He grabbed my wrist until it should have hurt, but I felt only pleasure. I sighed and relaxed into him. His eyes darkened as he stared, a whirlwind of emotions that couldn’t rest. I slid my hand up his cheek, the hand he wasn’t cutting off the blood supply to.
“What can I do to help? I never meant to make you suffer.”
He gritted his teeth before he turned his head and kissed my hand. His lips encapsulated my fingertips and for a moment I forgot about everything else, even my horribly ugly jumper as he sucked on my skin, his teeth grazing and tongue kneading until he pulled back with a sharp smile. I couldn’t do anything but rest against him, gazing at him in utter adoration while he gazed back, his expression more angry than adoring.
“This new cure trial makes me want to rip you apart while worshipping you. I’m not sure it’s much of an improvement. What do you want from me, Genevieve?”
“Everything,” I murmured as I stood needing to be nearer and nearer to him, but aware that he needed something else. I would give him whatever he required, even if it was something as painful as five inches between us.
“My sister? Do you want me to sacrifice my sister for you?”
His sister? Claristia was going to kill the king. I shook my head as I tried to focus on that instead of Oliver’s perfection. “No. Stop her. Don’t take any risks. Stop her before anyone realizes what she was gong to do. Sean can figure out a different way to deal with the Examiner. This might all be a trap, anyway.”
“A trap? For who, Genevieve?” He slid his hand up my cheek, his fingers lingering on my skin as I closed my eyes and put my weight against his hand.
“For me. Falling and falling.” I forced myself to raise my head and look into his eyes. “Save your sister, Oliver. Save your king.”
“Genevieve, you came here, put yourself in my power. How can I ever let you leave?” His voice was low, intent, his lips so close to mine, so close but unutterably far away.
“Keep me forever.”
He smiled, a sharp, horrible smile. “Is Sean nothing to you?”
Sean. For a moment I saw his cold eyes, but he was too far away. I shrugged helplessly.
“Beg me to keep you with me, to touch you, to take you in absolutely every way, body, heart and soul.”
“Oliver, I can’t live without you. I adore you and will always need you. You’re my heart, soul, body, what am I without you? Please adore me and make me yours forever.”
He kissed me. Finally, he kissed me and the rest of the world vanished and I was left with utter bliss and contentment as my soul found its home. When he pulled away, his eyes were bright, glittering.
“Say it louder. That you adore me, that no one else will ever satisfy your cravings.”
“There is no one else and there never will be. Your song plays in my head day and night. Let me sing to you for the rest of my life.”
He pulled me against him and kissed me while he tugged on my clothes. I responded running my fingers over his silky skin, his lips against mine in a maddening fury, taking what belonged to him. Everything got very fuzzy after that.
He lifted himself away from me and I realized we were on the hard marble floor, my hideous romper to one side leaving me in my goo t-shirt and leggings. It wasn’t exactly the best coverage. He gazed at me while I struggled in shock at the cold in his eyes and the floor.
“This is all being recorded so I can give it as a wedding gift to your husband. It’s the least I can do. You ruin my sister, I twist a knife in his heart. Do you think he’ll cry? Last season after you broke up with him, he came to find me, cornered me, demanded to know what I’d done, whether I’d broken my word. He had tears in his eyes, but they didn’t fall. I want them to fall. I want his heart to bleed when he sees his traitorous wife in my arms, begging me to take her.” He touched my face with gentle fingers. “I want him to weep, my love.” He kissed my parted lips, once, twice then rolled to his feet and left.
I lay there for a long time, body aching and buzzing, shudder after shudder ripping through me as I struggled to get it together enough to sit up. Another wracking shudder ripped through me, sending me to the ground as my muscles went slack. I hit my chin against the floor and for a moment stayed like that until I rolled over into a ball.
