The Kiss That Saved Me (The Tidal Kiss Trilogy Book 2) (60 page)

Suddenly, a rumbling from deep within the earth. It’s here. It’s too late. It’s coming. Caedes unchains Starlet. Taking the body from which I watch and dumping it on top of broken shards of sea glass. I feel pain from the thousands of cuts scream out through her nervous system and I cringe. I want to cover my eyes, close my ears. But they aren’t my senses to extinguish.
 

She lies staring up at the sky as something is born from the earth. The glass shifts and she tumbles, rolling and finding herself impaled on more of the broken shards. I hear a roar, a roar that’s beyond terrifying and beyond primal.

The Necrimad has risen.

A few minutes later I wonder why I’m still entrapped within her. I can’t leave, and yet there is nothing left for me to see. She is bleeding out, lying on sharp shards and unable to move from exhaustion. Suddenly, out of the bloody tinge of her vision, someone is rolling her over. Lilac eyes blaze.

“Starlet… Hey, Love… still with me?” Vexus is with her. He’s found her.
 

Thank god.

“Kill me.” The words come from Starlet’s lips. Hoarse and calm.

Don’t you dare.

“No Love…”

Good boy.

“I’ve had enough. Please.”

No, Star. We’re not done here… don’t you dare. I swear to God if you…

 
She grabs the back of his neck, shifting on top of the wreckage, I feel glass shred the skin around her spine. I watch as she takes Vex to her and looks deeply into his irises. He doesn’t move, stunned.

She places her lips to his and he gasps, like he’s run out of air. It’s her very first kiss, and I feel her heart leap at his closeness, though why she’s chosen him of all people to share this with I can’t understand. Vex’s eyes widen.

Suddenly something shifts and my perspective changes. I’m watching through another pair of eyes as Starlet leans back and exhales her final breath, turning to sand and being swept away.

I’m still screaming bloody murder as I return to myself and open my eyes. Head thudding.
 

The first thing I see is my brother’s face as I awake.
 

The next thing I know, I’m lunging for his throat.

ORION

I’m not having a good day. One moment I’m watching Azure scream her lungs hoarse with closed eyes and the next thing I’m on the floor and her hands are wrapped around my throat. Her eyes are diluted black and her face is mapped once more by darkness.
 

What on earth has gotten into her?

“Azure….” I gasp, reaching up. I don’t want to use my power over air, but I think she’s too far gone to be reached. I feel my mental processes beginning to slow and I realise I’m running out of time. Choking, gasping for breath, I turn my head only to see Cole and Ghazi are stationary, shocked to my left. So much for the royal guard.
 

I summon my strength and push outward with my free hands blowing Azure backward into the wall. She hits her head hard and yet still remains conscious.

“WELL, RESTRAIN HER!” I bark at the two stunned guards. Cole and Ghazi bound forward, grasping onto an elbow each, and fighting against her increased dark strength.
 

A shocked voice from behind me speaks out. Making me turn.

“What’s going on here?” Callie asks, her father at her side. She looks horrified.

“I have no idea. She passed out and then she just went crazy!” I blurt. Callie looks concerned. Gideon moves forward quickly.
 

“Turn her around,” he demands. The guard revolve the hissing Azure and Gideon ices her hands, creating a pair of makeshift handcuffs. “That should keep her from getting loose.” He nods at Cole and Ghazi, “Good job.”
 

Callie comes forward and lays two palms on the side of Azure’s skull. Azure struggles a few moments. Suddenly they both gasp. A few moments pass before Callie speaks once more.

“We need to contain her,” she says nodding. Everything is moving so fast.

“Wait, I don’t understand!” I bark out. Callie looks suddenly miserable.

“Starlet… they sacrificed her. The Necrimad is loose. She’s dead,” she moves to me laying a soft hand on my shoulder. I don’t pull away as reality comes in a torrent. No.
 

“Gideon, can you put her somewhere she can’t get out? I don’t want her grief to make her do something she’ll regret,” Callie requests. Any words I might say are lost.

“Yes. I’ll ice her into the top tower of the palace,” Gideon suggests.

“That should work. Make sure the walls are thick,” Callie reminds him and he nods with a worried expression.

“Come on,” she whispers to me. I think I’m in shock. I can’t take in where she’s leading me. I just keep blinking.
 

We move through the ice city in silence, each moment passing as an eternity. I can’t process what’s going on. So I turn to her, hoping her face will guide me as to how I should feel. She keeps looking at me out of the corner of her eye, an expression that’s pitied coming across her angelic face.
 

We enter the ice palace together as a set of guards move aside, more at her presence than mine. I suppose the news of Gideon’s daughter has travelled quickly. “Nearly there,” she coaxes, leading me in a left turn into a long corridor. Eventually we reach what I assume is the room Gideon has given her. She moves me over to the bed and sits me down. My scales brush against furs.

“Okay. Here we go,” she says. I can’t look her in the eyes. If I do. I’m afraid I might crumble. “It’s okay. Everything will get sorted. You’ll see. I’ll take care of it.” I feel my heart shrivel at her words. I can’t have her taking care of me… it’s supposed to be the other way around. I’m supposed to be the strong one. “Orion, please look at me. Starlet just died. It’s okay to be devastated. If you didn’t feel that way then you’re not the man I know you are.” I look up. Surprised. Her eyes are welling and glassy, tearing up. They’re reaching out for me, seeking to comfort.

“I’m so sorry.” She reaches upward, placing a palm on the side of my face. With this kind touch I am bereft. I can’t hold it back, no matter how hard I try.
 

Tears start to fall. She wraps her arms around me and holds me as I weep. I weep for Starlet. I weep for my father. I weep for the Occulta Mirum. Most of all though, I weep for her. I weep because I almost lost her. I almost lost her because of my pride. I weep because I can. Because she’s here. Holding me up with incredible strength I have been blind to. She’s all I have left. She’s not something fragile. She’s a crux.
 

