Page 53 of Broken Hearted
I cleared my throat and took a step away from Adrien, firmly reminding myself we were on a beach with eight other sailors. I was here to complete a mission, not to flirt. Adrien seemed to pull himself out of whatever reverie he was in as well, and taking my hand he pulled me along.
“We’ve made sleeping pallets for the night. We’ll have the coconuts to eat and drink. I’m not sure if you’ve had them before, but I can assure you the milk is very refreshing.”
He led me over to where the pallets were lined in a row, glaring at his men when they stopped to gawk at me. One look from their captain had them jumping back to whatever task they were working on before I’d distracted them.
We ate fire-grilled fish we’d caught, drank coconut water, and then chewed on refreshing mint leaves as we talked by the fire with his men for over an hour before sleep started to pull at my body. I noticed that Adrien had put my pallet next to his and backed them up to a few trees so that I was boxed in. Safe.
“Let’s get some rest. Big day in the morning.”
After wishing everyone good night, I lay down on my pallet and Adrien on his. We were mere inches from each other, maybea foot at most, and I couldn’t help but stare into those blue-green eyes.
I remembered the way I’d washed his body when he’d had the fever and my cheeks heated. He was by far the most handsome man I’d ever laid eyes on. The way he was looking at me right now, with a burning intensity, made me yearn to know what was on his mind.
“What are you thinking about?” I whispered across the dark night.
He inhaled and then seemed to hold his breath for a moment. Leaning onto one elbow, he came closer to me and brought his lips to my ear. “I think you’re my mate, Isolde.” He exhaled, and the fresh smell of mint washed over me along with a whole-body tingle.
Mate.That word. So terrifying and yet, so right when it came to Adrien. I wanted to give in. I did, but also … I didn’t. Because at this moment, as Adrien pulled back and hovered over my lips as if begging me to kiss him and prove him right, I couldn’t help but think of my parents.
They had been madly in love, married for over twenty years and then everything just exploded. Now they barely tolerated each other. My father was broken by it. My mother too, but she hid it better.
I didn’t want that. Mate. Love. It didn’t matter. Nothing lasted forever.
When I didn’t move to kiss him or to say anything to his sweet words, his face fell and he backed away, laying back down on his pallet and turning away from me.
My body buzzed with the urge to reach for him, spin him around and kiss him as proof of our mate bond rained around us, but I couldn’t. I was frozen in fear, so I closed my eyes and pretended to sleep. Yet it was a long time before the darkness took me.
Adrien’s words churned in my head for hours.
Chapter Seventeen
Iawoke to a small nudge. My eyelids snapped open, and I came face to face with Adrien. It was barely light, so the early morning rays just kissed his features. Shadows still clung to parts of his face, but the lighting, or lack thereof, just made his eyes blaze that much more. The intensity in his eyes caused my stomach to flip over as I stared up at him.
“The merfolk are back. We need to leave,” he said flatly, his voice void of the emotions his eyes betrayed. Then he turned his back and walked toward the shore.
I sat up rubbing my eyes, relieved to find that my ear had healed overnight like I hoped it would. When I looked down I spotted a small leaf plate before me. Some coconut meat was cut into cubes with mint leaves accompanied by a whole coconut full of water.
He made that for me? My heart pinched. It was so very sweet, especially after I rejected him last night.
It was just … the mate thing was so different to me and my culture. Here you kissed, found out you were mates, got married and popped out a kid? But a couple of weeks ago Adrien and I didn’t even know each other and he was engaged to someone else.
It was too much, too fast. It terrified me. Mostly because I was starting to feel without a shadow of a doubt that if anyone in this realm was my mate, it was Adrien. But love only led to heartache, and I wasn’t sure I could take any more of that.
I quickly shoved pieces of the coconut and mint into my mouth and chewed, then drank some of the coconut water. It put something in my stomach and the mint also freshened my breath. Afterward I met Adrien at the shore where he was talking to Kira and over two dozen merwarriors. They floated in the water with glowing spears and metal chest plates. We left Adrien’s men sleeping. There was no sense in dragging them into this.
“Each one of these people are willing to die for the cause,” Kira explained.
Adrien shook his head. “I couldn’t ask you to force your people to—”
“I force my people to do nothing. They volunteered. Anything to stop the curse from killing our young and taking their future,” she exclaimed.
It was a beautiful sentiment, but I really hoped no one was going to die today.
Adrien handed me the satchel that held the Shadow Heart, and I reached in and grabbed it. “I need to get this into the belly of the sea,” I told them all and brandished it into the air.
A reverence fell over everyone. Gasps, open mouths and wide eyes.
“Then you shall,” Kira stated. “Come into the water. We shouldn’t delay any further.”
