Chapter 16

16

I blinked in astonishment when Levi appeared, emerging from the water like an angry sea god wearing only black briefs and a glower. Oh my. Bad timing, but I’d never been so turned on. To those who might question my sanity, given my situation and initial trepidation, I’d relaxed somewhat as the Nixie proved herself to not be a murderous water sprite. It helped she’d not tried to kill me. On the contrary, she’d turned into an attentive hostess who had some giant crabs set up a table and chairs for us as well as a meal. While I wouldn’t usually be the type to eat raw fish, the sushi she offered proved tasty.

However, I forgot about the food in my pleasure at seeing my dark Knight. He’d come for me!

“Of course, I came. Are you injured?” he demanded.

I shook my head. “I was a tad chilly upon my arrival, but Nicola was kind enough to provide me with a mantle to cut the cold.” Woven of seaweed, she’d drawn the moisture from it. Once I wrapped it around my shoulders, it did much to reduce my shivering.

“Did you just call her kind?” He bit out the word. “She shouldn’t have taken you in the first place.” His glare should have incinerated the Nixie on the spot.

“I had every right to want to meet the woman who captured your interest. Son.”

The appellation still startled because I knew she wasn’t his mother, and yet Levi didn’t correct her. “Have you completely forgotten our discussion about not meddling in my life?”

“Maybe I wouldn’t have to if someone kept in touch,” Nicola riposted.

“I’ve been busy.”

“Too busy to visit. Too busy to hop into a pond or a lake to send me a message.” Nicola sniffed. “Children today are so ungrateful.”

Levi raked his fingers through his damp hair as he gritted through a tight jaw, “We spoke just last week.”

“Briefly and I don’t recall a mention of your lady friend.” Nicola waved a delicate hand in my direction.

“Because there was nothing to tell.”

“Ha. Lying to your mother. Did you think I wouldn’t notice your mark on her?”

“What are you talking about?” he growled.

“The moment she hit the water, I sensed your claim, and so I decided to meet the woman who’d ensnared my son.”

Wait, what claim? The conversation implied things that had me curious.

“You kidnapped her!” he barked.

“I wouldn’t call it kidnapping, more like extending an invitation she couldn’t refuse,” Nicola declared.

“You had no right.”

“I had every right.” Nicola didn’t raise her voice, and yet her words held an icy edge. “You are my son. The babe I raised. Cared for. Loved. And now you are entangled with a woman whom I’ve never met. A woman who is meant for another.”

I felt a need to interject. “If you’re talking about the Little Ash curse, then I’d like to say I have no intention of marrying the prince.”

“As if you have a choice.” Nicola waved a hand. “We are all part of a story, playing our roles to their conclusions. And yours doesn’t include my son. As Levi’s mother, it is up to me to protect him.”

“I don’t need your protection,” he grumbled.

“You can’t make me stop caring,” Nicola huffed.

“Care all you want but leave Cinder out of it. You will release her at once.” He crossed his arms and offered his most fierce expression.

“I will release Cinder but on one condition.” Nicola tilted her head to face me. “She must swear to never break your heart.”

“Mother…” Levi injected a warning tone.

“Don’t you mother me.” Nicola’s sharp retort held a firm edge. “You deserve happiness, and I will not let anyone, especially not this slip of a girl, hurt you in any way.”

“I can handle disappointment,” he drawled.

“I’d rather you didn’t have to.”

Seeing them argue, I had a simple solution. “I agree to your terms.”

“No, you don’t. This is an unreasonable request.” Levi’s head swiveled as he frowned in my direction.

“Not really because I have no intention of hurting you.”

“Who says you could?” his harsh reply.

Nicola’s head bobbed between us. “Perhaps I was mistaken. I was under the impression you cared for the girl.”

“It’s just sex,” I exclaimed, only to blush. “I would never presume to think Levi felt anything more.” Even if I did.

“Just sex?” For some reason, his glower returned stronger than before.

“I’m aware I’m not your usual type and that we’re complete opposites. I mean you’re fearless and strong, while I’m not. You probably want a partner in life who’s a warrior like you. Who squishes the spiders instead of befriending them. I am fully aware that what we have now, while immensely pleasurable, most likely won’t last.” My lips turned down. “If anyone’s heart will be broken, it’s mine.”

I thought his eyes would pop out of his head. “You think I’ll ditch you?”

“You don’t have to pretend. Hannah said you’re not the type to want a relationship.”

“Hannah can suck it. She doesn’t know how I feel or what I want.”

“What do you want?” I asked, point blank.

“You.” A simple word and my heart almost burst.

“But we’re so different.” I couldn’t have said why I felt a need to argue.

“And?”

I couldn’t help but smile as I rose from the chair and took a step in his direction. “Do you really think we could make it work?”

“I’m not afraid to try.”

“This might be the one time in my life where I can find the courage to forge into the unknown.” Because I had a strong feeling loving Levi would be worth it.

He closed the distance between us and clasped my hands. “This will be a journey we take together, without interference or threats.” The last he directed at Nicola.

His adoptive/kidnapping mother smiled. “Well, this has been enlightening. In light of the facts, Cinder is free to go.”

