Shattered by the Sea Lord - Starla Night Page 0,19
declare that you are undeserving, you weaken your inner self.”
“Because this is impossible…”
“When the sacred islands were full across the ocean, and each city had its own customs, large families were normal. If a warrior’s soul mate died, no laws prevented a warrior from seeking a second.”
“But did they? Your records are incomplete.”
“I cannot be the first warrior in all the millennia to claim a bride who has once loved a human.” He tilted his head in concession. “But if I am, then I hope to make the right decisions now to bring our races into closer alignment.”
She sniffed again. “I just don’t know.”
“You doubt our connection. But I do not. Trust in me.” He vowed upon his own soul. “Until all your doubts fade, I will have confidence for both of us. And when you fully accept my claim, you will never doubt again.”
She took a deep, shuddery breath and let it out. “So I have to embrace those fears and they’ll melt away?”
“Embrace your strength. Embrace your destiny. Embrace me.”
Her gaze traveled over his face, from the hairline to his dark brows, across his nose, and centered on his lips. Hers parted and her breath had a catch.
Her soul glowed with power.
She wanted him. He wanted her. She cared about his warriors and the future of the mer, and so did he. She listened and thought and worried. And so did he.
The moment stretched.
He would follow her to Florida, he would follow her to New York, he would follow her to every land in the world.
But perhaps he would not have to.
All she had to do was yield.
Give in to what her own soul knew that it wanted—needed—and embrace him with a kiss.
Maybe, just maybe, their souls would connect in a vibrating metal tube that numbed his chest and soared in the clear sky unbelievably high over the vast oceanic blue.
And then she would leave the surface world and join with him in Atlantis where she belonged.
The engines abruptly made a new coughing sound, sputtered, growled, and then quit. A strange stillness filled the tube, and his chest pinged from the sudden silence.
Dannika’s eyes widened and face blanched in fear. “Val?”
“Hey there.” Their pilot’s voice sounded tight. A second later the intercom kicked on. “You’re going to want to buckle in and assume the crash position.”
Dannika pushed Ciran to buckle in and connected her own straps, tightening them down. Her shout sharpened with dark-souled fear. “What’s going wrong?”
“A slight problem with the fuel.”
“But you refueled in Bermuda!”
“Yes, and I watched it, and I smelled it, and I tested it. And I need all my concentration now because there’s a slight problem.”
They coasted over the waves like a bird coming in for a landing.
This did not seem bad.
Dannika’s face turned green. She manacled the seat rests and stared out the window. “Oh, no. Ohhhh, no.”
“What is wrong?”
She blinked and tore her gaze back to him. Her soul was dark, black with fear, like a hole in her chest. “We’re going to die.”
Hmm. The flight did not seem substantially different from before aside from the slowly approaching surface. It was infinitely more pleasant without the engine burr. “Is Val unskilled?”
“No, she has to land with no controls. Or pontoons.” Dannika stared out the window again. “We’re going to hit that water like a concrete wall. It’s going to tear off the bottom. Tear off the tail. Tear us apart.”
“Dannika.” He reached out his hand. Because of the restraints, he couldn’t reach far or take her hand. All he could do was offer. She had to cross the last distance to him.
She swallowed, and her face turned less green, more pale. They could just reach their fingertips over the table.
He clasped her cold knuckles in his. “Nothing will tear us apart.”
She frowned and then her brows wrinkled and she snorted. A smile crossed her lips. “You are unbelievable.”
He squeezed her fingers. “But true.”
And then they veered toward the water.
Chapter Eight
She was going to die.
She was going to die.
She was going to die.
And she’d brought Ciran with her.
Why?
Dannika clenched his fingertips with one hand and the armrest with the other.
The Sons of Hercules knew she was on this plane. They knew. That was the only explanation. Sabotage.
Why hadn’t she taken the threats seriously?
Why had she thought nothing would happen to her?
The air whistled, ominous as a train whistle, and the sea loomed. Her vision tunneled on the reflected water.
Then…
Rumble-rumble-rumble.
Chaos.
The plane bounced across the leaping waves like a stone skipping across a river.