Lucy’s soul light darkened. “Can we forget the serious stuff for one night?”

No. This was the most important thing. She was so close to coming with him. How could he make her see? “Join with me and reclaim what you have lost.”

“Fine. Sure. Sex will make me a size eight to ten, depending on the brand name. Okay.”

He squeezed her closer. Why did she continue to injure herself like this? “Now, Lucy.”

“I’m sorry.” She patted his forearm. “Let’s talk about it tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow is too late.”

Every hour that passed, his Council armored the citizens of Sireno against him. She thought up new reasons to deny him and new ways to hurt herself. The only way to stop her self-injuries was to make her see her own beauty. Make her accept his claim. Make her take back her own power. And to do that, he needed to bring her to the cave now.

“This delay is senseless.”

“Senseless?” She pulled back. Her anger flared. “You want me to get out my scuba gear right now? Do underwater spelunking in an uncharted cave system, at night, without telling anyone, where you don’t even have scuba gear?” The ludicrousness of his demand made her laugh. “You’re crazy.”

“I will keep you safe. Trust in me.”

Lucy raised her brows. She didn’t believe him.

“The water is not dangerous.”

“Oh sure, the water’s not dangerous. Forgetting a turn in the dark, running out of oxygen, and dying is the problem.” She walked away from him.

“I will be there with you.” He walked with her, holding the ropes and maps and mugs she picked up, giving them to her to secure in their proper places. “You will not lose your way.”

“I definitely won’t lose my way because we’re going in the daylight like normal people.”

“The sooner we reach the Life Tree, the sooner you can experience its healing.”

She ignored him, pattering down to the galley.

Cash’s light was out and he faced away in the lower bunk. Gracie lay on her upper bunk watching a flat screen.

“You are afraid of the water,” he repeated, latching onto the one barrier he understood. “Do not fear.”

“Of course I’m not afraid of the water.”

“You are.”

“I’m not afraid of the sky either, but you don’t see me jumping out of a plane without a parachute.”

He opened his mouth to argue.

She stopped him with a kiss.

Demanding and giving, yielding and strong. She yanked his attention from the delay and focused it entirely on her.

What was this sensation? Her soul light did not change intensity, but his did. It seemed to swell in his chest with her kiss. New thoughts slammed into him as his body reacted to Lucy’s attention and poured heat into his throbbing cock.

Lucy chose him. Over and over again, she chose him. She pulled him from the water, she introduced him to her friends, she defended him to the interns. She kissed him. All those actions turned his craving for her body into his craving for something more.

He didn’t know what it was, exactly. He would figure it out later. Once she became his bride, he would have all the time he needed.

She pulled back. Her cheeks reddened and her lips darkened to a prettier shade of rouge.

“I’m trusting you enough to go into the water with you tomorrow as my dive partner.” She licked her lips. “My last partner horribly betrayed me.”

He tightened. “I am different.”

“I know you are.” Her gaze dropped to his broad chest and traced the honorable markings of his house and rank, and lower, to the still-loosened rim of his shorts. “That’s why you’re here. Don’t push your luck.”

When she spoke with such confidence, a brilliant, shining aura filled her. His anxiety eased.

The Council’s fears were ancient misconceptions. Lucy was strong enough to overcome all challenges. Together, they would prove his grandfather wrong and save his tribe.

Lucy ducked into her own cabin, closing the door with finality, and he passed the night on piled deck cushions.

Splash! Torun twitched and jerked upright. What was that? … Nothing. He lay back and stared at the vast, starry sky. Now Lucy committed to the water, and he suddenly wondered about their risk.

Jolan and Malem must have returned to Sireno. Jolan might have needed healing, so the Council would dispatch different, possibly more numerous, warriors to recapture him.

They could easily trace his disappearance to this region. Perhaps these warriors even knew he was aboard this vessel. Although it had left, any listener for a hundred miles heard its return.

They might even be blocking the atoll cave...

No. The cave guardian was loyal to its duty. After a war party approached the entrance, all Torun and Lucy would find would be bone and blood.

Lucy would pass by the cave guardian unmolested with his Sea Opal. Then, she would drink the elixir, journey with him to the Life Tree, and unite her soul to its brilliance. Of course she would bear his young fry. Together, they would prove the Council wrong.

That was the only possible outcome.