Page 70 of Wicked Tides
“Curiosity, I suppose.” He stood from the rock and began pacing along the beach, running his fingers over his blade like he was caressing a lover. “I have killed you so many times in this place, you see. I’ve slit your throat on this very beach over and over and yet I find you alive over and over.”
“Perhaps you cannot kill me. Have you thought of that?”
“Many times.” He stopped and looked up at me, his expression flattening. “We make our own hells, do we not?”
“Then your hell is not being able to finish me. Is that it?”
“My hell is not knowing why it does not please me to kill you over and over again.”
We stood, staring at each other for a while as if words could no longer communicate our thoughts. And then it occurred to me how I’d been ripped from my own nightmares and fallen into his as if I barely had control of myself anymore. As if sleep was no longer safe now that I’d meddled with our connection.
The waves crept further up the beach, reaching for me. I inched backward, staring at the sea foam like it was poison. That stabbing tone needled through my head again, making my vision waver. Whispers of the deep language tore through a deafening noise only I could hear and I recoiled, pressing my palms to my ears.
“Have you gone mad?” Vidar said.
“I believe I have. You may get your wish soon.”
I turned and began marching away from the beach to wherever the hell I was able in that strange dreamscape. If it was distance I needed from the water, so be it. But as soon as I gained any space at all from the beach, Vidar was beside me, the sound of his cutlass sliding into its sheath startling my senses. I whipped my head toward him, the sudden motion amplifying the ruckus in my head. The chorus of noise around me was a venomous thing that sunk right into my bones. The incessant sounds pulled me off balance and I teetered, finding the ground uneven. As I stumbled, Vidar’s arms were around me, keeping me on my feet.
My fingers gripped his coat in an effort to stay upright. Bodies pressed together, we found each other’s eyes and remained that way, unsure exactly how we’d ended up in that position.
Despite that, neither of us chose to move. Dream or not, I felt everything. His warmth. The beat of his pulse. The roughness of his salt-stiffened coat.
“Do not tell me some unseen force will best you before I have a chance to figure out how to bring about your demise.”
“Is it really so important that you are the one to deliver the killing blow?” I said with a sneer.
“If only to make sure it sticks.”
“You’ve failed at that in the past. Maybe you are not suited for the task as much as you wish you were. There are—”
I was cut off by another wave of dizzying beckons from the sea. I winced, trying my best to block them so I might figure a way out of the nightmare I’d gotten lost in.
“If it’s so important to you that you be the one to destroy me, then come up with a way to distract me,” I said.
“Should I know what it is I’m distracting you from or—”
“Just distract me. Take my mind elsewhere.”
He chuckled as if I was joking and it only angered me. I pressed my lips together just to keep from biting off his ear or some other appendage he might need. If I was dreaming, the best course of action to avoid whatever force was luring me out was to wake up.
But I couldn’t. Lune help me, something was keeping me there.
Perhaps if I hurt myself. A jolt like that would force me awake. And since Vidar was anything but helpful, I decided to abandon his company.
“You are useless,” I hissed, turning to make my way down the beach in hopes of finding a cliff to leap off of.
Suddenly, a strong hand was around my wrist. I was wrenched back and before I knew it, his fingers were around my throat. Vidar’s face was a mix of frustration and anger as he drove me up against the rough stones. Our eyes locked and like two stones striking to makesparks, something flashed between us. Heat. Electricity. I wasn’t sure what it was, but it made my pulse jump.
“Useless?” he murmured. “I am all you have.”
Like a blow to my chest, those words knocked the air out of me. When Vidar’s mouth crashed into mine, my heart ceased entirely. His hand squeezed me tighter and his lips were desperate as if he was truly trying to suffocate me. Hate and yearning were bitter on his tongue, but I did not fight him. Despite every fiber of my being wanting to escape, I didn’t. I let it happen.
I wanted it to happen.
Because when he kissed me, the noises stopped.
. . .
