Fifty-Seven ◑ The Beach

It was late now, almost ten in the evening, and they didn’t have the means to search for a public pool either. The sea churned before them ostentatiously, as though to prove that it was indeed their only option.

“Let’s go.” Keiran exhaled sharply and took a step forward, then he backtracked and grabbed Dimitri’s arm instead. “On second thought, maybe you should go first, brother.”

“Why can’t we just go in at the same time?” Dimitri demanded.

Keiran opened his mouth to argue, but before he could get a word out, Lucille wedged herself in between them, took their hands, and marched towards the sea. The receding water left a wet patch of sand that made their soles sink, but they picked up their pace and met the incoming wave anyway.

The water was pleasant, almost comforting in its cool temperature, a contrast to humid air. The hem of her dress hiked up as the water rose to her waist, sticking to her legs as it retreated back into the ocean. Beside her, the two gods were both wincing, their faces splattered with sea spray.

“This isn’t as bad as I thought,” Dimitri remarked, but as though to prove him wrong, a wave bigger than the last collided against them and left them drenched from head to toe. “Okay, it’s actually as bad as I thought.”

Lucille silently agreed. The saltwater that got into her nose was beginning to sting like a bitch.

Another wave hit them. Keiran, who was trying to come up behind her to tie the blindfold, promptly keeled over and yelled through a mouthful of water, “What the hell, ocean!”

He’d said that with so much contempt that it only took one shared look for Lucille and Dimitri to crack up.

Soon enough, they were laughing loudly, almost hysterically, their hands intertwined even with wave after wave bombarding them. Lucille could feel the tension leaving her shoulders, like a physical weight being lifted. It didn’t stop even when Keiran grabbed Dimitri’s leg as a support to get up again.

“You traitors didn’t even help me,” he said accusingly, then he dipped his hands into the water and began to splash their faces. “This is what you deserve.”

“Stop!” Lucille yelled, but the grin on her lips was enough for Keiran to ignore her order. “Hey, I said stop!”

Still laughing, Dimitri took his brother by the arm, but as he did so, Keiran pulled Lucille with him. She fell into the water, and Dimitri scooped her up in his arms, high enough to elicit a high-pitched giggle from her. Keiran continued to douse them with water, using the blindfold for extra power and snickering all the way.

Childish. Lucille knew very well that they were acting childish, but something about the moment was so pure and so precious that her heart melted in her chest.

As Keiran and Dimitri engaged in a fairly aggressive splashing match, she stepped back, watched them with a smile on face, and carefully reached into the pocket of her dress to take out the bracelet.

The oncoming wave almost knocked her over, but miraculously, she stayed on her feet. She blinked rapidly, her eyes stinging not from the saltwater but with an inexplicable emotion.

She thought she'd been bound by this bracelet for only a short time, but she didn't know that it had been restraining her for a long time.

Restraining her from a new love. Restraining her from friendship. Restraining her from herself, from what she really wanted.

"Hey, Lucille!" Dimitri called out to her, playfully dousing her with water. "Why did you leave me with this maniac?"

She laughed, and just before she waded back to the brothers, she opened her palm and let the sea carry the bracelet away. Away into the unknown. Away from her. The pressing weight on her shoulders that she hadn't realized was there got lifted almost straightaway.

The water swept it right out of Lucille's hand, swallowing it in its endless depths until she could breathe again.

****

"Maybe the waves would be gentler in the morning," Keiran said, tossing another stick into the fire. "If not, we'd have to steal a car and find a pool."

Lucille and Dimitri only nodded. She adjusted herself on the blanket, inching closer to the small bonfire that Keiran created. The three of them were done trying now; the sea was too chaotic for a portal. The lights in the inn's porch were still lit, beckoning them to come in, but none of them had made a move.

Something about the sea and the stars kept them there on the beach. Some sort of a spell, a promise.

Keiran stood up. "So, um, I'll go to bed. See you two in the morning."

Okay, so maybe Keiran wasn't included in the spell.

"Good night," Lucille said, drawing an arc across the sand.

The God of Fate winked at Dimitri. "Good night, brother. Remember, just be—"

“Oh, just sleep already,” Dimitri grumbled, grabbing a handful of sand and chucking it at Keiran, who scampered away laughing like a hyena. Once he was gone, Dimitri turned to her apologetically. “Um, don’t mind him.”

A smile curved her lips. “It’s alright.”

Silence settled over them, punctured only by the soft whistle of the wind and the rush of the ocean. They sat side by side, their knees touching as they stared at the fire.

“So you saw everything, huh?” she said after a couple of moments.

“We did, yes.” His eyes were nearly yellow in the firelight. “The vision of Agnes in a cell, your flashback about the . . . death.”

“The murder, you mean.” The words came out stiff and strangled. “And I’m the murderer.”

He faced her. “You do know that bracelet was supposed to hurt you, right? Cade meant it as a gift to you, for you to wear and die so he could rule the kingdom alone.”

“It doesn’t make it less horrible.”

“No, it doesn’t,” he agreed. “Everything about the situation was unspeakably horrible. From Cade being greedy and disloyal, to you being consumed by anger and desperation, to Agnes being blinded by love. It was all meant to be like that. Even then your paths were intertwined, even when you began to reap what you’ve sown.”

Lucille’s jaw tightened. “So everything was meant to be a punishment?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“Agnes was punished to never be loved by anyone else but Cade, and their love would cause nothing but pain.” Dimitri turned his gaze back to the fire. “Cade was punished to live as a near immortal, with no power to change the failure that he would inevitably create. And you. . . .”

She held her breath as he hesitated, but he didn’t need to say it. She already knew. “And I was punished to be the embodiment of my worst moment: a punisher, a seeker of revenge, a murderer.”

“Yes.” His voice was low. “And I was the one who was tasked to carry out those punishments. Especially yours. It’s why I’ve been worried you’d hate me once you find out the truth. It’s why I kept apologizing to you. I was tasked to goad you into doing the worst.”

Lucille turned to him. “But you never played an active role in the punishments I do.”

“I know.” He met her gaze. “Because I fell in love with you.”

The air between them seemed to have rose a few degrees higher. His eyes burned into hers, but she couldn’t look away. Her heart was hammering with an intense emotion she couldn’t name, something new and familiar at the same time, something that she’d only felt with him.

“Dimitri,” she said, and his name left her lips like a plea.

“I know,” he whispered. “It’s strange. My timing is also way off. I know you couldn’t and shouldn’t deal with this right now. I just want you to know that I truly love you.”

A single tear rolled down her cheek.

Dimitri reached over and brushed it away. “You don’t have to love me back. Things can stay the way it is. But if you do feel something, I know you’d still need time. We’ll have that. Take all the time you need.”

She sobbed against his hand, pressing it closer against his cheek.

“I love you, Lucille.” He pressed his lips on her forehead. “Nothing about your past can change that.”

Dimitri pulled away, still cradling her face, but this time she couldn’t bear the distance, the thought of being away from him even if it’s just for a few moments. She knew what she wanted now, who she really wanted.

All along it had been him.

With this realization solidifying in her chest, Lucille put a hand on the back of Dimitri’s neck and pulled him in for a kiss.