Page 74 of The Never Queen

Even though the sky is dark, somehow Neverland is always diffused with light. Maybe it’s the magic or the constant winking glow of pixie bugs or maybe it’s the star god trailing behind us.

Bash nods, tightening his arms around me. “Yes. The perfect night for a binding ceremony because a new moon is the time for planting seeds, for beginning anew.”

“And you said something about glowing minnows,” I remind him.

“Yes.” He bends down and kisses me on the neck, causing me to shriek and pull away.

“Let’s go now,” he says.

“Now?”

Vane takes a long pull from the wine bottle, eyeing Peter Pan.

“You’ll need to take the dress off,” Pan says. “It’ll be too heavy in the water and you have a bit to swim to get beneath the Rock.”

I straighten and turn, giving them my back. Bash kindly undoes the buttons that run along my spin and the dress falls open.

I’m wearing a strapless lace bra and matching panties. What better clothing to swim in? I’ll be as lithe as a mermaid.

Maybe. Probably.

I am a little buzzy from all the booze. But the Shadow won’t let me drown. And the four men by my side won’t let me drown. So I’m pretty much invincible tonight.

“You’ll have to show me the way,” I say, pushing out my hip, letting Pan and Vane and Kas drink in the sight of me as Bash tosses my dress aside in the sand.

“I’ll go first.” Kas slips out of his royal jacket and tosses it into the growing pile of clothing on the beach. He kicks off his pants next leaving him in nothing but his underwear.

I make a point of ogling his dick through the dark fabric holding him hostage and he laughs at me as he wades into the water. “Be patient, Darling,” he says over his shoulder and then dives in, disappearing beneath the surface.

He comes up several yards away, water dripping from his face. “Come on!”

Giddy with the impending adventure, I race in, splashing water. Once it’s deeper enough, I drop down until the water closes around my bare shoulders. It’s perfect tonight. Not too cold, not too warm. And it feels silky against my skin.

Kas swims lazily on his side, headed toward the edge of Marooner’s Rock where the base hedges in the lagoon on the north. “We have to swim straight down the Rock,” Kas explains, gesturing with his hand. “Then just as the water starts to get cold and dark, you’ll see a small outcropping. You swim around that, and you’ll find an opening. You swim in and then just follow the tunnel up and eventually you’ll emerge in a smaller body of water. That’s the grotto. Keep going up from there.”

“Is there any light?” I ask, wanting as much detail as I can, since I won’t be able to ask once we’re down there.

Behind me, Bash, Vane, and Pan are swimming across the lagoon to join us and the giddiness intensifies.

I love it when we’re all together. Not out of necessity, but of choice. Because in our own ways, we all love one another. And we continue to choose one another, again and again.

“The minnows will be glowing,” Bash calls. “And even though it makes no sense, because it’s completely enclosed, the grotto has its own source of light. So you’ll be able to see it glowing from above.”

Kas reaches the edge of the Rock and runs his hand along its surface, looking for something. “Here,” he says and gestures at a small cut in the stone. “X marks the spot.”

“Straight down from here?” I ask.

“Straight down, Darling.” He rolls his body forward and dives down and because Kas is my dependable guide in this adventure, I waste no time following.

It’s dark almost immediately, but the spirits of the lagoon swirl in, in glimmering pastel shades, sensing our need for light. I can see the hulking shape of the Rock ahead and smaller, the silhouette of Kas’s body as he swims downward.

Down, down we go.

My lungs start to burn, but I try not to panic, knowing I’m safe.

Kas slows and rights himself, getting his feet beneath him, his arms churning up water to keep him down. He points at the outcropping, then gestures with two fingers, indicating we swim up.

Soft lavender light plays across his face and over his bare chest where the tattoo markings of his lineage and his royal place within the fae court stand out against his skin. His hair, still braided in two, undulates softly in the current.