“How did you know? You knew before he even touched Ghazi,” Gideon swims over to me, his tailfin barely moving but creating an immense speed.
“The Codex… there was a handwritten piece. It said the vessel was a container, a container with bars…” I begin. Gideon’s eyes widen.
“A cage!” He stares at Cage, his eyes wide with surprise. Cage himself looks like he might be sick.
“The lines. They were handwritten,” I whisper, feeling confused.
“The lines next to the symbol? The one with the moon?” My father cocks an eyebrow. He smiles knowingly, finally able to remember now I’ve pointed out the exact location of the information.
“What?” I ask him and he smiles
“That Codex was in the backpack Atlas gave to me. Before I came up here,” he laughs. Suddenly I understand.
“That wasn’t Atlas’ handwriting though…” I say. I’ve seen Atlas’ handwriting recently on the letter he gave to Orion. The scripture doesn’t match.
I think hard, trying to remember where I’ve seen the script before, where I’ve seen the long swirling lines.
Suddenly it comes to me in a wave of grief. It comes to me that long before I was ever a part of this world, visions of dark things yet to pass had plagued another. We had never seen eye to eye, we had never even been friends, and yet I miss her. I utter her name. Vowing never to forget her sacrifice.
“Starlet.”
CALLIE
It has been three days since we discovered that Cage was Sedna’s chosen vessel. Everything is moving so quickly, kind of like the rushing waters of the whirlpool that still holds steady, a rumbling tumult. The full moon is high over the farthest northern peak of the world, melding in with the aquamarine aura of the Aurora overhead. It casts a fresh, mint light across the ice as my head breaks the surface of the water, making me shudder and inhale suddenly, coughing slightly as the frozen night air stings the back of my throat. The fusion of mer and Adaro surface, following my lead as Orion comes up next to me, looking just as shocked as I feel at the cold.
“Oh my God… they can’t expect us to walk from here. I’ll freeze to death!” He exclaims, grumpy as the temperature saps the last remaining ounces of his attempt to appear manly and strong.
Suddenly, I hear a loud high-pitched whistle. My father surfaces in front of me, his aquamarine eyes sparkling and refracting back the green light of the night directly upon my face.
“Our ride should be coming, fear not.” As his last word falls, I hear a barking pierce the night air; a group of men travelling by sled and husky dog are approaching from the Aurora Sanctum. It stands, towering behind them, piercing the sky with its glistening icy turrets that are fused in with stone and other strong looking materials.
“Sled and dog?” I look to Orion surprised and he shrugs.
“We have help here, some Inuk run the Aurora Sanctum when we cannot and ensure everything is ready for our arrival and departures. The Lunar Sanctums are much the same way. I don’t know if you are aware of this or not?” Gideon is directing his question to me and I shiver slightly, feeling my face burn under the cold breeze.
“Yes, I knew that. I’m sorry, it’s just… I can’t imagine why anyone would want to give up their days to live on top of an iceberg,” I’m honest, Gideon laughs.
“They have been compensated, I assure you,” he smiles, but doesn’t elaborate on this fact as the sled and dog teams approach the lake’s edge. They quickly turn the sleds, dismount, and place pairs of fur boots on the edge of the water. Each one hurries as they move back to their dogs and grab a mass from the bundle atop their sleds. They stand, an army of devoted individuals, holding open a dozen fur coats. I look up to the moon and feel the change take me, tingles running down my spine, which if I didn’t know any better, I’d put down to the chilly waters. I feel myself fall slightly as my legs return, my chin getting coated in the icy cold of the water.
As I’m falling, Orion and Gideon grab hold of me, pushing my body upwards and onto the edge of the lake.
Holy crap, I don’t ever think I’ve been this cold. I groan internally as I place my feet into the indicated pair of fur boots and a man comes forward, enveloping me in a giant fur coat.
If I were anyone else, or anywhere else, I’d be terribly timid, but with the frozen temperatures and the fact I seem to spend all my time naked, I’ve lost the ability to care about modesty.
