Restless Waves

Chapter 30

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- Sian

Rowan watched Kaerius lie face down in the water. He listened to his angry mutterings about the human race and how they were making his life ten times harder. "Kaerius, this is cool and all, but isn't this another step closer to strengthening the bond completely?" Rowan asked, but Kaerius didn't turn around. "I don't know why you're annoyed anyway. You've not got an angry voice talking over your own thoughts."

Kaerius then faced the sky and glared at the human who watched him from the rocks. "My thoughts," he growled. "My private thoughts."

"I do feel like I'm intruding," Rowan admitted, "but there's nothing we can do until-" Rowan couldn't say it, not after they shared a kiss that felt so special.

"Until we end the bond?" Kaerius thought. "Wishful thinking."

Rowan shuffled further over the edge of the rocks. "You said that Jaiker lied to you. What did he lie about?"

Kaerius tried to stop thinking immediately. If he told Rowan that the quest might have been some test, and he failed because he went ahead with it despite thinking that the removal of a bond would kill the human... Kaerius saw Rowan's body stiffen. By trying to not think about it, he thought about it.

"I explain," the Thalassic Mortal said quickly, but Rowan had already started to stare with a hardness to his green eyes that made them look like glass marbles.

"Did I hear that correctly?" he asked. Rowan's mind was a jumble of his own thoughts and feelings and Kaerius's thoughts and feelings. It wasn't easy to operate the chaos, but he could tell which voice belonged to who.

Kaerius sank in the ocean until only his eyes and upwards were exposed, like a hippo staring at its prey. "Let me explain," he thought, still a little sceptical of Rowan responding to a voice that only he should be able to hear. When Rowan crossed his arms and arched a brow, Kaerius knew he was listening to every word. "Laiken said that maybe Jaiker sent me on a quest to fall in love with you. He believes that there is no way to remove a bond and that Jaiker was testing me. I went out of my way to do something that would hurt someone else. I failed the test."

Rowan's features turned hard and sharp. His mouth thinned into a line of disappointment, and his jaw clenched. Kaerius could see him holding his breath. "The bond will kill me if we get rid of it, and you knew?" he asked in a tone that was as flat as a piece of paper.

Kaerius swam to the rocks and decided to speak out loud. "I ashamed. Kaerius desperate. Not desperate now."

"You would have killed me." Rowan shuffled away from the edge, and away from the sea creature.

"You would have done the same."

"No!" Rowan snapped loud enough to make Kaerius clamp his mouth shut. "I would have started planning a life with you in it. I would never have done that to you. What happened on that boat was different. We were defending ourselves. I can't believe you would have killed me just because you wanted someone else to love."

Kaerius's heart started to hurt when he watched the tears form in Rowan's eyes. "I sorry!" he said desperately when Rowan got to his feet and backed away. "Rowan, I sorry. Stay!"

Rowan shook his head and kept moving back. "Would you have still gone through with it after we kissed?" he asked.

"I..." Kaerius stalled, which was a costly mistake. "No."