The Kiss That Saved Me (The Tidal Kiss Trilogy Book 2) Read online

  Contents

  Title page

  copyright

  Dedication

  Prologue| Orion

  1 | Rose-tinted Haze

  2 | Breathless

  3 | Maiden

  4 | Become

  5 | Rise

  6 | Alone

  7 | Salt

  8 | Potential

  9 | Deep

  10 | Rave

  11 | Strong

  12 | Collide

  13 | Fun

  14 | Free

  15 | Smash

  16 | Bonds

  17 | Shatter

  18 | Mother

  19 | Converge

  20 | Decimate

  21 | Sanctuary

  22 | North

  23 | Risk

  24 | Sea of Voices

  25 | Ballet

  26 | Amends

  27 | Ice

  28 | The man with the frozen heart

  30 | Pure of heart

  31 | Atlas’ Burden

  32 | Whirl

  33 | Aurora

  34 | Sacrifice

  Epilogue

  Afterword

  Want more Tidal Kiss Trilogy magic?

  About The Queens Of Fantasy Saga

  The Tidal Kiss Trilogy – Book 2

  TRILOGY ONE IN

  THE QUEENS OF FANTASY SAGA

  First published by Kristy Nicolle, United Kingdom, June 2016

  QUEENS OF FANTASY EDITION (1st EDITION)

  Published June 2016 by: Sapphire Press

  Copyright © 2016 Kristy Nicolle

  Edited by: Jaimie Cordall and Kristine Schwartz

  Cover by Red Umbrella Graphic Designs

  Adult Paranormal/Fantasy Romance

  The right of Kristy Nicolle to be identified as author of this Work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the publisher. You must not circulate this book in any format.

  Disclaimer:

  This ebook is written in U.K English by personal preference of the author. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  ISBN: 978-1-911395-02-7

  www.kristynicolle.com

  For Ali and Juanita

  Most people talk about the harshest Winters they can remember.

  I want to talk about the kindest.

  ORION

  I watch her sleeping beside me. I want to wake her, shatter her dreams and give her a waking experience better than anything running through her beautiful mind. My heart breaks at the fragility of it all as I remind myself that I must be patient and let her find consciousness on her own. My father taught me to be patient. Or at least he tried. My father taught me to be a gentleman. Or I thought he had. The problem is, you see, he didn’t teach me how to love. Where are the boundaries? How do you possess someone without imprisoning them? How do you hold a heart in the palm of your hand without crushing it? If only he had taught me these things. She did not want patience, for she was the speed of light. Nor a gentleman for she was coarser than volcanic sand. What she wanted was to be free. Free to die. To martyr herself in the name of love. I do not, cannot understand this, for my father did not teach me, and can no longer teach me, for he is entropy. A sweeping fine entropy. Waiting patiently for me to slip through the waist of the hourglass in the Ocean of time. Waiting until we meet again.

  CALLIE

  I collapse back onto the dusky, rose coloured silk sheets of the finely crafted, mahogany, four poster bed. My chest rises and falls, rises and falls, rises and falls as the silk drapes over my goose-pimpled flesh like water, cooling the ravenous blood that courses around my circuitry. My hair is spread out around me and it tickles my ears in that all too familiar way as a bead of sweat runs from the dip in my collar bone, between my breasts and settles on my stomach before dissipating in the heated air of the ornate room. My mind is in a rosy haze, foggy and delighted by passionate sex that could have lasted hours for all I know. My legs are like jelly and my arms are splayed out, feeling beneath the sheets like a skin seeking missile.

  “Orion?” I call into the darkness, and I hear a stir from the bathroom, the door is open a crack and the tiniest beam of stark white light is falling onto my face as I prop myself up, allowing the silken sheets to slip, leaving my chest bared to the night air.

