Page 12 of Captured in Love
I can’t help but giggle. Their relationship is growing, too, and it fills me with hope that maybe this thing could be permanent, after all.
Even with the shadow of the competition looming over us, this moment is perfect. This is what I’m fighting to protect. Why I need to win these Games and gain access to the library—to be able to guard my loved ones against everything that could ever harm them.
I know Levi and Raphaël would risk everything to defend me, and now I’m absolutely certain I would also lay down my life to save them.
Four
Levi
Despite the late hour,I couldn’t fall asleep last night, so I’d taken a long shower, then researched our destination. It seemed to be located in the open sea, without so much as an island there. But Iceland has numerous tiny islands scattered around the main landmass, some uninhabited and barely worth the name. Maybe we’ll have to navigate one of those for the second task.
I left Nora sleeping half draped over Raphaël, and strangely enough, the sight didn’t spark any jealousy inside me, just a deep ache beneath my sternum. Time is running out for me, and I know I’ll have to tell her everything I know about her mother’s death, and soon. And when that happens, at least she’ll have Raphaël to pick up the pieces this time.
Funny how the tables have turned.
Two years ago, when Nora found out Raphaël was a vampire and that he had been lying to her, she’d hexed him to forget about her, then sought sanctuary with me, even if I didn’t know it at the time. I remember how heartbroken she’d been, and I’d done everything I could to help her out.
Now, I’ll be the one breaking her heart, and hopefully Raphaël will stick around to make sure Nora is safe and loved.
I need to make him promise me he’ll stay, even though I know Nora would hate us talking about her like that. Better to be prepared, though, than have her go through this shit alone.
I rejoin Raphaël and Nora in bed later. The vampire I’d somehow learned to trust with the most precious thing in my life lifts his dark head and offers me a soft smile, then draws the covers higher to cover Nora’s naked shoulder. I let myself succumb to the weariness, secure in the knowledge that for tonight at least, we’re all safe.
Five hours later, at the strangely early dawn, we’re headed out on the water to find the location of the next task. At the boat rental, I show the fisherman proof that I have a permit for boat handling. This is likely the first time I’ve been grateful to my father for insisting I take boating lessons in the Boston harbor. He’d been sure that I’d find ‘the right kind of friends’ there, which couldn’t have been farther from the truth, but I did gain some useful skills and a permit that I’ve kept current ever since. It was bound to be useful forsomething.
We shoot out from the marina in a red-hulled fishing boat with a small white cabin and a roof to help keep off the light drizzle. The cabin, with a ceiling low enough that I have to bow my head, holds two narrow beds and a tiny bathroom. It seems like the fishy odor has permeated the walls themselves—the cabin is clean if slightly smelly.
There were several similar boats moored in the Djúpivogur marina, with more of them either going out to sea or already returning. At least we don’t stand out too much when we head toward the gray horizon.
Nora and Raphaël huddle in their seats beside me, their raincoats wrapped tightly around themselves, while I stand and peer through the windshield at the gunmetal waves ahead of us. The rain didn’t really let up from last night, but the sea isn’t as rough as it had been last night, so we decided to start exploring as soon as the gloomy half-darkness of Arctic summer lightened to a hazy dawn.
“We’re not far off now,” I shout over the noise of the motor and the slapping of the waves. I check the boat’s GPS and squint out at the waves again. Then I glance back at the shore, which is quickly disappearing in the fog, the mouth of the fjord gaping behind us.
“We should slow down,” Raphaël yells back. “If the island is uncharted, it might be just a pile of rocks. It’ll be hard to spot in this weather.”
He stands and climbs up to the bow to keep a lookout, which I more than appreciate. His vampire sight is better than mine, and I don’t want to risk running aground here or smashing the boat against the rocks. We have life jackets on board, of course, and a small inflatable raft, but I really don’t want to be dumped into this cold water.
“Three hundred meters,” I read off the instruments and gradually slow the boat down. I correct our course so we’re headed straight into the waves.
“Still nothing,” Raphaël shouts.
Nora stands beside me, opens up her palm, and stares down at the coordinates on the screen. “We’ll be right on top of it in seconds,” she calls to him.
“There’s nothing here!”
Nora frowns, pulls the strings of her hood tight, and climbs up to the stern. As we reach the destination, I stop but keep the motor running, enough to compensate for the current carrying us away.
“We’re here,” I tell them.
Silence stretches out between us as we all comb the surface of the sea for anything that would give us an idea of where to go. Maybe a buoy with a clue?
“I’m going to scan for magic,” I say, already pulling on my power. “Give me a minute.”
This is the same kind of magic I’d used in that valley in Egypt, right before we nearly got blown to bits. I hope the witches didn’t put the same kind of spell here—it’s hard to imagine they could just let it float in the sea without attaching it to a solid object. But you never know. We’ve seen magic unlike any I’d ever heard of during the first task, and I’m sure we’re nowhere near done yet.
I bring my palms together, close to my chest, then expand the red glow out of myself and over the surface of the sea, scanning for any glimpse of magical activity. If someone left even a trace here, I’ll find it, and…
“Nothing,” I call out.