I lean on her as I have never allowed myself with anyone else.
 

The walls within, built over hundreds of years, fall to dust, just like the city I had so loved.

I awaken, having sobbed myself to exhaustion and lacking the discipline to stay conscious, I had chosen sleep as a sanctuary for my broken heart. I realise now this is my mistake, because waking up and realising that Starlet is dead all over again, with memories now crystalline in their perfection, is perhaps worse than the first time I heard the words fall from Callie’s lips. I look to my right seeking her. Needing her to hold me again. She is gone. I hear something open and see her re-appear around the door.
 

“Azure has been contained,” she informs me with a sigh. She runs one hand through her long blonde hair. Her eyes are bright, like a weight has been lifted. I dislike consciousness, despite her presence. My heart becomes heavy as my mind begins to work overtime.
 

“Where did you go?” Is all I can think to ask. Callie swims over to the bed in her normal raw stroke, placing an envelope on the delicately crafted bedside table. I lie amongst the furs, which are littered with diamonds from my grief.

“I was just getting an update from my dad about Azure. He said she kicked and screamed and howled all the way there. He’s iced her into the top tower like we discussed, but she’s bloodied herself up something nasty trying to get herself out,” Callie sighs again, twisting her mouth into a tilted pucker and scrunching up her nose.

“Can’t we restrain her? Knock her out?” I ask with a cringe. I don’t want any more blood spilled. Especially not hers.

“To be honest, I think it’s better if we let her go at it. She’s angry. She has a right to be. Her soulmate just died,” Callie speaks with wisdom.

“You sound like my father,” I say absently.

“Yes. That’s the other thing… I have a letter for you. It’s from him.” I look up at her, my eyes wide.

“Where on earth did you get a letter from my father?” I must sound suspicious, but I can’t help myself.

“He gave it to Gideon,” she explains, leaning back over one shoulder and grabbing the envelope she had placed on the bedside table. I look down at it.

“I don’t think I want to open it,” I shrug.

“Oh… why not?” Callie doesn’t have an expression, she remains impassive, waiting to hear what I have to say before she reacts.

“He’d be so disappointed of me… so ashamed,” I look down at the dull blue of my tailfin. Ashamed of myself. I can’t bear to look at her.

“Oh, Orion, that’s not true!” She puts her hands on my face, cupping my chin and looking at me deeply. Her aquamarine pupils dilate and shine, looking upon me with more kindness than I deserve.

“I let you take the crown and I wasn’t man enough to let you rule with me. I got everyone killed… even my own sister,” I gulp at the last part, fighting back tears.

“Orion, those things would have happened even if you weren’t Crowned Ruler. They might have been worse! You don’t know.” She’s trying so hard to make me see myself through her eyes, but I can’t. They’re tainted with her emotion, distorting my image by kaleidoscopic proportions.
 

“I pushed you away,” I feel the truth sting.

“You did,” she nods. I turn slightly and she looks at me, frowning. “I let the darkness take all my anxiety, all my unhappiness, and turn it into hate… I slept with Vex… I thought I was finally free. Then I realised that being free was just my way of wanting to escape the consequences of my actions. Of not having to deal with my choices.” She looks now like she might cry.

“Why did you go to him?” I ask her, a shudder.

“Because I didn’t want to be alone. I was scared of more people dying. I’m still scared,” she admits this and I’m taken aback, looking at her like she’s a different person than I’ve ever known.

“Sirenia tried to kiss me,” I admit, fingering the paper of my father’s letter. I expect Callie to go off on an angry rant, but she doesn’t, she just sighs.

“Tried?” She cocks an eyebrow and then lets a slight giggle escape her lips. She covers her mouth shyly, as though she’s aware she shouldn’t be laughing after the loss of Starlet.

“Yes. I told her the position of Queen was taken. By someone real.”

“Real?” I can see her questioning my choice of phrase.

“That’s the thing… You were right. I was in love with a fantasy…” the minute the words leave my lips I regret them, she drops her gaze and looks uncomfortable.

“I’m sorry I can’t be what you waited for,” she whispers.

“It took Sirenia making me into a fantasy of her own to make me realise something I’d been missing,” I continue quickly, wanting to get to my point before she flees.

“Bigger… assets?” She asks and I burst out laughing against my better judgement.

“No. It made me realise your flaws. You’re passionate and you’re stubborn. You have this tiny little dimple that comes up here when you smile, and a tiny wrinkle in your forehead when you cry. You’re not graceful like the others, you’re raw, un-practiced, and brash. You’re completely hilarious in all the wrong ways. Your hair is never perfect and you
always
put yourself in harm’s way…” I keep going and her eyes glaze. She gets up to leave, to bolt, but I grab her arm. She turns to me, eyes burning deep, about to say something she’ll regret. I push my finger to her lips, silencing her as I rise slightly from the bed. “And that’s… why I love you. You’re passionate because you love with everything and if you love you do it properly. You’re stubborn because you have self-respect and you know your own mind. You get that dimple when you’re eating and there’s barbeque sauce all over your face because you appreciate the small things. You get a wrinkle in your forehead when you cry, because you care so deeply about everyone, you’re empathetic. You’re not graceful, because you’re too excitable and busy loving life to care about appearance. You’re hilarious in all the wrong ways because you’re so honest and you never hide from what’s real. Your hair is never perfect because you don’t care how you look, as long as I’m kissing you. And… lastly… you
always
put yourself in harm’s way… because Callie, you’re a strong woman. I love you. All of you. Even the flaws. Because that’s what makes you special. It’s what makes you mine,” I’m out of breath by the end of this declaration.