  “I’m coming hold on.” I hear him reply, so serious after all the fun we’ve just had. I want to frown but my forehead can’t find the will to crease. He emerges from the bathroom, silhouetted against the light in all his glory, a Greek demi-god in every sense of the word. His ripped abdominals, moving fluidly into the seductive triangle that frames his groin, ripples as he turns off the light and moves to relight the candles that have long since burned dim. His eyes are set on me like a hawk, watching terrified, but I choose to ignore this and focus on his ass which is now turned toward me.

  “You okay?” he asks, catching the longing look in my eyes.

  “Of course.” I reply automatically in answer to his new favourite question. He sits down on the bed and pulls the sheets over his legs, coming to lay beside me in my dusky tinted field of vision. He draws the net curtains of the bed, so only dim candlelight penetrates the space. I curl into his chest, kissing the smooth surface and nuzzling the lines of definition over his heart.

  “Mmmm” I murmur, breathing him in.

  “Shhhh.” He demands, knotting his hands in my hair and pulling my head back so my eyes meet his dominating stare. My eyes water.

  “Kiss me.” He commands. It is not a question, it is not a plea, but rather something that has sprung from terror. I watch the new fear dance lightly behind his irises, it is something born from the very moment I decided to die. I obey him and his tongue possesses me slowly, assaulting my senses and I let him take me. This is not like the first time we made love, it is different, animal and desperate, a need to possess above all else. Something that he craves to repeat over and over. Perhaps then this is madness. His hand glides down to the apex of my thighs and I let them fall apart, surrendering to his control, letting him love me, if that’s what this really is. I could ponder that question forever, but instead I choose to stay lost, lost in a rose-tinted haze, from which, I really could not give a damn.

  The warm ocean waters beckon in the dim light of the morning, their call pulling at me from within my blood.

  “Come on Callie!” Orion calls to me from the edge of the shore. I have no idea where we are, a beach somewhere in California but the exact location I’m not quite sure of. Jeez he’s so impatient, I think to myself as I jog quickly across the sand to catch up to him.

  “Ready?” He asks me, taking firm grip of my hand in his smooth palm.

  “As ever.” I say the two words breathlessly as my calves’ burn from lack of use. He places an arm around the back of me, ushering me into the waves. I pull the floor length cotton night dress over my head and stand nude in the lavender hues of dawn. Orion pulls off his jeans and wades in after me, I stop to stare at his ripped silhouette, anxious that we still have two more nights together before the full moon leaves us.

  “You are so beautiful Callie Pierce.” He compliments me, I’ve heard him say these words a mill
ion times, but recently they’ve become pained. Desperate like everything else between us.

  “And you are so handsome Orion Fischer.” I return and his eyes blaze, the flame behind them all-consuming. He towers above me, swooping down as we stand waist deep in the cool waves, cupping my face and allowing his fingers to tangle through my curls. His mouth meets mine leaving me gasping for air as I feel the change take me back to what I am at my core.

  Underneath the warm ocean surface we spend the day travelling.

  “Are you nervous?” I ask him half-heartedly as I watch an Emperor Tang circle my tailfin playfully.

  “About?” Orion looks withdrawn, as is a usual state for him since the death of his father.

  “You know what I’m talking about,” I smile at him slyly, trying to coax a response.

  “Yes I do, and I don’t want to talk about it.” He sighs as we continue to journey through the sea, coral and sand passing below us, silently teeming.

  “Ignoring it isn’t going to make it go away you know,” I pry further and watch his brow crease in distaste of the subject.

  “All we’ve done for the past four months is talk about it, Callie. Aren’t you sick of talking about it? I would have thought you would have been sick of small council meetings, grand council meetings, and all the other stupid irrelevant shit we’ve been dealing with ever since my father…” He trails off, crumpling under the weight of his own memories.

  “Left you his Kingdom?” I finish for him, trying to turn Atlas’ death into something positive. Something it really isn’t.

  “I don’t want it, I’ve never wanted it.” Orion bites the words out as though they pain him.

  “It isn’t your choice. The votes have been cast. Your people want you Orion… more than that, they need you.”

