He kisses me then, not the breathing kiss but something deeper. His forked tongue tangles with mine, and I taste his relief, his joy, his overwhelming love. When we break apart, his patterns are pulsing in rhythm with mine.
Evening tide brings another intense session. His desperation is palpable now, body almost too hot to touch. The vibration has become so strong that the water around him actually ripples.
We're lying in the afterglow, my belly swollen with his seed, when the first alarm sounds.
It's not a sound exactly. More a vibration through the coral itself, the entire palace resonating with warning. The walls flash in patterns I don't fully understand but recognize as danger.
Aylth is upright instantly, tentacles spreading in threat display.
“What is it?”
“Boundary breach. Something entered territory without permission.” He's already moving toward the water entrance. “Something big.”
Through our chamber's transparent walls, I see shadows moving in the deeper water. Large shadows. Too large.
“The disturbances,” I breathe.
“Yes. Whatever lurked in deep territories has come here.” He turns to me, expression fierce. “Female stays. No matter what happens, female stays in palace.”
“But—”
“No. This one will not risk female. Not now. Not when female chooses to stay.” His hand cups my face, thumb brushing my cheek. “Promise.”
“I promise.”
He dives, and I'm left watching through the walls as he swims toward shadows that dwarf even him. The coral continues its warning pulse, and every glowing creature in the palace has gone bright with alarm.
Something has come from the deep.
Something hungry.
NAIA
The shadow moves through the deep water like a living mountain.
I've been pressed against the transparent wall of our chamber for hours, watching Aylth circle the massive thing since he dove out to confront it. They've been sizing each other up, neither attacking yet. The thing dwarfs him.”
“Stay here,” Aylth had commanded.
I promised. But that was before I saw the size of what approaches.
The creature rises from the trench, and my mind struggles to process what my eyes report. It's not one creature but something that looks assembled from nightmares. A head like a prehistoric shark but larger, much larger, with multiple rows of teeth that glow faintly blue. The body is serpentine, easily two hundred feet long, covered in scales that look like volcanic glass. But it's the tentacles that make me gasp. Dozens of them, different from Aylth's. These are covered in barbs that trail poison through the water.
“Our scent,” I whisper, understanding hitting me. The weeks of breeding, the pheromones saturating the water. We've beenbroadcasting our presence to everything in the ocean. This thing came hunting for prey distracted by mating.
Aylth stops his approach about fifty feet from it. Even from here, I can see his threat display, tentacles spread wide, patterns flashing along them. He looks so small against this thing. The creature's head alone is the size of a shipping container.
They circle each other, and I realize Aylth is trying to lead it away from the palace. Away from me. But the creature isn't following. Its massive head turns, and even through the water, through the walls, I swear it looks directly at me.
It knows I'm here. Knows I'm the weaker prey.
The attack comes without warning. The thing doesn't lunge at Aylth but at the palace itself. Its massive bulk slams into the outer wall, and the entire structure shudders. Coral that took decades to grow cracks in seconds. Water begins seeping through hairline fractures.
Aylth attacks then, wrapping his tentacles around what would be the creature's throat if it had one. His patterns flash brilliant white, the threat display becoming actual weapon as his bioluminescence strobes at frequencies that should stun. But the creature barely notices. It shakes its head, and Aylth goes flying, hitting a coral pillar hard enough to shatter it.
The creature rams the palace again. This time, an entire section of wall gives way. Water rushes into the art room, the pressure difference creating a vortex that starts pulling everything toward the breach.
I can't stay here. Despite my promise, despite Aylth's orders, staying in the palace means being trapped when it collapses. And it will collapse if this continues.
