Page 40 of Unmoored

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, tightening my grip around her torso and urging her head into the crook of my shoulder.

“For what?”

“That you had to spend most of your life dealing with that poor excuse of a father,” I replied, my chest feeling as if it were in utter turmoil.

“Draya,” her small arms held me tighter, and she leaned further into my chest. “It’s not your fault, nor is it your burden to bear. I’m free of him now, or as free as I’ll ever be, and now it’s time to liberate your Prince.”

“We’ve learned so much in the last few hours,” I said, my mind wandering. Holding myself together was growing more difficult by the second. “I don’t know what to make of it all, besides the fact that I want that man strung up by hisinternal organs across the bow of the ship. Tortured first, then given a slow, agonizing death.”

“Thank you for bringing me,” she said, and I looked down at her with a brow raised. “I’ve never done anything like that before. It felt good to have power over him like that.”

“Good,” I said, wondering how she was so eerily calm in a moment like this. “Your kind treats women terribly. I hope you never have to answer to anyone who looks at you as lesser.”

“Hmm,” she said, looking up at me with a small smirk.

“I don’t think less of you,” I said quickly.

“You quite literally tell me I’m weak and fragiledaily,”she quipped back, clearly trying to hold back a laugh.

“And for that, I’m sorry,” I said. “You’re not weak at all, Hazel. You’re stronger than I could have ever imagined. I underestimated you.”

We swam in silence for the rest of the journey, but my hold on her body never faltered, much like the grip she had somehow placed around my heart.

I didn’t know what was happening to me. I’d never felt like this aboutanyone,but the thought of no longer holding her in my arms made my chest ache. Hazel Emerson had imprinted herself onto me, and I wanted nothing more than to watch her grow into the strong, monstrous version of herself that I knew was aching to be freed.

26

HAZEL

Iheld onto Draya as if he were the last bit of a fraying rope tethering me to this world, and the sounds of the ocean around us soothed the storm brewing within me.

As soon as we entered the Talassian Capital, Draya instructed the rest of the warriors to disperse, as we’d meet the following day to plan our next steps. He then rushed us towards the wing of the castle that held my chambers, and I could have sworn I felt his claws extending and retracting against my skin. I wondered if he sensed the same sort of frantic, unraveling desperation as me.

We shifted to our human forms as soon as we hit the dry hallway, and he nearly yanked me the whole way to my room. He didn’t say a single word, just shut the door behind us and immediately began examining me from head to toe. Emerald green eyes darted back and forth as he studied my face, tilting my head from side to side. He then moved to my shoulders and arms, and I couldn’t ignore the soft scratches from his claws sending shivers down my spine.

His ears seemed to transcend between their human and Talassi forms, and his gills refused to disappear. Greyish patches covered his olive skin, and I wondered what was going through his mind. The sight was vaguely reminiscent of when I woke on that rock years ago, trying to piece together how I’d survived a shipwreck and been rescued by a man in the middle of the sea.

“Are you well?” I asked, reaching to brush the tips of my fingers along his tense jawline. He bristled at my touch, closing his eyes and inhaling a breath, and his hands tightened their grip on my forearms.

“I’m fine,” he said after a moment. “But Hazel, I need to know you’re not hurt.”

“I’m not,” I said gently, stepping one foot behind me.

“I can’t…” he trailed off, not allowing me to move from his hold. “I don’t know what’s come over me, but watching your father speak to you like that… It was infuriating. You deserve so much better, Hazel. I want so badly for you to wake the monster that I know lives inside you. I want you to set her free. The world has been cruel to you, and I want to protect you from it. To make up for the horrors you’ve endured.”

His words hit me like a steamship at full speed, and my chest tightened as I took in the meaning underneath. I wanted to lean into him, to let him hold me and run those featherlight claws over every inch of me. The things he’d said held a weight I wasn’t ready to dissect. Instead, I desired nothing more than to be touched and ravished by him until I could no longer think or speak. To be lost in the hard planes of his body as we sought pleasure within one another. My thoughts were running wild, to inappropriateand sultry places, and I desperately tried to reel them back in while I focused on how to respond.

My feeble attempt at self-control was no use, as he was clearly fraying as well. He abruptly picked me up, his hands gripping my waist as he brought me to the washroom, pausing for just a moment to bury his head in the crook of my neck. I let my fingers glide over the back of his neck, savoring the stillness as we composed ourselves. He set me down on the ledge of the pool before slipping in, allowing himself to shift back into his Talassi form. Steam rose from the water within seconds, and he stilled directly in front of me, placing his large hands atop my thighs, still covered by my linen trousers.

His mouth opened as if to speak, but no words came out as he leaned his forehead against the inner part of my leg, releasing a ragged breath. I should have been scared of him, or at the very least maybe a bit more concerned, but I wasn’t. Watching him unravel gave me a sick sense of satisfaction, as it proved that he did, in fact, care for me. I was delighted to know it wasn’t all in my head.

He was so close to my most private parts, and the thought sent more shivers racing through my body. I wanted him to explore my body further, so I arched my back in an effort to inch closer to him.

“Careful,” he said, his emerald eyes glassy peering up at me with pained desire.

We were two hopeless creatures, lost and lonely, fighting for a chance to be seen and understood, and I desperately wanted to give in.

I slipped off my linen blouse before lifting my hips to shimmy out of my trousers. Never in my life had I doneanything sexual with a man, and I had no idea what I was doing. Despite my lack of experience, I felt oddly confident and powerful as his gaze trailed over every inch of me. His jaw ticked, and his nostrils flared as I bared myself, allowing him to drink me in. He’d seen my body before, but this felt wildly different, more desperate and untethered.