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separatist-apologist · 2 years

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Lost In Your Current

Wherever you stray, I'll follow

Summary: Arina hopes to never see the terrifying monster lurking beneath the waves again.

He won't stop until he's dragged her below.

beta'd by @iambutmortal & @the-lonelybarricade

Thank you for validating my worst impulses

TW: Drowning, iffy (but not dub-con) consent at the beginning, human men (as always)

Arina saw him the night of her nineteenth birthday.

She’d fled the palace for the rocky cliffside overlooking the sea. Dress held in hand and sobbing breathlessly, she’d collapsed to the lowest edge where the spray just nearly touched. Some part of her had wanted to fling herself into that gray, opaque water where no one would ever see her again. Her father had announced she’d marry her greatest enemy–her kingdoms enemy. She was nineteen, he was twenty nine.

When he’d come to her, adorned in black, his eyes had glittered. The last time she’d seen him, Arina had been nine years old. He had been nineteen. Sweeping her up against his chest, he’d whispered, I’ve always wanted you.

The wind slid down her exposed back, drawing goosebumps in its wake. Arina had looked up from her knees where she hid her head. Just ahead, bobbing in the vicious waves, was a man. Arina froze for a moment, wondering how he’d gotten there. Only his head was above water, watching with the strangest amber colored eyes. They were so vibrant she could see them in the waning sunlight, stark against his pale skin.

Sweepingly high cheekbones and a full mouth gave that man a truly beautiful face. Chiseled but not rough, elegant but hardly delicate. His auburn hair was swept off his face casually, as if the water itself had pushed it back. Something about him made her want to creep closer and so she did.

“Do you need help?” she called, her voice trembling from her tears.

He didn’t reply, coming closer just as she was. Arina was on the ledge, too far to touch him even as she extended her hand. Some strange spell had settled between them. He was still watching, so obviously curious, creeping closer and closer through dark, churning waves.

“What happened to you?” she asked him when he was close enough to take her hand. “How did you get here?”

“What happened to you?” was his deep, rich reply. His voice was like music, enchanting and lovely and wrong. He smiled, revealing a row of pearly, pointed teeth. A hand shot from the water as she reared back, gilded in luminescent orange scales. She felt the wet pads of his fingers touch her palm, cool and a little slimy from wherever he’d been. As he came up, a row of those same orange spines ridged the length of his back, and on his neck were little slits.

She screamed, just narrowly avoiding being dragged into the water. He laughed, his voice ribboning through her chest and calling her back. Arina didn’t turn to see if it watched as she fled for the palace. She’d heard of creatures like him.

Siren.

Mermaid.

Monster.

They were said to be beautiful, luring their prey into the water with their melodic voices before drowning them so far beneath the waves no light could penetrate before making them a meal. Arina certainly believed it after seeing that man…thing…whatever he was. He’d nearly dragged her into the water. What would he have done to her?

Still, that night when she climbed to her bedroom, still miserable over this new engagement, she’d looked out her window towards the sea.

And swore she saw those amber eyes reflecting in the moonlight.

Watching.

Whoever he was, he became a constant companion to her over the next few years. The palace was too far from the water for him to ever get close enough and yet Arina saw him on occasion if she got close enough. His eyes would peek above the water, revealing his silky red hair. He never raised his head high enough to speak and yet she knew her fear amused him. How long would he bide his time? She’d been certain if she stopped going to the beach he would eventually tire of this game and move on to easier prey.

Mere weeks before the scheduled start of the marriage, Arina found herself drawn back to the cliffside. It didn’t occur to her something—or someone—was calling her until she saw him bobbing in the waves, his head fully above water. He was singing, she realized. Arina plugged her ears and stumbled backwards, not daring to ask how he’d learned her name.

His once pleasant face contorted with fury when he realized she’d figured him out, that she was drowning him out. Arina screamed to keep him from penetrating the barrier of her fingers and he lunged again, his powerful arms grasping the edge of the cliff and hauling himself up. A long, powerful tail emerged from the water, larger and more terrifying than any drawing had ever shown.