“Come,” the Inuk man who has smothered me in fur demands, gentle in his tone, pulling me forward with his rough calloused palm. I hear more individuals behind me shivering, their teeth chattering as I stumble across the ice, my legs betraying me with their lack of ability to manoeuvre its slick surface. I slip, beginning to fall backwards but the Inuk man catches me with a kind smile.
“Only you could trip with snow treads on your shoes. Yes?” He laughs and I scowl slightly. Making fun of me really isn’t fair in this situation, I’m sopping wet, freezing cold, and naked except for boots and a long coat. Not an ideal situation for anyone. “Sit,” my attendee commands, gesturing to the sled. It’s hooked up with some kind of white furry sleeping bag. I sigh, well, it’s better than walking I suppose. I move forward, sliding into the sleeping bag. Suddenly, I hear someone complaining behind me.
“It’s fine. You take Gideon, I’ll ride with her,” with this sentiment, I feel someone come up behind me. I’m pushed forward, further down into the fur cocoon, as someone sits down at my back, sliding their fur clad feet in beside my thighs and wedging my body between their muscular legs.
“Sorry, it’s a bit tight, but there aren’t enough sleds,” Orion murmurs against the shell of my ear. I breathe him in as I lean backward, feeling the warmth radiating from his chest.
“You just can’t deny that you love a woman dripping wet in nothing but snow boots,” I purr, laughing slightly as I hear his breathing spike. Suddenly he winces.
“That is true, can you lean forward a bit… I’m still, sort of bruised.”
“Oh, sorry. I forgot,” I apologise, leaning forward a little and feeling the furs of the inner sleeping bag brush soft against the back of my legs.
“Hike!” I hear a voice call out and suddenly the dogs lurch forward and we begin to move. I fall forward slightly, afraid to move backward and hurt Orion, but he pulls my body back to him, afraid I’ll fall, grunting with the pain as my spine collides with his pectorals.
“Ow,” I hear him complain. I cringe. He looks so beaten up and broken. I don’t want to cause him any more pain than I already have.
“Wow, look at that,” I gasp as we round a corner marked with sharp icicles protruding from the iceberg’s surface. In front of us is the Aurora Sanctum, it’s such an odd looking place. The accents which make the building so very beautiful are all constructed from glistening layers of ice, but I can see that the majority of the building is constructed from stone, sturdy against the Arctic winds and storms that rage so frequently here. It stands, enormous, beneath the night sky, it’s size even more evident as we approach and I can’t help but stare. It is definitely far more obvious and much larger than the single Lunar Sanctum I’ve visited, but I suppose around here there’s not much need for discretion. As we pull in through an archway of grey cobblestone and flint, held together with ice instead of mortar, I feel a warmth flow over me. The dogs slow and we come to a halt as Orion rises to his feet, offering me a hand and helping me to stand. As the rest of the sleds pull in behind us, the others rise from their fur travelling cocoons as well, taking in the building. The journey here had been over quickly and I watch as the dogs turn around, moving back out of the double doors and into the night to retrieve more guests for tonight’s ball. The double doors to the foyer close behind them as the last sled passes through the archway, emitting a dull thud as the two ice constructs meet. The second the doors close, I stop shivering quite so much.
I’m dripping a little, but I’m warmer than I had been out in the open. I pull my coat around myself, worried about ind
ecent exposure.
“Welcome to Aurora Sanctum!” My father bellows to us, his voice reverberating back in a parrot-like echo. The crowd of new arrivals turn to him.
“Please, feel free to take a room. I know you’ll all want to dry off and warm up. Clothing and anything else you should need for tonight will be delivered to your rooms shortly. Don’t hesitate to ask should you need anything at all. The Ball shall commence in around three hours, as the full moon reaches its peak and the Aurora is at its most vivid. I look forward to seeing you all there,” he takes a slight bow, catching my gaze. He’s in a white coat, not like mine, which is a dark brown colour. He’s such a huge man, he sort of looks like a human-polar bear hybrid at this point. He smiles and gestures up the grand staircase, which is covered in a white silk runner. Orion grabs my hand and I wave slightly to my dad as we pass. He turns and exits the foyer quickly, probably eager to wring out his long white beard.
