64. Ries

64

Ries

K ami's honestly confused. I can tell she's not lying. Not about this.

What must it be like to have power you can't understand or control? A goddess literally walked in her body. Talk about a kick.

I've talked to gods, and by the nature of my family, am well acquainted with the variety concerned with water. But we don't do more than worship.

And I barely do that.

"Ries?" Kami looks up at me through dark lashes.

She's not even trying to be seductive or putting on a pretty face.

She just is.

As usual around her, I'm hard and wanting her again.

But it's not desperation I'm feeling. It's an odd affection, a need to see her smile. Watch her laugh.

My heart races, and I notice Malkar giving me a sharp look.

Is he really a dragon or just trying to act more powerful than he is? I wish I knew …

"Right," I say, pleased when Kami lets out a happy smile, watching me like I'm the center of her world. "From what I know from a few water gods, necromancers used to be the favored of mortal-kind."

"Yeah, right." Crash snorts.

I ignore him, because it's Crash. But I'm not as annoyed by him as I used to be. Hearing about all he's gone through, about all the rest have gone through as well, has softened me up to the others.

I wonder if that was Malkar's intent.

He's smiling at me, and I don't like it. Especially when his smile widens.

"Anyway," I say over Crash's needling comments and Malkar's stupid laugh, "from what I understand, necromancers are tied to death and life and rebirth. They are creatures of balance."

"With a capital B," Kami adds.

"Sure. Right."

Crash moves ahead of us and lets go of a branch that nearly smacks me in the face.

"They're all about growing things because they move life force around." I look to Kami, but she's watching where she steps and not looking at me.

"That's their excuse for stealing life?" Malkar huffs. "Protecting Balance?"

"I guess." I shrug. "Some necromancers serve their gods. Some spend much of their time in the Veil, that place between life and death where souls linger."

"I've never been able to go there," Kami says.

"Then you have reapers and soul-takers. I can't remember exactly how it was explained to me, but I think reapers steal souls and give them to certain gods for a price. Whereas soul-takers gather the dead and push them to the afterlife. "

I glance at Kami, who appears thoughtful.

"Am I right?"

She blinks up at me. "I'm not sure. I guess. Caethybdue called me that, so that sounds right."

"So what do you do?" Malkar asks, getting aggressive as he pushes past me to glare at her.

"Back off, demon," I say, alarmed when he gets too close to Kami.

He's been angry, tender, then snarly at the dryad all morning. Though he snuggled with her last night as if she was a precious treasure to be guarded.

Wouldn't let me close, the fucker.

Crash was no better.

I glance ahead at Oz, who's made no attempt to try for a kiss or sneak a hug. Except for that group hug we all shared, Oz has kept his distance.

But I haven't mistaken the glances he keeps shooting her, ones filled with longing and confusion.

Guy messed up by ditching us all, but I can't blame him. If my mom killed my dad, I might want vengeance too.

I mean, if it was someone I cared about. Anyone but my mom or dad. They have never treated me very well.

My presence embarrasses my mother, who slummed it by hooking up with a merman. She hadn't realized he wasn't the full water mage she thought him to be when she did him on the sly.

Or my father, who didn't expect a child from the union. He'd only wanted to steal some fun time without all the drama of procreation. Sticking it to some land king by doing his queen had appealed, I'm sure.

Whoever said mermen fuck all the time to make children is stupid. They fuck because they want the pleasure, hooked on the happy hormones, seeking that fix to get them off the horse of constant misery from a dick that never goes down.

My parents should have used protection. But they were too busy humping at all hours at some ridiculous festival dedicated to fertility to pay attention.

Go figure.

The only person in my life who's ever given a shit about me is my grandfather. My dad's dad.

And Kami.

Odd as it is, I like the little dryad. I would never have chosen to participate in these rituals on my own. I do like the life I have, even if it isn't the best. But I can't say my time with Kami hasn't been exciting.

Or that I'm not coming to like my companions.

I want Oz to go back to being sturdy and dependable. I like him taking charge, telling me what to do. Malkar scares me a bit, because I believe he is a dragon, or some part of him is. He keeps watching me, as if he already owns me and just waits for me to acknowledge it.

Which I'll never do.

I wasn't lying before. I'm a prince. My mother's unfortunate bastard child, not the true heir Folas is. And he's no full-on elf, though he likes to pretend he is. He's just lucky he takes after his father and not our mother.

Mommy is a gorgeous siren with the morals of a harpy slag.

I clue back into the discussion, having missed most of it, damn it.

"…so it's weird. I talk to her, and she's a part of me. Or I'm a part of her. But I have no idea how we merged."

Oh, she means Caethybdue. Talk about freaky.

I felt an aura of power when the goddess emerged from Kami. But she felt accepting, like the cold, dark underwater sea caverns where grand spawn lay buried .

"We're here. The cave is just beyond this point." Oz pauses in front of us, where the path bisects into two, then focuses on Kami. "I think you might be a soul-taker. If you didn't steal their souls, just collected them for the goddess, then you took them to their proper place."

"Soul-taker. I like it." Kami smiles.

The beauty in her joy makes my heart ache.

I'm not one for pretty words or romance. I don't have to be. Most females see me and are instantly attracted. Mermen have pheromones to lure sexual partners.

It's instinctive to secrete them when we have the need urging us to copulate. But I've often found that being polite and courtly makes them want me more.

Such false flattery to get them into my bed.

When I had the need.

But now I don't. Because Kami, my lovely little dryad, has tied me to her. With that apple, with her soft disappointment, with her curvy, hot body.

Perhaps she's made of magic, because I want to be with her a lot more than I should. Even lying to her, which was a necessary evil, still makes me feel guilty.

Me. Guilty.

I can't understand this new softness. Being without my magic is making me loopy, is all I can think.

"Kami, we should?—"

She sinks into the dirt and disappears in the blink of an eye.

Before I can think to follow her, I'm falling as well.

And then I'm surrounded by water.

Without my magic.

And for the first time in my life, I can't breathe.