Chapter 22

Anya couldn't stop touching the stinging wound on her neck. Not that it was that bad anymore. Now it was just a bruised sensation in her throat, but there was the very unnerving and strange feeling of someone else breathing for her.

The tentacle appeared to be some kind of tube that allowed his air to transfer into her lungs. Right into the cord of her throat that she normally would breathe out of, but now it was him doing it for her.

And how awful was that? The sensation was terrifying and so unnatural, and yet, here she was. Not struggling, even though she knew she could yank it out.

Like a loose tooth, she had a hard time focusing on anything else. There was a tube in her neck. Daios was breathing for her. They were under mountains of water, and if that tube jostled loose, she wouldn't stand a chance at getting to the surface on her own.

His arm shifted around her back, and then he grabbed onto her elbow and pulled her hand away from the site where the tube was sticking underneath her skin. Apparently, she shouldn't fiddle with it so much. She needed a distraction, or she was going to rip the damn thing out without thinking.

Taking a deep breath, she turned her attention to the words he'd said. What did he mean he couldn't keep her? Anya kept her arm looped around his neck, hugging herself tight to the heat of his body as they moved through the sea.

While they were swimming, she found it hard to say anything at all. The sea ate away at her sanity in tiny little chomps, like they were surrounded by itty bitty deadly fish that wanted her to lose her mind. She hated how little she could see. She didn't have the faintest idea where they were going, or even how he knew where they were headed.

He sure seemed confident, though. But she had a sneaking suspicion that was his superpower.

The longer she was around this strange man, the more she realized that about him. He looked at the world like it had something to give him. Daios took whatever he could from every interaction, every moment. She'd always been afraid to do that. But he just didn't care. He took what he wanted, and he didn't mind that others might not like that about him.

Anya wished, for just a few seconds, that maybe she could be like that too.

His arm tightened around her waist, maybe suspecting where her thoughts had gone, or just knowing that she needed him to. That strong arm bracketing around her back was more than enough to ease the anxiety rolling in her stomach. Maybe it shouldn't be that easy.

On one hand, she realized she knew nothing about the man. Or his species. He wasn't exactly a talker, and that certainly didn't make it easier for her to know any of these things.

On the other hand, he seemed to know her intuitively. Every time she was nervous, he lit up those lights for her to count. When she was cold, he brought her in closer to his heat and made sure all her limbs were appropriately tucked into the warmest parts of himself. Even when she had her eyes open, he would look down at her like he knew she was looking up at him.

She didn't know what that meant. They hardly knew each other, and yet, he knew her.

It was unsettling; she decided. Very unsettling.

But another voice whispered in her ear that this was what she had always wanted. She wanted someone who knew exactly what she needed. Just like she could do the same to him.

She could feel the moment they were getting close to their destination. He stiffened against her, every muscle in his body tensing with either anger or fear. She didn't know which yet. He stopped as the water cleared in front of them, revealing a section of the ocean where a city had been swallowed by the sea.

It wasn't much of a city, more like a town, she supposed. There were at least twenty buildings, all in various states of decay. But it was clearly a town where people had once lived before the sea levels had risen.

She'd seen a place like this before in research articles. A team of scientists from Alpha had come across a similar town. But this one looked like it had been underwater for much longer. Spears of sunlight glimmered through the water, highlighting the broken walls and the shattered glass that was barely visible in the sand that slowly took it all back.

But then her attention turned to something else.

A dome.

A small one, of course. Not even remotely close to the size of her city, but it was a dome just like Alpha. Clearly built by the same person who had designed her city. Even from this distance, she could see there were working lights within it. And there was another undine floating above it.

Or rather, draped on top of it. From this distance, she assumed he was a male, just like the one who had her wrapped in his arms. The flat chest was the only thing she had to go on. But this one was bright yellow instead of red.

The other undine was dramatically splayed out on top of the glass, one hand raised over his head while the other traced something above him in the water. His tail flicked every now and then, perhaps a display of recognition that they were staring at him.

Pressing her hand a little more firmly against Daios's chest, she looked up at him with a frown. "Are we going to your home?"

He looked down at her, and that deep voice boomed through the water. "This is not my home."

Right, the man of few words who so easily misunderstood what she was asking. "Then where are we?"

His eyes met hers, and she knew he wasn't comfortable telling her. He didn't want her to know where they were, or who was going to meet her. Or maybe, just maybe, this was what he had meant. He couldn't keep her, no matter how much he wanted to.

Shit. Was he going to leave her here?

"Daios?" she quietly asked. "Where are we?"

A strange swell of pressure brushed against her side before she realized that something had moved closer to them. It took every ounce of bravery in her not to scream, and even then, she tucked herself a little closer to the wall of Daios before she realized there was another undine in front of them. Another undine who was far too close to her face.

Those black eyes looked her up and down, the yellow around his fins seeming to brighten before he grinned. At least, she thought it was a grin. There were a lot of teeth involved in that expression and they were just as sharp as Daios's.

"So you kept her alive," the undine said, and she was startled to realize she could hear him too. His voice wasn't quite as deep as Daios's, although it was still deep. "I was wondering when we would see the two of you."

"Get out of the way," Daios growled.

"She's got one of your air tubes in her, there's no rush. Why can't I introduce myself?" With a flourish, the undine made some kind of move that almost looked like a bow before he reached out his hand for her to take. "My name is Maketes, little one. Welcome to your new home."

He was almost charming, if he weren't so terrifying to look at. But she wasn't scared of Daios, so she definitely would not be scared of this smaller male.

