Heart of The Trident

Eleven ~ Nia

Cade aches for me?

As if trying to affirm it, the bulge against my palm twitches, its heat seeping into my palm and traveling across my veins.

Had he not kissed or touched me first, I wouldn’t have understood him. As it is, I understand him perfectly well.

My lungs hurt from trying to breathe. My eyes hurt, barely able to stay open. My breasts hurt, swelling, their peaks poking against my cotton shirt. My belly hurts like something inside is trying to break free. My skin hurts, burning all over. And most of all, that place between my legs is aching, weeping.

I ache, feeling too much and yet, at the same time, not feeling enough. It’s like being torn between heaven and hell. It’s like drowning, being in the water and yet yearning for the surface.

Is this how Cade feels? Is this how I’ve been making him feel?

Unbelievable. And yet, in spite of all the guilt I was feeling earlier, I don’t feel terrible at all right now.

In fact, I feel a little…happy.

Now, I understand what Catherine was talking about.

“So, how do we make the ache go away?” I ask Cade.

His lips curve into a grin. “I thought you’d never ask.”

He kisses me again and this time, as his tongue plays with mine, his fingers pop the buttons of my shirt one by one. He cups my breasts, his thumbs running over my stiff n*****s.

A moan escapes past my lips and his and my eyes fly open.

What is that sound? Did I just make that?

Just then, I remember something Catherine said. What was that she was talking about? Organic spasm or something? Is that what’s happening to me right now?

My eyes fall shut again, though, my thoughts flying out the window when Cade’s lips move to my ear, parting to trace the thin lobe with the tip of his tongue while his fingers rub my n*****s. Then he pinches them gently as he nips at my ear.

I gasp, another moan coming from my mouth.

He moves lower to my neck, planting a kiss there, then moves even lower, following the new chain of my necklace all the way to the pendant between my breasts. Lifting his head, he meets my gaze, holding it as he plants another kiss in that valley.

Still holding my gaze, he lets his tongue dart out to lick my n****e and as soon as I feel that wet appendage against my sensitive nub, I break eye contact, throwing my head back and squeezing my eyes shut as I let out another moan.

He wraps his lips around that mound of flesh and the moan turns into a soft cry, escaping along with a gasp of air.

Heat erupts in my breast, spreading like a swift current all the way to my toes.

“I thought…you said…you’d make the…ache go away,” I tell Cade breathlessly.

“Patience,” he says as he lets my breast go, only to suck on the other one.

I grab fistfuls of the rug, my mouth gaping.

He’s on the move again, his hot breath tickling my skin. He presses his moist lips to the soft curve of my belly as he pulls my pants and my underwear down. Then he grabs my thighs and parts them, settling in between.

I lift my head to give him a puzzled look. “Cade?”

His answer is to unleash his tongue…right there.

My thighs quiver, my entire body shuddering as my head comes crashing back down on the rug.

What is this sensation?

As his tongue plays with me, pressing against me, slipping inside me, I feel wave after wave of excitement and agony crashing over me, each one more intense than the last, threatening to sweep me away and shatter me over the rocks.

I grab his hair, anchoring my fingers in his tendrils as I gasp for air.

Now, I really feel like I’m drowning, air escaping my lips faster than I can draw it inside my lungs.

Tears sting the corners of my eyes.

Didn’t Cade say he was going to make the ache go away?

Then it happens. Just when I think I can’t take the pain, it turns into something else – pure pleasure.

As Cade’s tongue continues to work its magic on me, delving in and out of depths I never paid attention to, his fingers stroke me and my moans and cries spill out. One tear escapes down my cheek.

I tug at his hair harder, toes digging into the rug.

The waves of pleasure are stronger now and I don’t know how much longer I can hold on.

Finally, I can’t so I let go. As soon as I do, the waves sweep me away, knocking the air from my lungs. My body arches. My hips rise off the rug. Then I crash down, drowning. My head spins. My arms fall limply to my sides, no energy left in them.

For a while – I don’t know how long – I just lie there, trying to breathe, waiting for the tide to carry me to shore.

When I finally lift my heavy eyelids, I find myself staring at half-lidded, warm chestnut eyes, the look in them taking what breath I’ve managed to catch away.

I frown. “Have you been looking at me the whole time?”

“Pretty much,” Cade answers, stroking my cheek. “You have no idea how beautiful you are.”

I narrow my eyes at him, eyebrows bunching up in the middle of my forehead. “I’m pretty sure I look like a mess.”

“A beautiful mess.” He plants a kiss on my forehead.

It’s the most tender kiss he’s given me all night and yet, it’s what sends my heart skipping a beat, joy welling up in my chest.

That joy vanishes, though, when I remember something.

“What about you?” I prop myself up on my elbows. “Aren’t you still aching?”

Before he can answer, I reach out to touch his crotch, my fingers brushing against something wet.

Cade jerks away. “I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” I ask him, concerned.

