Vexed: A Tidal Kiss Novella (The Tidal Kiss Trilogy Book 5) Read online

  I exhale silently, staring down, yet again, upon my people. I pick out Vex in the crowd, hating him all the more for the way his eyes are imploring me to speak, say something, anything.

  With this, I turn, rising into the seeming metallic fury of the storm raging on the surface. Letting it carry me back to the Dark Alcazar, lightning illuminating only the lifelessness of my shell.

  The thrashing of the stormy surface waters has carried me all the way to here, and I have let them smash into my too pale skin, beating against me as I surrender to their ferocious whim.

  Floating on the balcony of my suite in the dark Alcazar, I look up at the now still waters. The sun has poked between the dark clouds above, leaving a dark edged golden light falling over the city. Perhaps that’s why everyone expects me to move forward from the darkness back to light; because in the natural world, the rebirth of life in spring follows the death of fall and winter. The problem with that analogy is that by equating the Psirens to something natural, you are dismissing the truth. We are not natural, we are abominations, created to kill and not to feel. The ultimate weapon, and yet one with such destructive power, even the God who created it cannot contain.

  So, now that’s my job.

  Yippee. I roll my eyes, folding my arms across my breast scales and exhaling a stream of bubbles. The dark crystal railing of the suite matches the rest of the décor as it climbs in finely carved tentacles from the floor, twisting around itself to form a thick and intimidating border between me and fluid infinity.

  Gazing down over the city, I see the Psirens; noticeable because of their speed and motion, which is far greater and more rabid against the others. They’re young, fresh, and energetic, but they don’t respect me, and I don’t respect them. I have no power over them, and any power I thought I did have was dismissed as merely a figment of my imagination when Atargatis and Poseidon had given me this job against my consent.

  I hear a knock at the door but don’t answer. I want to be alone. If I wanted to socialise, I’d have stayed at the stadium.

  I spin away from the balcony, wanting to avoid people knowing my whereabouts, and close the two glass doors leading outward behind me as I slash through the water.

  Inside my suite, a black crystal four poster bed, designed to look like it’s being supported entirely by yet more tentacles, is central to the space. Black velvet sheets lie bound to the mattress, heavy. It’s unfortunate, because every single night as I lay down to sleep, I picture him, his velvety clutch, the shadows cast by the four tentacle shaped posts of the frame serving as a constant fucking reminder of him and everything I love to hate. The headboard is bloody ruby and black, lit with blue algae, emitting a lilac and bizarre glow throughout the space. I hang in the shadows cast in overwhelming force by the black crystal walls as another and more persistent knock comes ringing through the water.

  I freeze as the door at the far end of the room slowly opens, and Vex lets himself in.

  “How polite of you to break and enter on my behalf,” I snap, and he jumps, eyes moving to my silhouette, that hangs, statuesque in the dark.

  “Bloody hell! You scared the shit out of me!” he complains, and I snort.

  “That’s what happens when you’re caught red handed being a prize dick,” I retort, and his eyes glisten, the lilac of their depths only highlighted by the glow from the headboard.

  “I’m following orders. Nothing more, Love,” he insists. I roll my eyes again, wondering why it is he even bothers pretending like he doesn’t seek me out just to annoy me.

  “Don’t you find it funny that we’re the ones following orders, and yet we’re also the ones who they’re so afraid of?” I ask with an earnest expression, and he shrugs, the rounded musculature of his shoulders rising and falling in the water. His tentacles undulate, pushing him incrementally toward me, slow, like he hopes I won’t notice.

  “I never really thought about it, Love. Besides, I can’t be arsed getting into political drama; it’s really not my scene. Callie and Orion want to see you. Unsurprisingly.”

  “Great,” I exhale, and Vex pulsates closer yet again, the ridges of his chest muscles defined in the dark as light plays tricks with his razor-sharp cheek bones.

  “You alright, Love. You seem…” he begins, but I cut him off.

  “I don’t care how I seem to you.”