He was saying something to her, his voice drowned in the screaming and her fingers. Arina ran again, leaving him perched on the edge of the water. How fast could he move? Could he chase after her at all?

After that, Arina didn’t dare even look at the water. Too aware of what hunted her, the impending marriage had become an afterthought. It wasn’t until her things were packed and a ship was bobbing outside the harbor that Arina realized the full scope of how bad things might get for her.

She begged and pleaded with her father. She’d do anything he asked, marry anyone else. Preferably someone inland, someone landlocked. There was no arguing. Arina was all but shoved out of the palace and dragged up the dock to the rocking, wooden ship that would carry her to her new home.

Standing on deck, Arina dared to peer into the water. She swore, lurking just beneath the waves, was the faintest shimmer of orange. She shuddered, sending a silent vow to the gods who watched her family, that she would do anything they asked of her if they saw her cross the sea safely.

Arina was given a stateroom all to herself. Big enough to have its own lavatory and yet smaller than her fathers, she knew she shouldn’t complain. Still, she spent nearly all her time outside it until the sailors shoved her beneath deck, tired of her presence. She wasted time brushing out her long, sunlit blonde hair and removing the makeup from her golden brown skin. All the while, green eyes bounced towards that round window. She was careful to be sure it was locked.

And then she went to sleep.

For a full week, nothing happened. It was enough to lull her into a sense of safety. Maybe he was tired of the game. Perhaps he was bound to her shoreline. Every day on deck, Arina looked for any sign of the red haired monster that had been stalking her and every day she saw no sign of him.

Other creatures made themselves known. Dolphins and a few playful whales. Fish of every color played just beneath the water as they sailed for warmer shores. The once churning gray had become glittering and clear. She watched the sailors jump in one lazy, hot afternoon. She would never have been allowed to join, given she was princess, and yet Arina was hopeful. She missed sitting in the sand, of feeling the salty spray against her face. While they swam and laughed, she’d watched above on deck, head resting on her arms.

She wasn’t as careful as she’d been that night. Dressed in a thin nightdress, her hair unbound, Arina merely glanced at her window without checking. She hadn’t opened it once—why would it be unlocked? The rocking of the ship and sitting beneath the hot sun all day lulled her into sleep almost immediately.

Her dreams were of him. Smiling, with those vicious, pointed teeth.

“You can’t hide from me, sweet princess,” his deep, melodic voice crooned. “I’ve been waiting a long time for you.”

Sitting on the cliffside, this time when he lifted himself from the water, Arina was frozen in place. The muscles in his back shifted, his bare chest gleaming and slick from the water. Every inch of him was muscle—even that tail just behind seemed to be made of nothing else. It gleamed like liquid fire, the scales catching in the warm light overhead.

He was faster than she’d thought he would be, pulling himself forward until he was practically on top of her. She could feel the cold water seeping through her dress, pasting against her skin. He reached out a hand, caressing her face.

Arina tried desperately to move, some part of her brain well aware this was only a dream. It felt real and yet if she could just wake up, wake up, wake up! It would all be over. The creature ran his nose over her cheek, nuzzling just behind his ear.

“You smell…” he whispered, his breath shockingly warm compared to the cool touch of the rest of him. “You’ll make a fine meal.”

She felt herself whimper as the dream shifted and morphed, melting from the cliffside of home to a dark, watery cave she could see very poorly in. Her head was pressed against something soft, her feet touching something wet, something too slick to be human skin. Scales.

Just as before, she tried to scream, to move, to do anything at all. She could only turn her head and catch those glinting amber eyes as cool hands pushed at her inner thighs, spreading her legs apart. She was barred to him, body obscenely spread. Arina could only breathe through her terror as he opened his mouth. She could hardly see what emerged but she could feel it. It was ridged and rough and impossibly warm given his hands were the temperature of the air around her, too cool to belong to a human.

