He kissed me.
In the moment before he saved my life, he’d kissed me and there’s no way he’ll admit to it. I can see the infuriating smile already. “You’re always so hopeful, Odelia.”
My lungs burn, refusing me the time to stoke the irritation. The water’s pressure is still painful in my ears. There’s no telling how close we are to surfacing. I push against him as the pain in my lungs increases. He relents, slowing, and loosens the cage of his arms, making me grapple for him as Ifeel myself start to drift. His hands move to my waist, warm, strong, the sudden, sweet bite of his talons taking the whole of my attention for a split moment.
I clench my teeth hard against the need to breathe. Ocean water burns my eyes as I try to communicate what I need.
“Again so soon, savage thing?” His voice is a melody in the water, its vibrations kissing along the exposed parts of my skin. My breasts tighten under their wrap, but I don’t have time to wait for his teasing. I slide my hands up his arms and around his neck, pulling myself up so my lips meet his. I canfeelhis smile.
This man will be my undoing.
Despite the fact that I’ve braced myself, the first brush of his tongue threatens to empty my mind again—empty all of me, so that I might beg him to fill me again. My lips part, my own tongue darting out to meet his as our mouths seal together. He tastes almost the way he smells, like citrus and the intense silence that follows thunder in an ocean storm.
My chest begs for relief as we explore each other. His hands stay gripped tight, but I lock my legs around his hips, pulling us closer, tangling my fingers in his hair. At some point, it lost its tie and floats around his head, slipping like silk under my touch.
For better or worse, neither of us will be able to lie about what this is.
When I still, he breathes into me again, then pulls away. “I think it’s just on the other side.” His voice sends goosebumps over my arms. The hair on the back of my neck standsin anticipation. “Let’s try to get there while you still have the strength to resist me.”
The water slows my punch towards his chest, the fabric of my sleeve billowing between us and brushing my face in a way that sends another wave of anxiety through me. Then we’re flying again—down, if the pressure in my ears is any indication. In an instant, we twist again, moving up.
Then break into open air.
I drag in a desperate breath, my lungs filling to the point of relieved pain. The room is dim, lit by spiderwebbed cracks high in the rock above. We’re almost to the surface.
But the room is full of water.
Not drowned in it, but surrounded on all sides. The platform before us is a hand’s width higher than a cavern lake.
“Here.” His voice doesn’t have the same ethereal quality as it did under the water. He ushers us to the platform, urging me to pull myself up. The effort asks for more strength than I have left, but I do, collapsing on the hard stone, sucking in deep lungfuls of wet air.
“I feel a current. I’m going to check it out, but I’ll be right back.”
My throat is raw, strangling my voice. “What if you don’t come back?”
“I’ll come back, little doe.”
Then he’s gone.
My body still hums, heart racing for his touch and how death came so near I could feel the brush of her fingers. I wait.
Strange sounds edge in on the silence. Dripping that echoes, clicks, rumbles I can’t name. No doubt there arecreatures hiding in the water—hungry fish, perhaps even the toad creatures—but I couldn’t move if I wanted to, every part of me weighted to the cold stone at my back.
I startle when Rune surfaces, but my hand only lifts pathetically for my dagger and falls over my stomach.
His grin of sharp teeth is radiant in the half-light. “I found it.”
“Found what?” The apprehension flares wild in my stomach.
“The way out. Come on.”
I’m already shaking my head, feeling the rock beneath it as hot tears slip down my temples to itch in my ears. “I can’t Rune, not again.” I can’t go back to the insistent press of the water—dark, patient, waiting for my surrender. The fear claws up my throat, like it’s already taken me. Maybe if we wait long enough, the water will recede. Maybe it would be better to die here, rather than move towards that watery, inevitable end.
His voice is too patient. “There’s no other choice, Odi. We’re getting out of here. Both of us. And when we get back I’ll make sure Otto rewards you with quail eggs five ways. I won’t even let Tavi take any.”
Tavi.Had she stayed with Elio, or taken a tunnel? Did she make it out, did anyone?
I let my head fall sideways to look at Rune. There’s so much determined hope on his face, but the worry shows in his eyes. We won’t know who survived until we get out of here. His crew is at stake, and here I am, being a shameless, useless coward.