  “I’m a warrior. Not a politician and certainly not a ruler.”

  “Neither am I,” I remind him gently. He’s stopped stroking against the current with his long body and is allowing the water to carry him as he lies on his back looking up at the sun through the barrier that separates us from the air. I push myself forward, taking thick breaths of water and lie myself on his chest, looking down into his eyes with my palm over his heart. “Look, I know you’re scared about being the one everyone turns to. It’s a dangerous time right now. But it’s in your blood. I know you’ll be great, and Atlas knew it too.” Orion melts slightly under my touch and his eyes fill with fear.

  “I’m sorry about the last few months. This isn’t what I wanted. I didn’t want this for us. I wanted to show you the world. Not have you stand on ceremony while I lead an army to war.” He runs his hand through his hair, resting it on the back of his neck in the way he does when he’s worried.

  “You don’t know that there’ll be a war, Orion. No one knows that, not even Starlet and she can see the future.”

  “I know she hasn’t said anything, but I can tell something’s bothering her. She’s barely been able to sit across from me in the small council meetings, other than that I haven’t seen her at all,” Orion responds and I can’t say he’s wrong. I’ve noticed Starlet’s discomfort around us too. I guess I’d just figured it was because she didn’t like me that much.

  “No matter what happens, I’ll be by your side. You aren’t in this alone.” I wrap my arms around his thick body and nuzzle his chest. The water is fairly still around us and I find a peace I had been seeking since leaving the hotel room this morning.

  “I… I know,” he falters and I raise my head.

  “I’m serious, Orion. No matter how many boring ceremonies I have to stand through I’m not going to run. As long as we still make time for us.”

  “That’s what I want to ensure. I think you and I need somewhere to go that isn’t a sanctum. Somewhere that’s ours. Where we aren’t crowned rulers… just us.” Orion muses and I smile.

  “And where do you suggest… we had enough trouble finding a hotel to stay in last night after you so quickly decided we just had to take off yesterday,” I ask remembering being pulled through the water and away from the city so hard I thought my arm would come out of its socket.

  “I needed to get away. The Alcazar Oceania is making me feel like a caged animal.” Orion admits and I do understand, after the last few months we had barely found any time to get out into the open ocean. Everyone was too worried about the Psirens’ increasing numbers to leave the city alone and they were looking to us to keep it protected. We had found ourselves trapped as Orion had sent the Knights of Atargatis to the coastline, trying to prevent what Azure had informed us was a large recruitment of ‘lost souls’ by Psirens. She had finally revealed that Psirens could make more of their kind through a transfer of blood with humans. It was a decision we had to make, but it didn’t make having the guardians as the only form of protection for the city any easier. Especially now that the Psirens had once been inside, showing a hole in the city’s glimmer of defence which was upheld by Saturnus. His red hair and green eyes float into my mind.

  “I know. Did you tell Saturnus you were leaving?” I ask and watch his expression turn incredulous.

  “Are you kidding? Mr Grumpy Gills? Mr You are the beacon of shining hope to our people in a time of encroaching darkness?”

  “So that’s a no then?” I giggle, remembering the hideously angry expression Saturnus tried to hide when the votes were counted and he lost by an alarming differential to Orion. “I still don’t understand why Saturnus got so angry about having to stay hand to the crown.” I bite my lip, feeling uncomfortable as we continue to glide slowly across the ocean floor, allowing ourselves to fall to the depths of the ocean in lazy momentum.

  “I don’t understand why he wanted to be Crowned Ruler. It’s a ridiculous job,” Orion sighs again and I laugh at him.

  “Well, I still don’t understand why everyone voted for us.”

  “I do.” Orion looks at me, adoring me so much in that second I feel slightly sick.

  “You do?” I ask him curiously and he nods as we finally hit the sand and it billows up around us in the water. The conversation has dominated everything, stopping our journey. I stare into Orion’s glacial gaze as I lay on top of him, flicking my tail behind me playfully.