He would show Sean that he deserved so much better. Would Sean cry? I sat up then stood on shaky legs. I walked towards the entrance, stumbled down into the water then, gasping, submerged. Even the water was green. I swam out the door and down the hall. The further from Oliver, the more my mind stirred. I couldn’t even remember everything I’d done with Oliver, everything Sean would see. My clothes were still on, at least my pale base layer. I felt bruised all over, particularly my mouth. My wrists had dark purple streaks from his hands.
I stared at my wrist for a long time before I touched my chin. It was bloody from the floor. Me between the floor and Oliver. I couldn’t move any further. I floated down and down until I landed on the hall. I curled up, covering my wrist and trying not to shake apart. The water was listening to me. Waiting to hear my song, but the only sound I had was a scream. Oliver. He hadn’t wanted me. He’d only wanted to hurt Sean. I wrapped my arms around my legs and pressed my face against my knees.
“Are you all right, princess?”
I looked up at a clothed chest that was so much like Sean’s, but I knew Owen’s voice. He specifically sounded like that so I wouldn’t confuse them. My heart pounded, my stomach twisted and my mouth tasted bitter.
I swam upright and stared at Owen. “You saw nothing. Understand?”
He hesitated before he nodded, but his eyes were too concerned.
I swallowed down nausea as I gestured at him. “Give me your shirt.”
He took it off and handed it over without asking any questions. I pulled it on and swam towards the nearest exit. The city was still light. I swam aimlessly, quickly, wandering up and down the ways, not seeing the traffic, the people, not seeing anything other than Oliver’s cruel smile.
After hours of wandering, I found myself outside the mushroom tower. I swam into the lobby and took the elevator to my room. The dry hall made Owen’s shirt hang off my shoulders, dripping on my toes.
When I walked into my apartment, I tried to smile at Junie, but Junie wasn’t lounging on my couch like an enormous blond whale.
I froze. Sean my non-practicing sperm whale looked up from the techno gadget he had in his hands. I licked my lips. They were tender from kissing Oliver. I flinched but not from the pain. I had to tell Sean everything, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t say a word about Madd and the spy, the plot to kill the king or anything else. I would not make that whole crap thing vain. There might have been an assassination planned to blame on Sean. I would have to let Sean think I’d betrayed him. Not that I hadn’t. Oliver would show him every detail of my betrayal. Words couldn’t explain that away.
“What are you doing here?”
“Owen was worried about you. I had you followed, naturally, but I thought I’d come check on you personally.”
“You didn’t have to bother. Don’t you have some meeting to go to?”
He raised his pale eyebrows. “I did, but the prince cancelled it. I can’t imagine why.”
“Can’t you?” I crossed my arms over Owen’s shirt and glared at him.
He smiled. “That was sarcasm. You’ve obviously encountered the prince and are full of remorse and guilt. You can’t help your reaction to him. It was the first time you went out of your way to see him, but it was inevitable.”
“Inevitable. You’ve been waiting for me to go and throw myself at him? Of course. What else would I do? Yeah, I’ve been practicing Soremni cooking for our marriage feast, but what’s commitment and actual love compared to that slimy suckerfish? You’ve been spending a lot of time with the princess. Such a beautiful girl with political contacts that you can actually use to further your personal agenda.”
He nodded. “She is convenient.”
I gritted my teeth and
clenched my fists as I struggled not to scream at him what she’d really been doing so close to him. I shouldn’t be so angry at him. Why not? He was perfect. I wasn’t. He knew that and still insisted on loving me perfectly.
He put down his black gadget and stood up. “Gen, don’t let your obsession come between us. I don’t mean you acting out on it, I mean the reaction afterwards, the way you automatically want to shut me out because you’re afraid I won’t love you.”
I stared at him while tears filled my eyes. “That’s not what I’m afraid of. I’m afraid that you will. You have no right, loving someone obsessed with someone else. Where’s your sense of self-preservation?”
He walked over and took my hand. He was so gentle, smoothing over my skin with careful fingers. “Why did you go to him? What did your fellow intern tell you that sent you into Oliver’s arms?”
