Heart of The Trident

Ten ~ Cade

I stop the car, thinking I just heard Nia’s voice.

Nia?

For the past few hours, I’ve been driving around in circles, looking for her. After the rain stopped, I felt more hopeful but until now, there’s still no sign of her.

I’ve lost her.

I slap my forehead on the steering wheel.

How can I be so stupid? How could I have lost control just like that?

I shouldn’t have kissed her, though god knows I’ve been dying to.

I should have been a better man.

Instead, I acted like a jerk. Worse, like a horny teenager with no manners.

Sitting back, I run my hands through my hair in frustration.

What’s wrong with me?

Suddenly, a leaf riding on the wind lands on my windshield and an idea dawns on me.

The feather.

I hurry back to my apartment, fetching the feather Eustus gave me from the drawer.

I know he gave it to me so I could find him but maybe, just maybe it can help me find others, too.

Please work.

“Nia,” I whisper to the feather, thinking of her face.

Then I place it carefully between my lips and close my eyes.

In the next instant, I feel the floor disappear beneath my feet and when I open my eyes, I find myself standing on wooden planks, the salty breeze blowing in my hair and boats sitting on the water in front of me.

The marina.

I turn my head to see Nia standing there with her skin glowing green and a look of shock on her face, unconscious men scattered around her.

I run to one of them, instinctively checking the pulse.

He’s alive. So are all the rest.

In fact, they don’t look hurt, just unconscious, although I doubt they’re just sleeping.

I slowly stand up. “Nia.”

“I did this, Cade. I hurt them because they hurt me.”

At those words, any ounce of sympathy I have for the men vanish and I glare at one with clenched fists.

If Nia hadn’t hurt them yet, I would have. Just as badly if not worse.

I go to her. “Are you alright? I…”

“Don’t touch me.” She steps back. “Can’t you see I’m right? I am a monster, Cade. Don’t you still see it?”

“I know you’re different but you’re not a monster. Come back with me to the apartment and we’ll talk about this.”

She wraps her arms around her, staring at the floor. “I don’t know, Cade.”

“Come with me and we’ll start over.” I offer her my hand. “No more secrets. No more lies. No more denials. No more avoiding questions or pretending everything’s okay when it’s not.”

Slowly, she lifts her head to meet my gaze just as her arms fall to her side. Little by little, her skin goes back to normal.

The wind dies. The clouds begin to clear, the moon shining again, making Nia’s red hair glow.

“Come with me, Nia.” I step forward. “And we’ll talk about his. We’ll figure something out. Together.”

I sense her hesitation but she meets me halfway even though her knees are shaking, stretching out her arm and placing her hand in mine.

I clasp it tight. “Let’s go home.”

--

“The ocean is your home?” I look at Nia with wide eyes.

It’s a good thing I haven’t lifted my cup of coffee yet or I would have spilled it all over my lap and the rug that I’m sitting on, Nia sitting right across me in the living room in a pair of my old pajamas.

She nods, petting Maggie who’s curled on her lap. “We Xyraeans live in the ocean. The males live there all their lives but us females have to live here on the surface until we’re 22 years old. That way, we can get enough sunlight, which we store in our bodies for magic. Also, Miss Ginny said the sunlight is necessary for us to lay eggs.”

“You lay eggs?” My eyes nearly fall out of their sockets into my cup of coffee.

Nia gives another nod. “But Miss Ginny also didn’t say how.”

“I see.” I lift my cup to my lips.

“There’s still so much I don’t know.” She sighs. “Although the biggest puzzle is why the ocean is throwing me up. I mean, I’m clearly still a Xyraean. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to do magic. And it’s not just with my voice, too.”

As she rests her open palms on her knees, I glance at them. Now, I understand why she has such a powerful voice in the literal sense of the word. I understand, too, why Eustus said he could sense an ancient magic within her and why he said it’s being restrained.

It’s all because of Nia’s Xyraean heritage, though she probably can’t use it fully since she’s here on the surface.

“You saw what I did with those men, right?” she asks me.

I nod. “They deserved it.”

“And you’re still not afraid of me? You still don’t think I’m a monster?”

I set my cup on the coffee table and move closer to her. At the same time, though, Maggie gets off Nia’s lap and I end up crushing one of her paws beneath my palm. She gives a nasty hiss in response just before she runs off.

“See. In Maggie’s opinion, I’m the monster,” I tell Nia.

“Not when I blew up her cat food,” she reminds me.

