“Killed then. But I doubt the man will think of the two as much different.”
“Mr. Runington shot first! Without any warning!”
That was clearly news to the old man, and his eyebrow rose but he said, “All the same, I can’t imagine him taking it well.”
No parent would likely take their son’s passing well, but the way he said it suggested something altogether different.
“I will keep that in mind,” she said. “But I make no promises of bodies. Last I saw, he was in the water. He fell out of the boat after, and I was too concerned with Mr. Wilson to even think of retrieving his body—and of course, he was clearly dead or I would not have left him.” She added that last bit hastily. The last thing she needed was anyone suggesting shecouldhave saved him. No, if she had gotten anywhere near him, she could have killed him herself.
And who knew where the body was? Kallias had pulled him under, but she knew not how far or how deep.
“I will talk to my boss,” she said, “to figure out such things andto see if I can come visit Mr. Wilson and assist you.” They had allowances for ailing family but none for something like this. She hoped since she could claim he had gotten hurt saving her, they would make an exception.
To those things, the doctor only nodded.
Mr. Wilson had fallen asleep when she went back to the other room, so asking the doctor to tell him she would be back, she left. Permission or not, she would be back. Of that, she was sure.
Then she went to the trading company’s office and told their official story. The manager easily gave her permission for day leave for the week to check on Mr. Wilson and aid the doctor, and he sent three men to go with her back to the lighthouse to at least try to find the body.
Not surprisingly, they never did, and when the sun started to set, they headed off back to town and she went back to tend to her lighthouse, sure that once she was done, she would have a mermaid waiting for her.
CHAPTER 98
Kallias, Kallias, Kallias. She could not get to him fast enough. She hated the search party for making him have to hide. She hated that he had had to hide at all. She hated how diligent they were. She hated how they didn’t find anything so they couldn’t just go. And tonight, winding up the lighthouse, for the very first time, she hated it too. It kept her from Kallias, and even one second could not be wasted.
And then, when she was done, she was racing, faster than she’d ever run, down over the rocks to him.
He was waiting—of course he was waiting—and she threw herself at him with reckless abandon to his open arms.
“I love you,” she cried. She didn’t even know why she said it, but it was like she was compelled to, like she had to, like the world would end if she did not.
He leaned his head over her shoulder, as if he could burrow into her, his arms on her upper back holding her with all his might. “I love you more.”
CHAPTER 99
When they broke away, it was not his body or his touch or even his kisses that she wanted. No, putting her hand to his cheek, she looked into those ruby eyes and knew: she wanted his soul. She was sure she had it, but suddenly it was so perfectly clear that she could forego everything else as long as she had him. He said she had his everything; she wanted it too.
“I’ve never been so scared,” she admitted, a whisper, a hush, a broken statement said in cracking words. How crazy to think that when he was in danger, her soul reacted like she was too. “I couldn’t live without you.”
“Oh, please don’t say that,” he murmured, his lips near hers.
“Why? If it upsets you, it’ll motivate you not to die.”
Snickering, he leaned closer still. “But I already have all the motivation not to die right here.”
“Is that so?”
“It’s so.” And he kissed her like he had to prove it.
CHAPTER 100
Kissing had quickly turned to much, much more, and now, glowing and breathless, they lay in their cove. The moon had yet to rise; it was just them and the stars and the Milky Way—glorious and colorful and bright and perfect—just like his arms, just like this night.
“I love you,” she said again. “Am I getting repetitive?”
He laughed. “I’d hear it ten thousand times still and not be quenched. I’d have you ten thousand times more and not be full too.”
She laughed. “Since when were you so eloquent?”