  “Right. Well then, you’d better get going. I’m gonna just sit here until you leave. I’m not suffering the scorn of that blonde twiglet for being a crappy messenger boy.” He shoos me from my own room, and I scowl. I want to beat him senseless, wanting to gain proximity so I can rip his too smooth skin into more satisfying shreds, and I’m yet scared of that kind of closeness when it comes to him.

  He’s dangerous.

  “So, let me get this straight… my choices are… hang out with a tentacled asshole… or hang out with a council of six very official dumbasses?” I glare at him, gritting my teeth and balling my fists at my side. As I clench my bicep, I let the tension leave me at the sudden recollection that Vex just isn’t worth the effort. None of this is.

  I rotate in the water and begin to swim away, but Vex calls after me.

  “Hey! I’m more bloody fun than those dumbasses any day, and if you’d just be honest with yourself, you’d admit that!”

  I don’t give him the courtesy of a response.

  In the boardroom with the Council of Eight, or seven, with Vex’s convenient and welcome absence, the chosen of the Gods and Goddesses stare at me with disapproval. I sit back in my chair, facing the round crystal table, flick my tailfin restlessly, and stare at each of them in turn with dead, bored eyes.

  “So, I’m pretty sure we can say that today’s game was a disaster.” Callie states the freaking obvious, and I scowl, my entire face transformed with disdain.

  “Oh, really? I thought it was going so well, what with the beating people senseless. My mistake.”

  “Azure…” Orion interjects, and I cock my head. Not getting angry as I usually would, but instead, sighing.

  “I told you it was a bad idea. I did say that. Does everyone here recall the many hundreds of times I have already said this? Or do you all have short-term memory loss? I mean I know I’m a seer, but a blind monkey with a short-range periscope could have seen this shit coming.” I glare at them, and Isabella rises in her chair.

  Here we fucking go.

  “Azure, I have given you a chance, but you are not fit to rule these creatures… and perhaps… perhaps, darling, that is not all on you. I do not believe they can be controlled. I have said this from the very beginning.” She informs me of her oh-so-important opinion as Domnall stirs in his seat, taking her hand in his. I watch his tattoos bulge and whirl on his enormous biceps, his rage too visible.

  I narrow my eyes. Her husband hasn’t been sand two months. Though… that said, he was also an asshole. Match made in freaking heaven, right?

  “And yet here we are… sitting and having a civilised conversation, and I am not ripping your head from your body,” I remind her with a sigh, staring at my nails without care as Domnall rises in the water.

  “Ah dornt appreciate ye talkin' tae mah hen loch 'at.” His voice comes out as a growl, the long red braid of his hair dangling down over his shoulder as he places both hands down on the table and bears forward like a pissed off grizzly bear.

  “Subtitles please?” I cock my head, and Kaiya speaks up next.

  “You shouldn’t disrespect Isabella like that. She’s far worthier of a say than you,” she spits, still grief stricken over the loss of Akachi, the chief of the Maneli pod of South Africa.

  “That’s the problem though, isn’t it? If you would all stop being a bunch of prejudiced assholes, you’d have listened to me. You’re happy to put the blame on me for this, and yet, as I recall, I was the one who saw this coming. As I have already said. You just don’t want to admit you’re fucking wrong and that you need me to make this little problem go away,” I press them, trying to find streng
th despite my lack of desire.

  The group looks at me with majority distaste as I lean back in the cold hard clutch of my seat and cross my arms, unfeeling.

  “I think it might be best if Orion and I speak with Azure alone on this matter,” Callie announces, and Gideon nods, shifting in his seat to leave. Cage, the vessel for Sedna, rises to follow him, and yet the others, including the Sirena of Hawaii, don’t look so appeased.

  “Of course, you do. You’ll just let her off the hook. You always do. She gets away with more than any of us,” Casmire snarls, shooting me a judgemental and heated gaze.

  Callie’s eyes widen.

  “Get out!” she decrees, raising her voice and grabbing onto Orion’s arm in warning. I know what she intends to do, because I’ve had it done to me before. She fully expects to have to absorb Orion’s power over air and clear the room herself. Instead, knowing that this is a fight they can’t win, the rest of the council rises, the multiple hues of each individual tail glistening as they sway from left to right in their wakes.

