It’s not bad enough he has to sex me to death, I’ve got to go around sporting battle scars now?
He surfaces and I stare at him, unamused.

“I’m sorry.”
 

“This,” I gesture to the three or four love bites above my breasts, “Is not cool.” I don’t yell. I just stare at him, slightly disgusted.

“You think that’s bad. You should see your neck. I’m sorry. I just got carried away,” he apologises. My hands move up to my neck as I keep myself afloat effortlessly. The thin veil of skin above my carotid is tender. When he said ‘devour’ he wasn’t wrong.

“I’m going to look real classy at the coronation sporting these,” I mutter and he looks instantly mortified.

“Oh Goddess, I didn’t think about that.”

“Yeah well, now I can be the slutty Queen. Great,” I snap again and he winces. I stay silent as I feel the change take me. I look up and see the burning sun rising and then I’m back to my usual self. Tail and all. I look down, hoping my breast scales will cover the love bites. They don’t.
 

I turn back to Orion and I see the familiar royal blue facial scales that surround his eyes have returned.

“I really am sorry about these,” he murmurs and I nod. Not an acceptance but I’m not going to cause another argument either. Together we plunge to the bottom of the pool and through a small opening. It narrows but I power through, ignoring the encroaching sensations of the inner tube of the slide and the feeling of falling through the remaining height of the cliff. The bottom of the tube comes out into the sea. Orion and I head back to the Occulta Mirum, to all our problems and our new responsibilities.

The Alcazar Oceania towers before us as we reach the centre of the city. Eyes bare down on our undulations as the blackness of my shadow falls over the bottle bases that line the streets, dulling their shine.

“You know what I really hate?” I turn my head to Orion, my back is tickled by a slight warmth from the surface.
 

“What?” Orion asks me looking worried.

“I really hate it when people watch me like I’m an animal in a zoo,” I say to him and he looks apologetic.

“I’m sorry. I wish I could stop them. It’ll get better once the coronation is over,” he promises, but I wonder if it’s really Orion’s crowned ruler status that’s making me so popular, or if it’s actually the events that led to my death.

“I hope you’re right,” I mumble. We reach the gates of the palace and Cole is guarding the door as usual.

“Oh there you are.” He looks concerned and I smile sheepishly into his blue eyes.

“Yes. We’ve returned,” Orion says firmly, pursing his lips.

“I gathered. Saturnus isn’t pleased,” he warns, his expression strained and stormy. It’s clear he’s had to deal with more than one or two complaints because of our sudden departure.

“I’ll handle Saturnus,” Orion vows and Cole nods his head placing his right fist across his chest, leaving it to rest over his heart in a sign of respect, a sign of brotherhood. Orion does not return, he is the superior and merely waves a hand to indicate he wants Cole to stand down. Within moments Cole has allowed us to move past him and Orion is pushing his hands into the tall arching double doors. I swim past him and as Cole shuts the doors behind me I hear a voice call out from behind one of the crystal pillars of the main entrance room of the palace.

“You’re back brother.” A long black and azure marked tail fin wraps itself around the crystal column, pulling the pale body of Azure into the morning light.

“Azure,” I breathe her name even though she hasn’t called to me. Our relationship is strained for sure, she murdered me after all, but I am none-the-less fascinated by her, unable to look away from her. Even I cannot deny she is beautiful, especially since the powers of darkness have receded within her ever so slightly. Her eyes are no longer the diluted black pits they once were, returning to a polluted blue which shine against her inky torrent of hair that falls like a blade in a poker straight curtain of darkness. Her tailfin is still like that of a thick black eel, sparked with sapphire lighting. Her eye mask is still missing, but the azure veins of dark magic that once mapped across her forehead and cheeks are fading slowly into the past.

“Callie,” the word slithers from her lips. I don’t know what to respond with now so I just smile at her. It’s odd, I know she’s kind of evil, but I can’t help but like her more than her sister. I laugh internally.
Hell, I like pissed off piranha better than Starlet.
I feel something move within me suddenly, a shift as my heart feels like ice for a split second as I look at her and a desperate anger appears from nowhere.
Pity,
I think, snapping like a bear trap. I blink, confused as to why I would think such a thing, I may have messed up feelings for her but I certainly don’t pity her. I shrug it off and wonder what came over me as I feel Orion at my back, protective as always.

 
“Yes. Are you alright?” He asks her, I feel his hand move to the edge of my skin, ready to pull me out of the way of a confrontation.

“Yes. Of course. I’m trying to decide what dress to wear to the ball. I’m thinking… black? Like my soul. My colour don’t you think?” She laughs in a hollow exhalation and I feel Orion relax next to me, shifting by mere millimetres in the water.

“I’m sure you’ll look beautiful whatever you wear.” Orion compliments her and she smiles a little too wide.

“You always were a terrible liar. I should know, you came in runner up to myself.” The whites of her teeth actually hurt me, but it isn’t the whiteness which pains I muse, but the extreme falsity of the expression itself. She skulks away from us in a split second, her tail slicing through the water seamlessly. I breathe out, not having realised I was holding my breath at all.

“She’s… having a bad day today,” I note.

“Yes. You know withdrawal from the darkness isn’t easy. She’s the only one… the only one I’ve ever known strong enough to stop once consumed.”

“I wish we knew a way to help her. She saved us all, Orion,” I speak the words out of loyalty to my soulmate, but I feel the truth of them ring out as they fall from my tongue.

“We will,” he sighs.

“I think Starlet could be the key,” I say aloud, moving across the foyer of the Alcazar slowly.

“I think you’re right, but that means that helping her will be harder than I thought. Fixing their relationship isn’t exactly an instant cure type situation.” He agrees with me, frowning as we move to the cylinder of clear water. It runs through the middle of the tallest shard of crystal which makes up the giant structure we float within, allowing for movement between each of the levels to be achieved momentarily.

“Do you think Saturnus is gonna yell?” I ask Orion as we move past the throne room and up toward our suite at the top of the tallest spire.