“My family name came from Belisama’s grace.” He explained. “Injured and sick, she brought my great-great-grandfather to the lake. She allowed them to build a home there, in exchange for their fealty. I once asked my father why he pledged his loyalty to the Mad Queen. He laughed and told me that it was by her grace that we lived. I thought it meant that he was frightened of her.”
“Do you think your father knew she was Belisama?” I wondered.
Cormac pressed his lips together. “No way of knowing.” He waved a hand dismissively. “What King Ullurick knew, died with him, I suppose.”
“Do you think he’s here? In the Tuatha Dé Danann?”
“Perhaps.” Cormac shuddered. “I don’t think we should go far from each other again.”
“Why not?” I asked, glancing at the cliffs.
“Can’t you feel it?” Cormac glanced at me, his emerald eyes harboring a bone-deep terror. “Something is protecting this lagoon. And something very much wants to break through that protection.”
“You can feel that?”
He nodded solemnly. “I don’t think I’m meant to be here. I think I’m meant to be out there.”
I squashed the horrid feeling in my stomach that told me he might be right. “You’re meant to be where I am.” I declared, leaving no room for argument.
A funny look crossed his face, one I hadn’t seen before. Cormac’s hand snapped out, and he grabbed me by the back ofmy neck, dragging my lips to his. I squeaked but made no move to escape as he pressed his lips hard against mine.
I yielded, soft and pliable in the face of an enemy—though perhaps, I could no longer call him that.
When I thought of Shíorghrá, I thought of the brightly colored markings of the Undine. Something snagged deep inside my mind. The feeling that I was forgetting something fundamental. As if I’d walked into a room and forgotten why I was there.
I was meant to be somewhere. Doing something. Unfinished business.
Cormac lifted his hand to my face, his callused fingers tracing the soft skin of my cheek. All thoughts and worries fled, leaving me with only one thing on my mind: his touch.
“You hate me,” I told him.
Cormac threw his head back, laughing enough to jostle his entire body. “Do you want to feel how much I hate you, Princess?” He ground his hips against mine as we both lay in the sand. I bit my lip—my entire body shuddering at the sensation of his hard cock, straining the fabric of his trousers. I reached out, gripping the back of his head, fingers tangled in his golden hair, as I brought his lips back to mine. His tongue brushed against mine, dancing together, as we both sank into the warm, fluffy sand.
I was so hungry, for touch, for life, and Cormac was a bright, brilliant spark. His body was warm, where mine was cold.
Cormac Illfinn.
My heart threatened to beat out of my chest. My hands grabbed at his skin, desperate to touch every part of him. His throat, his shoulders, the long hair that fell down and formed a curtain over both of our faces. A hidden veil, where our lips met.
I had always wondered what it was like tohavea Mer, though I would have never voiced the obnoxious thought outloud. Cormac would have pounced on it like a shark and mocked me to no end. But a spark raced through me at the idea of something different, something entirely new.
It seemed that Cormac had never been with someone with two legs before.
Both of us were determined to journey into unknown waters.
Cormac’s fingers brushed over my waist, his callused fingers dancing over the soft skin of my stomach as they traveled down my body. His hand paused when he reached lower, fingers spasming as if encountering the unexpected.
Though I wanted to ask what he was expecting, to make jokes—our love language—but I decided not to. The moment felt too important. Cormac had offered something of himself, a vulnerability.
Our lips broke apart. Chests heaving as we shared a single breath.
He licked his lips. “I don’t know how to do this.” He admitted.
“Because I have two legs?” I chuckled as I lay back in the sand.
Cormac rolled his eyes. He circled my belly button with a single finger as he placed a delicate kiss on my stomach. “Laugh it up, Princess.” His voice was muffled by my skin.
“Would you like me to teach you?” I asked, my gaze softening, as I sat back on my elbows.
