Page 14 of Entranced By the Nakken
Tsunis couldn’t focus like this. They caught Casimir’s hand before it ran its course over their fintip, opting to hold it instead. “I learned to harness my dragon as a weapon of war long before I was taught to sing, and my first song was of destruction.”
“That sounds terrifying.”
“I didn’t know any better.” Tsunis paused to listen to the river. “Two moon cycles. That’s how long my people enjoyed peaceful waters before the pollution of this goddess-forsaken world flooded into ours." Tsunis sneered at the landscape that’d become too familiar for them to truly hate. “I know nothing of their fate.”
“I’m so sorry.” Casimir pulled Tsunis flush against him, and they rested their head in the crook of his neck. “You must be so worried.”
“Yes.” They tensed as Casimir pressed his full lips to their forehead, but relaxed when he rested his cheek there afterward. “I was lucky to be near our portal and made it to safety.”
“Our portal?”
“Yes.” Tsunis hadn’t realized they’d said it that way but didn’t correct themself. “The portal I found when I was a young recruit exploring the training compound illicitly. It brought me here.”
“When we first met.”
They nodded against the hard wall of Casimir’s chest. As a Glacisian warrior, Tsunis didn’t lack strength, but Casimir’s proximity leant them a different version than muscle and magic. “Something happened that day. When I got home, there was. . . a shift.”
“I felt it, too,” Casimir whispered, his grip tightening.
Warmth filled Tsunis as they let his words sink in. “I’ve been fighting so long, I forgot why music is sacred. Why we fight for it. Your spirit song reminds me. I wonder if it would remind my homeland.”
Tsunis laid their palm over Casimir’s chest, memorizing his rhythm. It was a shame their people would never meet Casimir’s song. They were from two different worlds. Casimir belonged here, and Tsunis was stuck between worlds.
The allure of Casimir’s spirit song couldn’t change the fact that Tsunis belonged nowhere.
Chapter Eight
Casey
“Come to my show,” Casey blurted. The bundle in his arms tensed, and Casey had to physically force himself to loosen his grip. “I’m going to play this song with Sophie and Anna. I’d love it if you’d be there to hear it.”
“Humans will be there.”
That wasn’t a no. “If we find a way around that, would you come?”
Tsunis shifted, moving to their own space on the blanket. Casey hugged one knee to his chest. As though his body revolted the distance, he leaned heavily on the hand closest to Tsunis, and watched their expression change as they considered.
Fuck, they were cute. Their scales glinted in the sunlight. Fucking captivating. Casey wanted to tuck them back into his lap and pull the keyboard on top, trapping them in his arms.
“I don’t see how you’ll make it possible, but,” a glint of excitement shone in their eyes. “Yes, Nymphaiia. If you are to play that song, I wish to be there.”
“Really?” Casey grinned. He’d kind of expected a rejection.
“Yes,” they intoned. Casey barely had time to register the pet name before they got all serious. “But you need practice. Let’s begin.”
“You don’t even know when the show is. Maybe I’ve got years to practice.”
Tsunis’ responding glare made Casey’s heart grow wings and fly away.
As the setting sun cast the brook in shades of pinks and yellow, Casey set aside his keyboard. He was extremely impressed with himself for surviving this long without devolving into a primal fucking beast from their sheer proximity. He purposefully placed his hand beside theirs, leaning back all casual-like, allowing their pinkies to brush.
Tsunis stiffened but surprised him by hooking their pinky through his. They peeked at him and brushed their hair behind their ear, and fuck, Casey was fucking gone for them. The innocent action had no right to be so arousing, to have him groaning internally. Then their gaze dropped to his mouth, and he was done for.
“Professor,” Casey drawled, crowding Tsunis’ personal space, his restraint teetering on the edge. “May I kiss you?”
Tsunis’ brow furrowed. Their gaze jumped between Casey’s heavily lidded gaze to his mouth, then, oddly, to his ear, confusion etched in their sharp features. “Kiss?”
“You’ve never been kissed?”
