Chapter 34

Leaving her was the hardest thing he'd ever done in his life. All the voices in him raged to the front, screaming a myriad of grievances. He would get her killed, just like he had killed them. He was leaving her to her doom like a coward. If he wasn't there with her, then she would die. She would wallow in the pits of the sea with the rest of them. Her soul would never rest.

Their hands plucked at his shoulders, trying to turn him toward them. They wanted to scratch out his eyes, to rip out his throat, to make him feel their pain.

Of all the things that he had done, this was the one that he knew he would regret the most. Because if he lost her, if he lost the only grip on reality he still had... he wasn't sure what he would do.

Breathing hard, he darted through the sea, back toward his brothers. He was not supposed to linger near the city, and he knew it was for the best. He was supposed to go back to where Mira had rigged Byte up to have a direct connection to Bitsy.

The two droids could now speak over long distances, and that would allow them to see what Anya saw. They could know for certain that she was safe and nothing was happening to her.

But his fins stopped working, freezing in place at the thought that he would be so far away from her that if anything did go wrong, there was nothing he could do to stop it. He would be stuck far away, forced to watch as she was murdered or tortured like Fortis's men had been.

His body wouldn't work. He simply could not leave this place, no matter how hard he tried to make himself. Daios wanted to stay here in a silent vigil, not eating, not sleeping, just waiting until he knew she was safe in his arms.

Swallowing hard, he turned to see the small speck of Alpha in the distance. He wanted... Fuck. He didn't know what he wanted.

He wanted her to save their people. Every ounce of that glory would be hers. Pride swelled in him just at the mere thought. His people would be far more accepting of an achromo who had helped them, and far more understanding of his love for her as well.

But those thoughts were chased by the knowledge that she was alone and could so easily be hurt. He remembered how she felt as they finally joined with each other. The softness of her skin, the way her body had dimpled underneath his touch.

How easily she bled.

He could still taste her blood in his gills and now feared he would taste it outside of pleasure. The phantom scent played over his gills, filling his mouth with blood, and he feared something was wrong. She could already have failed. Her father had seen them coming. Who knew what that evil man had planned for her? Daios had to get back to her.

Now.

He turned, but there was a darkness blocking his way. At first, he thought it was another one of the ghosts that followed him. A part of his guilt that had manifested in the size of a large male who had likely died in the first battle with Beta.

But then a blue glow erupted, and he knew exactly who was stopping him.

"Arges," he growled. "Move."

"No," his clutch brother replied. "I will not. You cannot go back to her, Daios. You have to come back to the dome."

"My place is with her."

"As the sea commands," Arges said in agreement. But he did not move. "You cannot ruin all that we have worked for. There are more people at stake than just Anya."

"If you do not move, I will make you move."

His claws were already flexing at his side. Perhaps a fight would make him feel better. If he tore into his brother, expressing all his frustration, maybe he could hold himself back from swimming to her side.

"You can't make me move, Daios."

Baring his teeth in anger, he snarled, "Have you forgotten the last time we fought? I have not. Even fresh out of battle and missing an arm, I tossed you into the air like you were nothing more than a child."

It had felt like the right thing to do at the moment. He had been certain Mira was an omen of the end. The depthstriders had warned him that the achromos would only bring destruction. Fortis had told him time and time again while he inhaled the steam from the heart of the sea. The achromos were a threat to all of their lives.

Perhaps Fortis had not meant Mira specifically, but what else was Daios meant to think? She had shown up at the worst possible moment. And in a way, she had changed everything. In his mind, that had been enough.

But if his brother wished to fight again, then that was what they would do. He would rip and tear into Arges's scales and throw him in to the abyss if that was what it took.

"Daios," Arges said, his voice little more than a sigh. "I know how you are feeling. I understand your need, but you cannot go back."

Already his chest rose and fell with anger. He could feel his gills flaring wider as he drew air into his lungs for a battle. He didn't care if Arges knew how he felt.

"Mira is safe!" he almost shouted. "Your mate is within reach. She stays in her dome. If she goes out, she leaves with you. You have never sent her straight into danger without you."

"What do you think happened when she returned to her city? You've forgotten that we had to raid Beta to get her back. That I crawled through that place without water, squeezing my body through doorways so that I could get her back!" Arges thundered. "I have almost lost her and I know what goes through your heart. But no one can help you if you do not let us."

He didn't need their help, though. Nor did he want Arges's help. He just wanted Anya home.

His hearts hurt in his chest. Rubbing at them, he shook his head and charged Arges. Pain was what he needed right now, and he knew an easy way to get it.

They came together in two massive forces that struck so hard he saw stars. Arges grappled with him as he had expected him to. His brother always fought in the same way, no matter how many times they battled. With a flick of his tail, he tossed Arges over his shoulder and surged toward the city.

But Arges was smaller, and that made him just a little more agile. A blue fin came down over his shoulder, Arges's tail wrapping around his own and pinning his hip fins to his sides. With a slithering movement, Arges anchored them together and tightened the grip of his tail as he coiled around Daios.

Hissing out an angry breath, Daios reached back with his metal arm and caught one of Arges's hip fins.

"Remember when I almost ripped this off?" he snarled, bloodlust rushing through him. "This time I'm keeping it so you can't sew it back on."

He would have yanked on the fin if Arges hadn't leaned forward and hit a button on the arm. It went dead. Limp and useless other than as a weight that suddenly dragged him in the opposite direction.

