The Mermaid's Pearl (Tears of the Deep Book 1) (21 page)

“So sad,” I whispered and shook my head in concern. “Perhaps we should give you one. A handsome minotaur like you should have something strong and fierce.”

He grunted in agreement.

I looked back at Aiden. “What do you think?” I could see the anger in his eyes at the way I was treating the monster, mixed with surprise at how easy the minotaur responded to me. I pursed my lips and gestured my head toward the doorway. If he could get to it and get it open, I could take care of the minotaur.

“I. Don’t. Know,” he spat unhappily but put his sword back in its sheath. He eyed the minotaur as if he would kill him but slowly began to make his way around him. He was jealous again, and I smiled.

“Where are you going?” the minotaur growled, his eyes cast at Aiden.

I turned back around and took his hand in mine. “It’s okay, don’t worry about him. He’s no one of importance.”

Aiden huffed at the comment, but the minotaur focused on me again. “No, he’s not.”

I rubbed his large hand with my mine as I began talking to him about possible names and his life. It was a silly conversation to have in such a dangerous situation, but it appeared to catch his interest. He longed for someone to care for him, and he was very lonely in the caves by himself with only monsters to keep him company. Minotaurs weren’t usually evil; they were mostly misunderstood.

Each chance I could, I let my gaze travel over to where Aiden was fiddling with the lock on the door. He was working quickly, getting irritated whenever his lock picking skills failed him. With a final grunt, the lock slipped open and he looked to me in urgency.

I reached up and took ahold of the minotaur’s shoulders. He leaned forward so I could whisper in his ear. I had to keep him busy while Aiden opened the door, keep his mind off the sounds of it.

“I think we could be very
very
good friends,” I said softly, letting my breath settle into his ear. His hand tightened on mine as I pulled away.

“What is wrong?” He asked and ran his hand down my hair.

“Oh nothing,” I said nonchalantly as I dropped my hand from him.

Using my charms was always something that made the adrenaline roar in my veins; it made me feel powerful.

“Rae!” Aiden exclaimed from the doorway.

I looked over to see him pushing the door open and motioning for me to follow him.

Pushing myself up onto my tiptoes, I placed a kiss on the minotaur’s cheek. “I must be going.”

As I stepped away from him, he frowned. “Did you only speak with me so that you could go for the treasure?”

“No. No, dear minotaur.” I slowly backed away from him. Sure, I felt sorry for him being so alone with no one to talk to, but I had to use my charms to get what Aiden and I needed.

The minotaur’s large hand reached out to grab ahold of my arm, and I gasped.

“All you had to do was ask, my lady.” His large eyes looked down at me as he smiled. “Whatever it is that you want, I hope that you enjoy it. But…can we settle on a name before you go?”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “How about Dand? Where I come from, it means warrior.”

“I love it. Thank you,” he agreed and let go of me. “Please be safe.”   

With one last smile, I turned and went to join Aiden in the other room. Victory filled me. I hadn’t lost my charm after all. There was just something different about Aiden. I had once thought it evil, but now I wasn’t sure what it was.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Dirt flew up in the air as the large door slammed behind us with a thud. Aiden pulled me to him to shield me from the debris. We would not be getting out the way we came in. We’d have to find another way out of there. Just the thought of being stuck in the cave made my stomach sink.

“I don’t know how you did what you just did, but I’m not going to let it go,” Aiden said as he stepped back from me. I could still see he didn’t appreciate the way I handled things, but we were safe now. “We will be talking about it once we get out of this mess.”

I dreaded that conversation, and wasn’t sure how I would get out of it or explain my actions. Once again I had acted without thinking about the consequences, and this time it might be the end of me.

I turned around to face the room in front of us and froze. All my worries went away in a second as I took in the treasures in front of me.

The room was huge, with rows upon rows of shelves lining it. Each shelf held an immeasurable amount of wealth on it—gems, gold, and pearls galore. Across the floor was scattered more treasure, close against the walls but extending several feet into the room. Each piece glistened in the bright light coming from the sky above. My eyes trailed up the shelves to see the sunlight peering in from far above us, through a small round hole, not even large enough for a person to fit through. I wondered what stopped invaders from coming in the top. There was one thing for sure, above all else.

It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

“Come on, lass,” Aiden said and took another step into the room.

I didn’t move, just continued to look around the room in awe. There were no words for it, and I yearned to go through it.
All of it.
I needed to stuff my pockets full and take it with me. Each piece called to me. I had never seen so much treasure in my life. My fingertips itched to reach out and touch it. I was overwhelmed with need.

“I feel it too, the need to gather it up for yourself,” Aiden said as if he read my mind. I looked over at him, puzzled. “And I recognize the look on your face.” He was right; his own bright green eyes reflected the same desire as mine did. After all, he was a pirate, discovering treasures and claiming them for himself was a way of life for him. He knew I wanted the treasure, and I suspected he would help me run away with it if the situation was different.

