Cormac quirked a brow. “You fell on your own fecking face, Princess. Running away.”
“You put your hands around my throat.” I countered.
“To be fair, we’re in the Tuatha Dé Danann. I’m fairly certain you can’t die twice.” He threw his hands up in exasperation. “I’d say my anger isn’t misplaced. Considering you killed us both.”
“I told you not to touch it!”
Cormac’s eyes narrowed. “You sound like a dragon protecting its hoard.”
“I didn’t exactly have time to say:Oh, Cormac! Only those with the blood of a god can touch the Kraken’s eye.” I retorted, sitting back on my ass and crossing my arms over my chest.
“For feck’s sake!” Cormac threw his head back, pleading with the sky.
My stomach let out an unhealthy grumble at that moment. It was as if my body had woken up when I wasn’t paying attention, and all the usual sensations had returned full force. Hunger, thirst, and a whole host of others.
I pressed my hand against my stomach.
“What’s wrong?” Cormac’s snarling demeanor gave way to concern.
“Are you as hungry as I am?”
Cormac frowned, taken aback. He paused for a moment, cataloging his body before shaking his head. “I haven’t seen any recognizable plants. No animals in the forest, though we likely scared them away.”
“Fish?” I asked.
Cormac’s lips pressed together. “There were some fish in the lagoon.”
I sensed his hesitation. It went unsaid that entering the lagoon held untold dangers, that neither of us was in a rush to encounter.
“It’s too dangerous.” I shook my head, thinking of Cormac pounding the water from underneath, as if he was trapped under ice.
Cormac frowned, turning back to the beach. “I have the feeling I’m forgetting something. A feeling I’m meant to be somewhere.”
I mirrored his expression. “Me too.”
Cormac held out his hand, gesturing for me to stand. It took a moment to decide to take it, lest he attempt to hurt me again. His palm was still callused in the way it always had been. Even death hadn’t changed that.
Behind me, the darkness of the forest pressed between the gaps in the trees. Breathing but silent. In front, the endless fluffy sand of the beach and the shimmering ocean that did not move as it should have.
I sucked my lips between my teeth. “The forest, or the sea?” I wondered. “Which one?”
“We are water Fae, are we not?” Cormac quirked a brow.
I nodded my agreement. “The sea it is.”
We wandered the beach for what felt like hours before I flopped down on the sand, defeated.
Cormac stepped up to the water, where the lagoon lapped the shore like an eager beast.
He squinted at the horizon, the sun in the same position it had been when he woke up to this world.
“Do you have the feeling something is trying to keep us here?” Cormac said thoughtfully. “A beautiful paradise, to be sure. But perhaps, a cage as well?”
My stomach rumbled, and the edges of my vision grew narrow. I growled as I stood, pushing past the Mer-King as I approached the water as if issuing a challenge.
“If you aren’t brave enough to swim, then it’ll have to be me. Won’t it?” I declared, huffing as I blew a tendril of dry white hair from my eyes.
Cormac huffed a laugh. “I’m not chomping at the bit to rush back into waters I’m not sure I can leave, Princess. My condolences that my bravery is not up to your standards.”
