Page 48 of Waves
“Do you even know what you mean to me?” he whispered, the words just a scrap of breath, as if he hadn’t really meant to speak.
But the words hovered between us, shimmering and gleaming, tugging at my chest.
“Everything,” he admitted, before slamming into me with a force that could have wrecked the stars.
Chapter 20
Raj
My hands were shaking, arms trembling, and the inside of my chest wasn’t faring much better.
The love wish was too potent, growing stronger with time and proximity. I had to cut it off. The prospect felt as daunting as sawing away one of my own limbs.
But it had to be done.
I’d nearly reached up to cup her cheek. Nearly leaned down to kiss her. And for no other reason than she’d admitted to the shadows tainting her own soul. Her own beautifully blooming evil.
No woman had ever tempted me like this.
And this wish was to blame. Because I could never…
Never…
An errant penguin escaped from its owner. A second later, it crashed into me and sent me stumbling backward on the bridge I was pacing across. A bridge near the outskirts of town that I’d thought was empty, where I’d been striding back and forth without destination or direction for the past hour bouncing between fear and ridiculous fancy.
Rage bubbled up like a potion in a cauldron as I glared at the animal that had bashed my shoulder.
“Sorry!” a small mer child called out, swimming up after his pet, the apology a rush as he scurried by yelling, “Flippers! Stop! You little shite!”
I turned and watched through narrowed eyes for a second as the silver-tailed boy wrestled his squirming penguin through the water, the two tumbling around until the current nudged them sideways and the boy got ahold of his pet’s lead, tugging roughly at the bird’s neck.
The chaos ended, I turned my back, deciding to retreat to the inn that was housing the contestants. The host and hostess were far too bubbly, but clearly I wasn’t going to be able to focus clearly on a counter wish in public.
I stopped short as horror leaked down my spine slimy as a cracked egg. Made my stomach drop to my toes. Glancing over my shoulder at the little boy swimming off in the distance, now little more than a speck, I realized…I hadn’t even wished for his death.
I lifted my hands and stared at them. At the golden fingers. At the black ring adorning one of them.
Who was I becoming?
When had the line between Stavros and Raj become so blurred?
Existential worries burrowed through my skull and my feet thudded steadily across several crisscrossed bridges as my mind fretted.
Worrying was exhausting, so much so that when I arrived at the inn, I hardly noticed the people gathered and chatting outside the front edifice. Didn’t listen to the mention of the tournament. Didn’t glance up at a squi-shifter up on a ladder smearing some sort of yellow plaster across the edifice to fill in a crack in the stone.
Distracted, I went straight to my room, avoiding eye contact with everyone gathered in the main hall, getting an early start on the bubble despite the fact that it was mid-afternoon.
At the door, I grabbed the handle and closed my eyes, hoping that my roommate was long gone. If I had to, I’d wish he’d remember he needed to be somewhere else, but I didn’t want to use my ring in front of another person. Too much liability, especially after I’d killed that girl.
Luckily, when I stepped inside, there was nothing more than a stack of two bunks tucked neatly against a wall, a small square table with two chairs occupying the middle of the floor in the small space, and a purple fire glowing in the hearth, casting eerie light over it all.
Gently shutting the door so as not to draw attention, I made my way to the table, where I spotted a blue quill on the table. Had Watkins been writing something? Had he perhaps signed that document to withdraw?
My lips pursed as I mulled over that possibility, not liking the idea that my main scapegoat might have retreated. Snatching up the quill, I rolled it between my fingers as I walked a circle around the table. Thinking. Hatching.
But my thoughts kept drifting tenderly to her, a haze of soft admiration washing her in a halo of light in my imagination. Attraction mixed with reverence kept tying up my thoughts and twisting them into wistful daydreams. Unhelpful, pathetic musings that made my cock stiffen.
Back to Watkins,I tried to redirect my errant mind by focusing on the feather in my hand.
