Rising

  ***

  Sara’s breathing deepened and her body sagged, limp against Xanthus’s chest. He looked down on this slip of a woman who had effectively woven herself into his heart. Her heart thumped softly against his stomach and her warm breath breezed against his chest.

  He leaned forward and pressed a kiss on her head. His heart clenched as he realized how much he loved her.

  He would kill for her.

  He would even die for her.

  At the same time, he was tearing apart at the seams. He was having an identity crisis. He’d lived his entire life ruled by duty and honor, but now, he’d turned his back on those rules—all because of this woman. Truth be told, he began to doubt even before coming here. Even now, the council continued to debate whether to declare all humans who ventured into the sea, free game. That was something he would not be able to accept, regardless of what the council decreed.

  Xanthus’s belief system was being ripped apart. He’d lived by the system that said laws and rules must be followed, without question. Now he was plagued with doubt and uncertainty. How could you call someone a criminal when they never voluntarily committed a crime? How could being born be a crime? How could he continue enforcing laws when he questioned the rightness of them? Who was he to pick and choose which laws were enforced and which were not?

  But if he hadn’t questioned, if he’d blindly followed, Sara would be dead right now, and that would be the true crime. Of that, he had no doubt. Then there would be no one to provide justice for her.

  Why had he hesitated to kill her in the first place? Was it truly because she had a pretty face? If he’d found a burly, half-human man instead of a delicate woman, would he have completed the execution?

  Xanthus had to admit he would have. And wouldn’t that have been just as much of a crime as killing Sara would have been?

  Yes, it would have been.

  So who was the guilty party here?

  He was.

  Sara sighed. Her face scrunched up as if she were having a bad dream. Xanthus whispered words of comfort to her and stroked her head. Her face relaxed. A small smile tugged at her mouth as she hummed in contentment. Xanthus looked down on her and knew his life would never be the same.