Page 81 of Female Fantasy
“You were able to stop in time,” I say, my voice suddenly timid. “I knew you would.”
Memories of our joining flood my brain.
Ryke’s lips kissing me.
Ravaging me.
Drinking from me.
I swallow and find my mouth completely dry. How ironic for a girl who supposedly controls the tides.
“Merriah,” Ryke breathes. “I do not know how to thank you. The power your life force has provided me…I do not have the words for it. Not only am I healed, but I am more Herculean than ever. Furnace help me, I can move so fast that I am essentially in multiple places at once. The strength of myfist is enough to take out an army of mer. It is impossible to describe, but I feel limitless. For the first time since my family was deposed, I have true optimism. And that is all because of you.” He blinks at me with incredulity, those golden orbs glowing. “You are magnificent.”
I study his body some more. His senses do seem heightened. I can practically hear my blood rushing through his veins, see the organ trapped inside his rib cage throbbing. He is so utterly alive, moving with the vigor of a male in his prime.
On the other hand, I am bedridden.
“What happened to me?”
Ryke’s tail folds so that he can nestle beside me on the sand bed. Immediately, my head finds the crook of his neck, and his arm wraps around my shoulders. I exhale into his chest.
“You fainted,” he tells me. “After losing a lot of blood. I have to admit, we are both lucky you did. Your loss of consciousness was a jolt to my system. Your energy stuttered. It is what detached my life force from yours. I brought you here to heal, and you have been asleep ever since. How do you feel?”
“Tired,” I admit. “A bit sore. I had the strangest dream that I was the descendant of some sort of sea goddess…”
He gives me a playful smile. “Now, now, my minnow. Let us not downplay it. You took out an entire army with a flick of your wrist.”
I roll my eyes. “It was the trident that did so, not me.”
“Do not do that,” Ryke demands.
“Do what?”
“Devalue your power,” he says, shaking his head. “Makeself-deprecating comments. I will no longer allow it, Merriah. You may be the descendant of Amphitrite, but that is not what makes you special. Not what makes you mine.”
Mine.
That single word has the ability to sink a thousand ships.
I look at Ryke and have the sudden urge to lock him up in this fortress and never let him go. To keep him here, safe from harm. I could use the trident to create deadly rapids around us, strong enough to pull even the most seasoned swimmer under. I would not have to share his attention with anyone else.
Blinking, I realize how barbaric my thoughts are. How senseless.
I raise my hand to my mouth in horror.
Did sharing my power with the prince create some kind of dependency?
I have never felt this strong a rush of possessiveness toward anyone or anything in my life. Like a starfish to coral, I have become inextricably attached to Ryke.
But does he feel the same way about me?
Has my blood made Ryke some kind of super mer and me a helpless barnacle?
He needed me to heal. To become whole once more.
I simply want him with every fiber of my being.
Those two things are not the same. What if our attraction is uneven? One-sided?
