Page 89 of Secrets of the Void
Urgency pushed him even faster until finally he reached the hidden cavern that the humans had long ago forgotten. It was another one of theirs, after all. A cavern that had once been used in worship as well.
Those who had worshipped here had known the sea was a goddess. They brought her gifts from this place which had once been full of boats. They would load the wooden ships with flowers, hundreds of petals and colors that would eventually sink into the waves. Every ship had a hole in it. Just enough to allow it to head out from the dock and out to sea.
Once the goddess accepted their sacrifice, it would sink. Filling the waves with flowers that would then float back to the shore.
He still remembered them wearing those flowers in their hair, telling everyone they had been blessed by the sea.
It was a stupid ritual. But even then, humans loved to pollute the waves while justifying it was for beauty.
The docks had long ago rotted, but the sides of the cavern were carved out beautifully. Smooth sides and stairs that lifted out of the water onto a platform that led toward the sands beyond. Centuries ago it had led to the garden where they grew all the flowers that were gifts to the goddess. But now, it would only serve as a safe place for them to rest for a little while.
He helped her to the stairs, which were slick with algae and covered with barnacles. Proteus made sure to help her place her feet safely, so she could pick and choose the right steps to place her feet so they wouldn't also get cut.
He dragged himself up after her onto the smooth surface where hundreds of feet had walked. He lay there next to her, watching her chest rise and fall as she ripped the rebreather off her face and set it down on the ground next to her goggles.
She turned her face to look at him, and that's all she did. Just look. He could feel her gaze tracing his features. From his brows, down his nose, to the lines on his cheeks, and down to his lips.
He'd never wanted to kiss her more. But a splash of color caught his attention before he could.
Leaning over her, Proteus plucked the single red bloom that had somehow grown in this dark, dank place. As he did so, as if the gods had heard him, a beam of light illuminated the massive cave.
He tucked the hardy sea rose behind her ear, gently following the curve of it with his claws. "There," he murmured. "Now it's where it belongs."
"The flower?"
"A rose cannot rival your beauty, but I like to see it try."
He caught her as she lunged at him, and their lips crashed together in a kiss that was nearly painful.
Thirty-Six
Ellie
Ellie didn't think about all the reasons this should make her feel even more guilty. She had betrayed him. She'd gone against everything he had told her to do, and thus was the worst person on the planet.
But this wonderful, marvelous, and terrifying man had tucked a flower behind her ear because he said she was pretty with it there.
Her heart couldn't take it. That poor, strangled organ in her chest had been so misused throughout her entire life. To have someone look at her and tell her they wanted her made every part of her glow.
Proteus might be angry at her as soon as he learned the truth, but she was not going to waste the few moments she had with him. She refused.
So, she kissed him. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him with every fiber of want and need and desire that had been burning in her for far too long. It didn't matter that he was an immortal god who would outlive her for many, many years. Itdidn't matter that the world was coming down around their ears, and most of it was his fault. It didn't matter that there were far too many secrets and lies standing between them.
Right now, it was just him and her, and the need that burned between them.
She parted his lips with her tongue, feeling him arch up into her as she did so. Perhaps it was the taste of her. The burst of flavor that always happened when they kissed. She wasn't sure what made him react like she'd electrocuted him, but Ellie wasn't going to complain when his arms suddenly came around her in a vise-like spasm.
He groaned into her kiss, the splits along his mouth already opening, like he wanted to devour her whole if he could. She knew that was part of himself that he fought against. A large part of him wanted to consume her.
At the thought, she let out a little moan of her own and straddled his waist. All she could think about was the last time he'd been between her thighs. He'd eaten her like he had been a man starving. For her touch. Her taste. For her slickness to coat his throat so thoroughly that he would never forget the taste of her.
She was untried. Untested. Before him, Ellie had thought sex was something that others did but not something she could ever enjoy. And he'd never enjoyed his body like this either. Yet, there was a feral, little monster inside of her that knew what it wanted, and it was tired of waiting for either of them to take the opportunity.
Apparently, he felt the same. As she rocked on top of him, finding a ridge on his scales that felt so good, he grabbed onto her hips. Those massive claws dug into her skin, but the pricks of pain only heightened her senses as he rocked her a little more firmly against him. He pressed her down onto that ridge of scales, ripping his mouth from hers as his neck arched back.
She stared at the muscles there. Watching the seam that could split move as though he wanted to allow his entire mouth to fall open.
She knew the feeling. A burning ache spread between her thighs, embarrassingly wet as she ground down on him.