And yet when he slid that tongue between her legs, a jolt of arousal speared through her, filling her with undeniable heat. Trapped in her dream, unable to speak or move, Arina couldn’t beg him to stop. She didn’t think he would, if the guttural groan that escaped his throat was any indication. He merely drew her closer, her lower body scraping against what felt like rock, so he could continue his feast.

It was wrong. His strangely long fingers, the spines that trailed down his neck before dipping back into the water where they’d meet the edge of his tail, even the little slits at his neck that let him breathe in the water were all reminders that this thing was an abomination. A monster. Filthy and disgusting and utterly hungry. She kept waiting for those teeth to pierce her skin, for him to feast on her flesh.

He merely licked at her skin, that rough, ridged tongue finding the hidden, sensitive nub of flesh hidden at the top of her cunt. The first time his tongue touched it had been an accident. Her hips had bucked against his mouth, apparently able to move if he pulled out that sensation. He’d paused, raising his head to look at her and then ever so slowly, dragged his tongue against it again. She couldn’t help herself, bound to the whims of this strange and uncomfortable dream. Her hips had jerked again.

And again, and again, and again. He continued the slow touch, always watching with those careful eyes, as if he needed proof this was what she wanted. He dragged his tongue lower, licking the skin around her clit and though it felt good, she could remain still, could pretend she hated every second of this.

Because she should. Arina knew she should find no pleasure in being violated, even in a dream and yet when he slid his tongue back over her, she exhaled a breath, willing herself to desperately say anything.

In her mind, she swore she’d beg him to let her go, to take his mouth off her. That she hated this, hated what he was doing. Yet so secretly she didn’t dare even admit it to herself, she was grateful the dream had rendered her mute. She’d never been touched by anyone like this and, if Arina was honest, was terrified of what her new husband planned to do with her once he’d signed that contract of marriage.

It was doubtful he’d spend any amount of time between her legs. Not like this, licking like it was his greatest passion in life. Arousal was pooling, making Arina wet, not because the creature atop her was dripping with water, but because her body was preparing for some new intrusion. One the creature offered when one of his fingers prodded softly against her body, sliding against the slick mess with fascination.

Her body bowed off the rough surface when he pushed inside, still licking at her. He was watching again, trying to figure her out. What was the point of all this, she wanted to ask? Why go to all the trouble when he was merely going to drown her? Arina couldn’t speak, didn’t want to speak. He began thrusting that long finger, his lips sucking as she teetered towards the edge of the abyss.

He pushed in a second finger, clearly excited. Thrusting rougher, he sped his mouth up to work her in tandem. Her skin was so sensitive she could scarcely stand the feel of the soft pillow against her cheek or the rock at her back. Building impossibly high, the only thing left was to fall.

Finally, Arina’s voice returned though her ability to move had not. “Please, sto—!” her words broke in a strangled, desperate scream, so loud it seemed to reverberate off the walls around her. She came near violently, her body spasming around him, drawing those fingers in deeper, fucking her harder. He pulled back all at once as Arina jerked upwards, panting roughly.

A dream, she told herself, coming back to reality. There was no cave, no scales, no creature. Just her in her bed…dripping wet. The sheets, the blankets, her body were all covered in chilly water. She whipped her head towards the window, noting the puddles against the wood floors.

It was open.

Her night dress, pushed up over her hips, clung to her skin as she slipped from bed. Trembling, her legs still shaking from what she swore was just a very intense, very real dream, she walked to that circular window and peered out into the moonlit night.

Just beneath the window, watching with those amused, amber eyes, was the monster from her nightmares.

She slammed the window shut.

And locked it tight.

Prince Jaxon extended the date of the wedding by a week. It was a practical choice given a storm had delayed them by an extra four days. There was no sign of the sea creature she suspected had crept into her room—a dream, she tried to tell herself—though this time Arina wasn’t foolish enough to think he’d let her leave.

