Forbidden Craving: The Nymph King / The Beautiful Ashes

Another mermaid joined the brunette, this one a symphony of curves. She pressed herself against the crystal and offered a wanton smile to Valerian, passion glazing her amethyst eyes.

Bet the lovelies were thinking Score! Three-way.

“Take me home, Valerian.” Please. Tremors rocked her. Where had her numbness gone? “I don’t belong here.”

“You do.” The rocky wall returned to its place, gradually hiding the mermaids, who were banging on the crystal. “We belong together.”

“No.” Shaye angled her head to give him the dreaded side-eye. “We don’t even know each other.”

“A fact I look forward to changing.” His husky tone beguiled, promising endless nights of passion and days of wild abandon.

Resist. Flee. She squared her shoulders and raised her chin. “No, thank you.”

“Give me a chance. One chance. Please.”

Had a man ever begged for her attention before?

Stay strong. “I did,” she said. “I gave you the chance to leave me behind and respect my wishes. Had you, I might have agreed to a date. But you didn’t. Now I want nothing to do with you.”

He rested his forehead against her shoulder.

A position of defeat? A pang cut through her chest. Why? Why should his pain affect her?

Act! Act now!

Shaye wrenched from his embrace and sprinted toward the whirlpool. Her sandals dug into rocks and twigs. Breath caught in her throat, burning. Almost there...just one more step...

Valerian grabbed her by the arm, stopping her.

“No!” She kicked his shin.

“If you enter the portal without me, you’ll die.” The words held an unmistakable edge of fury, his grip tightening on her. “You’ll never be able to swim to the surface alone. Do you understand? You’ll die out there, your body nothing more than fish food.”

She stilled, panting, the blood in her veins chilling. The water...how could she have forgotten the water?

“Is death preferable to my pursuit?” he asked.

“If I’m to be a captive, yes!” She’d fought hard for her independence and would relinquish it to no one.

A heavy pause stretched between them. Valerian radiated both sadness and anger.

Sadness? The pang returned to her chest, and she sputtered with indignation.

“I can’t live aboveground,” he said, “and I don’t want to live without you.”

“That’s ridiculous. You’re ridiculous. I... I...” Had no idea how to respond. “How many human girls have heard those words from your lips?”

Don’t know how to respond, so you go with jealousy? You are ridiculous!

“One. Only one. And I haven’t yet learned her name.”

“Up yours,” she said. He couldn’t mean the things he was saying to her. He just couldn’t. “That’s what you can call me.”

He sighed. He secured her against him, his body an impenetrable force. “Come then, Up Yours, and I’ll show you the palace.”

As he ushered her up a crudely built staircase, she offered no more protests. She needed time to consider her options.

Try to find another way home?

Was there another way?

Make nice with Valerian and enjoy his pampering while it lasted?

Save the dark-haired girl who’d looked as upset by the circumstances as Shaye?

Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner!

Shaye studied the markings on the wall to help her find her way back—just in case. The higher up she traveled, the less jagged the rocks became...until the walls appeared to be dusted with glitter. She brushed her fingertip over the smooth surface, leaving a mark behind. Her own personal bread crumb.

Valerian stopped abruptly, causing her to bump into his back. Fiery, full-body contact. She gasped as he backed her into the wall, his frown fierce, his crystalline eyes gleaming with purpose.

“You wouldn’t happen to be planning your escape, would you?”

She arched a brow. “What do you think?”

“I think your determination matches mine.”

“Is that a compliment or an insult?”

“What do you think?” he asked, mocking her. He brushed the tip of his nose against hers.

An innocent action and yet her bones liquefied.

Dang it! Where’s my armor?

“What if I promise not to try to escape?” she asked. She didn’t plan to try; she planned to succeed.

Another brush of his nose against hers. “I would want to believe you, but still I would doubt you. Trust between us will take time, but it will come. I know this.”

Even as deluded as he was, considering he thought a happily-ever-after—or happily ever until-the-new-wears off—was possible between a captor and his captive, he still understood trust had to be earned.

Ugh. Was she hoping to give herself permission to like him?

Probably. Because, with every second that passed, some of her animosity faded.

I’m a fool!

All right. It was clearly time to do what her therapist had told her never to do: use a snotty attitude to create distance with the people around her.