AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Imber let out a little grumble before drawing her closer. He pressed their foreheads together, above the sea. The waves caressed her cheeks, and the air made her shiver, even though he lent her some small amount of warmth.
Gently, he pulled the cord out of her neck and held onto the back of her head with a fierce grip. “You and I were meant for each other, my wave song. That doesn’t mean this will be easy, or that we will not have to fight for each other. But we will be fine, Alys. You and I are more than the sea and the sky. Will we fight through this, just as we have fought through everything. Now, tell me what you need.”
She didn’t want to tell him what she needed because it meant they would be parted. She didn’t know if they would ever see each other again if she did what she knew had to be done.
“I need to go back,” she whispered, her voice breaking on the words. “I’m so sorry.”
“Back?” he asked, his eyes searching hers. But then he blew out a long breath and nodded. “Because you can’t survive very long under the ocean, can you?”
“I can’t survive in water for so long.” She didn’t want to disappoint him. She didn’t want to disappoint herself, but everything was so clear. “I have to see my father. Maybe...”
They both stared at each other and she knew he was thinking the same thing as her. Her father wasn’t the safest person for her to go, but there was no one that was safe.
Sighing, Imber nodded. “I trust you. Wherever you need me to take you, I will bring you there. And we will continue on as we always have. You and I were meant to be together. I have no fear that we will not find each other again after this.”
Grabbing onto his face with her worn and torn hands, she squeezed as hard as she could so he would know she was serious. “I will come back to you, Imber. There is nothing on this planet that can stop me. I will be back, and I will come home. Do you hear me?”
“Home?”
“You are my home.” She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his, wondering if even her face wasn’t the same as it had been before. “You will always be my home.”
Words pressed against her lips. Words that would bind her to him far more than anything else she’d ever said before.
Did she say it? Did she tell him how she really felt when he hadn’t said the same? She’d never been the first person to admit feelings in a relationship, but then again, this could very well be the last time she’d ever seen him.
So with no one but him to hear her, with the waves crashing around their shoulders, she said bright and clear, “I love you, Imber. More than I can really say. You have changed my life for the better and I refuse to go back to how it was before. I’d rather die. Without you at my side, the world is colorless and bleak. I don’t know if you feel the same way, but I don’t think I really care either way. You are everything I have ever wanted.”
He smiled at her, then pressed a kiss to her palm before swimming them toward what she could only assume was her old home. “Haven’t you been listening, Alys? I’ve called you my mate more times than I can count. I chose you for life, whether you will have me or not. I am yours, my wave song. All yours to do with as you wish, and that will never change.”
With that thought warming her heart, she laid back and let him do all the work. He kept them both above the water so she could get some fresh air, but she also wondered if it was because he wanted to slow them down. If he didn’t rush through the water toward her people, then he could hold her a little longer. What were a few more moments when it came to the end they feared?
Still, they reached her old home far too soon. She could sense it. Even though her eyes were turned up toward the sky, she knew the moment he tensed underneath her back that they were close. Even his clawed hands flexed on her waist, as though he wouldn’t let go of her after all.
Alys knew the turmoil that ran through his mind. There was so much he wanted to say. Or perhaps that he wanted to do. His people were fighters, and his hands tightened around her waist. Perhaps he was thinking of keeping her, and not let her return.
But if he kept her, then he was the one hurting her. It was a struggle he did not know how to win. Unfortunately, she didn’t think there was any winning in this situation.
“Here we are, wave song.” The nickname shifted into one that warmed her cold bones. It made almost everything all right as he turned her in his arms and pressed their foreheads together again. “Come back to me.”
“Always.”
“You promise?”
She took a deep breath. “I more than promise. I vow to you, here and now, that I will not leave you for any longer than I haveto. I will come to our home and I will figure out a way to fix this. I love you, Imber, and I will not be parted from you any longer than is necessary.”
He nodded, seeming to understand that she needed him to know that she was telling the truth. Every ounce of her being wanted to be with him, and she suspected it was the same for him.
He took them underneath one of the docks, the one nearest to her home. She didn’t ask how he knew where she lived. It just seemed right that he did.
There was a small ladder underneath the dock near her home. Her father had put it there just in case one of the submarines ran out of fuel and had to be serviced close to them. It took every ounce of her energy to put her hands on the rungs and pull herself up. Hand by hand. Movement by movement. By the time she got onto the dock, she wanted to lie down on it and catch her breath. But she also knew that Imber was watching her.
Anyone could be watching her. The last thing she needed was the General or his men realizing that she had come home with one of the undines. They would take him. Exploit him.
Or perhaps they would just kill him. Without questioning why or how he was at their home, they might just shoot him on sight.
So she rolled onto her hands and knees, breathing so hard she could taste metal in her mouth. But she still poked her head over the edge and attempted a smile down at him. “I’m all right,” she said. “I’ll be back soon. I will find you, Imber.”
He pressed his hand to his heart and then reached the webbed fingers out to her. “My heart is yours, Alys. Take good care of it.”