Jaxon’s palace was on the sea, practically overlooking it from a cliffside, and the room he’d given her was a straight drop into the rocky seashore below. For four straight nights, Arina stared out that window and four four straight nights, the monster stared back.

That fifth night came on the heels of a vicious fight. Jaxon had pushed into her room, demanding they consummate the marriage early and Arina had violently fought back. It had earned her a bruised cheek and a sensitive scalp from where he’d dragged her by the hair to her bed. She’d sobbed, pleading for him to stop.

A sharp knock at the door from her father was enough to end it though Jaxon could have ignored it, if he liked. Arina had flung open that window in the aftermath and climbed onto the ledge. She meant to hurl herself out, to let her body smash against the rocks where the men of the world couldn’t find her—couldn’t harm her. That creature in the distance had watched, coming closer and closer and she swore there was no amusement left in his gaze.

Only blazing, open hatred.

It was enough to scare her back into the room, to close and lock the window.

But it wasn’t enough to keep him away. She heard him scratching at the window that night, saw his face from where she hid under the blankets. How he’d scaled up the stone with that dragging fin, Arina never wanted to know. She didn’t sleep a wink as he rattled and pulled like he must have when she’d been on the ship.

His face terrified her. Burning with rage, he might have been a living candle for all his fury.

He didn’t make it inside, though it didn’t keep him from trying the night before her wedding, too. Arina didn’t know which scared her more—being stolen away by the sea monster or forced to marry Prince Jaxon. She decided that the monster might kill her quickly while Jaxon meant to do it slowly, over decades. He’d force children on her, would subject her to his every terrible whim, his every cruel desire.

And she knew, from the fact that he’d lusted after her as a little girl and how he’d been willing to have her by force, that there would be no happiness to be found in the marriage. Arina made it all the way down the aisle before she had that realization.

She turned, in front of his entire court, her entire family, and the gods themselves, and ran. Ran through the sanitized halls of the palace in that flowing white gown, twisting and turning until she exploded into the salty morning air. Jaxon was just behind her with a small contingent of guards, his sword drawn.

“Get back inside,” he ordered, stepping towards her.

Arina skittered back, heels sinking in the spiky grass beneath her. At her back, the land dropped into nothing but vicious, jagged rocks and unforgiving water. She dared to look over her shoulder but no one was looking back. No creature was waiting. She could jump, she thought with some small measure of relief. Escape her torment.

“I’m not going,” she said. He lunged and Arina stepped back just out of reach, teetering on that edge.

“There’s nowhere else, Arina,” he snapped, blue eyes flashing dangerously. “Get the fuck back in the palace or I’ll—”

A hand gripped her ankle and ripped, dragging a surprised scream from her lips. Jaxon’s surprise was the last thing Arina saw before her body hit the warm water. She twisted, fear twisting to horror when the face of the sea creature was grinning back at her. They were beneath the waves, his strong arm pinning her to his chest. She tried to push but he was swimming away from the shore so quickly she had to close her eyes against the onslaught of stinging sea water.

She beat at the solid wall of his chest, her lungs burning for air. He didn’t pause—he merely dove further and further.

He was going to drown her.

Her hitting became pleading. Air, she tried to communicate.

He merely went lower still, until the sun was a mere prick in the distance. This was what she’d wanted, she reminded herself. It was terrible—painful, and yet it would be over soon. Why was she fighting him? Arina dropped her hands as her vision bloomed with spotty black. If he wanted to put her in a watery grave, at least she was free.

Arina pressed her cheek against his chest and swallowed the last little gulp of air left in her aching, burning lungs. His grip softened ever so slightly, as if he recognized the fight was done.

He’d won.

Something soft touched her cheek but Arina didn’t care.

Darkness swept over her fully and she was gone.

