Page 3 of Waves
Connor had recognized his magic when he was young, when everyone else’s sentiments had swept over him like a flood. His sort of power would have been hard to ignore. But would a shy siren ever recognize when his own attitudes leaked into someone else?
Under the ocean, where my birth mother had cut the Okeanos off from the land countries, wouldanyoneeven realize what was happening?
Our kiss took on a new light and I wondered if Stavros had still been in a state of shock when our lips had touched. I most definitely hadn’t been thinking clearly. Had the kiss been ruined by his numbness? Or were we really just unsuited?
Chewing my lower lip, I wondered.
Granted, it was only a theory. A flimsy one at that. But this possibility gave me a sliver of optimism.
Could Stavros be the solution to the awful inhumanity that was a side effect of my power?
If I lost all my emotions…could he give some back to me?
Was he the key to keeping the monster within locked up?
Had I nearly sent away my only hope?
My head swayed and my knees woozily bent. The question itself almost burst rudely from my lips. But he'd just seen so many of his fellows slaughtered. One of his friends was dead and I’d just suggested he go back into the harsh world alone… a suggestion I needed to retract as quickly as a whip.
The situation was already mired down enough.
It was not the moment for an interrogation. It was a moment for mourning.
Meanwhile, Stavros finally found his voice. His eyes gleamed with earnest desperation as he said, “Majesty, you’re a danger to my heart, that’s certain. But I’ll willingly endure any other dangers to be able to stay by your side. You. Are. Worth. That. Risk.” He pronounced each of his final words with a conviction I hadn’t known he was capable of.
Of course, he was wrong.
I wasn’t worth it.
Especially because when I lifted our conjoined hands and kissed his ring, murmuring “As you wish,” just after, I did so with an awful, selfish thought fluttering inside my mind.
I was going to find out if Stavros had the magic I’d just imagined. And if he did, I was going to keep him in order to save myself.
Chapter 2
Raj
The way my knees nearly buckled when Avia’s lips brushed against my knuckles sent self-loathing spiraling through my chest—right alongside a thumping yearning that made my bones as soft as milk. My spine seemed to disintegrate. And my good sense was almost overpowered by fluttering sensations in my belly.
Disgusting.
I was a horrible fool for agreeing to her wish to love me a few minutes ago.
That wish had somehow backfired. Rebounded on me.
Dammit all.
With each flutter of her long eyelashes, each changing expression trapped in her amethyst eyes—a part of me spun out of control, like a dust devil riding the dunes in Cheryn, caught up and lifted by an invisible force. Flying. Swept up by her beauty.
I hated losing control. I’d hated emotions for centuries. But I’d absolutely loathed them since Avia’s witch of a sister, Bloss, had cursed me with the foolishness of one in particular.
For a brief, ridiculous moment in time, I’d considered altering my opinion on the whole feelings business. But ifJulian’s death proved anything, it proved that attachment was futile. An exercise in stupidity just as I’d always believed.
There he floated between us, blank eyes proving what I’d always known: love is a waste.
And now—sard magic—my chest was dancing, an idiotic grin mashing my lips upward.
And I had no one to blame but myself.
