Page 59 of Needed in the Night
“Exactly as I promised,” I said very solemnly. “You will come many times on those stones. I will see to it personally.”
When we reached the edge of the pool, Isla kicked her feet playfully. “Toss me in.”
I blinked at her. “What?”
“Toss me in,” she insisted. “For fun.”
“How would that be fun?” I asked, puzzled. “You might be hurt.” And I would be the cause. The very thought made my stomach roil.
She sighed. “Fine. Put me down, then, please.”
I set her on her feet, took her hand, and leaned down, intending to kiss her. But a fraction of a second before my lips met hers, she tipped over and fell backward, taking me with her.
Moving purely on instinct, I caught her in midair, pulled her against my chest, turned us, and hit the water on my back with my arms around my mate. Her laugh ended abruptly in a gurgle as we went under.
My body weight pulled us into the dark depths of the pool before I rotated us and kicked up to bring us back to the surface. I lifted Isla above me so she would reach air as quickly as possible.
When my head and shoulders emerged from the water, I found my mate coughing and laughing.
Scowling and treading water, I grated, “Isla…”
With a chuckle, she swam into my arms, rested her head against my chest, and wrapped her legs around my waist. I suddenly found myself utterly unable to say another word, scolding or otherwise.
“I’m sorry for pulling you into the pool,” she said, smiling though she was still coughing. She scratched her nails on my chest to elicit the rumbling sound she enjoyed so much and that I loved making for her. “Don’t be afraid to be spontaneous sometimes. You never know what might happen.”
“You are right.” I kissed her forehead. “I must balance that against my need to keep you safe. All my instincts tell me I must never let you come to harm, most especially by my own actions.”
“I’ll remember that.” She looked around the pool. “This issuch a beautiful room. You’d never know from the shop downstairs that this is an embassy, would you? Or that Atlath’s got such luxurious accommodations.” She hesitated, then frowned. “Ordidyou know?”
“I did not,” I assured her. “I knew his name, but not that he owns the shoporis an ambassador. And of course I had no idea he might be in a position to help us.”
“He helped us because he knows Ycari and Pioni, and because you’re a good bartender and I sang songs he likes.” Isla looked up at me, her violet eyes suddenly shimmering. “Do you ever feel like the universe isn’t random?”
I rested my forehead on hers. “Are you asking a man who has found his true mate if he thinks the universe is random?”
“Oh, well, that’s a good point.” She blinked rapidly, fighting back tears. “But my life has been so difficult. The baron sold me to the woman in the palace, Hidel helped me escape, my last mission ended badly, I chose to come to Fortusia to hide, and Brae persuaded me to audition for the job at Zaa’ga, where I met you.” Her cough sounded like a little sob. “How do I make sense of it all?”
“My life has also been difficult,” I said quietly. “I owe you my own story, but I too have been subject to many winds of fate and others’ decisions, as well as my own choices, that brought me to Zaa’ga, where I thought frequently of leaving to work for someone far less objectionable but did not.”
“I don’t—” She bit her lip. “How can all this feel so much like random chance, but at the same time not like chance at all?”
I brushed her wet hair back from her face. “I cannot explain how our lives unfold, or answer why we suffered, or even why our paths crossed. There are many theories, certainly. Whether one has better claim to the truth than another, I do not know.” I cupped her face with both my hands. “What Idoknow is you are perfect, I love you, and if being with me makes you happy, that is all I need or want.”
“You have got to stop telling me I’m perfect,” she said, with a wry smile that wobbled. “It’s starting to go to my head.”
“I will never stop kneeling before you, and I will never stop saying you are perfect,” I stated. “So you might as well become accustomed to both.”
“Stubborn as a Gandarian mule-ox.” She sighed. “I suppose if you have to have one flaw, it might as well be that.”
I kissed my mate very deeply and for a very long time, treading water. She held on with her arms and legs, trusting me to keep us afloat. Gods, I could spend forever like this, holding her and gently supporting her. For so long I had yearned to swim with Isla in warm waters, and here she was in my arms.
Finally, our lazy circling of the pool brought us to the side with the basking stones. “Are you ready to go up to the stones?” I asked.
“Yes.” She looked at her fingertips and then at mine. “I’m all wrinkly from the water, but you aren’t. That’s not fair.”
With a chuckle, I kissed her forehead and guided her to the wall. “Would you like me to give you a boost to help get you out of the pool, or for me to climb out first and lift you?”
She pursed her lips and studied the rocks. “How about you get out first and lift me?”