He nods as he moves away. “This is just proof of the power that you have over me.”

I blink. “But I didn’t sing this time.”

“Your body did.”

What?

He stands up. “I better go get myself cleaned up.”

“Wait,” I call after him, sitting up. “Did we…?”

“Have s*x? No. Not quite. But that’s usually how it starts.”

“Oh.”

As he walks away, I lift my hand, staring at my fingers. Curious, I bring one to my nose, catching a whiff of something sweet and salty at the same time, as well as something that reminds me of how the bathroom smells.

I look down between my bare legs, feeling wet there as well. Using my other hand, I gather some of the moisture on my fingers, smelling that, too. It’s similar but sweeter.

I wonder what it is.

Hearing footsteps coming back, I quickly put on my clothes. I’m still putting back the buttons of my shirt when Cade returns carrying a box of tissues. He hands it to me and I take it, pulling out a sheet to wipe my fingers with.

He sits in front of me and grabs his cup of coffee. As soon as he takes a sip, though, he frowns.

“What?” I ask him.

“It’s cold,” he says, putting the cup back on the table. “And cold coffee tastes like crap.”

“Sorry,” I mumble.

He shakes his head and strokes my cheek. “I had a taste of something better.”

I look away, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear as I blush.

“Anyway,” I tell him. “I can’t go on living like I used to. I can’t just run or hide. I thought I could. I thought that my powers wouldn’t manifest and then I could belong here. But clearly, I was wrong. I can’t stay here. I have to go home.”

“And what if home is more dangerous?” Cade asks me.

My eyebrows crease. “What do you mean?”

“What if the reason you can’t go back is because…there’s nothing left for you to go back to?”

I jump back. “What are you saying?”

“You saw what happened to the orphanage.”

“I don’t know what happened to the orphanage,” I tell him.

“And then today, there was a man who came to the hospital. He had been stung by a jellyfish so he was probably not himself but he could speak and he said he was looking for you.”

“For me?” I place my hand on my chest.

Cade swallows. “He said he had to kill you.”

I look down at the rug, confused.

“And he’s not the only one. There was also a woman’s body found at the mall where you sang just hours after you were there. She, too, had been stung by a jellyfish.”

I look at him. “What are you saying?”

“Maybe she was also sent to kill you but the poison got her before she could.”

I stand up slowly. “Are you saying my life is in danger?”

“Yes. What if someone, the same person who destroyed that orphanage, wants you dead? The fact that he’s sending people after you means he can’t kill you himself. Maybe he can’t come to the surface.”

I touch my chin. “A male Xyraean.”

“Right. If you go back home, he won’t have that disadvantage. You’ll end up right in his clutches.”

“Hold on.” I raise my hand. “These are just speculations. You want me not to go home based on speculations?”

Cade doesn’t answer.

I start pacing the room. “What if you’re wrong?”

“And if I’m right? Would you risk your life just to find out?”

“Even if you are right, my family is there. My friends are there. I can’t just pretend they’re not.”

“So you’d risk your life to see them?” Cade asks.

I stop walking and turn to him. “Isn’t that what people do for their families? For their friends?”

“But is that what your family and friends would want you to do? If they knew someone was after you, if they knew you’d be in greater danger if you went back to the ocean, would they still want you to go?”

I slowly sink into a chair.

Cade stands up and walks over to me.

“Think, Nia. Someone wants to kill you. Someone else shut you out. They can’t be the same person.”

I lift my head and look up at him. “Are you saying my family shut me out?”

“I don’t know.” He shrugs. “But if I knew the person dearest to me was in danger, I would do everything to keep her away from it.”

I shake my head. “Someone would have come and told me about it. My mother, for example.”

“You really think your mother would have been able to face you and tell you that she’s banishing you out of the home you’ve never even seen or that you’ll never see your father? Do you think you would have taken those well?”

“Of course not.” I stand up. “I wouldn’t have let her do it.”

Cade nods. “My point exactly.”

“I would have told her that I deserve to be home, that I want to be home. And if she’s anything the mother I always thought she was, in the end, she would have understood and brought me home.”

“Maybe. Who knows?” Cade sits on another chair. “The thing is that she didn’t. You were shut out of the ocean and no one told you why.”

“Then I must find out why,” I tell him.

Cade sighs. “I thought we’ve already established that you can’t go back into the ocean and that doing so would be a grave mistake.”

“There must be a way to contact my mother or any Xyraean who can tell me what happened. If this is to be my fate forever, I have to know for sure who shut me out and why.”

Cade takes a deep breath. “Fair enough.”

I nod. Finally, we understand each other.

“So, do you know a way?”

His eyes grow wide. “You think I’d know a way to get in touch with people living beneath the ocean who I never knew existed until now?”

“I’m asking if you do.”

He falls silent as he rubs his chin, his eyebrows furrowed in contemplation.

I approach him. “Well?”

Cade meets my gaze and raises a finger. “What about that woman I saw at the orphanage?”