Arina woke in shallow water. She’d been to this place before once, though she’d come in her dreams. It was brighter, illuminated by a skylight overhead that allowed bright sunlight to pour through the darkness. Arina pushed herself up on shaky hands, her dress weighing her down. Holding the hem of her now ruined gown in her hands, Arina stepped into dryer ground. It was smooth, likely worn away from the rising tide. Arina realized she was standing in a long abandoned, sunken palace when she found wide, broad stairs descending into the ocean below.

Standing on a balcony that had likely once overlooked the very water she was now waist deep in, Arina wondered why the monster hadn’t killed her. Why bring her here? Was she a prisoner? She could see nothing but endless ocean and a dipping horizon in every direction. Glowing pink and orange light reflected off the placid water, filling her with a sense of unease.

As if her thoughts had summoned him, the monster himself came swimming towards her lazily, pulling himself up against the railing to lean against it.

“Princess,” he murmured, that burning hatred replaced with the amusement she had become so used to.

Heart hammering against her chest, Arina forced herself to speak. “Am I your prisoner?”

He smiled, revealing more teeth. “Hardly.”

He lifted himself from the water, propping his body on the railing as if he were sitting. Arina skittered backwards, falling into the water in her haste to escape him. Droplets splashed over her face as he laugh, a rich, booming sound that stole the remaining air from her lungs.

“You’re frightened of me?” he asked, one hand on his muscular chest. “When I rescued you from that monster?”

“Monster?” she spluttered as he plopped into the water to join her. Slithering closer, he reached out a broad hand to touch her cheekbone, still bruised from Jaxon’s rage.

“I heard you scream,” he murmured, his face impossibly close. He smelled like salt and cool autumn air and sun washed apples. She shivered as the memory of his mouth slipped through her mind unbidden. “But when I came to rescue you, you locked me out.”

“And before?”

He smiled, dropping his hand to the water in favor of reclining back, his long tail flicking back and forth lazily.

“Imagine, if you will, overhearing a tale of a princess so beautiful a man is willing to go to war for her.” His smile became feline. “I had to see for myself.”

“You…you followed him?”

He shrugged his naked, broad shoulders.

“And then you tried to drown me—”

“Rescue you,” he corrected obnoxiously.

“And on the ship?” she demanded, deciding to admit she knew that hadn’t been a dream. He didn’t even conceal his delight.

“He was right,” her monster declared simply. “You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.”

“So you decided…”

He waited, circling around her body like a shark. “I decided…” he prompted, clearly enjoying himself.

“To do…that,” she whispered, embarrassed. Sliding his hand over her shin, the monster chuckled.

“Eat your pussy, you mean? Yes, I decided it might be nice to show my mate she didn’t need to be so scared of me. I don’t think it worked. Perhaps I ought to have fucked you, too.”

“Your…mate?”

He laughed, pulling her down so she was sitting in the water with him. It took him very little effort to maneuver her into his lap and Arina, too curious to be scared, didn’t stop him.

“I’ve been calling you,” he murmured, brushing strands of salt dried hair off her face. “Ever since I saw you.”

“A siren's song,” she insisted even as he shook his head.

“A mating call,” he replied, his breath deceptively warm given how cool his body was. “One you answered time and time again and yet…and yet you didn’t come to me.”

“I didn’t want you to drown me,” she replied, heart hammering in her chest. He laughed again, still touching her face. Tentatively, Arina reached behind him for the spines against his neck and back, touching the orange scales with trembling fingers. He shuddered, eyes practically rolling in the back of his head.

“I’m not going to drown you,” he whispered huskily. “I only want to please you like before.”

“You scared me,” she told him even as he shook his head.

“You made a mess of my face,” he disagreed, drawing her further into the palace and into deeper water. It forced her to cling to his neck, to feel the smoothness of his cool skin and the glimmering scales that covered only parts of him. Beneath her, she could feel his powerful, swishing tail against her legs, rubbing between them purposefully, if she had to guess.