“We could take it with us,” I said, breathy as I reached up to wrap my hand around the back of his neck. “You wanted this before I did. Come on, Aiden, let’s take it with us.”

It was all too much—the captain here with me alone in a room full of gold and treasure. It was exciting and intoxicating, and I didn’t want to leave. We had both searched out this treasure and found this wealth together, more than we bargained for. Maybe I could convince him to stay here just a little while longer.

“No, we have to get what we came for and get out.”

“But the treasure…”

“Focus, Rae, we need to hurry,” Aiden insisted and pulled me behind him, hard enough I had no choice but to follow. “We don’t have time to worry about anything but that stone.” He was right; we needed to go. The gold distracted me, even as I followed behind him.

My eyes wandered over to the glittering gold all around me, and I longed to take it with me. Absentmindedly I started to walk toward it, but he yanked me back. I was thankful he was with me, or I might never leave.

“Look, lass, just there.” Aiden pointed ahead, and I followed his gaze.

The stone of prosperity stood on a pedestal made of metal on the far side of the room. It sat alone, just waiting to be stolen.

I took a step forward, but he jerked me back. I glared at him. “What now? I can’t get it?”

“I just don’t trust this isn’t a trap.” He looked around, his hand still wrapped tightly around my wrist so I couldn’t get away. He continued assess the situation. He took a few slow steps forward until he was just inches from the treasure. Once he was satisfied nothing was going to pop out of nowhere and destroy us, he nodded. “Aye, I believe we are good.”

As much as I wanted to reach out and grab ahold of the object myself, I let him. This was, after all, technically his journey. He wrapped his hand around it and cocked an eyebrow.

“This is odd.”

“What’s wrong?” I asked, worried this was a trap like he predicted.

“I can’t get the stone off the pedestal. It’s not even that heavy…what the bloody hell?”

My stomach dropped. It was just as Julianna said; only a princess could remove the stone. Aiden was definitely not one of those. I took a few steps forward and looked at him. “Let me try.”

“I don’t feel comfortable with—”

“Listen, you wanted to get out of here quickly to keep me safe. Let me try. Julianna said only a princess could remove it.”

His eyes grew wide as he looked at me, but he shook his head. “No, absolutely not. Why would she want you to touch it so bad? Maybe it’s spelled.”

Not caring what he thought, I reached out and grabbed ahold of the stone. He didn’t let go, but I easily lifted it from its spot. He looked at me in shock and removed his hand.

“See, easy peasy. No need to worry, it’s just a stone.”

He smiled at me crookedly, but as he opened his mouth to speak, a low rumble reverberated through the room. His eyes looked around frantically.

“I knew this was too good to be true. Come on, we must find a way out.”

“What’s happening?” I asked as I grabbed ahold of his arm.

The floor below us began to shake and groan as if it would jump up from the earth. My legs shook as I lost my balance. I would have fallen over on my clumsy legs if it weren’t for my hold on Aiden. I had heard of earthquakes happening on land, but what bad timing it was.

“Sand pit,” he said simply and began to back away toward the wall.

“What’s a sand…” I started. A popping sound, much like a cork, filled the entire room. The sound continued, one after another, as the holes scattered on the walls opened up and crisp white sand poured out. “Oh—oh no.”

It filled up the room at a fast pace, and I wasn’t sure how we were going to get out.

“Come on, let’s get out of here,” Aiden said, snapping me out of my trance. He grabbed the stone from me and tucked it safely into his pocket.

Panic hit me as we ran to the edge of the room. There was nowhere to go. “But how do we get out?”

He pointed to the sky. “Just there, but you must be careful,” he said as he climbed onto the first shelf and knocked the gold and treasure into the floor.

The sound of the pieces hitting the ground caught my attention and almost calmed my fears. Excitement and terror mingled into something wonderful as I took it all in. It was beautiful and all of it was going to be hidden under the sand, never to be seen again. Such a pity. I wanted to save it.

“Rae! You must concentrate,” Aiden cried out. I looked up at him, and he was holding his hand out to me. “Come on.”

I took ahold of his hand and let him pull me up onto the shelf. I focused my eyes on him, and tried as hard as I could not to look at the treasure. I couldn’t let it distract me. “We can’t climb this all the way up there.”

“That’s the only choice we have unless you would rather drown by sand.”

I shook my head. No, I didn’t want that to happen. I climbed up behind him, adrenaline rushing through me as I heard the continuing flowing of sand beneath us. Every so often the gold caught my eye and distracted me. Only Aiden was able to bring me back into reality.