  The double doors close behind them, and Callie takes her seat once again, looking over at me with a concerned expression.

  “Look, you’re right. We didn’t listen. But you didn’t exactly fight for your opinion either. Are you okay? You just seem…”

  What is this? Analyse Azure day? I muse, realising she’s the third person in as many hours to question my mental state, like it’s any of her damn business.

  “What? Like I don’t give a damn?” I finish the sentence for her, and she nods, lips pursing as her brow furrows. Orion watches me with a cold expression, curiosity or concern – I can’t tell which – flickering behind the glacial blue of his irises. I wonder what he’s thinking, momentarily, before losing the ability to care.

  “Well, yes, exactly like that,” Callie agrees, so I rise in my seat, clearing my throat.

  “You called it. I don’t. I don’t care anymore.” I shrug, flipping my hair over one shoulder and moving to leave.

  “Wait. Azure, what do you want to do about Celius?” she calls after me, desperate and exasperated. I twist back, dark hair shrouding me as I flash her a pissed off gaze over one shoulder and simply reply, “Whatever you want. You’re a better Queen than I’ll ever be anyway.”

  Chapter Two

  The Dirty Tourguide

  I swim through the high arch of the aquamarine crystal doors and out into the corridor, ignoring the calls of Callie and Orion that follow.

  “That’s not true you know.” His voice catches me off guard, and I discover that I’m affected by what I’ve just said more than I realise. I’ve swum right past the lurking tentacular asshole without even registering he’s there.

  “Jesus, you stalker! Go away.” Vex inches closer to me from the shadow in which he’s cloaked, bubbles rising around him as his tentacles sway to and fro. His eyes glint lilac as he moves into the light.

  “I need to talk to you.” He gets that face, the one I see every time he tries to corner me to ‘talk’. It’s been going on ever since the night of Callie and Orion’s wedding, and I’m getting beyond sick of it.

  He wants to talk about the kiss. The kiss in the throne room. But I have no desire to throw up in my mouth, and so have been avoiding him at all costs.

  Turning from him, I flex my tailfin, swimming away and tensing my muscles as I make a bolt for the main entrance of the Alcazar in which I find myself spending far too much time.

  Who knew being Queen could be this much fun?

  I hear him approaching behind me as I hit the courtyard.

  What… did he not get the hint that I want nothing to do with him? Was my desperate effort to flee not clear enough?

  “Bloody just wait, Azure!” he exclaims, and I shake my head.

  Is he insane? I wonder momentarily, not pausing to entertain him.

  A local group of mer and a handful of Adaro warriors turn to us, and I realise Vex is on the verge of causing a scene. If he blurts that we kissed, I swear to God I’m going to murder him where he floats with my bare hands. That is not something I will ever be able to live down, and with my luck, I still have a long freaking life ahead of me.

  “WHAT?” I turn, yelling in his face and grabbing him by the elbow. I yank him behind me, slashing through the water and ordering the two Psiren guards to open the double doors to the Dark Alcazar. It envelops us as we pass through, rising high through dark, faceted crystal on all sides.

  I clench my bicep once I’m inside, throwing Vex to the floor. “What the fuck is wrong with you? Yes, we kissed… okay? Get the fuck over it! You don’t even mean anything to me. You’re just some asshole who I can’t seem to get rid of!” I exclaim, my anger rising to the surface for the first time in what seems like forever. What is it about him that gets right under my skin, makes my blood boil, and my heart race?

  Fucker.

  He lurches from the floor, flying toward me and gripping the tops of my arms in his large, rough palms, squeezing hard. His eyes dilate to abyssal black, reflecting my own pissed off expression right back at me.

  “Alright, Love, we’re just going to have to do this the hard way. If you don’t want to hear about your daughter, which I think you sorely bloody need right now, then so be it. I’ll just piss off, and you can go back to being Queen Bitch of the seven seas, alone!” He yells this in my face, and I feel it drain of any evident colour from my prior outburst. My heart goes cold, dead in my chest, faltering in its torturously unending beat.

