Each ship we explored looked similar, the desolation and isolated solitude of them caused a sadness that I didn’t expect to fill me. It was akin to walking through a cemetery. I was both disappointed and relieved to note that there weren’t any skeletons floating around. Pirates or treasure hunters must have cleaned out the ships years ago. The beauty, destruction, and sense of past adventure was breathtaking.
All too soon we needed to head back to the rendezvous point. Stuart and Maurice were already halfway up, after relating to us that they needed to rise or risk running out of oxygen. At their reminder, we checked our tanks, surprised that they too were almost at the level necessary for us to rise. Keith and I were just getting ready to head to the surface when Keith indicated that he wanted to look at something. He flashed five fingers telling me he needed five minutes and I followed him around the bow of the wreck.
I rounded the wreck we’d just visited and saw a green fin disappear a few more feet below, into the ship’s break, just past the mast. It was strange looking, almost like kelp, but shimmery. I pushed past Keith, knowing the distance wasn’t going to hinder our return trip to the surface. Curiosity overwhelmed me; I had to know what kind of creature had that strange, thin fin. Just as I was passing the break, I hit a tide. If we weren’t tethered and very close to the ship, I’d have been lost. Gripping onto the mast of the ship, I looked up to Keith to indicate that I was done when I saw them. Five hammerhead sharks were circling us, thirty feet above our heads.
All reason escaped me. I panicked and bolted away from them, forgetting about the current I’d just hit. Keith tried to pull me back with the cord and I freaked out even more. I thought the sharks had noticed my panic and were eating him, zeroing in after me for their second course. In my blind fear I grabbed my knife and cut the cord, unwittingly allowing myself to be sucked into the current. I tumbled around the wreckage, hitting the wood and reef with my body and equipment. I saw a glimpse of Keith with what I thought were sharks still swimming above him. I felt my head collide with something, then nothing.
I awoke with a start to a pair of teal eyes. I knew I had to be dead because that color didn’t exist in nature. The eyes were lined by thick black lashes. He was tan, but his skin was luminous, as though there were a rainbow of colors dancing underneath. His straight, inky black hair fell out of a clip holding it back from his face. The bits I could feel against my skin were like the finest strands of silk. I was afraid to move and see the rest of him, for no man should ever be as beautiful as what I’d seen so far.
“You have woken. Are you in need of anything?” He spoke and my stomach danced with somersaults and acrobatics. His voice was a deep timbre that brushed against me like velvet. My heart skipped a beat and the rest of me was instantly heated. Never in my life had I ever experienced a reaction like that. With two sentences I was utterly lost in him.
“Am I dead?” My voice came out in a throaty whisper. It felt like sandpaper had rubbed my insides raw.
“Do you wish to be so?” he rumbled.
“Not particularly. Who are you? Where am I? What happened?” I tried to sit up so I wouldn’t feel so intimate with this stranger, but he placed his hand on my shoulder, preventing any movement. It was as if an electric current went through my body at his touch. His strong arm held me down gently and a soft sigh escaped his lips. If I hadn’t known better, I’d have said he was experiencing the same overwhelming feelings that I was.
“Forgive me, my lady. I did not think. You are not dead in the physical sense; however to those outside this place, you are gone. I am called Raifuku. You are located in my bed as I was unable to move you to the Council without harming you. You drowned and were transported here thanks to Poseidon. Are you well?” he asked.
“I drowned?” I again made a move to get up. “Please—let me up.”
He bowed his head and I took that as assent. Sure enough, when I sat up and was able to see the entire view of my rescuer, I was not disappointed. He was the most breathtaking creature that had ever walked this earth; an Adonis brought to life. He wore only a pair of dark teal drawstring pants. They were unlike any material I’d ever seen before. It was like staring into the depths of the ocean. My fingers grasped at the fabric of their own volition, and it was as soft as the down feathers of a baby bird. It was by far the most incredible pair of pants I had ever noticed covering a body that should never see a need to be covered. He wore them low on his hips, and I could tell that they were all he was wearing. He had broad shoulders and muscles on top of muscles.
If he wasn’t so breathtaking I’d have been terrified of his strength. His entire body shimmered with an ethereal teal blue hue that would normally make me think of rainbow parties back home, but on him it was very masculine. I had never felt petite, vulnerable, or as amazing as I did just sitting on his bed with him sitting beside me. It took me