“Without restriction,” Levi commanded. “I won’t have her coerced into feeling things for me that aren’t real.”

“Yes, yes.” Nicola waved her hand. “If this is what you wish, then I guess I can only give my blessing. Although, if you do hurt my son”—her voice lowered—“there won’t be a lake or a pond or even a bathtub that will hide you from my wrath.”

“Mother!” His tone held warning, but I grinned.

“I promise to do my best to make him happy for as long as he’ll have me.”

“Be careful what you vow, princess. What if I want forever?” his low rumbled murmur.

I glanced at him and meant it when I said, “It might just be long enough.”

His fierce kiss stole my breath and tingled me head to toe and was sadly interrupted by his pseudo-mother clapping.

“I cannot wait to meet my grandbabies,” Nicola exclaimed.

Babies?

Poor Levi looked just as shocked by the idea.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” he stammered.

To save him, I reminded him of his duty. “We really should get back to Prince Killian.”

“Yes, we should.” He stiffened, and the warrior expression returned. “Seeing as how I can’t give Cinder breath for the lengthy route you always make me take, we’ll need a shortcut she can survive.”

“In return for what?” Nicola asked with a sly look.

When it appeared as if Levi would explode, I extended an offer. “I shall name my firstborn daughter Nicola. And if a son, Nicholas.”

“Done!” The Nixie beamed and, at the same time, surged, her body morphing into a wave that pushed us into the lake.

I might have yelled but for the water. I held my breath as I clung tight to Levi, my solid rock in the undertow that carried us down that deep well. The cold chilled me to the bone, but Levi’s grip offered warmth and reassurance.

When the current abated and my head popped out of the water, I parted my lips for a deep breath before I opened my eyes to see us bobbing in the pool.

Back at the hotel. Alive. Uninjured. Together… But was Levi happy? Not according to his expression.

“We made it,” I chirped.

“Mmph.” His grunt as he stroked to the edge of the pool and hoisted me out.

I stood and shook like a wet dog before grabbing the towel Hannah left behind. Two of them. One for me and another for Levi.

I dried and cast a glance at my grumpy Knight. “You seem pissed.”

“I’m fine.” A curt reply.

“Nicola is quite the interesting character.”

He snorted. “That’s an understatement.”

“Does she always kidnap your lovers?”

“This is the first time and the last,” he snapped. “I don’t know what she was thinking.”

“She cares.” An odd thing to say given the situation. When I’d originally heard the abbreviated story of him being given to the Nixie, I’d assumed the worst. I mean he was given over as a baby without a care by his father. His biological mother died in childbirth. I expected to hear of a childhood of abuse. Yet it seemed instead she’d nurtured and, in doing so, became a mother that Levi still kept in contact with.

“She was meddling,” he grumbled.

“You should be glad she is concerned about your well-being,” I huffed to her defense. “I would have given anything growing up for someone to give a hoot about me. It was always ‘Cinder, clean this.’ ‘Cinder, go away.’ I slept in the basement by the cat litter. Got leftovers for my meals. My clothing, the worst of the hand- me-downs, and I only got those because child services stepped in after the school lodged a complaint about my ill-fitting rags.”

He paused in his drying to stare at me. “They abused you.”

I shrugged. “They did. Not really a surprise, as it’s part of the Little Ash curse.”

His lips pinched. “Doesn’t make it right. And before you think I had it easy, Nicola wasn’t exactly a warm parental figure. She cared for me but in a tough-love kind of way.”

“You obviously don’t hate her for it, though. You keep in contact.”

He rolled his big shoulders before tugging on his shirt. “She did her best, which is commendable given she lost her humanity early on in the Grimm Effect.”

I pulled on the robe I’d worn to get to the pool before murmuring, “I still can’t believe you came for me.”

“Of course, I did. She had no right to take you.”

“You risked yourself. Nicola told me of the route to get in and out of her home.”

“Bah, I wasn’t in any danger. I ran her security gauntlet all the time growing up.”

“Fine, but you ditched your duties to the prince to waste time fetching me.” I grew tired of him making light of what I saw as a grand gesture.

“It was not a waste of time!” he practically bellowed. “You could have been hurt or killed by her actions.”

“So you admit you did it because you worried about me.” I couldn’t have said why I needed that confirmation.

A mighty scowl twisted his face. “Yes, I worried. Happy?”

“Yes.” I approached him so I could put my hands on his tense forearms. “Thank you. Thank you for rescuing me.”

His expression melted. “I would do anything for you, princess.”

I cupped his cheek. “My sweet Knight.”

“Sweet?” he snorted. “Are you trying to ruin my reputation?”

My lips curved. “So sorry. I promise to not tell anyone.”

“You’d better not,” he grumbled, sweeping me into his arms.

“What are you doing?”

“Taking you back to the room.”

“I can walk, you know.”

“Don’t care.”

He really didn’t. He carried me to the room, ignoring those who called out to him on the way, and then, despite our pinging phones, made fierce love to me that ended with him whispering, “Maybe I should have let you make the bargain with my mother.”

It killed me to realize he feared I’d break his heart.