Page 105 of Wicked Tides
“I never expected to trust you,” he said, his other hand coming out of the water with a dagger in it.
He pressed the blade to my neck, letting my skin taste the sharp edge, and I smiled with excitement.
“And here I am the fool for thinking you’d be unarmed,” I said.
He watched me as I surrendered to his grip as if waiting for me to do something. All I wished to do was dissect him and the only way I could do that while under his blade was to toy with his mind. His body. It was something I had been yearning to do for some time.
Slowly, I slid my hand up his thigh, crawling my fingers along his body until I felt the length of his cock thick and hard in my hand. I did not need to say anything. The silence said it for me. Vidar was aroused and by his greatest enemy, no less. I wrapped my long fingers around his shaft and watched his lips part as I slid my fist upward to the very tip. When I slid it down, he shuddered, his hand gripping my hair tighter.
“Take the blade from my neck,” I muttered.
Slowly, he moved the dagger and loosened his grip on me. I looked up at him from hooded eyes and slid my hand along his lengthagain before slowly sinking deeper into the water. But once my mouth was submerged, he took my hair again and stopped me from going under.
“Do not think for a moment I am letting your teeth anywhere nearthat,” he said.
I smirked at his caution, but too soon, Vidar’s lips were almost on mine. My heart skipped at the thought of kissing him. Since that day in Port Devlin, my body desired things it never had before. Things I was certain only Vidar could give me. Iwantedhim to kiss me. I wanted to taste his lips. Feel his arms caging me against him. Feel the sting of his touch and the caress of his skin.
But too soon, someone else entered the space. I pushed away from him, my heart racing with unanswered anticipation. Looking up, I saw Meridan in the haze, watching us.
Vidar cleared his throat and stood from the water, unashamed of his nudity as he ambled over to his clothing and slid them on over his wet skin.
There was a terrible, unfinished feeling in my gut as Vidar walked out of the clearing wrapped in a fur blanket. But he was right to leave. Meridan had a disapproving air about her that I felt was directed at me. I had been feeling it for some time.
Once we were alone, she undressed, sliding into the water beside me. Her pale skin nearly matched the milky color of the spring. She could have gotten lost in that pool for days. I wanted to ask her what was on her mind, but her silence was telling of her mood. I let her stew in her thoughts for a while, waiting for a chiding remark.
“I thought it strange you did not come to bed, so I followed you,” she said, combing her fingers through her long, silver hair. “You are getting tremendously comfortable with him,”
“Comfortable is the last thing I feel around him,” I said.
“You touch him as if you are.”
“I touch him because I know—”
“You are growing to care for him,” she interrupted, turning to look at me with those foggy eyes.
I couldn’t deny it and I wasn’t sure if it was because she was right or if I was simply confused. Either way, I said nothing and Meridan didn’t seem thrilled about that.
“Meri, whatever your reservations, you can rid yourself of them. Vidar remains a tool and nothing more.”
She remained silent, slowly pulling knots from her hair. I waited patiently, trying to put Vidar out of my mind. At least, for the moment.
“I told you long ago that my father was human,” she began. “I told you he raped my mother and I was the product of hatred. That’s untrue. My mother loved my father. So much that she left me with her clan to be raised under hateful hands so she could live her life with him. They called her a traitor. They called me a blight. They murdered them both. So, I left.”
“Your mother loved a man?”
Her head turned swiftly toward me. “They are manipulative creatures, men. Vidar has his claws in you and you do not even know it.”
“He does not have his claws in me. And I would never think to leave you behind in pursuit of a man. A human, no less. You are all the family I have.”
Her eyes searched mine for lies, but she found only the truth. It was all I had. I loved Meridan.
“Kea and Voel are gone,” she said, lowering her gaze. “I would be alone if I did not have you.”
I reached out to her beneath the water and grasped her hand.
“You will never be without me.”
“And if the sons manage to tempt you into their dark waters?”
