Page 14 of Surfaces
They were guards who fought other men.
They weren’t equipped to fight monsters like Watkins.
I would have to do that.
When I turned away from the door, I started to find Watkins was so close to me. One step and I could have reached out and touched him, that was how small the room was. But when I took that step, glaring, he took another back.
He must have sensed a predator in the water, one stronger than even him.
Well, he was right.
I was livid about this attack, and I was about to devour him whole.
My power zinged underneath my skin, as dark and mysterious as a stingray. The temptation to use it was nearly overwhelming. I just had to reach out my hand. That’s all it would take.
I had no idea how to control the water, but instinct told me I could do it easily. I could peel the waves back from Watkins’s stupidly handsome face and watch him struggle to breathe in a little bubble made only of air that followed his head, so that no matter how he bent or struggled, he wouldn’t be able to reach the water right in front of him.
My fingers tingled in anticipation, but I curled them shut.
No,I scolded myself, slightly shocked that I’d come up with such a morbidly twisted idea. It had arisen out of nowhere, leeching into my thoughts like poison, dark and sinister.
I took a deep breath and pulled my hands behind my back, linking them. My skin prickled with unease as the black thoughts slowly receded and reason returned.
I hadn’t even used my powers yet, but clearly, the loss of my heart itself had some sort of effect.
Yes, I hated this man viscerally, took pleasure in tormenting him, but I’d never fantasized about killinganyonebefore now.
I needed to watch myself carefully, or I’d become exactly the beast that Watkins accused me of being, the heartless queen that Mayi had been.
“What do you want?” the shark shifter asked bluntly, crossing his arms over his chest.
I’d dragged Watkins into this tournament unwillingly, thinking that if he spent time with me, I would showcase just how reasonable and humane I was … as opposed to the previous queen of Okeanos who’d ruled with an iron fist and an empty heart.
Watkins hadn’t thanked me for my trouble. He’d defiled my palace and defied me at every turn, no matter how I tried to approach him. But there had been an energy between us that sparked and sizzled, something that felt far more like attraction, than hatred. Or maybe it was like a dessert, a sour citric hatred sprinkled with the sugar of lust, the kind that made me want to bite into his skin. It was attraction-laced hatred. That was it.
Even as he stared at me now with eyes darker than any shadow, I could feel that spark of lust start, low in my belly. Fate was morbidly cruel that way, making me hate and lust after him in the same moment.
My quest to turn him from darkness to light had failed. Utterly. I hadn’t shown him I was logical and kind. Instead, he’d driven me to lusty madness at every turn. I’d punished him by making others think he was my favored, by leaving lipstick marks along his chest. Even now I wanted to do so again.
Watkins glowered down at me. “Come to accuse me of this attack too? Let me guess. Beheading. No trial. Just a farce.”
“Yes, well, what more would you deserve? What a naive fool I’ve been, thinking you could listen to reason.” He’d probably faked all of that heated tension, distracting me with his dark stare, getting me to believe the fact that he’d had nothing to do with the attack on our journey from the palace. And like a dunce, like the poor innocent girl I was—with only one suitor to ever speak of—I’d believed him. Because I’d wanted to.
I’d been so caught up in the mysterious tug of his dangerous persona that I hadn’t seen the reality others had—he was on the wrong side of things.
Felipe had told me to question Watkins after the attack on the road and I’d squandered the opportunity. Now, the attack on the tournament was my own fault.
Anger at myself cut a blindingly hot gash through my stomach. I gnashed my teeth together and took a deep breath, trying to regain some semblance of poise as he recoiled from me, stepping quickly backward yet again until his gray fin brushed up against the wall.
“I knew it,” he spat out as he shook his head. “Sarding bitch—”
“You bastard,” I couldn’t help the words that burst from my mouth even though I’d managed to hold back all but a small jet of water. The jet blasted unbidden from my curled fingertips and shoved my hood back from my face.
Watkins growled and his teeth grew in his mouth, going sharp and jagged before my eyes. “Always jump right to me, don’t you?”
“Because it was you!” I was as taut as a sail in the wind, every single muscle tense. I forced my gaze from his and focused on the wall for a second to ensure that I didn’t explode. I counted like a sarding child trying to regain control.
I’d always tried and failed to remain in control with him, but just then, I’d had more than I could bear, and being in the same room with him, breathing the same water, was more difficult than I’d ever believed it could be.
