The Kiss That Saved Me (The Tidal Kiss Trilogy Book 2) (10 page)

CALLIE

Orion’s expression is strained as I watch him looking at the last traces of Azure’s dress as it disappears around the corner. For a woman clad in something so stunning, she’s terrifying.

“Did you see her eyes when she walked in here? She almost looked normal,” I whisper. He looks around us at the scared faces and puts his hands in his pockets. He opens his mouth to speak but Shaniqua beats him to it.

“I think that’s enough drama for one evening. Back to the celebrations,” she beckons over to the half orchestra and they begin to play again as people start to relax, turning to each other and gossiping. No doubt expressing their shock and laughing off their fear.

“Callie!” I hear the squeak travel from somewhere behind me and I turn, now standing in the middle of the room, to Sophia’s tear stained cheeks.

“Sophia! You made it.” I sigh and hold out my arms as she hugs me. If I hadn’t had her voice, which to me speaks reason and understanding above all else, I don’t know how I would have survived these last few months.

“Yes. Oscar…” She trails off looking guilty but I understand. Oscar never leaves the ocean if he can help it.

“I understand, don’t worry. I’m just happy to see you. I can’t believe there’s so many people here I don’t know!” I exclaim and she nods.
 

“Yes, this kind of event doesn’t come around that often. There are people here I know haven’t been on land for centuries.” She nods and turns as the crowd begins to disperse and waiters descend. She grabs a champagne flute off a silver tray and takes a slug.

“Who was that guy?” she asks me and I shake my head.

“Vex, apparently.”
 

“I wonder what he wanted.” She looks scared and I place a gloved hand onto her alabaster shoulder.

“Nothing good I’m sure. I love your dress by the way,” I distract her, changing the subject. She looks down at the halter necked, lilac silk sheath that covers her slim figure.

“Thanks…it’s a little more subtle than yours though.” She twists her mouth and I laugh.

“Tell me about it.” I can feel Orion reach out from behind me and grab my hand.

“Hey, Sophia. It’s so nice to see you here.” Sophia bows her head and curtsies.

“Oh, no need for that,” he says and puts his hand out to pull up her chin. She blushes scarlet and I laugh silently to myself. Good God Sophia, could you be more obvious?
 

“Callie, there are people who want to congratulate us.” He puts his hand around my corseted waist and I look apologetically at Sophia.

“Sorry… duty calls.”

“It’s okay, I’ve monopolised enough of the Crowned Ruler’s time.” She smiles back at me and winks, turning away. I watch her beehive of auburn hair disappear and I wonder if she’s leaving already. It must be uncomfortable for her, being here alone. I’m grateful she came for me and vow to send her a bouquet of sea flowers when I return to the city. Orion walks me across the room and over to a woman with caramel coloured skin and shiny black hair. He moves his head towards mine.

“Take your gloves off,” he whispers and I furrow my brow.

“Why?” I ask him and he sighs.

“Just do it, you’ll see why.” I slip my gloves off as he asked and look at the woman before me. She’s in a yellow floor length dress and has large, beautiful brown eyes. She moves forward and grips my hand.

Hello Callie. It’s lovely to finally meet you.
I hear her voice ring clear in my mind but her lips remain closed.

“Hello,” I reply back, slightly shell shocked.

“This is Fahima. Ghazi’s wife,” Orion elaborates and I understand why he wanted me to touch her directly. He wanted me to absorb her telepathic ability so we could talk.

“It’s lovely to meet you!” I exclaim and she nods, her hand still in mine.

You look very beautiful.
 
She compliments and I smile at her.

“So do you,” I reply. I watch Fahima examine my face for a moment. She looks slightly worried as she says finally.

You’ll look after my husband. He is in your service now.

“Of course, but as you know Ghazi can take care of himself. Your husband truly is a skilled warrior,” I acknowledge, remembering Ghazi ripping apart Psirens as they overtook the city.

Thank you Your Highness.

“Please, it’s just Callie,” I remind her and she nods. Marina is moving toward us, a scarlet tornado of excitement.

“It’s time for your first dance as Rulers,” she reminds us as Fahima turns and moves away toward the back of the room.

“Okay. Did you get my selection?” I ask her and she nods.

“Yes, Gabriel’s Oboe?” she replies questioning me and I smile.

“Yes. That’s what we decided in the end.”
 

“Very well,” she moves past me, grabbing a glass off a passing waiter’s tray and ascending onto the height of the stage. She clinks her glass against the edge of the throne in an impatient flurry and stands before the room which has now fallen into silence.
 

“Please clear the dance floor for our new King and Queen,” she beams with a wide smile. The mer start to move outward, clearing the dance floor and turning to face Orion and I, who are left standing together alone, the centre of attention. The half orchestra starts to play and Marina downs the glass of champagne in her hand in one masculine glug. Orion steps toward me and places his hand around my waist. I rest my hands on the tops of his arms, careful not to step into the frame he has constructed with his body. Marina opens her lips and starts to belt out the lyrics of the translated Italian aria and Orion moves me in calculated rhythm, twirling me in choreographed time to the music. This is so far from our first dance across this floor. This is duty.

