Page 64 of What Sleeps Within the Cove

“Are you alright?” Estrella asked, her gaze bouncing over my face and looking for any sign of pain. I smiled, the lack of pressure in my chest bringing a disbelieving laugh with it.

“Am I alright?” I asked, pushing to my feet. I took Estrella with me, pulling her into my arms and relishing the warmth of her skin. Her hand touched my chest above my heart, sliding into the fabric where the deep blue shirt they’d given me was open. Where that fucking serpent might have once recoiled from her touch and been so at odds with the way the rest of me swayed toward her orbit, there was only the warmth of our bond and the desire to get closer. I spun her in a circle, centuries of subservience gone in the blink of an eye.

What no one had been able to do for centuries, Medusa managed with a press of her finger.

“Mab may command the snakes on the surface, but the power she holds over them is only because she wears the stone that I crafted for my daughter upon her head like the thief she is. That magic is stolen, and one day,” she said, turning her attention to Estrella’s broad grin, “you will take it back.”

Estrella swallowed, the reminder of the conflict that was coming far too grounded in reality. I pulled her tighter into my chest, giving her any reassurance I had.

I was no longer Mab’s captive, and I could only assume Estrella was not either given her mother’s ability to free her. We were free, and soon enough, we would beone.

“The storm will not last forever,” one of the Gorgon men announced as he stepped into the cave, crossing his arms over his chest. There was a smile on his face that belied the tension of his posture,quirking an eyebrow as he studied us. “I assume you would also like time to consummate the bond before leaving us.”

Estrella blushed, the pretty pink tint to her cheeks leaving me with no choice but to reach up a hand and stroke a thumb over the swell at the high point of her cheekbone.

“He’s right, as brash as he may be,” Medusa said, smiling as she took Estrella’s hand and guided her to the edge of the pool. My mate dragged me alongside her, refusing to allow us to separate for even one moment longer.

Estrella stepped into the water, allowing it to soak the bottom of her dress. My trousers dampened on my calves as I stepped in beside her, only the shallow depths touching us as we turned to face one another. I clutched one of her hands in each of mine, staring down into the starry sky of her eyes.

Medusa touched a hand to Estrella’s heart, smiling at her daughter. “Guide me to the thread of your bond,” she said, watching as Estrella reached out a hand without hesitation. She wrapped something in her finger, placing her hand in her mother’s and allowing the Gorgon woman to wrap our united hands in the thread. I felt the press of it on my skin where I normally might not have sensed it, felt every bit of the length as it draped over our forearms and hung down, until we were utterly connected by that dull connection that pulsed with desire. “Will you spend every one of your days proving to the Fates that the soul they split in two was better united as one?” Medusa asked her daughter, forcing Estrella to turn her attention away from mine.

“Always,” Estrella answered, her voice soft as emotion clogged her throat.

Medusa reached down to the water below, picking up the thin but long purple snake that swam at our feet. She draped it over our united hands, covering the pulsing thread of our bond where it beat in tune with our hearts. I grimaced as the snake wound herself around my bare arm, shuddering as she rubbed into me tighter like she sensed my discomfort and wanted to toy with me. “It just had to be snakes,” I muttered.

But Estrella’s resulting laughter was light, happier than it had felt since her world came crashing down with the revelation of who and what I was, with the danger that had plagued our relationship from the very beginning.

I wanted to stroke that lightness to the surface, to coax it from her every chance I got.

“Will you love your mate on her worst days, embracing the monster as much as the woman?” Medusa asked me, chuckling as the snake settled her face on my forearm at the perfect moment.

“I’ll love her in all her forms,” I said, squeezing Estrella’s hand in mine. Her eyes glistened with the threat of tears, but she swallowed to keep them at bay as she leaned forward and tilted her head up, inviting me to lean down to her height.

I met her lips with mine, the gentle touch sending a surge of magic through me.

“Not yet!” one of the women who witnessed our union called, making Estrella laugh into my mouth before I pulled back from her.

“Call to your ice with your other hand, God of the Dead,” Medusa commanded, watching as my fingers frosted over. That same ice coated Estrella’s skin, but she did not flinch back from the cold. She’d learned to welcome that part of me long ago. “Will you take your mate for all the sharp edges formed from his centuries of life, and take it upon yourself to soften them with your love?” she asked Estrella.

Estrella scoffed, as if the very idea of softening me was ludicrous.

She liked me hard.

“When it suits me,” she said, echoing my thoughts and drawing a rumble of laughter from my lungs.

Medusa shook her head as if she hadn’t wanted the image that planted in her mind. “Shadows, Caldris,” she said, pressing her lips together.

I called to them, watching them wrap Estrella’s and my hands in darkness. “Will you accept your mate’s eternal darkness, and help her so that she may always find the light?” Medusa asked, and I couldn’t help the smile that came over me as I stared at my mate and reiterated our vows.

Only I knew the new significance of them, knew the way that the Fates had determined those words long before we’d ever spoken them.

“Until chaos reigns,” I murmured, leaning forward to touch my mouth to Estrella’s. She surged forward, leaning into my embrace as my hands warmed. That pressure where the threads had been draped scalded my skin, the lights shimmering off it glowing so brightly even I could see it. Estrella gasped, her deep intake of breath drawing me into her.

My soul searched for hers, colliding so suddenly it blinded me. The shimmering edges of where we’d been torn apart healed overwith a slow progression of golden light in the dark abyss that existed within her.

I looked for the light, as I’d vowed I would always do for the woman that I loved more than life itself, but I found something so much more.

I foundher.

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