Chapter 14

Fourteen

Arges

The pain was blinding. He writhed, his hands pressed against his head as a shrieking sound enveloped every part of his mind. Arges couldn’t tell if it was his own shrieking, the screaming of the depths, or the very mother of the ocean coming to claim her dues.

He was cursed. The witch had cursed him, and he hadn’t known such pain could be inflicted by a creature so small.

Surely the achromo had done something. Had she ripped his gills off? He was a fool for letting her touch him. Trusting a achromo was only for the young and the stupid. Her kind always betrayed his. They were meant to fight just as the sea was meant to be cold. He rolled, scales scraping against the sharp stones outside of the cave.

If he could get to Mitéra, then perhaps she could piece him together. She could rip this curse out of his body and then fling it back upon the achromos. He would tear his achromo’s hair from her head. He would bite off her fingers, one by one, for doing whatever this was. This Mira would know pain unlike anything she had ever felt⁠—

And then it stopped.

All the pain, all the torment, all the bone deep ache, disappeared as quickly as it had come.

Breathing heavily, gills flared wide around his ribs as he sucked in as much water as he could, he floated against the ocean floor. His body pressed against the stones, the soft glow from the cave still merrily beaming out into the ocean. He didn’t know what to do with himself now that there was the sudden lack of pain.

His mind fractured. Part of him wanted to return to the cave and destroy her. Rip her limb from limb for the pain she had caused, and the other half... The other half wanted to continue what they had started. He wanted her to stroke his gills again with those talented fingers. No webs between her digits, and that meant she could reach so much farther while touching both sides.

It had been… exquisite. The pleasure before the pain. He’d arched into her touch, wanting more, needing more, and the heat of her body had called to him worse than any siren song his kind had released into the sea.

She was every temptation he’d ever had, all wrapped up in a body he should hate and a mind that was far too devious. Mira was dangerous, he knew that. And yet, some part of him still wanted to keep her as his own.

Punish her? Absolutely. He would punish her for what she had done, but even as he uncoiled his knotted tail and started back toward the cavern, those dark thoughts turned into something far more pleasurable.

She would know what it felt like for his kind to dominate hers. He would make them fit together, if that’s what it took. Because he had seen the heat in her eyes, and he had seen the way her soft lips parted when she looked at him writhing in her grip. She’d wanted him, just as much as he’d wanted her.

For now, that was enough.

Even the glowing plants in the cave leaned away from him, sensing the anger that burned inside his chest. He was dangerous. He was terrifying. The creature who came out of the depths was not Arges, but a beast made of rage and ruin.

He slowly crested the water, his eyes already narrowed and his gills sealed shut. If she tried to attack him again, he was ready for it.

She stood near the back of the cave, hands gesturing wildly as she chattered with the demon he’d unearthed and something snapped inside him. She didn’t look ashamed or upset at all. Perhaps this had been her plan all along. Maybe she didn’t care if she died in this cavern as long as she took him out with her.

He would show her that it was worthwhile to fear his kind. That she should never have been so foolish as to tempt a creature like him.

It took so little to dive back underneath the water and to the bottom of the small cave. Even less effort to propel himself through the water with a speed so fast that he ripped a few petals off the plants. He launched himself free from the safe grip of the ocean and out into the cave.

He had the distinct pleasure of watching her eyes widen in shock, then fear as he reached his claws out for her. And he knew his sharp teeth were on full display. All the colors in his body rioting as he lunged for her. To her credit and proof of her bravery, she didn’t flinch or try to run away from him. She just stood there, watching with wide eyes and locked muscles as he grabbed her.

Rolling her underneath him, he pressed all his weight down to keep her from struggling. He would tear out her throat with his teeth, if that’s what it took.

But the moment his lips touched her shoulder, she shouted, “Wait! Hold on!”

And he... Understood her?

Arges froze, certain that he’d heard wrong. Certainly, she had not just spoken his language. The creature before him did not know how to speak the language of whales or the tongue of the sea.

