Chapter Text
Sevian continued to walk until she found herself by the beach. Her feet had taken her to the one place she knew for a fact that she could truly be alone with her thoughts without witnessing any more couples, families or groups of friends. Nothing to worsen the pain in her heart. No one dared to go near any body of water, not since the Atlanteans decided to throw the ocean’s trash back at humanity a week earlier. The shorelines were no longer safe.
She stepped over the debris of shipwrecked boats and walked around the mounds of plastic and glass bottles to an area that had been spared from litter and sat down on the dry sand. She did not know how long she sat there, just looking at everything and nothing at once, her mind replaying again and again the scene at the restaurant. What was it about her that made her so hard to love? Where had she gone wrong? Was it her fault or did she let the actions of others isolate her and fill her with loneliness? It did not matter how many times she asked herself these questions, she could not come up with an answer for any of them.
Sevian had not realised that she had been worrying her lips until her eyes caught a motion of something in the water, pulling her away from her thoughts. The movement was caused by a man coming out of the ocean. She wondered who was foolish enough to come by the beach like her, let alone swim in the waters.
She could see him clearer as he had finally reached the beach. The man was fairly tall but he was not a local like she had expected him to be. The detailed black armour that shined in the summer sun, the golden hair, the vibrant blue eyes that could be seen even from a distance and the most telling of all, the silver trident on his back proved one thing; the man was an Atlantean.
***
Orm swam until he found himself on the surface. He was far from Atlantis and close enough to a shoreline that he could see a figure by its sands. In a split second decision, instead of going back to Atlantis, he decided to turn in the direction of the shoreline. A part of him wanted to see how much the surface dwellers liked having trash on their lands and another more prominent part of him was enraged by the surfacer’s presence within his sights.
His gaze focused on the figure as he came out of the water. He didn’t spare a glance at the debris he had wanted to see. The figure was a woman with thick, tightly coiled dark hair and dark brown eyes. She was dressed in red and black, in a fashion he had seen most adult surfacers wear. She was looking right at him, without any fear in her eyes, only mild curiosity. She had no sense of self preservation. Seeing her only made his thoughts of lonesomeness and displeasure engulf him.
A surface dweller like her had swayed his mother from his father and her kingdom.
A surface dweller like her had swayed his betrothed away from him and had taken away from him his sole father figure.
The scorn in his mind made him unconsciously approach her, walking past the debris and waste. He wanted to understand. Understand why everyone he cared about was so enamoured by those that had been rapidly destroying their environment and in turn their home.
***
Going by his looks and the shape of his trident; If the news coverages were to be believed, the scowling man was King Orm Marius of Atlantis. The king stared at her with furrowed eyebrows, unkempt fury in his eyes, not saying a word. Perhaps the right reaction from her part would have been to run and cry out for help or at the very least be filled with fear for her life. Yet, she could not bring herself to feel anything besides a mild anxiety over dying. No one would miss her if she died. No one would care. No one would even take note of it. So why would she care to run?
Sevian looked away from him and continued to watch the ocean. The noise from the waves did nothing to clear her thoughts but the sight was beautiful and seemingly untouched with no sailing boats nor people swimming in the clear waters.
The sun was still out but it felt cold, colder than a warm summer evening should be. Or was it simply the loneliness in her heart that made it seem so? She rubbed her arms and squinted her eyes as a shadow suddenly blocked her view. No, not a shadow, but the man she had almost forgotten was there to undoubtedly kill her. She looked up at him. He stood right in front of her, the shining black armour almost blinding her before her eyes adjusted to the change of luminosity.
The man then kneeled down in front of her and his eyes roamed her face as if searching for something, a sullen look in his eyes. Whatever it was that he was searching for, Sevian did not think he would find it on her. As close as he was now, the ocean blue of his eyes were brighter and his skin was uncannily clear of impurities. He had high cheekbones and a narrow face. His cherry pink lips hydrated and soft looking in a way that was inhumanly possible, were held in a firm scowl. If she could describe him in one word, it would be “pretty”. He did not look frightening at all, at least not in her eyes.
“If you’re going to kill me, then get on with it,” she said with a sigh. She was tired of the staring and just wanted to be alone with her thoughts. Did her lack of fight or flight reaction disconcert him? Or was he offended by her being near the ocean?
“I’m not going to kill you,” the man said in an odd accented tone, taking Sevian by surprise. His slightly baritone voice vibrating in her ears. She had not expected him to answer her, let alone understand what she had said.
“Then what do you want?” She asked looking into his eyes. He had leaned close enough that she could count his blond lashes if she wanted to. She had assumed that someone who lived in the sea would have a nauseating fishy scent but instead he had a minty scent to him; it was a pleasant perfume.
“To understand,” he replied. Had he been hurt by people as she had? He leaned even closer until their foreheads touched. Making her close her eyes at the proximity and sensation of another’s skin on hers. A slight shiver ran through her body from her forehead to the tip of her toes.
Orm, for his part, had not planned to do any of that. By looking at her, he had only wanted to force some sort of understanding of why his life continued to be plagued by surfacers at every turn. There was a sullen look in her eyes mirroring his own. Just as he, she had been hurt in a way that made her search for understanding. But more than that, he was forced to admit to himself; he found her appealing.
The sensation of her skin on his took him entirely by surprise. His soft skin was cool against hers. He did not know why he had moved to touch her, his body had simply moved on its own.
They both sighed at the same time when their noses touched. She breathed in deeply. That reaction- he was perhaps just as touch starved as she was. She opened her eyes to see his eyes still closed. She raised a hand to lightly touch his face and did not miss the shiver that went through him as he let out another sigh. He lacked affection like her. She closed her eyes again, feeling the velvet smoothness of his skin on her hand and fingers.
Her touch on him made the hairs on the back of his neck rise. They moved at the same time into a bruising touch of lips. Satin cool lips slid against warm bitten ones. Maybe this was something he needed. To touch, to feel, to release the tension inside him for a moment.
He opened his mouth letting his tongue taste her full lips. A slight taste of iron on them. Her lips tingled at the touch of his tongue and she open her mouth to let him in. There was a mild almost unnoticeable salty taste to him, reminding her of who he truly was.
She moved her hands onto his tightly tied wet blonde hair. This was the touch she needed, it did not matter that he was an Atlantean and she was not. She wanted to touch, to feel the intimacy of being with another. An intimacy life had so far denied her.
He kissed hungrily, his large hands finally moving to touch her and she gave back as much as she got. Every touch set their bodies alight. They had both been starved of this kind of intimacy for far too long.
She finally pulled back after a while to catch her breathe, he made a move to follow before his body remembered that he too needed to breathe. He looked beautiful like this; lips wet, breathing hard and blue eyes almost engulfed in black.
“There’s an empty cabin 200 meters from here,” she said. It would be more comfortable than the beach for what they were about to do and it was clear with how both their bodies bristled in anticipation that it was going to happen. She knew the owner had left once the shorelines stopped being safe. No one would disturb them there.
He looked to the left in the direction where the cabin was. “That one?”
“Yes.” With that confirmation, he stood up, gently pulling her up with him by her waist.