  Vex spins, tentacles flaring out from his waist as he releases me from his fraught grasp. As he does so, I become suddenly desperate, clawing forward through the water and rushing to place my fingertips on the back of his shoulder. He glances back, eyes sparking with triumph, flashing, as they take in my plea.

  “What do you mean, my daughter?” I whisper, having lost the power in my voice. Yet again, the prospect of Arabella, even the mere mention of her, has quelled my anger, my hate, my darkness.

  “Oh, so now she’s all interested…” Vex gets a sly smile, and I raise my hand in the water, the inclination to slap him seven ways from Sunday overpowering me. He grabs my wrist, coming close as his tentacles wrap around the free hand that still hangs limp by my side, clenched into a fist. “Uh, uh, uh…” His lips purse, the hard edges of his cheekbones protruding as he sucks in water, and his nostrils flare, aroused.

  I tilt my head, exposing my face from beneath the dark curtain of my hair, and allow my pupils to dilate.

  “As your Queen, I demand you tell me,” I decree, putting on the fiercest voice I can manage. His tentacles still in the water, and he comes in closer, placing his lips against the shell of my ear. I fight the urge to bite the side of his face, ending him right here and now with a swift and sudden snapping of his neck. Internal decapitation has always been one of my specialties.

  “You’re not my Queen, Love. I’m the vessel of Poseidon, in case you’ve forgotten. I don’t answer to anyone, let alone you… at least, not right now while we’re outside the bedroom…” he cocks his slit eyebrow, pulling back once more and shooting me a suggestive look as he goes. I exhale.

  “Pig.”

  “Bitch.”

  We float at a crossroads, neither of us moving, caught together in a moment of stalemate. His proximity to me makes my rage build, the part of me that I feel I have lost momentarily returning. Why is it he brings out the worst in me?

  “What do you want?” I demand, cocking my head as he relinquishes his grip on me. Gently dipping in the water, my body relaxing more than it has done in days.

  “I want you to talk to me. That’s all,” he replies, and I feel myself turn surprised as I remain close to him despite my overwhelming instinct to flee.

  “That’s it?” I ask, wondering what the catch is. Crossing my arms, defensive even still, my suspicion refuses to cease. I flick my tailfin as he nods.

  I hear whispers coming from beyond the closed doors behind us, the dim outlines of the guards moving behind
the thick partial transparency of the crystal. I glower and wish they would turn to sand where they’re immersed.

  Is it normal for a Queen to wish death upon her subjects so freely? I wonder.

  “Come on. Let’s go somewhere more private,” I bite, grabbing his wrist and pulling him along beside me as I rise through the innermost hollow column, ascending the height of the building in continual and effortless momentum. The dark crystal spirals around us create a barren shell of crisp, sharp shadow and many places to hide. The space is cast in dim blue light, and as the water runs over my skin, silken and cold, I hear Vex reply, “I thought you’d never ask, Love.”

  I ignore him, continuing along my path through the Alcazar, keeping up momentum as we pass down long and labyrinthine corridors until we reach the onyx doors of my chambers. I had chosen this room because it’s the furthest from any other, not because it’s the biggest or most luxurious by any standard. I guess that tells you where my priorities are these days.

  Inside, I position myself to the left of the door, letting Vex into my personal space before I close it behind him. Being the animal I am, I know how to make sure I have my escape route.

  Pivoting, I right myself so I’m erected with a single flick of my charred tailfin, staring at him with high expectation. He watches me for a few moments, like he’s uncomfortable or waiting for something. We both float, silent.

  “Well?” I shake my head, rolling my eyes and clicking my tongue against the roof of my mouth. Suddenly, he seems nervous, fumbling as he rubs his palms down the front of his body like they’re sweaty.

  “Uh, oh… right… well, when we had that kiss in the throne room before, I saw the memories that Atargatis gave you,” he announces, and I feel kind of violated.

  “Is that it?!” I snap, relaxing back into my Psiren persona, momentarily abandoning the weak Queen in chains I’ve become.