A Mermaid's Cry

Chapter 46-Potent Flames

"You will be the death of me Corintha," Ares states, the words flowing off his tongue with such care. That if I were foolish enough, I'd believe he meant every single tenuous syllable. But it only fans the embers of rage the twig of a human stoked upon my entering the shop.

"The same can be said of you Ares," I hiss back, my voice grating as uneven rock, where his is calm like water in a silent pond. "Now hurry along with your scolding. I don't trust the rest of our merry band to stay out of trouble without you to order them around."

"At least they listen to me," he seethes, grabbing hold of my forearms and pulling me flush against him. "They at least know I don't tell them to follow me out of spite. That I do what I do to keep my pod safe, to keep you safe. You have no idea what monsters there are in this world. No idea what I have sacrificed to keep Captain Odessa from locking us all up on sight."

"What you have sacrificed?" I ask, a dark chuckle escaping my lips. "I didn't know you had such a heart." The veneer of strength in his gaze, appears to crack as pain flashes in his eyes.

"Is that what you think of me?" his voice hollow as an empty jar. "Nothing but a male with a shriveled black soul." His words pierce through me to the very marrow of my bones. Realization, like cold sea water being thrown across me, travels down my spine and into my skin. Coiling around my heart enough, that the phantom pain makes my eyes fill with tears, and my head to lower in shame.

"No, I don't," I answer, for once in my life accepting the emotions warring through me for what they are. "But you scare me. Sometimes you are irritating and teasing, other times gentle and sweet. But even then, you still turn angry and rough without warning."

I glance back up, hardening my eyes and jerking my chin up in defiance. I am not the scared little Mer I was when we first met. I have seen enough, and learned enough about him. That I have nothing left to fear, except for his truest thoughts and feelings for me.

"Why Ares?" I ask, not a plea but an honest and clear demand for an answer that I know in my heart, I deserve without question. I watch as he takes in my words, his jaw clenching, his grip on my arms tightening, but not hurting my flesh. While his eyes darken with an emotion I cannot place. Not while his face turns cold, icy, and removed.

"Tell me," I whisper, gently laying my hand on his cloth covered chest. "Or I will not consider being your mate, unless I can trust you with my body and, with my heart."

A spark of flame ignites in his eyes, melting away the icy veneer in his gaze. Battering down the door that he locked himself behind, hiding from the unknown. Keeping away the uncontrollable torrent of emotions that threatens us all. A mistake I have made, and one I've learned from over, and over again.

I watch him come to grips with my ultimatum. Begrudgingly accepting that the only way for him to keep me at his side. Is to bring down his barriers as he had promised the day we left our island home. Allowing me to be the one to see him vulnerable, a fair bargain from all the times he has seen me weak as a newborn babe.

"Very well," Ares says, his voice strained but devoid of any harshness, just gentle effortless calm. "My answer is this. You dear treasure are the reason for my violent changes in temper. When you are hesitant I can't help but be anything but gentle. I tease you because I delight in the murderous looks you give me."

He goes silent and ever so slowly, he takes a hand and gently runs a finger down my cheek and along the side of my neck. No doubt feeling my fluttering heartbeat. Until his hand lies on top of my collarbone, his pointer finger running up and down my skin with focused precision.

"And your anger?" I add, stepping closer and clenching my hand into the fabric of his shirt. Watching his eyes dance as my other hand grips the leather belt at his waist.