His brother released him with a feral flash of fangs. "Do you think Mira would build you anything that I couldn't turn off?"

Those two were going to be the death of him. An angry snarl rippled through his body while he yanked the arm off. He let it drop onto the sands below them and blew out an angry breath that cleared his gills of debris.

He stared his brother down across the water. Arges was now once again between him and the city that kept his mate from him.

His mate.

Fuck, that was the first time he'd ever thought of her like that. But it was true. She was so much a part of him that he didn't know how to be without her. Anya had taken his pain and rage and turned it into something he could use. He was someone else when he had her and now he could... he could lose her.

His lights flickered. Once, twice, then burned again as he forced himself to fight again. He needed to get to her.

But this time, Arges caught onto his arm as he darted forward and held Daios close. His brother looped his tail around him as many times as he could, squeezing hard enough to freeze the breath in his lungs. Daios's arm was pinned down at his side, and though he could have likely broken this hold, he found something in him was breaking.

All he wanted was to know that she was alive.

Breathing hard, Arges hissed in his ear, "We are doing everything we can to keep her safe. You have to come back with me so you can see for yourself."

"We are so far," he wheezed. "If she is in danger, what would you have me do? Stay there and watch her die?"

A ripple spread from his body into Arges's. He knew the moment his brother understood where Daios's fear came from. "We will have more warning than that."

"We won't, and you know it. Her father is an eel in the depths, waiting to bite. She will not know what is happening until the very last moment, and we will all lose her." His voice fractured on the last word. And then he stopped talking.

Because talking had never gotten him anywhere. Daios never said the right thing, no matter how hard he tried to do that. The only person who ever understood what he was trying to say was locked away where he could not get her.

Even though Arges knew the fear, Arges could not understand the depth of Daios's emotions. At least in Beta, there was a chance. Arges had climbed into the city and he had gotten his woman.

Alpha was a city built of air and wide spaces. One of their people would only greet death if they even managed to get within those walls.

Arges slowly released him, his tail dropping until only his arms around Daios's shoulders remained. That tight squeeze eased, just enough to feel like the embrace it was.

"She is a brave woman," Arges said, his voice a low murmur that the sea caught and echoed. "She honors you, brother, by going into that city with no fear. Her memory is one that all our people will talk about for years to come. Honor, brother. That is important."

"Life is important." Something in him shattered as he added, "Her life is important."

Arges's arms squeezed a little tighter. And for a moment, they just floated there together. Watching the city that would soon be nothing more than a ruin. He rolled the plan over in his mind for the hundredth time. Maketes and Anya's friend were ready to get the survivors somewhere safe. There was a small pod they had given to Maketes to save any of the people who might end up drowning. They wanted the other cities to hear that the People of Water had made an effort to save the achromos.

Anya would be the first one in an escape pod. She knew where they all were. He would be waiting for her when the time came, but they had to make sure that everything was in line first. But none of them knew how long that would take.

It was better if he stayed here. He had to wait for her to give him some kind of signal to prepare himself and he would be ready.

"We have put so much trust in a single person," he whispered. "Everything rests on her shoulders."

"And she is strong enough to do it," Arges replied.

"But she is so small. Her shoulders barely fit in my grip if I wished to hold her. She gets cold in the warmest of waters. She doesn't like raw fish or oysters, and she doesn't know how to gather her own food. If someone tries to attack her, she does not know how to fight. My woman is soft."

He loved that about her. He loved how she was a soft place for his tormented heart to rest, but he did not know what it would mean for her while she was not safe in his arms.

"Just because she is soft does not mean she is easily broken," Arges said as his arms dropped away. "The most you can do right now is trust her. Come back with me, Daios. Together, we will watch over your little kalon."

He nodded, slowly. But it took a long time for him to pull his gaze away from the city of light that glowed on the horizon. If only he could capture it in his palms, perhaps he could hold her against his heart a little longer.

Eventually, he turned. He joined his brother on the many hour journey back to their own home. The dome was still lit up, and even from the outside, he could see the projection that Byte had cast up on the wall. It was a familiar room. A familiar place.

Perhaps he had taken a bit of Anya into himself. Because he could feel her softness in his chest as he looked at the same vision where he had seen her for the second time. Where he had taken her into his arms and he had never let her go. Until now.

Maketes saw him first, slipping into the water through the moon pool and darting toward them. All of his fins and gills were flared wide, and his eyes were a little mad with glee. "It works. Daios, Arges, it works."

"What does?" he asked.

"The connection between the droids. As long as Bitsy is on her head, we can see everything she can see. We can guide her too, because Byte can connect with Bitsy." Maketes stopped in front of them, his fluke still twitching with excitement and jerking him left and right. "We can see everything."

"She's alive?" he asked, even though it made his stomach rebel to ask.

"Of course she's alive," Maketes said. "And she's already convinced her father to let her keep Bitsy. They're all very confused because she's lied through her teeth so well. It almost seemed like maybe her father believed her and that she was just visiting a friend."

He didn't think that was possible. The old man was more wily than that, but for now, it seemed like his mate would see another sunrise.

Arges wrapped an arm around his shoulders again, this time keeping him from sagging with relief in front of the others. Leaning down, he murmured in Daios's ear, "Breathe, my brother. I believe you can do this. Yes?"

"Yes," he replied, dazed and a little shocked.

She was alive. And he had to make sure she stayed that way.