“Look at me,” he demanded, one arm around her waist. Arina did, staring into the amber eyes that had haunted her for so long.

“Today, you’ll accept the bond between us,” he said, lowering his mouth so he spoke the words against her lips.

“And tomorrow?” she dared to ask. He smiled, nipping her bottom lip with sharp teeth.

“Let me worry about tomorrow, hm?”

She meant to argue but the creature dropped his hold on her waist as his other hand slid into her cunt without warning or preamble. She gasped at the intrusion, swallowing hard. He kept his forehead against her own, thumb rubbing slow, lazy circles over her clit.

“I don’t want this to change,” he told her, pumping two fingers in and out of her body. “I like this little nub of yours.”

“I…” stop him, her brain screamed. “What’s your name?”

“Eris,” he whispered, kissing just beneath her jaw. Soft, cool lips mingled against the warmth of his breath.

“Eris,” she repeated, earning another shuddering breath from him. Free floating beneath that open skylight, Arina didn’t dare let herself think about what she was doing. It was obscene, so utterly wrong to let this monster touch her like this and yet some warring part of her thought he had rescued her. Rolling her hips against his hand drew another ragged moan from Eris’s lips and when she pressed forward and pressed her mouth against his, he went stiff against her. Even his tail stopped moving, his eyes open wide.

Eris reached behind her and ripped the dress she wore clean down the middle. “Take it off,” he ordered, not moving his mouth from hers. It was a strange kiss, the sensation making his ministrations between her legs all the more pleasurable. She was doing her best, helped by his own desperate hands. The dress floated away and Eris yanked her against him, still fucking her with his fingers.

Something hard brushed against her abdomen. Arina looked down, peering through the crystalline water at the sight of not one, but two massively large cocks stacked atop each other. He let her, forehead bruising against her own, his breath ragged. Part of his tail had peeled out like fins to draw forth his erection, the appendages practically purple with need and tapered at the tips in a strange way. She didn’t know a lot about male anatomy but two seemed like one too many.

“Touch me,” he begged her, taking her hand and sliding it down his chest. Curiosity and arousal got the better of her. She curled her fingers around the pulsating base of the first one, pleased to find it was warm. He was so thick her fingers didn’t touch at the very bottom and as she moved up him, she found soft ridges ringed around the middle.

He was panting, eyes dark and dilated as he pushed her towards the smooth wall of the ruined palace. Pinning her between them. Eris finally kissed her back, careful not to scrape his pointed teeth against her sensitive lips.

She moaned, the sound bouncing off the stone around them. He tasted exactly as he smelled, that rough, ridged tongue pushing into her mouth like another of his fingers were doing to her cunt. He was practically holding her with the force of his hand, fucking her roughly. His thumb rubbed steady, maddening circles over her clit until Arina was writhing against him, legs wrapped around his waist. She’d forgotten he was a creature of the water or utterly terrifying.

In that moment, Eris was her salvation.

His mouth slid down her neck, free hand plucking at her nipples until Arina was all but begging him to keep going. All her objections from before melted into nothing. He curled those unnaturally long fingers and Arina screamed just like before, and this time he swallowed it with his mouth.

Eris withdrew his hands, pulling her closer towards his body until the cock she’d been holding was lined not just against her cunt, but her ass, too. She panted, fogged over with lust.

“This will hurt for only a moment,” he whispered, rocking his body back and forth so she could get used to the push of those dueling cock heads.

“It’s not going to fit,” she whispered when she felt the tapered head slide into her body.

“Relax,” he whispered, withdrawing. Arina did as she was told, clinging to his neck. She expected another gentle push as she ran her fingers over one of the flexible spines at his back.

Eris shoved, grunting his excitement while burying himself to the gills in her body. Arina’s back arched of its own accord, pain rippling through her. He’d warned her, hadn’t he? The stretch was practically unbearable, splitting her in half while he held her exactly there.