Reaching out her hand, she let him take her fingers and then press a chaste kiss to the backs of them. A dark rumble moved through Daios's chest and into her torso before the other undine let her go.

"Now, Daios," Maketes said, his voice turning chiding even as Bitsy changed all the words to yellow for him. "You have no say over this one. After all, you were just supposed to bring her here and leave her. Were you not?"

"Careful, brother."

"Brother?" she repeated, looking between the two of them. Confusion wrinkled her brows, and she tried her best to see the resemblance.

It just... wasn't there. Maketes was so much smaller than him, not to say that he was small, but at least a couple feet smaller. He lacked the impressive fins around his waist and the ones around his face were much less prominent. He was very much sleeker, a fast moving creature rather than the bullish one who held her. She'd even suggest they weren't even the same strain of undine species seeing them together.

Were undine genetics really so different?

They both stared at her with confusion on their own features. So she licked her lips and added, "You don't look anything alike."

A booming sound echoed from behind them all. This time, she did flinch. Ducking underneath Daios's chin as she tried to get used to hearing that there were people around her.

Bitsy tossed an arrow up that pointed behind her, as if she didn't know there was another undine who had joined the other two.

Daios didn't turn, but his arm tightened around her a fraction more as if he didn't like the other undine who was interrupting them. It should have been enough of a warning for her to toss her guard up. It was not, unfortunately.

The creature who swam around them was significantly larger than Maketes. He was almost as big as Daios, although she didn't think there were many that could reach the size of the man holding onto her. Blue fins glowed in the light, reflecting the sun beams that seemed to caress his features. His massive shoulders tapered into an attractively narrow waist, but it was the softness in his expression when he looked at her that made Anya relax the smallest amount.

"I am his clutch mate," this new undine said. "Although he has no wish to admit it."

Maketes rolled those dark eyes, or at least, the movement looked like he did. "We all grew up together. Just because I didn't share the same purse as you, doesn't mean I'm any less your brother."

The words were confusing. "Purse?" she asked, glancing up at Daios.

"We..." His brows furrowed. "What are your children birthed in?"

"They just... come out." She gestured between her legs and was glad for the cold water against her cheeks. "Do you mean to say you're birthed in a purse like a shark?"

"The translation through this chip is not perfect." He tilted his head to the side and gestured at his ear with his short arm. "But yes. We are born externally after growth, and then emerge from what you call a purse."

"You just come out?" A shocked almost shout interrupted them.

She looked over at the blue undine, realizing his colors were suddenly vivid. The lights underneath his skin had flared so brightly, it was almost difficult to look at him before he dimmed them.

He flicked his tail, swimming almost too close to her, so he peered down into her eyes. "What did you just say?"

"I don't know what you're asking," she stammered.

"Humans have live births?"

She arched a brow. That hardly seemed like something he needed to focus on, but... "Yes?"

Daios used his shorter arm to shove the other undine away, sending his actual brother careening through the water until he bumped against Maketes. "Space, Arges. You've never learned much about it."

Arges, she thought, stowing away the name for later. They all had such interesting names, but of course they did.

The undines were people. They had a culture and a vast history she knew nothing about. And yet, they acted like the men she'd known before in her life. Shoving and gesturing and posturing all the time until she almost forgot they weren't human. Their relationships were similar. Enough for her to realize quickly that this life might be too easy for her to get used to.

Maketes grabbed onto Arges by the shoulders, spinning him around. "You didn't know that?"

"No, I didn't know that!" Arges ran his fingers through his hair, the long locks billowing around him like a cloud. "Why wouldn't she tell me?"

"Well, I don't know. Maybe she thought you knew that it was... was..."

With a soft movement of the tail between her legs, Daios moved past the other two. Their arguments carried through the water, but the red scaled undine who had her in his arm had no plans to listen, apparently.

"You don't want me to stay and clarify?" she asked, bracing her arms straight against his chest so the current didn't shove her flat against his skin.

"No," he rumbled.

"Why not?"

A slight smirk appeared on his lips, disappearing just as quickly. "I enjoy watching him struggle."

Smacking his chest, she shook her head. "He's your brother."

"And that does not change my enjoyment." He glanced down at her, that expression softening again while he just... looked. "But if you wish for me to turn around, I will."

Unable to hold his gaze, she bit her lip and shook her head. "Where are you taking me?"

He pointed to the dome, and she was so relieved to know she'd be dry soon enough. "There is a woman here. Mira. She is Arges's mate. She was the one who wished for me to find you."

"Is that so? Do I know her?" Anya couldn't imagine why anyone would ask her for unless they maybe worked with Ace. But Ace wasn't someone she had ever met in person, so how would Daios have known to grab her?

"No," he replied gruffly, moving so they were underneath the golden dome and just beneath a moon pool. "You do not know her."

"Then why are we here?"

Anya couldn't be more confused. Especially as he hesitated. Daios sighed, then leaned forward to press their foreheads together. He breathed her in. She could see him doing it, his gills moving and sucking in all the air around her.

With a long sigh, he rotated his head against hers. As if he were rubbing his scent into her flesh. "Don't think less of me, my kalon. Not for this, and not after anything they tell you."

"Why would I think less of you?" Tentatively, she cupped the sides of his neck just underneath his gills. She had to wait for him to exhale into her lungs before she continued. "I may not know you as well as I wish, but my soul knows yours, Daios."

"We will see," he murmured, his voice low as his hand wrapped around her waist. With a soft shove, he guided her toward the surface of the moon pool. "I hope you are right."