Page 62 of Drenched

But I couldn’t look away.

Why was he doing this? Why did he care? I wanted to ask, but the words stuck in my throat. His grief filled the room, wrapping around me like the cold water outside the cavern.

“The sun will burn you if you leave me,” he murmured. “But these will protect you. You’ll be free.”

My heart twisted, a pain so sharp it stole my breath. “You… you planned this.”

He nodded, his hands shaking as he fastened the necklace. “It was unfair not to give you a choice.”

Tears rolled down my cheeks as he slipped the pearls around my neck, settling them beside my mother’s necklace. His claws brushed my skin briefly before pulling away. He kept his eyes on the ground, his shoulders slumped under the impact of everything left unsaid.

I stared at him, confusion rising through the storm of my anger.

“The first night you were in the village,” he continued, his voice a haunted whisper. “I came to you. I heard your song, and I was drawn to you. Then, that day, I claimed you in the water, even before you knew me.” His claws tightened around the pearls. “When Jonathan attacked you, I finished him. Because he touched what was mine.”

A sob caught in my throat. The magnitude of his words crashed over me, drowning me.

“I always wanted so much of you,” he said, his voice breaking. “I wanted to devour you. To own you. And in doing so, I took everything. Your parents. Your freedom. Your life.”

He finally looked into my eyes, and the depths of his black gaze swallowed me whole. His voice cracked, barely a whisper. “I love you,” he said, each word soaked in anguish. “But what I did… I must be punished. And the worst punishment is letting you go.”

His claws trembled as he cupped my face, his touch was a whisper of what it had been, soft now, reverent, as though afraid I might crumble beneath his fingers. A tear slipped from his eye,disappearing into the silver glow of his skin. His lips parted as if he wanted to say more, but the words withered away.

Without another word, he gathered me into his arms. The cold water closed around us as he carried me toward the shore. The sea itself seemed to bow to his will, the currents parting, bending, easing his path. I clung to his shoulders, the remnants of my strength bleeding away, my body numb to the cold and the pain. It felt like a funeral procession, and I wasn’t sure which of us was being mourned.

When we reached the shore, the wet sand sucked at my feet, grounding me in a reality I didn’t want to face. Rynar didn’t let go immediately. His hands lingered on my waist, his fingers etching the memory of my shape into his skin, branding it into himself.. When he finally stepped back, his eyes locked onto mine. There was a finality in them that cut deeper than any blade.

It was like he was looking at me for the last time.

My voice trembled. “What will you do?”

He turned to the water, the waves lapping at his ankles like they were desperate to reclaim him. His glow had faded to a faint shimmer, like a dying star. “I am the Abyss,” he said, his voice hollow. “I will return to the darkness I am.”

The surf crept higher, tugging at his legs like it couldn’t wait to devour him. He took a step forward, the water swirling around his knees, his glow bleeding into the waves.

I wanted to scream, to grab him and drag him back. To make him stay. To make him suffer. To forgive him. The storm ofemotions was too much, tearing through me, leaving nothing but raw, ragged edges.

He took another step. The water rose to his waist, his glow dimming further, a light swallowed by endless dark.

“Rynar,” I choked out.

He didn’t turn. The sea was already pulling him down. His final words drifted to me on a breath of wind: “I love you.”

Then he was gone. The black water closed over his head, the last of his glow dimmed out like a snuffed candle.

The coldness in my veins turned to fire. Fury unfurled inside me, dark and consuming as I slowly turned toward the village. Vengeance seared through every nerve. These people knew all along. They always knew.

Tanya with her fake condolences, her fake graves, her fake sorrow, all of it meant to shut me up. To make me accept their lies. We were never safe. We were always the sacrifices, led to believe we weren’t. My parents, my friends, they were fed to the Abyss, to Rynar.

But it was these people who handed them over.

They smiled while they did it. They hid their crimes beneath rituals and whispered prayers.

But now, there would be no hiding.

They would pay. I would make them pay.

Chapter Twenty Three

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