His brief moment of hesitation gave her a chance to purge the words from her lungs just as he did water.

“I’m so sorry. I wish I could have told you that it was going to hurt, but how the fuck was I supposed to mime that to you? You’d never let me put any of our devices on you, anyway, so I just had to take the chance.”

Another odd chirping filled the room, this one with metallic clunks. “I told you he’d kill you for this!”

“Shut up, Byte!” she hissed.

And the room fell silent as he drew his face away from her neck and stared down into those wide, strange eyes.

“Again,” he said, gruffly.

“I still don’t know what that word means, but I assume you want me to repeat myself?”

He’d never been so close to her eyes. The strange orbs that looked like the shimmering kelp on a rare day of sunlight. White surrounded the color, and strangely, it made him uncomfortable to meet her gaze. He could so easily track where she was looking. The dark spots in the centers of her eyes contracted, growing smaller, perhaps with fear when he did not move off of her.

“The device I put on your ear is a translator. It knows my language, so now you also know my language. I have absolutely no idea what you are saying, though. I don’t know your language, and neither does Byte.” She pointed to the strange box demon in the corner of the cave, and it gave him a little wave with its metal arm. “The more you talk, the more the robot can understand your language and give me a chance to get my own translator. Then we can speak.”

He barely followed what she was saying. “Robot?”

Apparently, he’d repeated the word close enough in her own language for her to wince. “Right, you wouldn’t know that word. The thing back there. The box? My people created those to help us. They are... servants, of a sort.”

The small box squawked, though fell silent when he glared at it.

“And you?” he asked, leaning a little closer to her. “What do you call yourself, achromo? I would know the name my enemy has given itself.”

She swallowed, and he watched her throat work before she quietly replied, “I have no idea what you’re saying, but you seem very angry at me.”

He was. Of course he was. She had gifted him a magical device that allowed him to understand her words, while also betraying him with horrible pain. And he’d admit, he was more than a little angry at himself for falling under her spell that easily. He was ashamed that he’d let an achromo touch him, and that she’d affected him.

In his world, they were as good as promised. He’d hunted her, gifted her treasures. She’d touched his gills with such exquisite tenderness that it still made every part of his body vibrate with need. And it was wrong. Every bit of it was wrong.

She’d stolen this from him. Because he had never done any of this with any other female, and now he would always remember his first mating trials. His first attempt at having a mate, and neither of them had even wanted each other.

It was a shame upon a warrior to have a mate deny him. But to deny a female? Even one like her?

It was unheard of.

Perhaps his frustration showed. Her pale face turned even paler, and that bright pink tongue came out to lick at her lips. “You don’t seem happy with me.”

Whatever would give his achromos that thought? He licked his own lips, watching her eyes follow the movement of his dark tongue. Even more of that color drained out of her face, and he was suddenly very aware of the position they were in.

Though his fluke was still in the water, he had her pinned in every other sense. Both of her wrists were trapped by his webbed hands, high over her head. It arched her body into his, much like he had done only moments ago. Her strange tails were parted on either side of his body and he hadn’t realized they could spread so wide. It tucked him against her core, so unlike his own kind and yet strangely... compelling.

The heat that had been between them before flared bright and hot again. He could feel it coursing through his veins, turning all his colors on like she’d lit him from within. The blues flared, and his gills rose again. No matter how hard he tried to keep them down.

Just the faintest arch from her, only a little. But it tilted her body against him even better, and he had to do something. He had to touch her. Had to feel what this strange achromo had been hiding.

Transferring one of her wrists to his grip, he freed one of his hands and ran it down her side. “We are so similar,” he said quietly, watching his hand as it drifted down her ribs. “I have these. I have felt these on my women before.”

But she had no gills. He paused, his hand spread wide over those ribs that rose and fell, but there were no gills there to toy with his fingers. Nothing but the strange silver skin she wore and the delicate bones beneath.

“You are so small,” he muttered, his hand moving down to the dip in her waist where there should be the start of scales. But there was nothing. Just blank space and those twin fins that trembled on either side of his tail. “So... breakable.”