I flinched away from him. I needed to change my shirt. I pulled Owen’s over my head and carried it into the bathroom to ring out in the sink and hang up. I checked out the damage in the mirror. I had a bruise on my cheekbone. How had I gotten that?
“Gen, Oliver I understand, but this intern? Whispering together in a café?” He made the bathroom seem so small, crowding it with his enormous shoulders.
“I can’t talk about it.”
“Why not?”
“It’s monster business.”
He exhaled and his eyes tightened. “You don’t trust me?”
I grabbed some makeup and started covering up my bruises, mostly for something to do because I had no intentions of going anywhere public. “It’s not me who doesn’t trust you.”
“Are we not on the same side?” He slid his hand around my waist and moved behind me, running his hand through my hair while his presence offered me something to lean against if I wanted it.
“You keep your secrets. I keep mine. Isn’t that how this works?” I met his eyes in the mirror.
He stared back at me for a long time before he smiled. “I’m really terrible at showing my hand. There are a lot of things I don’t want to talk about, some because you wouldn’t be interested, some because I don’t want to burden you. I don’t want you to feel guilty or responsible.”
“I just want to pretend nothing’s happening.”
He nodded slowly, bumping my head with his chin. “Spyguy does a better job on your makeup. You would tell him about the intern, wouldn’t you? He’d probably already know, have him tied up somewhere being tortured or something. Why didn’t I think about that until just now? I am clearly not nearly diabolical enough.”
“Clearly.” I reached up and brushed his cheek. He turned his face and kissed my fingertips, for a moment his lips reminding me of Oliver. I jerked away from him and gripped the sink, staring at the plug like it could stop my throat from tightening for a scream that would rip Cierdeep and its prince apart.
Sean didn’t seem to notice, just ran his hands over my wrists, pushing up the goo sleeves and pulling down my neckline to examine my shoulders, my throat, my chin.
I shook my head. “I’m fine.”
“You look like you fell down a flight of stairs with a set of chopsticks.”
I took a shaky breath and shook my head. “Thanks. You look like a gladiator star politician prince. Perfect.”
“You’re welcome to take a set of chopsticks to me. I’m all about equality.”
He wrapped his arms around me and nuzzled my neck.
It was so cute. So wriggling puppy. “What are you doing?”
“No idea. Maybe something about licking your wounds.”
That shouldn’t have affected me in any way, but my stomach tightened and my skin came alive. I turned around in his arms and slid onto the edge of the sink. I wrapped my legs around him and pulled him close.
He stiffened up like I’d tazered him. “Gen, aren’t you trying to punish yourself?”
“Do you want me to?”
“Of course not, it’s just what I expect.”
I slid my hands up his neck, pulled his head down and kissed him. I kissed him again and again and again. I needed more of him. I yanked up his shirt until it stuck on his armpits. He laughed breathlessly as he pulled away to shake his head.
“You could ask me to take it off.”
“Take it off.”
“That wasn’t a request.”
“Sean, please take off your shirt.”
He frowned slightly before he pulled it over his shoulders and hung it neatly on the rail so it wouldn’t get wrinkled on the floor. He was the most adorable neurotic fish boy in the entire world. I tightened my legs around him, pulling him back against me. I only kissed him for a second before I pushed him away.
“You’re really doing the whole hot and cold thing,” he said with a smile like it amused him.
I smiled back at him then pulled off my goo shirt.
His reaction was immediate, pulling away from me, breaking out of my legs like it was nothing. “What are you doing?”
“You don’t like my lace bra? You should tell your buyer. Come back here. It’s cold without you.”
He crossed his arms and leaned further away from me. “We aren’t breeding.”
“Apparently. Why not?”
“You aren’t ready. You don’t want to.”
“What about you? Do you not matter?”
He kept his gaze strictly on my face. “I’m holding up my side of the bargain.”
“What bargain?”
“You come to Cierdeep with me and I don’t take advantage of you.”
