Page 108 of Ocean of Sin and Starlight

Whether she sees it or not, her cunt milks me of every last drop until I collapse forward, my head resting against the wall, trying to catch my breath, trying to come back to Earth.

“Priest,” Larimar whispers roughly, but that’s all she says.

That’s all she needs to say.

My name sounds like an answered prayer.

I take a moment before I pull out of her and lower her to the ground.

While she’s panting, leaning back against the wall for support, I quickly bend down and grab the key from the floor to unlock the shackles at my feet. Then I glance at her legs, at my cum dripping down the insides of her thighs, mixing with her own.

I crawl over to her, the only time I’ll ever crawl, and then I slide my tongue up her legs, savoring the taste of our unholy union. I run my mouth all the way up to her cunt and push the rest of it back inside with my tongue, causing her to give an involuntary squeeze, and I think she’s getting aroused all over again.

I pull my mouth away, smiling softly to myself, then straighten up.

“In case you didn’t notice, I’m not done with you yet.”

Then I scoop her up in my arms, carry her across the room, and kick open the door, heading to my quarters completely in the buff. If Abe is there, he’s getting kicked out, because I’m going to fuck the hell out of Larimar in my own bed.

And then, I’m finally, finally going to sleep.

Chapter Thirty-Three

LARIMAR

For the second time ever, I fall asleep in Priest’s arms.

But this time when I wake, he’s not gone. I don’t find him in a church, about to change our lives forever.

Instead, I find him right beside me, his strong, firm arm wrapped around my waist, holding on even in sleep.

And he is sleeping, his eyes closed, a look of total peace on his face as he breathes in and out steadily.

He is here and I am here, squeezed on his narrow bunk in his chambers, Abe having vacated the room earlier. Outside, gray light begins to filter through the salt-stained circle windows, and I know the sun will be up soon. The crew will be at work, and the ship will spring back to life after the night passes. Even just being kept in the tub for the last few days, I’ve been able to hear the day-to-day activities of the ship around me.

But for now, it feels like just the two of us in here, just the two of us in this world.

My feelings for Priest are at times complicated, but they are unchanged.

I love him. I loved him then and I love him now, and I don’t believe it was his magic that brought us together again, that brought him right to me and me to him. I believe it was simpler than that. I believe it was fate. Fate brought me to him, him to Maren, and both of them to me.

I can’t say I don’t carry fear in my heart, but it’s a different kind of fear now. Perhaps the beast that lives inside him will always lurk there, just out of reach. Maybe I’ll see only a glimpse of it every now and then, in the piercing red pupil of Priest when he’s overcome with bloodlust, or in the rough handling of our fucking. Maybe when he pushes me toward death, like he did last night when he choked me, that’s when I’m actually looking at the monster inside him.

But last night was a test. I submitted to him. I trusted him. I figured if he’s going to try and kill me, he should get it over with.

Yet, I didn’t die. Priest took great care to make sure I was alright, that I was only experiencing the finest pleasure. And when we were done, he took his time to make sure I was satisfied and safe, enough so that I fell asleep in his arms.

So for now, my fear of that monster reappearing, those nightmares of the church that sting of his ultimate betrayal, will have to go ignored. I’ll face them when they rear their ugly heads, and hopefully, I won’t have to face them alone. Priest will stare down his demons by my side.

My main fear is that if Priest and I are forever bound to each other…how long does forever last?

He will live forever. He will carry my heart with him for the infinite stretches of time and whatever lies beyond it, but I will only be here for three hundred years, maybe less now that I’m human. Perhaps I’ll only have a hundred years with him before I die, before I get old and gray and sick and perish.

Or maybe fate will dole out a bitter hand and give me even less time than that. I might be a savage, able to fight back and take a good beating, harder to kill than your average human. Syrens are strong in so many ways, and I know that strength is still inside me. But if I’m shot? If I’m stabbed? If I’m set on fire? If I’m poisoned or somehow become susceptible to some human disease, or if I fall into the ocean in front of the wrong group of sharks, then I die.

And Priest will go on.

Though the chapter of our lives in Chile had come to a close, a new one is just starting. Our story is continuing.

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