“I can’t tell if you’re going to kiss me or kill me,” she said, her eyes following his every movement. “I’m not sure if I want either of those.”

He had no idea what this kiss she spoke of was, but he had a feeling she was affected by the same heat as him. He needed to get control of himself or she would realize the control she had over him. His body had never reacted like this. Not once.

Perhaps it was the strangeness and newness of her form. He was no stranger to pleasure, but certainly was when it came to the achromos. The People of Water, both male and female, had remarkably similar bodies. The same areas caused the same amount of pleasure for him and a woman of his kind, and such exchanges were brief.

Considering how hidden everything on this achromo was, he could only assume their pleasure was different. And the mere idea of chasing it with her was a heady rush to his head.

And... other areas.

Mira took a ragged breath, her chest brushing against his. “This isn’t talking, Arges. I need you to talk so that Byte can make a chip for me as well. So we can understand each other.”

She wanted him to talk?

Leaning down so his mouth was pressed to her hearing hole, he raggedly said, “I have seen what your people do in the dark. The movements might be strange, but the sounds your kind make are intriguing to me. I wish to explore this body of yours, Mira.”

He felt her shiver at her name. He knew he said it differently than her, rolling the middle of the word over on his tongue.

“I have no idea what you just said,” she whispered in response. “But it sounded less angry.”

“Oh, I am still angry with you. Very, very angry.” He pressed his teeth to her neck, pleased with the little noise she made in the back of her throat. “But there are other ways to punish you, kairos.”

Again, her breath caught, and he found himself obsessed with the sound.

“As long as you keep talking, you can say whatever you want to me.” She wriggled in his grip, trying to twist her wrists so he had to let her go. “But we will not get anywhere unless I can understand you as well.”

He begged to differ.

Even as her strange fins squeezed around him a little tighter than before, he felt himself drawing away from this moment. They would get somewhere because she would tell him everything. He would return to his people, triumphant, and take control of his pod again. All he had to do was get information to his Mitéra that could help them destroy the achromos.

Then he really heard what she said. He rolled the words over in his mind as the sea did a stone, and finally he growled, “Are there more of these devices?”

She frowned at him, and he hissed out a curse at the difficulty.

Perhaps she was right. She needed to be able to understand him.

His gaze heated with rage now, he barked at the robot in the corner, “You there. You can make more of these devices. Make them now, and I will bring them to my people.”

Mira was far too observant for her own good. She looked at his gestures, watched as he pointed to the device in his ear and it all seemed to click. “No,” she said quietly, before her words became more forceful. “I will not give you more of those devices. Not for your people. I have no way of knowing what any of you will do with them.”

He glared down at her, but that did not startle his little kairos in the slightest. If anything, she only struggled harder and became more determined.

“Absolutely not! I only gave this to you as a necessity because you have me trapped hundreds of feet underneath the ocean. Get off of me!”

He slammed her wrists against the stones, forcing her to stop moving. “Stop struggling. You will give me more of these devices, and my people will understand your language. We will take what we are owed from you, and you will do nothing to stop it from happening.”

Her lips pressed into a thin line. Just like many of the women of his own kind did before they were about to fight. Let her try to draw blood. He’d enjoy the struggle.

Instead, she tilted her head back and looked at the box. “Beta Iota Epsilon 427, do not print any translators for any undine. That is a direct order. Do you understand?”

The strange head of the creature lowered into the box before it let out a chirping, “Understood,” and then sealed itself inside the box.

Had she... Had she just commanded the box to never listen to him?

Anger surged forward again, and this time he loomed over her. He tightened his fingers around her wrists until it must hurt. It must be painful. And still, she didn’t even wince.

“If you’re trying to hurt me, you’ll have to try a lot harder than that,” she said, so matter-of-factly that it made his head spin. “I’m an engineer, undine. I’ve been burned, hit, and trapped in engines more times than I can count. I’ve got calloused hands and tough bones. Do your worst.”