Ariella (Princesses Uncovered #3)

Chapter 18

Tobias and Ari had collapsed the night before when the stars were high in the sky and the moon hung in the center of the horizon. Ari could hardly move due to the pain in her muscles when he finally allowed her to stop.

She had allowed him to cradle her in his arms as she dropped off into slumber. Now, they slept in the shallower water near an unfamiliar shore line, and the sun slanted through the water, beaming down upon them as morning came.

Ari’s eyes flicked open slowly, and she gazed up at the waves sloshing above them in the light breeze that had kicked up during the night. She was so warm and sleepy. She pressed against Tobias, closing her eyes against the sun’s warm rays. He didn’t stir, still exhausted from yesterday’s flight, and Ari didn’t mind. She just rested her forehead against his collarbone as she had the night before and floated in between sleep and wakefulness.

***

Ciara and Leander sat eating breakfast together silently. Leander’s eyes were red from weeping. Ciara ignored him, focusing on the shellfish she was picking at instead.

“We’ll find him, Ciara.” Leander murmured to her, but she could tell he was trying to reassure himself more than her.

Well, she wasn’t the one bawling her eyes out, was she? What would she need comforting for? Honestly, she didn’t miss Tobias. She’d never liked him. Besides, her family didn’t need his money.

They were very distant relatives of Leander's family on his mother's side - not close enough that marrying Tobias could be considered wrong or strange, but not far enough away that her brother had no opportunity to take the throne.. And those who might've stood in her brother's way were dead. Which meant that her older brother was next in line for the throne if Tobias wasn’t found.

She stayed quiet through breakfast. When she was finished, Leander rose, and the two of them swam off to find her parents and brother to help in the search.

***

Tobias and Ari stayed curled up together on the sand for a long time. Neither of them wanted to move. They were warm and comfortable the way they were.

Eventually, though, Tobias moved, moaning. “We should get up and leave. If we stay, we’ll lose the head-start we have on my father, and we might be caught.” He pressed his nose into her hair, breathing deeply.

She reached up, stroking his cheek with her long, delicate fingers. “I suppose we should. But somehow, I would rather just stay here.” She murmured.

He spun her to face him, gazing at her intently with his silver eyes. “Me too.” He murmured.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he kissed her. It wasn’t a hard, fast kiss like the one they’d shared in the prison the other night. Instead, it was slow and gentle. As though Tobias was trying to memorize the kiss so that he wouldn’t ever forget. She kissed him back, just as slowly, surrendering to whatever he did. His hands rested firmly on her hips, and he drew her against him. He stopped kissing her, and just rested his forehead against hers, staring into her eyes. “You’re so beautiful.” He murmured, stroking her hair.

She looked down, blushing. “Tobias… I’m not beautiful.”

“You are too. Have you ever looked into a mirror?” He whispered still twirling her hair through his fingers.

She nodded, smiling. “Of course.”

“Then why don’t you know how intoxicatingly beautiful you are?” He pulled her into another kiss, his arms going around her waist and holding her against him.

She ran her fingers through his hair as he kissed her, closing her eyes. Between the sunshine and his kiss, she felt like she was melting into a warm puddle of seawater. Her tail twined around his gently, gold glittering against his silver sheen.

She smiled softly into the kiss, the sunlight glowing red against the back of her closed eyelids. Tobias’s hands slid up to her shoulders slowly, and then moved up to cup her face gently as he kissed her. She moaned softly as he hit a bruised spot on her face, but she didn’t really mind. Tobias didn’t stop kissing her, and she pressed him to deepen it.

When he backed away, she sighed.

“You liked that?” He raised an eyebrow.

Her eyes were still closed, but she opened them when he asked that. “Of course.”

He moved to kiss her again, but this time, she moved away. “Tobias, we can’t… Not right now. We have to escape fully. We need to get further away.”

He nodded, a serious look coming over his face. “You’re right. Let’s go. We can find something for breakfast on the way.”

***

Leander swam out into the open ocean alone. He had to find Tobias. But which direction would his son most likely take? He picked a straight line from the back of the prison. His son probably wouldn’t think to waver from a straight line immediately, so it was a start, at the very least.

He sighed. Have I made a mistake? I’ve tried so hard to do what was best for him all these years. I have been too busy to take a hands on policy with Tobias, but maybe I should’ve made it… And was it the wrong thing to do to keep him and Ari apart? The way that girl could make his eyes glow made my heart ache… He hasn’t been that happy in so long. And I took the one thing that could make him happy and forced him into an engagement with a young woman he obviously disliked. He even told me he disliked her, but I didn’t listen. The more he thought about it, the more Leander decided that he’d made a mistake with Tobias. I need to find him so that I can apologize. I think he should marry Ari after all. He tried to push his thoughts down, but he couldn’t. It took you that long to realize that? What an idiot. Ari is of royal blood, so that makes her a better match for my son than even Ciara could be… And shouldn’t there be a place in this world for true love despite what could go wrong? Tobias was right… Mistakes are a part of growing up, and apparently, even I still have some growing up to do. He shook his head.

He hoped he would find Tobias. Because if he didn’t, he would lose his son forever, and he would never be able to make things right. Right now, he desperately needed to speak to his son and fix things. He needed to make things right. If he never got that chance, he would regret it for the rest of his life.