I chuckle. “Well, I’m sure she’s forgotten about that. Anyway…” I reach for her hand. “For the nth time, you are not a monster, Nia. So, you’re not human. That doesn’t automatically mean you’re a monster. For all I know, Xyraeans are better than humans. I mean we aren’t exactly the noblest or most sane of races as you probably know by now.”

“But I can’t control my powers,” Nia confesses. “What if I end up hurting people again?”

“If it’s to defend yourself, don’t hesitate to use your powers,” I tell her.

“I meant innocent people.”

I squeeze her hand. “We’ll just have to make sure you don’t scream or sing in public.”

“Okay. And what about you? How can I keep myself from hurting you?”

I sigh, placing my other hand over hers. “Nia, you weren’t hurting me.”

“I thought you said no lies.”

I draw a deep breath. “Fine. I’ll tell you the truth. But first, I have to ask you a question.”

“Okay.”

“When you were singing at the mall, was sadness all you were feeling?”

She pauses, pursing her lips.

“Nia?”

“Catherine and I just finished watching this romantic movie so I chose to sing that sad love song and I started thinking of you,” she confesses, speaking quickly. “I don’t even know why. Maybe it’s because Catherine and I were talking about you…”

I lift an eyebrow. “You were talking about me?”

“Or maybe it’s because you’ve been so nice to me but I just started thinking of you so maybe I was kind of singing for you.”

“And what exactly did you want me to do?”

“Just to hear my song. I imagined you there.”

“Just to hear it?”

“I don’t know. I…” Nia takes a deep breath. “I guess I wanted to be with you. I was feeling a lot of things. Why are you asking me this?”

“Because I heard you sing,” I inform her, touching her cheek. “And it’s because I…ached.”

“What?” She makes an effort to stand up. “See. I knew I was only going to hurt you. I…”

I grab her wrist. “Please let me finish.”

Sighing, she sits down.

“I ached then and when I kissed you, I felt it again or maybe it never really left. Oh, who am I kidding? It’s something I’ve been feeling ever since I met you.”

“I’ve been hurting you since we met?” Nia gasps. “I’m a terrible, terrible person.”

I hold her hand. “But it’s not the kind of hurt that you’re thinking.”

She shakes her head. “What do you mean?”

I draw a deep breath. “It’s not easy to explain, Nia.”

“Does this have something to do with s*x?” she blurts out.

I narrow my eyes at her. “Who told you about that? No. Don’t answer that. I already know. Catherine did.”

“So, does it?”

“Yes,” I admit.

“Wait.” Her eyebrows furrow. “We haven’t had s*x, have we?”

“No. I think I’d know if we had.”

“But you want to have s*x with me?” Nia asks innocently, breathlessly.

I inch even closer to her. “You know what? Why don’t we just let our bodies do the explaining?”

With that, I cup her face and kiss her just like I did earlier, crushing her lips beneath the weight of mine. At first, her lips simply quiver, then they push back against me as her hands wrap around my neck.

When she parts her lips so our tongues can meet, bubbles of heat appear and pop under my skin all at the same time. Each pop sends a flurry of excitement all the way down to the soles of my feet.

Damn. I want her.

And if what I felt from her song is any indication, I know she wants me, too.

That and the fact that she’s trembling right now, kissing me back.

I push her down on the rug, deepening the kiss. My hand slides down to her breast.

She jerks and I take my hand off her, lifting my head.

“Are you alright?” I ask her.

She nods. “It’s just that those men…”

My temper rises. My nostrils flare.

Scumbags.

“If you want me to stop, I will,” I tell her.

“No!” she protests.

She reaches for my hand, putting it back over her breast.

“I want you to make me forget about them,” she tells me in a whisper, a plea in her blue eyes. “I want you.”

“Do you?” I ask as I look into those eyes, drowning in them.

She nods.

“Do you feel it here?” I cup one of her breasts and wrap my lips around the other.

Nia gasps, shivering. “Y-yes.”

“And here?” I slide my hand between her legs.

She closes them as she gives another gasp, trapping my hand.

I grin. “I’ll take that as another yes.”

She says nothing.

“And it feels like something’s burning inside you, isn’t it?”

She nods.

“Like something is swelling inside you, raging to break free.”

Another nod.

“And you feel a sense of excitement but you also feel an indescribable ache, don’t you?” I pull my hand away, touching one of her n*****s.

She shudders and nods.

“That is the ache I was talking about.” I reach for her hand, bringing it to my crotch. “I ache but not because of you. I ache for you, Nia, because you make me feel so good that I can’t help but want more of you.”