His Pounding Sea

PROLOGUE Unknown POV 1690 "There is no other way! I have to do this!" A woman's high-pitched, trembling voice echoed through the quiet room. "Please, I beg you, don't do this!" A man replied, his voice thick with emotion, "I love you just the way you are!" "My love," the woman answered, cupping her lover's face in her hand. Sparks erupted where their skin made contact, and he shivered under her touch. Yet the woman ignored the tingles underneath her fingers. She had already decided what she needed to do, and she would not allow the bond to influence her decision. The woman sought the man's eyes. She wanted to explain to him the reason behind her decision. Yet she already knew that he would probably do everything in his power to prevent her decision from happening. She will have to find a way to work around him for her to succeed. "I know you do..." she answered with a sad smile before she hesitated for a split second to find the correct words. "I don't love what I have become." She answered seriously, "I can't live like this anymore. I need to do this." "But..." he tried to argue, but she made him quiet with one of her fingers on his lips. "I love you, and I will always love you," she said, seeking his gaze. She needed him to understand that she would return to him. She needed him to understand that she loved him and only him. "I give you my word that I will return to you, and you know that I will never go back on my word," she whispered. The man shook his head. He couldn't just let this woman go. She was his everything—his world, his day and night, his tomorrow, his poison, and his only ever after. His heart belonged to her and only her, and hearing what she was about to do was crushing his heart and soul. He loved this woman from the very second he laid eyes on her. How could she just decide without consulting him first? And that after they had been together for almost a millennium? How does she expect him to just accept this and look the other way? How does she expect him to just go on with his everyday routine? It would drive him mad to be alone. How would he be able to live without her for even a day? "I can't let you go," he said, his eyes pleading and sad. "You know what will happen if I do?" "It will not be forever," she answered, pulling him in for a kiss. "I will come back to you," she whispered against his lips, but he cut her off and pushed her away from him. Anger flared up in him, and he balled his fist out of frustration. She had made up her mind, and he wouldn't get a say. The beast inside him started to scratch the surface, and his eyes started to flicker between his ice-cold blue eyes and emerald green as he fought to keep control. The beast, too, wasn't happy with what she wanted to do. The man took a deep breath, forced the beast back, and blocked him off. Releasing him now would only worsen the situation. "And if it doesn't work?" He finally asked in an angry, trembling voice. "It will, and you know it," she answered stubbornly, taking a step away from him, surprised at his sudden anger. "What if..?" He questioned her, but the woman shook her head, stopping him before she answered. "The curse won't influence me," she answered. "It's a spell, and it keeps this body prisoner... You have witnessed the results yourself. My brother came back an uncursed man," she said, trying to reassure him. "What if..." he tried again. "Hush..!" She made him quiet; she was done arguing about it, and she pulled the man's arms around her. "Everything will be okay, and when I return, we will have a normal life. We will not hide in here." She gestured to the cave they stayed in. "I promise." "This is our home," he argued, "and I love living here... with you." "Yes, but I need to be able to see the clear skies again, feel the breeze on my skin, feel the hot sand under my feet... You don't know how it is," she answered, "I need to be free, I need to be able to live again, I need to be me, not this thing that haunts the channel day in and day out!" The woman let go of the man and turned her back on him. Anger, frustration, and even hate were boiling up inside her. She can't even remember when she could last move around in daylight, or even when she was last able to connect with people or any other creature. She'd been imprisoned for so long that she needed to break free, and this was the only way... She was doing this for herself, her family, and her mate, him. She didn't want to hurt him, but this was the only way, even if it meant hurting the one person she truly loved. She let out an uncertain breath and straightened her face before she turned back to him. "My mother has a package for me; could you please collect it for me?" She asked, "She said that it was urgent..." He let out a breath and weighed his options. He was uncertain if he should leave her there alone. Yet he knew the trip to the woman's mother's residence wouldn't take long; he would be back before she could do anything unholy. He gave in, nodded his head, stalked toward the door, and left without another word. ****