Once upon a time, on a rocky island with enchantment under the ocean ... Cadence Bell left the windswept Northern Isles and his parents’ inn for the theaters and royal masques and glitter of Londre, swearing he’d make his fortune as a playwright and poet, trading fish stew and rain for fame and adoration and a place at the Queen’s Court. Now his parents are gone and Cade’s inheritance brings him back home, where he’d never wanted to return. But magic lurks beneath the waves, a stray pearl might be a key to another world, and even the quiet local schoolteacher has secrets of his own. Jeremiah Carver never meant to hide secrets. But he promised to tell no one about the other world he’s seen, and he keeps his word. Even if that means concealing magic from Cadence Bell. Which is difficult, since Cade’s not only a dazzling literary success, but also the person Jeremiah’s loved from afar since their years-ago childhood. And he’s afraid he’s falling for Cade all over again now. When Cadence falls under the siren spell of the ocean’s magic, Jeremiah has to make a choice and return to a world he’s left behind once before to rescue his heart from the sea.

Cadence and the Pearl

Cadence, thrusting into him, seeing him at that instant, came undone as well; the peak flared instant and unstoppable, a rising swell of love and want like sunlight building and redoubling and spilling from his bones, from his heart, from everyplace inside.


They lay together in bed, sticky and sated, after.


Eventually, once Cade could think, he propped himself up on one arm, touched Jeremiah’s cheek, traced salt and dampness: the kind that came with overwhelmed emotions, but not the bad kind, only too much to contain. He gathered tears on a fingertip, eased them away.


“Cade,” Jeremiah said, voice tiny, and reached fumblingly for him; Cade said, “I’m here, I’ve got you, shh, just let me take care of you, you were so good, so perfect, just let me—” and tenderly cleaned them both up, gentle as he knew how to be, while his heart splintered apart around the spear of clear crystalline love.


Perfection, he thought. Yes. Yes, this, please just let me—


Chapter 31