Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 115432 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115432 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
“How long will that be?”
“Let’s not worry about it now. He’ll give us a break as I cannot bear anything at this moment.”
And just like that, I felt so much better.
Everything I had learned or heard before, I was going to forget. I would not go back to the library. I wasn’t going to do magic or wonder about magic.
Druella Monroe.
Druella Omeron.
Whoever was in the past didn’t matter. I was going to be Druella Thorbørn now.
Free us, the witch in my head called out.
No, I answered her.
And whatever had loosened before tightened once again.
* * *
We didn’t go back into the house, even though I was sure he’d be dead set on completing the mating ritual with me tonight. Instead, he said he wished to show me something beyond the art. And so, we ran through the treetops, hand in hand as if we were teenage lovers, moving at the speed of light. I was more than happy with it…running with him to who knew where—maybe the edge of the earth. The wind ripped through my hair, the scent of pine and fir trees filled my nose, and I jumped higher and forward, happy to be thinking of only this.
“Careful.” Theseus caught my hand arm when the tree branch broke, and I began to fall down the mountainside, pulling me up to where he stood at the thickest point of the tree at the very top. I looked over at the view only a few dozen feet in front of me. The ocean was dark and vast, spreading out in the night. The way the stars blanketed the sky and the waters crashed upon themselves made it feel as if we were alone.
“Have you ever swum with the whales?” he questioned me.
“No.” I grinned. “Is that something vampires do?”
He smiled back. “I do not know about all vampires, but I do. Not needing to breathe has its perks, for unlike the animals on land, sea creatures do not avoid us, and we can see what mortals struggle to do.”
“Do we just jump in?” I asked, looking over the cliff. As a human, I didn’t know how to swim well, so I avoided the water. But now, the idea of moving through the ocean sounded amazing to me. I didn’t have to fear drowning or any other animals. I was free.
“Our clothes will cause a drag, so it is better for us to strip first.”
I turned back to him, my eyes narrowing. “Is that so?”
“It is.” The grin on his face widened. “If you are going to have the experience, you must do it right.”
“Will all the things you show me in the future require me to take off my clothes.”
“If I can help it,” he said, already removing his shirt, exposing all of his hard abs. He tossed his shirt onto a higher tree branch before moving to take off his pants, my gaze immediately following. “Will you continue to gawk, or will you join me?”
“I was not gawking,” I lied, turning around. I took off my bloodstained blouse and tossed it to where his clothes were before taking off my pants, as well. When I turned around, he was completely naked, and my mouth opened at the sight of his—
“Still not gawking?”
“Did you have to remove your boxers?” I questioned.
“The better question is will you keep this on,” he questioned, pulling on the straps of my bra.
“I’m sure the drag won’t be too much for it.”
“It is intriguing to see you so timid. Lady Godiva had no such issues—”
“I will push you out of this tree!” I snapped at him, causing him to laugh at me. He was teasing me on purpose, and I was mad I was allowing him to do so. And I was even more annoyed at myself for taking off my underwear. So mad I could not bring myself to look him in the eye. “Are we going or not?”
“Momentarily. Allow me to take in this breathtaking sight once more.”
The sight he meant was me, of course, as he looked over my body. Unable to stand it anymore, I took off running toward the edge of the cliff, and with no difficulty, he caught up to me. Right before I jumped, he took hold of me and spun me into his body, his arms wrapping around me as we crashed deep into the dark waters below, bubbles and water spinning around us. It took me a second to adjust to the different light under the sea. However, when I did, it looked just as clear as it would have been during the day in shallow waters for mortals.
A school of pink-colored fish swam right by my head. There was a turtle shell on the seafloor, and I could hear the turtle within it sleeping. It was amazing. I looked back to Theseus, and he, of course, was still watching me. He stretched out his hand for mine, which I gave him, and he kissed the back of it before guiding me forward through the water. I did not have words for how beautiful it was, how peaceful. My ears picked up every sound, and when I didn’t know what I was hearing, I would look, only to be happily surprised, like the sound of two crabs fighting over a seashell at the very bottom of the seafloor.