“Breathe,” he demanded, his voice strangled. It was too much all at once. She pressed her forehead against his shoulder while Eris very carefully dragged himself out, only to push back in.

Drawing another ragged breath, he held her hips against him, one hand returning to her clit to rub until those soft, slow thrusts became edged with pleasure.

“That’s it,” he crooned when he felt her back arch again. “Get wet for me, mate.”

She moaned softly, his cocks rubbing against each other, separated only by the thinnest of skin. The original pain was fading into pleasure fast. Their mouths collided hungrily and Arina went back to stroking the spines along his neck, having learned it drew more pleasure. What else, she wondered, thighs clenched around his waist.

He moaned into her mouth, jerking his body frantically against her. Clinging to his frame, Arina arched her neck when he began licking at the hollow desperately, sucking at the pulse point as she writhed against him. His body felt impossibly good, cool and wet and warm all at once.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, jerking again. Strong arms pinned her against him, his cocks still buried deep in her body. Arina was so brusingly close that when he jerked again, she came apart, pussy convulsing against him. He groaned, scraping his teeth along her neck. She couldn’t think, could barely breathe as she came in wave after wave of seemingly endless pleasure.

All destroyed when those teeth sank into her neck. Arina spasmed against him, unable to move as blood stained the water around them. Her eyes flew open, panic flooding her system. Eris was pulling her down the wall until the water covered her head.

“No–”

She was submerged before she could finish her protest. He watched, holding her so tight that no amount of struggling could help her. She flailed out her legs but the wall behind her kept her from pulling off him. He wasn’t done with her, amber eyes watching her carefully.

The salt in the water stung violently against the wound, flooding into her body like a raging, vengeful tide. Arina’s lungs burned and yet no matter how hard she struggled to get to the surface, Eris held her just beneath.

“Breathe,” he said, his voice clearer in the water somehow. Deeper, richer, lovelier. “Take a breath, mate.”

“I can’t,” she replied without thinking. Water filled her mouth but instead of choking her, air filled her greedy lungs. He smiled, reaching for her face.

“Perfect,” he said with such obvious pleasure. His body was moving again, thrusting back into her like he hadn’t just rearranged her anatomy. And Arina, who should have cared, felt relief. She wouldn’t be forced to go back, wouldn’t one day have to rejoin her family or the prince or that wretched half-life she’d been living.

She reached for him again, kissing him roughly. Holding his hand in her face, she found him more beautiful than before. Something warm was twining through her, a cord tied at the end of her rib.

“You take my cocks so well,” he praised, pulling her further into the water. “My mate was born to fuck my cocks.”

She moaned in response, half reveling in the silky feel of the water against her bare, still aroused skin.

“Do you know why there are two of them?” he continued, words punctuated by thrust after vicious thrust. “So I can keep my mate filled, just the way she likes. Isn’t that right, Arina?”

She whined, nails scraping down his chest. Everything felt heightened, better somehow. Like a million small touches against her skin, kissing over her breasts, her pussy, her ass.

Eris continued his onslaught, dragging her back up to that precipice despite her aching, sore body. This time, moments before Arina broke apart in climax, she slid her fingers over the spines at his neck. Eris jerked, slamming himself so deep she whimpered. Soft waves rippled around them, marking their combined orgasm tangibly. Arina clung to him, kissing at his jaw just above the gills that let him breathe.

Eris removed himself gingerly from her body, those once rigidly hard appendages flopping down, still weeping fluid. He let her watch the little flap close itself back up, the lines smoothing until it seemed as if his tail was utterly unbroken.

It was wrong, that this was her first question and yet kicking her legs to keep herself from sinking, she asked, “Am I going to get a tail, too?”

“Yes,” he replied, reaching for her. “It will be different…you’ll have your legs, too. The magic lets you switch between the two.”

“Not you, though?”

Head pressed against her temple, Eris nodded. “I was born this way. Our young, too, will be born with tails. Only their mother will walk on land.”