After a three-course meal, more dancing, too much champagne, and a quick change of clothes, Orion and I are ushered down to the beach where Philippe is waiting on the sand. No longer clad in the heavy ball gown, I’m now scantily dressed in the outfit I will be wearing to the underwater segment of the celebration. We mount the Equinox, Orion rising behind me, to cheers from the crowd who are wrapped in white terry cloth robes, ready to embrace the change. As the sun begins to peak above the horizon Philippe whinnies, a harsh and brutal battle cry, and gallops back into the sea. The change overtakes us all, changing legs to tail and surrounding my eyes with scales. Orion’s arm slide around me, holding me as leathery wings spread out in front of me once more and the Equinox starts to plough through the water at epic speed. I turn my head and see the rest of the mer plunge into the depths with us, following in a trail of multihued glisten.

Back within the Occulta Mirum I sense unrest within Orion. The crown of platinum seaweed like shapes is still on his head, just as my tiara is still on mine. I wonder if it’s bothering him as he keeps going to run his hand through his hair but stops himself, knowing he will dislodge his new accessory. I’m sat, gathering my bearings with him, alone in our suite at the top of the Alcazar Oceania when a knock on the porthole in the floor alerts us that we aren’t alone.

“I’ll get it,” Orion says quickly as I brush through my hair rhythmically with my conch comb, readjusting my tiara. He moves in one fluid movement with a flick of his tailfin, lifting the hatch and disappearing beneath. I stare at myself, my eyelashes thick and my scaly chest heaving. I’m still wearing the teardrop diamond necklace from my father and I wonder where he is now. Will we ever meet? I hear the hatch open behind me and Orion re-enter.
 

“Who was it?” I ask him and he shakes his head looking disarmed.

“Uh just… Marina,” he’s holding a single white clam shell in his palm.

“What’s that?” I ask him innocently. He looks instantly panicked.

“Uh… nothing. Some kind of coronation gift. It’s just a shell.” He tucks it into a pouch on the white belt hanging around the top of his tailfin, it’s studded with sapphires.

“You’re gonna carry it around?”

“Who knows, could be lucky,” he gives me a boyish grin and for the first time since we left the beach house I feel the need to be close to him. I swim forward and move to kiss him. He recoils, his skin covered in goose pimples.

“Oh my Goddess, you’re an emotional wreck. What’s wrong?” I look up into his worried gaze and he crosses his arms defensively, biceps pulsating.

“It’s been a long night. There’s a lot going on. It’s nothing,” he smiles and moves toward the hatch again to exit the room.

“You’re going downstairs?” I question.

“Yes. I’ll see you in a moment,” he moves, not looking me in the eye and descends out of the suite. I turn my back to the mirror, facing the room but looking back over my shoulder at my face in the reflective glass. I wonder why Orion’s being so distant. Have I done something wrong? I thought I’d been the perfect companion so far tonight. I’d laughed at his jokes, I kept him from drinking too much, I’d danced and curtseyed, and been kissed for display. I had been perfect. I feel something stir within me, something resembling anger. I push it back down as far as it will go. Now was no time for petty insecurities or anger over something I had no control. I try to remain serene, allowing the rose tinted haze to fall over my field of vision once more.

I descend through the water that fills the palace, moving my tail gently and allowing the weight of my body to carry me downward. I know where I’m headed as I feel the pearls in my hair stir with my movement against my ears. I look down at my body and take a moment to appreciate the nautical attire. I’m wearing traditional pearl studded fish netting up my arms and around my tailfin and a gossamer lightweight halter crop top in lilac over my breast scales. It’s stylish and as much as I loved my ball gown, I’m glad I’m not carrying the weight of it any longer. I reach the throne room and find it filled with mer who have come straight from the Lunar Sanctum. They’re dressed in aquatic finery, fish-netting, pearls, and metal plating used in the most unusual designs you could imagine. As I emerge through the jade crystal archway eyes turn to me and a kind of familiar hush falls, I know this kind of hush, because as an ex high school student of America I know when people have just been talking about me. I look around and mermaids place their hands over their mouths, blushing. I turn around me and at my back is Saturnus staring right at me.
What the hell are you looking at?
I snarl internally at his smugly serene expression. The bruise on his jaw is gone from earlier, healed in a flash just like so many other mer injuries. I look back across the stained glass image of Atargatis that makes up the floor, the early rising sun causing spectacular kaleidoscopic light to bounce around the room, leaving rainbows in its wake. Orion sits in the place of Atlas, in the throne made from the Olive tree of his origin island, somewhere off the coast of Cyprus. I look at his face, and in all honesty he looks a little green.
Can mermen get sick? God I hope he doesn’t puke in water that’s going to be a nightmare.
 
I think to myself as he rises. Skye comes up behind me, wrapped in decorative netting and with sea stars clinging to her tresses.

“Go to him. Go on,” she pushes me forward and I scowl back at her, rushing to get away from her.

“Geez, okay. God, stop manhandling me!” I snap. She frowns at me and rolls her eyes.
 

I look back around and Orion has risen from his throne, crown multihued in the light. His eyes are wide, like he’s seen a ghost and I watch his fumbling fingers.
 

“Callie…” He breathes, shaking slightly. He takes both my hands and we rise until we are around six feet above the floor. The crowd stares up at me.
What the hell is going on?
Did someone die or something?
I look into the eyes of Saturnus curiously and notice the mermaids around the room blushing insanely. Oh Goddess… What on earth? Then it clicks and something inside me realises what’s happening before, only God knows why, Orion pushes back from me and lowers himself so the tip of his tail is touching the floor. He pulls the shell from his belt and before I can say a single word he’s opening it and speaking the words I had thought were years away. My heart falls through my chest as they hit the air, smashing my rose tinted haze so completely I feel faint.

“Callie Pierce, you are the woman I’ve waited for, the woman I’ve longed for, and the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with. Will you marry me?”