An hour and forty-two minutes after the backup team had left, the comms system came alive.
"This is Anandur. We are in line of sight. Tell the captain to surface for medical loading."
Ramirez was already moving. "All hands, prepare for emergency surface. Medical team to the forward hatch."
The submarine's ballast tanks hissed as compressed air forced out water. Esag felt his stomach lurch as they rose, his ears popping from the pressure change. Julian and Aiden were already at the forward hatch with a stretcher and medical supplies.
They broke the surface with surprising gentleness, the submarine barely rocking in the calm seas. The forward hatch opened, and humid night air flooded in, carrying the smell of salt and blood.
"Zodiac coming in!" Anandur called from outside.
Several crew members worked together to haul the small rubber boat through the hatch—no easy feat given the tight space.Water sloshed everywhere as they maneuvered it inside, and Esag could see Navuh's broken form lying across the bottom.
Behind them, Anandur helped Areana down through the hatch. She was wearing a wetsuit, probably the one that Tula had been supposed to wear. Her wet hair clung to her face, and even in the dim lighting, Esag could see her tormented expression, her panicked eyes. The goddess was in agony, but not the physical type.
"Get that stretcher over here," Julian ordered as he climbed into the Zodiac to assess Navuh. "Careful. We don't know the extent of spinal damage."
Aiden brought the stretcher to the edge of the boat.
Julian ran his hands along Navuh's spine, checking alignment. "Okay. We need to keep him as straight as possible. Anandur, support his head and neck. Arran, take his hips. Aiden and I will manage his torso."
As they got Navuh inside, Esag was shocked despite expecting the massive damage. Navuh's face was swollen beyond recognition, and everything seemed not only broken but shattered. His chest was rising and falling in irregular gasps, and his skin had a grayish pallor.
Beside him, Areana was struggling with the wetsuit's zipper. Her hands were shaking too badly to manage it.
"Let me," Esag offered.
She nodded mechanically.
He carefully unzipped the suit, then immediately averted his eyes as he saw what she was wearing beneath the wetsuit. The thin fabric of the wet knickers and camisole she'd had on clungto her body, leaving nothing to the imagination. The seawater had made the white fabric nearly transparent, and Esag felt heat rise to his face as he focused intently on a spot behind her.
"Here!" Archie rushed over with a towel, wrapping it quickly around Areana's shoulders before adding a blanket on top. She pulled both tightly around herself, huddling inside the layers.
"Thank you," she whispered, her voice hoarse.
Any physical damage she might have sustained had already healed, but the exhaustion and emotional trauma were written clearly on her face.
"My lady, you should get out of those wet clothes," Esag said, keeping his eyes respectfully on her face now that she was covered. "I can lend you what I brought with me. It's not befitting your station, but at least it is dry."
"I have no station." She managed a small smile. "Thank you for your kind offer, Esag, but I'm not leaving Navuh's side even to change out of these clothes. They will dry out eventually."
He was stunned.
The goddess recognized him after all this time. He hadn't even been aware that she'd known him. Perhaps Annani had told Areana about him, and she'd figured that the other redhead on board must be him.
"Let's go," Julian said. "The faster we get him to medical, the better."
12
AREANA
Areana stood in the narrow corridor outside the medical bay because there was no room for her inside, the blanket and towel doing little to warm the ice that filled her chest. She could hear everything through the door, each sound painting a picture she didn't want to see but couldn't escape.
"Multiple fractures is a gross understatement," Julian's voice carried through the door. "The internal bleeding is slowing. His natural healing is engaged, but the damage is too extensive for it to fix itself."
Areana leaned against the hallway wall and closed her eyes.
Five thousand years of waking beside Navuh, of knowing his breath, his heartbeat, the way he muttered sometimes in his sleep when nightmares haunted him. When he dreamt of his boyhood. Five thousand years of loving a male consumed by an insatiable thirst for power and the need to prove himself to a dead father who had never approved of him, no matter what he had achieved or could ever achieve, save perhaps for the ultimate goal of world domination.