The closer to the top we got, the more I realized we wouldn’t even fit through that hole. A hand might fit, but that was it. Once we reached the top, Aiden pulled out his sword and began to scrape away at the ground above. Dirt and grass fell down on top of us and into the sand below.

“Hurry, Aiden.” I looked down to see the sand almost to us.

“I’m doing the best I can, lass, this isn’t exactly easy.” He shoved his sword back in the hilt and started to claw at the ground with his hands. It seemed to work better.

My body started to shake with panic as my eyes opened wide. The sand was getting close. It was going to take us under.

“Please, Aiden!”

With one last scrape of his hands, more pieces of dirt fell down upon us, opening up the hole just enough so that we might fit through. Aiden took ahold of the side of the hole, pulling himself up with his strength and disappearing over the edge.

He had the stone, and he was free. I was suddenly worried he wouldn’t come back for me. He’d talked of saving me, but what if it was all a rouse? What if he just wanted the treasure?

I let my fear fuel me as I reached up to grasp the side of the hole. The sand hit my feet, causing me to sink down into it as I desperately held onto the ground above. I couldn’t pull myself up; I wasn’t strong enough. 

“Aiden!” I screamed as I lifted my feet closer to my body. I was dangerously close to being taken into the soft grasp of sand and being lost in the cave forever.

Out of nowhere, rough hands grabbed mine and lifted me out into the open. I stumbled over onto Aiden, and he rolled us away from the opening. We were in a grassy area surrounded by trees. No one walking through would have ever noticed the once small hole in the ground. The large trees and greenery provided an effective hiding spot. The sky was beginning to darken to bring on the night.

“Are you alright, love?” Aiden whispered and looked down at me. He brushed the hair out of my face.

I nodded. “Thanks to you. I didn’t think you would come back for me.”

“Haven’t I proved my loyalty to you yet? I thought I’d lost you for a moment,” he admitted, his voice full of relief. “I thought…I thought I wouldn’t pull you out in time.” His jaw hardened, working back and forth as if he was trying to hold something back. He pursed his lips and looked away from me.

“It’s alright,” I said, finding myself wanting to comfort him and help him to feel better. “There’s no reason to feel guilty. You saved me.”

When he looked back down at me, there were tears in his eyes. I was surprised to see them. He had always been so tough. He rarely showed any real emotion, always preferring to be strong. I remembered that he gave up the treasure he had sought after to get the stone; he did it to save me.

“If I lost you, lass, I don’t know what I would do. Before you, there was…pain and loneliness. I tried to move on from my past, make something of myself, and I did. I became feared and respected among the worst kinds of men. I never dreamed I would find someone like you. That you would get tangled in my net, fight me so hard, but then warm my cold soul.”

I didn’t know what to say. How do you respond when the person who held you captive makes your heart flutter at his words? What do you do when the feelings you’ve been fighting back for weeks suddenly come crashing down around you? I had looked everywhere for love, but it showed up in the most unexpected place inside of someone I would have never considered before.

This
is what my mother told me stories about.
Here
with a pirate captain, one who was more than I ever could have imagined. Our connection was one neither of us had control over, but it was wonderful. The mermaid’s call echoed through our veins and brought us together. I couldn’t believe I found it, and I was breathless.

In that moment, I wanted to stay with him. I no longer wanted to leave when the full moon came. I wanted to fulfill my fantasies of being a pirate aboard his ship, by his side. There was something in his eyes that called to me. My dreams once seemed so far away, but now felt so close to coming true. There was only one thing standing in our way—he didn’t know who I really was.
What
I was. If he couldn’t accept that, then we would never work out.

As I opened my mouth to respond to him, laughter rang out around us, followed by the sound of slow clapping. “Bravo. Bravo.”

Aiden rolled away from me and jumped to his feet. He reached out to help me up, and I took his hand. After pulling me to my feet, he pushed me behind me protectively.

He will never learn.

I moved to stand beside him. He looked down at me and shook his head before addressing the couple in front of us.

“We have what you’ve asked for. Now, take the device off the girl.”

“Not until you give us the stone of prosperity,” Julianna said with a nonchalant wave of her hand.

Aiden took an angry step toward them. “No, you free the girl at once or I will destroy your precious stone.”

“Now, now, let’s not be hasty,” William said, as he put his hands in the air in front of him defensively. He reached into his pocket and retrieved a key. “How about an even trade?”

“No.”

William laughed. “Ah, you think you are in control of this situation…but you should know you are not. You would really risk her life to keep the stone from us?”

“I would risk the stone to save the girl from you.” Aiden pulled his half of the stone from his pocket and held it high in the air, as if to smash it on the ground. “It means nothing to me, lad.”

My mouth ran dry. Would he really smash the stone? Then they would have no reason to spare me, and I wasn’t sure if I could survive whatever this poison was inside of the band.