  “It’s you, Callie.”

  “What the hell did I do?” I ask accusatorily.

  “You’re a hero to the people of the Occulta Mirum, I mean surely you’ve noticed…”

  “My million and one new best mermaid friends?” I cock my brow and he nods fighting the urge to laugh. Things have certainly changed ever since that night, I admit to myself. I’m now the centre of attention at parties among the other mer after I sacrificed myself to save them.

  “But what about you? You’re the real hero. Sophia told me about how you made that giant tidal wave and blew the army out of the city. All I did was hold on to the scythe and…” I stop, unable to admit to myself what has passed.

  “Die.” Orion bites out the word like a curse and his gaze is feral. He looks angry and suddenly I can’t think of anything to say. I don’t want another argument. It seems that’s all we do these days, argue about my death and maul each other in a passionate frenzy. It’s exhausting and pointless, it’s not like I stayed dead.

  “Yeah.” The silence engulfs us as we disentangle from each other, beginning our momentum again.

  “Hey… why don’t you use your powers more often? I mean, I didn’t know you were that powerful.” I ask him, fluttering my eyelashes slightly.

  “I dunno… I guess I don’t like using them, I want to beat my enemies on fair ground. With the Psirens, it’s hard to explain, but it’s not like with demons, it’s like a family feud. I don’t want to be accused of winning by cheating.” He shrugs and my brow creases.

  “Titus didn’t seem to care about using his powers. That tidal wave thingy must have been amazing. You could protect the city indefinitely with that…” I muse. He frowns.

  “I can’t perform this stuff on que, Callie. They were special circ
umstances.” He looks miserable at the thought of losing me, watching me fall still under the moonlight once more. This grates at me a little. I wish he would just let it go.

  “We still have tonight free anyway, unless you want to head back. The coronation isn’t until tomorrow night after all.” I break the silence after a few moments of swimming side by side.

  “I actually have a gift for you. I thought we could take a look tonight.” Orion looks at me and I can’t quite tell what he’s feeling. His jaw is hard set but his eyes have softened slightly.

  “You know I don’t need any more gifts. You already had my dress made for tomorrow night’s ceremony,” I remind him, the image of the gown flashing across my mind as he nods.

  “This is something I bought with the money Shaniqua gave to me, you know, from my father. I didn’t want to say anything until the details were finalised. Besides, I have more money than I need and I like being able to buy you things.” He pouts, his royal blue facial scales glimmering, and I instantly feel bad.

  “You didn’t have to buy me anything with that money, Orion. That was your father’s, he would want you to spend it on yourself,” I say feeling guilty. I remember only too well my disgust over how the mer remain wealthy, selling their sorrow in the form of their tears which turn to diamond in sea water.

  “This is for us, not just you.” He bites out the words again, still clenching his jaw. I could ask him what’s wrong, but it would just lead to another argument and I just don’t have the energy. The fight in me has gone. It’s been lost ever since the night I returned to this world.

  We pass the day in denial. Escaping our prospective responsibilities and losing ourselves in the magic of the sea. A pod of Commerson dolphins befriend us as the sun reaches its full height in the sky, Orion and I take to playing with them, creating a makeshift ball out of a buoy we fish from the surface. Orion uses his ability over air to cause the buoy to sink and we devote our afternoon to pure fun, so sick of all the meetings and the formalities that have taken over our lives. The dolphins, a hearty party of six, enjoy this immensely, nudging me and Orion with excitement as we pass the ball between us, trying to get it over the dolphins as they race, batting the ball off course whenever they can. We race them too, speeding through the water and jumping out of its cooling clutches at regular intervals, pulling somersaults and corkscrews as the dolphins match our height and agility stroke for stroke. We don’t really talk, because that’s dangerous right now, but we do enjoy one another’s company, laughing and splashing loudly, forgetting the weight of the world which in no time will once again be lying on our shoulders.