“I’m taking advantage of you.”
“No, you aren’t. You’re having some kind of emotional breakdown after the latest encounter with your obsession. I drown out the obsession, so you think that maybe if you’re serious physically with me, you won’t be physical with him. It won’t work.”
I pounded my fists against his chest for a second. When I realized what I’d just done, I gasped and stared at him while he stared back, unimpressed and unmoving. I swallowed and twisted my hands together. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you.”
He put his hands on my waist and kissed my forehead. “You have a good punch. That was more of a pound than a punch. Not very impactful, just communicating your frustration. You should put on a shirt.” His hands slid over my bare skin.
I inhaled sharply as they slid up my ribs and stopped short of the edge of my pale lace bra. “I don’t want to.”
His eyes darkened. “Why not?”
I carefully put my hands on his chest then slid down, over his silky skin encasing iron muscles. “Do I have to explain everything to you? You’re supposed to be this genius or something.”
His tongue touched his lips. “And you’re supposed to be pushing me away.”
“Do fish boys not like breasts?”
He blinked at me. “What?”
“Just you’ve never um... Aren’t guys always groping girls?”
“Humans. You want me to grope you like a human?”
It took me that long to feel completely idiotic. I dropped my hands and stared at his chest without seeing it. Not really. How could I miss it? “Can you grab my shirt? Owen’s will work.”
He pulled his shirt over my head with a sharp yank that tore the seam. He backed away, running a hand through his hair. “Yeah, I’ll go get something to eat. In the kitchen. If you were trying to distract me from the intern thing, it completely worked.” He closed the door behind him leaving me alone in the bathroom.
I sank down to the floor giggling hysterically. Wow. At a time like this there was only one thing to do.
I called Flop.
Chapter 38
The next few days were surprisingly okay. I went to every political event with Sean. Claristia was noticeably absent, but Monsieur Tarkais was there every time I turned around. Maybe Oliver had Claristia in a holding cell somewhere deep and dark.
The first few political meetings were awkward, but I pretended to be a diplomatic half-breed, charmingly Soremni and
unflinchingly Vashni. So I could push people around how they wanted to be. Not really, but I tried. Monsieur Tarkais had endless patience for my questions about Soremni law and their system of order. I met the Examiner several times.
He was so distinguished and kindly, exactly the kind of person you wanted to run your kingdom, trustworthy and loyal in every way. He gave me a concerned smile the first time I ran into him after the Oliver thing, and I just felt like an idiot. Maybe he’d set the whole thing up to see if I’d fall apart enough to destroy Cierdeep. He didn’t look like he’d rather destroyed Cierdeep than lose control of it with his distinguished silver temples and considerate eyes. He’d been the one who helped me not fall out of my chair at my first games. He never mentioned it, never said or did anything to make me feel uncomfortable, no matter that my fake Soremni fiancé had taken a huge gouge out of his bank account from the lawsuit that funded the Terramore rebuild.
Whatever. I missed more and more of my internship as I focused on the whole political fake wife thing. Spyguy came back while I was curled up in the red chair, working on my college homework while composing something for my internship and considering recipes for the feast. Brogge jelly. Definitely brogge jelly.
“Princess, Takeo, how humbling to know that you didn’t all fall apart without me.”
I shot him a hard look then refocused on my essay like I cared about human political issues. If he’d been with me, maybe the last Oliver thing wouldn’t have gone down like that.
Sean actually cleared off a chair so Spyguy could sit. “I got your reports, but I’d like to know details. You accompanied the Deepness master to all the largest domains and divided the assets as well as made them sign a statement of their intentions. The major distribution was towards infrastructure,” Sean said to me.
“Cool.”
Spyguy sank into the chair. “It was exhausting and exhilarating. Would they listen to us? Would they eat us? Lucien is a marvelous strategist. You would have been proud of your brother, out-threatening the most terrifying monsters in the world. How were things here?”
Water Games (Watergirl Book 4) Page 33
