Page 55 of Finding Love with the Fae King

Changing my direction, we headed to the stables. She couldn’t have gotten far in the amount of time this all transpired. Knowing where she would go in a land she was unfamiliar with and unsure of would be the challenge.

Walking up to my shining white horse, I spoke to him hurriedly, “Montu, I need you to concentrate.” Montu perked up his ears.The one time Melina rode with me should be enough for Montu to pick up on her smell. “Find my destined, Montu. A bushel of apples and oats will be in your stall waiting if we find her by sundown.”

Montu grunted in approval as I mounted my steed bareback. I adjusted my sword and dagger. No time to saddle. We were going to find her.

Melina

I ran until I couldn’t run anymore. The trees diffused, and the houses became far between. I ran until I finally hit the East Coast. The past two mornings, I had watched the suns rise above the water, giving a beautiful purple, blue and pink glow. Many times, I could see dolphins and fish jumping through the waves, but right now, the waves were gone. It was peaceful. Somewhere I could rest my weary mind.

The whirlwind I had been put through and the emotions that I felt made the ocean even more inviting. Dark rocks adorned some areas that looked dry and flat, like its own pier into the ocean. I stepped on a few stones, slipping a few times since my slipper-like shoes were not meant for the terrain. I hopped over pools that stood still in the crevasses until I reached the end of the natural pier. Bits of sand still dusted over the rocks.

Taking off my cloak, I laid it down on the rock and my body with it. The run felt good. The pain was stronger in my legs than in my heart. He was trying to protect me. I knew he was; I knew he wouldn’t lie. The pain from my parents was what was keeping me from going to him. They rejected me, and hearing him say words so strongly like that only reminded me of them.

“I didn’t want her. We didn’t want her,”my mother’s voice rang in my head.

“She’s just a tumbleweed in the wind.” I understood why he said I was a concubine, but hearing it come out of his mouth only made my memories rear their ugly head.

I sighed heavily. Minutes ticked by, and the ocean rose. I could lay my head on my arm and put my hand into the water. It was cool and fresh to the touch. Closing my eyes, a small tear escaped me. It ran down my cheek, onto my chin, and dropped into the water below me. Then I did the one thing I had always done when I was upset: singing. It started when my own parents wouldn’t sing to me when I was a young child. Not even “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.”

The tears were free-flowing as I sang a few notes of a melody. I couldn’t even sing anymore. I let out small sobs into my arm. I was letting it go. I was letting go of all the pain my parents had caused me because they were just dragging me down after all these years. I was going to be happy. I wanted to be happy with Osirus.Why didn’t I go to therapy when Tulip’s parents suggested it?

I dabbed my eyes with my cloak and sat back on my legs. Taking a large breath, looking up at the sky, and breathing out slowly, I felt a cold hand on my wrist. Whipping my head at the person who was submerged in the water from the nose down, I let out a petrified scream.

It was a man, his dark hair wet from swimming. His skin had a blue-green tint to it, and his eyes were yellow. He slowly rose out of the water without letting go of my wrist as I tried to pull it back. My heart was beating erratically, and my breathing had picked up. I had never been more scared in all my life. This creature before me was something I had never seen.

Once I finished screaming and stopped struggling from the tight grip, he held onto me and rose so the water was just below his hip bones.

“Took you long enough to stop screaming, Gods,” he said sarcastically as he whipped his hair back to take care of the excess water. He had a bright white smile, showing a few fangs. “I’m Lucca.”

I continued to look at him in confusion as he held onto my wrist. “C-can you let go?”

“What if I don’t want to? Besides, you might run away.” Lucca gave a grin. “Come on now, I just wanted to hear you sing some more. I thought you were another siren, but lo and behold, you’re a land dweller.”

“Huh? What?”

“You aren’t a very smart one, are you?” Lucca gave a flick of his tail and launched himself out of the water to sit next to me without letting go.

I gasped at the sight. His tail was a gorgeous blue and green that led right up to his six-pack that turned into skin. He had gills underneath his ears, yet lungs to let him breathe air.

“Are you done staring, precious?” He wiggled his eyebrows at me.

“I’m sorry. I’ve seen nothing like you.”

“That’s what all the ladies say. Now, I never got a name from you. What is it?” Lucca leaned in and pulled on my arm so I could get closer. I pulled back but heard a metallic sound, and a pointed metal object pointed right at Lucca’s jaw.

“Damn, forgot you fae are stealthy little shits.” Lucca chuckled as he glanced up at Osirus.

“Let go of my destined, siren,” Osirus spoke deeply.

Sitting on the rock, looking up at Osirus, he appeared imperial. The wind blowing in his hair, his sword tickling the neck of the siren, and his commanding voice gave me chills at how magnificent he seemed.

Wait, he called me his destined, his mate, in front of someone else?

“Do I need to say it again, Lucca?”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Melina

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