When I open my eyes again, they’re instantly drawn to a perfectly round rock nesting on the shoreline, as if the ocean just offered me a gift.
Smiling wide, I dash forward and pick it up, imagining all the things I can paint on its smooth surface while tucking it in my knapsack for safe keeping.
I jog toward the cove’s right hook without evenlookingat the long, wooden pier across the bay that’ll finally see some use when Rhordyn hosts the ball; something I’m trying not to think about since I’m currently evading a dress fitting.
The rocks are the same color as the sand, though less forgiving on the naked soles of my feet. Luckily, I know where to step so they can’t sink their teeth in too far.
I’m nearing the water’s edge when a familiar head pushes above the froth, white hair slicked back from the sharp angles of his face.
“Treasure? You never come down here at this time,” Kai says by way of greeting, voice deep and silky.
The constant, invisible pulse that echoes off him gently taps my skin like little bursts of air. I call it hisbeat,and I can always tell exactly how Kai feels by the way it interacts with me.
I swing my bag off my shoulder and lower it to the rocks, pulling the length of my hair forward and playing with the end. “Don’t I?”
His eyes narrow and his long, silver tail slithers beneath the surface as he slides forward. “What are you avoiding?”
“A gown fitting.” I dust off my pants and shrug. “Don’t look at me like that, I hate dresses.”
“Oh, I’m aware. I clearly remember you ordering me to stuff a poofy number at the bottom of a chasm so you’d never have to look at it again. What ... ten years ago? Seven? Five? I lose track.”
Last time I attended a Tribunal.
I’m all for outfits that smudge my shape, but I could barely fit through the door in that thing. There wasn’t a single pair of eyes it didn’t draw.
Dropping to a crouch, I pick a piece of seaweed from his hair and flick it away. “You look good in frills. Me ... not so much.”
“I don’t believe you. And I saw you pluck something off the beach. What was it?”
“I did!” I pull the perfectly round rock from my knapsack and brush off the sand. “Look at this glorious sight. Have you ever seen a rock so smooth?”
He takes it from my hand, examines it from all angles, then scrunches up his nose. “Not my favorite.”
I gasp. “Take that back!”
His liquid laugh ripples over the water, and I roll my eyes, snatching the stone. I retrieve the fat, red apple and wave it through the air, causing Kai’s laughter to stop.
Instantly.
He follows the movement like a charmed serpent, eyes dazzling emeralds caught in the sun ...
Hypnotized.
“I’m sorry,” he pleads. “I love you, and your treasure hunting skills are just as glorious as your perfectly smooth rock.”
“That’s ... a fantastic apology.”
I toss the apple, and he’s so swift to whip it from the air that all I see is a blur of motion.
“Be right back,” he spouts before diving in a churn of steely scales and long, rippling frills. He returns a minute later, empty-handed, apple stashed somewhere beneath the glossy ocean surface.
Head cocking to the side, he drifts closer, fixated on my now cupped hands as if he can sense the treasure tucked within. “What do you have there?” His beat taps against my fingers—a gentle, inquisitive nudge for me to unfurl them.
Chewing my bottom lip, cheeks blazing, I open my hands and push the object toward him.
His eyes widen—whirlpools caught in a globe. “Is this—”
“The rock you gave me last week? Yeah,” I murmur, sitting. “I, ahh ... I painted it for you.”