“Come on, we’ve got a little while before you have to help Azure…”
“Help Azure with what exactly?” I cut him off. It was news to me that I was helping Azure with anything. I didn’t even think she liked me that much.
“I told her you’d help her get ready. She doesn’t belong yet, or at least she doesn’t feel like it. She’s having a hard time. I thought it would do her good. I’m sorry, did I overstep?” His face is so battered as I look up into it, so bruised and pained that I can’t say no.
“Of course. No problem. I’m just surprised,” I sigh.
“You didn’t think she’d come to the party?” He raises an eyebrow and I nod.
We begin to move, walking up the staircase together, our long coats trailing behind us. The rest of the mermaids are arriving on the second round of sleds. I pull Orion along behind me as I speed ahead, not wanting to get caught up in any more chaperoning. I just want to have a moment where I can breathe, slow down, and make sure Orion is okay. We speed along the corridor, picking the furthest door away from the landing of the grand entrance hall, needing to be alone.
“This okay?” Orion asks me, opening the door and standing aside. The room isn’t massive, but it’s got plush blue carpet and a ceiling made of almost transparent ice, so we can look up at the stars from beneath. The far end of the room has a set of white double doors frozen into their frame.
I step forward, passing Orion as he holds the door open for me. Inside the room is a large circular bed, covered in white furs and plump cushions. There’s also a stand-alone roll top bathtub at one end with silver taps that gleam in front of the balcony doors, elevated on a cobble stone platform. I would relish a warm bath right now.
“I don’t care. I just want everything to slow down. Here is fine,” I turn my neck slightly, eyes frozen on the tub. I hear Orion shutting the thick door and locking it behind us.
“Oh, do you think they have hot water?” I ask, turning to Orion, desperate. He nods.
“I imagine so… though I don’t know how.”
“I don’t even care at this point. I’m so cold,” I move forward toward the tub, twisting the cold silver tap that’s marked as being for hot water. The water pours, gushing in a steady stream into the tub, steam billowing from it in heady waves upward.
“I never thought I’d be so happy to see a bath,” I murmur and Orion chuckles.
“The cold is slowing my healing down too, I think. My body is just getting drained by the cold. It’s no wonder the Adaro are so pissed off up front,” he laughs and I turn away from the bath to face him.
Orion has dropped his coat to the floor and taken off his boots. Standing in front of a floor-length mirror with an ice-constructed frame and stand in the corner of the room, Orion is examining himself. I can see why immediately, because he’s still covered in bruises. We’ve been through some battles together, I’ve seen him hurt before, but I’ve never seen him let someone beat the crap out of him. Azure’s nails have left his body gouged in places, her tiny fists leaving blue and black marks in others. He looks so pale, so vulnerable. Like he’s, for the first time, wearing his pain on the outside, rather than holding it in.
“Do you want to take a bath? Might help,” I suggest, looking away, not able to bear the colour marring his skin any longer.
“Sure, that’s why…” he turns and smiles, his mouth creasing at the edges. I giggle, trying to remain upbeat in spite of his injuries.
I look down into the tub and turn the taps off, it’s nearly full, but I want to be totally covered in the hot water, desperate to feel warm for the first time in what seems like forever. After undressing quickly, I step in, gasping slightly as the heat prickles my skin, burning as it washes away the cold.
A few seconds and a deep pleasurable groan later, I’m neck deep.
Orion walks over with a bottle in hand, which he seems to have magically procured, and pours its contents into the water. The smell of it blooms from the rising steam and gives away its identity as jasmine bath oil.
“That smells amazing,” I hum, allowing my body to sink and my muscles to unfurl in the heat.
“Make way for my ‘Crowned Ruler-ness’,” Orion laughs and I tuck my knees up so their caps rise above the water, resting my chin on them, sighing at the satisfaction of being alone with him. Orion lowers himself into the water and whimpers slightly. As he lays back I stretch out my legs, he takes one of my feet in his hands and begins to rub my soles.
