Page 41 of Drenched

“You tried to escape,” he finally said. Each word seemed to vibrate in the air, like he was barely keeping his fury in check. “You risked everything. You know the sunlight will kill you.”

“What was I supposed to do?” I shot back, my voice all rough and shaky. My hands balled into fists. “Just sit here and rot? I can't live in this, this nightmare!”

His lips curled, exposing his sharp teeth. “Nightmare,” he repeated, the sound rippling through the air like a warning. “I’m trying to hold back, but you’re testing me.”

I let out this bitter laugh. “I didn't ask for this! I didn't ask for any of it!” My voice cracked as I pointed at the glowing marks on my neck, at the cave that seemed alive around us. “I didn't want this!”

His whole body stiffened. He stood tall, looming over me. “You shouldn't have come to the water that day.” The words landed hard, each one deliberate. “You shouldn't have stayed. I shouldn’t have given you air. I shouldn’t have...” His claws tightened at his sides. “I shouldn’t have fallen for you.”

The words hit me like a punch to the gut. I couldn't breathe, and for a second the cave felt like it was closing in. He looked away, all tense, like saying it out loud cost him something.

“But now that I have,” he said, quieter but just as intense, “I can't let you go.”

I just stared at him, totally stunned. My mind was racing, trying to process what he'd just said, what it meant. This was way too much.

“I don't belong here,” I managed to get out, my voice shaking. “Look what happened. Those things, they could've killed me.”

He let out this snarl that echoed through the cave. “You think I'd let anything hurt you? Those creatures were there to guard you, keep others away. But you fought back. You resisted.”

“And look what happened!” I screamed, my voice breaking as tears ran down my face. “They attacked me! They almost killed me! How the hell is that protection?”

“They attacked,” his voice shook with anger, he was barely holding back, “because you went against how things work down here. The Sirenshade doesn't hurt what's mine. But you fought it, and it saw weakness. It saw your human side.”

My chest felt like it was gonna explode. “My human side?” I spat. “Is that what this is about? You don't give a damn about me. You just want control.”

I flinched as his hand shot out, his clawed fingers halting inches from my face. His whole body trembled, his control unraveling in a way I hadn’t seen before. “You think I don’t care?” His tone cracked, filled with emotions that clawed at the edges of his words. “I could’ve left you to drown. Let my monsters tear you apart when they threw you in. Let you become nothing. But I didn’t. I chose you.”

The cave seemed to hold its breath as his words settled in. My fists tightened, nails digging into my palms. “I didn't want this,” I said softly, voice shaking. “I didn't want to be your... choice.”

He knelt down slowly, his huge body lowering until he was looking right at me. His black eyes locked onto mine with this intensity that made my breath catch. “You're not just a choice, Pearl. You're my answer.”

His words tore through me, breaking down the wall I’d built to hold back my feelings. I fell apart under the flood of everything I’d been holding back.

The sob that ripped out of me was raw and ugly, the kind that comes from someone who's totally lost it. I curled up into myself, shaking, tears burning hot against my cold skin. All the fear, shame, and anger I'd buried came rushing out. It came out in these heaving breaths and broken cries, messy and uncontrollable.

Rynar just stayed there. He knelt, his massive form looming over me as I fell apart.. His black eyes, strange and unreadable, never left me, not pitying or judging, but something weirdly close to getting it.

Then he moved. Slow, careful, his clawed hand reached out and landed on my shoulder. It wasn't the possessive grab I expected. It was light, almost hesitant, like he was testing how far he could go.

That tiny gesture broke whatever I had left. I threw myself at him, burying my face in his chest. My arms wrapped around his broad shoulders, holding on like someone grabbing the last piece of wood from a wrecked ship.

His arms came up around me in a hug that felt too solid, too warm, to belong to the monster I'd been trying so hard to hate. He didn't say anything, didn't try to feed me bullshit comfort words. He just held me, his claws making slow circles on my back.

The touch should've grossed me out, but it didn't. It wrecked me. I cried harder, the sound muffled against his chest. My fists hit weakly against his ribs, but it was pointless, more about being pissed at the world than actually trying to hurt him.

When the worst of the sobbing finally subsided, I pulled back a bit, my breath catching as I met his eyes. His black eyes burned with something I couldn't name, something that made my chest tight all over again.

“You are mine,” he growled.

And for the first time, I didn’t fight back. Didn’t argue. I let the truth of his words wash over me, pulling me under like the deep ocean.

Chapter Sixteen

It had been four days since Rynar saved me.

He hadn’t left my side. Always there, always watching. He brought offerings, food, tools, strange things pulled from the depths. Rare shells, their spirals smooth and gleaming, colors shifting like sunlight trapped in glass. Stones with veins that glimmered when touched. Coral fragments, so delicate they seemed carved by something beyond nature’s reach.

He placed them at the pool’s edge with deliberate care, like pieces of a puzzle I couldn’t solve.

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