She didn’t argue with him, not with that thread in her chest keeping her close to him. Not when living in the water felt like a literal dream compared to the nightmare she’d nearly been forced into. Holding his face, she almost laughed at her own memories and how badly he’d once scared her.

“I want to give you a gift,” he added, rubbing his hand up and down her back.”

“Oh? What is it?”

Eris grinned.

“Come with me.”

She’d been missing for a moment by the time he saw her. Eyes peeking from the water, Arina was careful when she emerged to let her hair hang about her neck. Jaxon paused on the overlooking ledge, eyes wide.

“Arina?” he called. The murky overhead sky and the threatening storm kept him from seeing what lurked just beneath the surface. Eris swam in circles, his hands sliding up and down her golden tail. She swallowed against the pleasure of her mate's touch, well aware he wasn’t trying to arouse her, but merely steady her. His own tail twined against her own, a reassuring gesture.

“Jaxon,” she breathed, trying so hard to sound as if she felt relief and not giddy excitement.

“How…how did you survive?” he asked, creeping closer. All she had to do was extend her hand and when he took it, drag him in. Just like Eris tried to do the very first time they met. He, of course, had been trying to make her his wife.

Arina was trying to drown Jaxon.

“I washed up on an island just off shore,” she lied. A practiced lie, she reflected as she drew in an ugly breath of air. Now that she could breathe underwater, every minute spent above the surface was misery. How Eris managed it long enough to eat her out was still a mystery. Arina was already squirming, desperate to escape.

“Help me,” she added, extending her hand. “Please.”

Jaxon leaned down, taking her hand. Only then, too late, did he see the golden scales ringing around her wrist and snaking up her middle finger and arm. Gilding her, just as Eris had once been. Arina smiled, revealing newly sharpened teeth as she yanked him into the water. Jaxon came flailing down and was so wonderfully greeted by a smiling, feral Eris.

“Prince,” he crooned, wrapping one of his broad hands around Jaxon’s neck. Arina had told him the stories she believed, of how creatures like him dragged their prey so deep no light could penetrate. Eris had sworn to give this to her as a gift.

Arina grabbed Jaxon by his arm, pulling him down, down, down as he struggled. Eris was too pleased, so happy for this revenge.

“You hurt my mate,” he told Jaxon, his face so utterly terrifying the darker the water became. “You should have known I’d be looking for you.”

Jaxon whimpered a wordless plea, thrashing desperately. Arina said nothing at all, even when he turned those watery, salt burned eyes on her. Hair floating around her half naked body, Arina stared back without remorse. What would he have done, had she married him? Just as bad.

Only slower.

It was Eris who brought him back to the surface once he was dead, leaving him on the sand for the others to find. Arina watched from her perch, reaching for him when he was close enough to touch. Eris glanced over his shoulder while Arina pressed a kiss to his cheek.

“I would have given you a string of pearls,” he murmured, pushing them both back out into the open ocean. “You’re certain that’s the only mating gift you want?”

“Positive,” she agreed. “The rest is merely a fresh start.”

He hummed his approval, muscular hands sliding down her tail. The only time Arina swapped for legs was when they decided to fuck—she had no interest on ever walking on land again. She reclined back against her bare chest, reveling in the feeling of his sharp teeth scraping against her shoulder.

“We can drown as many humans as you like,” he told her with a sweet kiss. Arina let him drag her back beneath the water, well aware they wouldn’t make it back to their sunken palace before he was buried back inside her. Prince of his own people, of that palace, and everything that lay below and yet to Arina, he was only Eris. Her salvation.

“You’re too sweet,” she crooned, mouth slanting over his.

Eris’s grin was utterly feral and edged with danger. “Only for you, mate.”

Arina felt the same.

#im gonna make this a series i can feel it in my bones #also this was so fun to write #it prompted me back into my other documents #this is what i needed #pure filth

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