“Oh my God… don’t start that or I’ll make you do it forever,” I moan laying back. It’s like now that I’ve got a moment to myself, I realise how tense I’ve actually been and how much weight I’ve been carrying around on my shoulders. He smiles slightly but doesn’t say anything. I scan his bruises once more as my gaze falls across him. “I should be doing this for you, look at you,” I comment, needing suddenly to take care of him.
“Really?” He cocks an eyebrow.
“Of course,” I say, surprised. What? Does he think he’s the only one who wants to look after his soulmate?
“Okay,” he turns around and moves backward so he’s between my thighs, with his back to my head. I put my cheek against his spine, wrapping my arms gently around his waist in the water. I kiss, gently across the flesh of his back, tracing my lips across his skin. Next, I bring my hands up, leaving feather light touches across his shoulders and lulling him into a state of calm. I feel him relax, his form slumping as he exhales deeply. Bringing my fingers up to caress the back of his neck, I watch as goose pimples run rampant across his skin and kiss where I have touched, gently relaxing him, letting my fingertips soothe his battered muscles.
I lose track of time, cupping water in my hands, reaching forward and letting it fall, sprinkling droplets of heat across his pectorals. After a while we just sit, silent as I hold him. My fingers flutter across his temples as he leans back against me, closing his eyes as I tease my hands through his hair, adoring every inch of him. After everything we’ve been through, I see now how very precious he is, how fragile and vulnerable, just like me. He is completely and utterly one of a kind and he is mine.
We stand, our bodies intertwined, nude and eclipsed by the full moon, shining through the window. My arms twist up like vines, sweeping across the back of his neck and up into his hair, pulling him down to me, my mouth seeking his. There is no more desperation; there is no more anger. I am at peace, taking my time and enjoying him, as I have always wanted to, on my terms. He’s not insistent; he’s been broken in too many ways over recent days. Instead, I am the insistent one now, showing him where to touch, how to hold. His eyes are full of so many emotions, so many that I realise now just how many he’s kept at bay. I place my hand on the side of his face, putting my lips to his and tease him with my tongue. I take his hand and lead him to the bed, lowering him on top of me, not wanting to hurt him. We are strong, in a state of weightlessness above anything real, sensory abandon, and knowing each other so completely that we take each other away from everything that has fallen from beneath us. I love him, for perhaps the first ti
me, with a wholeness I had not known had been missing before. It’s not just touch, it’s not just wanting.
It is more.
It’s looking into his eyes and knowing he is feeling the same way I do, knowing he’s taking solace in me and experiencing him burying himself in the sanctuary of my arms. It’s a freedom I’ve been seeking for so long, that now I’m practically soaring with him above the pain of this life, I know I was right.
Love is not smothering, though he is wrapped up in me, love is not caging, though I’m caught eternally in his gaze.
Love is freedom. Freedom to grow into the most beautiful version of yourself, upward toward the light of the stars you wish upon, the moon you admire, and like untamed night blooming jasmine.
I’m standing behind Azure, looking over her shoulder at her face in the mirror.
I’m stood in the room she had chosen when she’d arrived via sled and dog, shortly after Orion and I had made our arrival. The room I’m standing in now is constructed of a fusion of ice, stone and crystal, adorned with rugs and sparkling chandeliers, of crystal vanities and wardrobes. Everything sparkles. The double glass doors lead out onto an icy balcony, the rails of which twizzle and swirl, reeking of feminine delicacy. The room is much larger than that Orion and I had found ourselves occupying, but it didn’t bother me how large it was as long as it was warm and I was sharing it with him. I glance around again, finding it hard to believe my father created all of this, but then again, maybe that’s where I get my sense of style. I look around the room, relaxed after my time with Orion, content. I wonder how long this will last, specifically because I’m about to unveil the dress the Adaro have provided for Azure. I turn, moving toward the garment back, feeling like I’m walking on eggshells.
The Kiss That Saved Me (The Tidal Kiss Trilogy Book 2) Page 44
