Hook's Pan (Kingdom, #5)

Even Trisha was breathing heavy and her vision had grown conspicuously blurry, because those words hadn’t been her own. They’d been trapped somewhere deep inside, and rang with sincerity. Wiping the back of her mouth with her hand, she gave a wobbly smile.

Maiven pulled Trisha into a tight hug. “I do not know who told you to call me that, but that is just what my Talia always said. Thank you, human. Thank you, may the Great Goddess bless you.” Then placing a quick kiss on her cheek she swam out of the garden, leaving Trisha alone with her thoughts.

Staring at her feet, she wondered if she was possibly possessed, because how else could she explain that out of body experience? Talking about loving him. Who? Hook? Was she crazy saying something so stupid? And why was her heart beating so hard, threatening like it wanted to pound out of her chest? She bunched the fabric of her gown in her fist and searched for him.

Why was it that she wanted to go to him? Why did she want to find him? What could he possibly have to offer her?

And yet she was walking deeper into, not out of, the garden. “Hook,” she called.

He must not have been too far, because a second later she heard him. “Trishelle?” he answered, sounding like he was right behind her, she twirled and her pulse stuttered at the sight of him.

Bathed in the glow of sea life, his black hair swayed gently behind him. Making him look like he was outside, standing in a soft breeze. His shirt was opened at the collar and he exuded such obvious masculinity it was hard for her not to react, to feel her body rush with blood and shoot with a fiery prism of heat, filling her limbs with need and longing.

Swallowing hard, she didn’t know what to say. This experience was too surreal, too strange, she had no way of expressing herself.

“Come.” He held out his hook and she liked that he didn’t try to hide that part of him. He was as comfortable with that hand as he was with his other.

Feeling reckless and bold, she took it, gripping it as hard as she wanted, needed to. Nerves twisted her stomach in knots, made her knees weak and her pulse flutter. “Where are you taking me?” she asked as he headed deeper within the garden.

The kelp was so high it felt a little like walking through a twisting maze of green. Everywhere she looked there was something to watch. At one turn the head of an eel popped out, florescent yellow, and sparks of blue energy popped off its form before it slinked its head back into its hidey-hole. Another molten flash of silver winked past her eye, just before a large, menacing black shadow swam overhead. She shuddered thinking what that might have been. Then a tiny fish with the cutest furry face she’d ever seen wiggled itself between the folds of her gown, before rolling onto its back and running its belly underneath her fingers.

“I want you to see something.”

She sighed, dropping his hook. “Please,” she pinched her brow, “I’m not trying to be insensitive, but this has been a hard day. Everyone talking about Talia, looking at me but not really seeing me, almost hoping somehow as if by wish alone to bring her back—” she didn’t know what else to say, how else to say it, that wouldn’t make her sound like a jerk.

“If you’re quite finished,” his lips twitched, “I wanted to show you this.” He pushed aside a curtain of kelp and she ahh’d at the sight that greeted her.

An oasis of flowers within the kelp grotto. There were flowers everywhere, bursting from the very tips of each stalk. Large, pink-petaled tulips. Or at least they sort of looked like tulips, but they hung like bluebonnets and hanging from the center of each were gigantic stamens curved into the shape of a seat.

“Would you like to swing?”

Her eyes widened. “I can sit on it?”

“It’s why this is here, a place for the children to come and play.” Leading her toward the nearest one, he helped her up.

She couldn’t help but shiver at the strength of his arms; he’d held her like she weighed little more than a feather. Of course they were underwater, but still…it was kind of nice. She held on as he began to gently push her swing. Trisha worried it wouldn’t hold her weight, but after a while she relaxed and enjoyed the ride. The swing was sturdy and each time she swung forward the chime of bells rang out around them.

The pollen itself wasn’t sticky either, more like gold flakes that swirled and danced through the water. A rich scent of plumeria filled her nose. This was like every four-year-old fantasy she’d ever had come to life.

“You know I haven’t done this in forever. It’s kind of fun. Though this isn’t like any swing set I’ve ever been on before.”

“I wanted to apologize for what’s happened tonight,” he said and she frowned, twirling in her seat to look back at him.

“Why?”

He didn’t stop pushing, but his eyes took on a faraway gleam. “Because you’re right, it isn’t fair that we should all look at you with the hope of seeing someone else inside.”