“I’m sorry.” Xia smiled placatingly, and Nyx wanted to wipe it from her pretty face. “I didn’t mean to. I called your name a few times, but I guess you didn’t hear me.”
“Huh,” Nyx huffed.
“You seemed lost in your work. I thought I could come to help.”
“Help with what? What do you know about what this place needs?” Nyx answered defensively.
“Not much.” Xia’s response was neither sarcastic nor passive aggressive. Her brows dipped, lips thinning as she looked away.
“Well.” Nyx brushed nonexistent dirt from her shirt as she grasped for words. “What can you do?”
“Anything you need. I don’t have a wide range of skills, but I’m a quick study and don’t mind getting my hands dirty. I helped Ruby with the laundry yesterday. Maybe I could start there.”
“Who the fuck is Ruby?” She knew every single person in the village, and not a single one went by the name Ruby.
“She saved me from Ariadne and was kind enough to find me this shirt.” Xia gestured to the worn flax.”
“What did she look like?”
“I… I’m not really sure. She was just a woman. Petite. She wore a gown with her hair tucked under a hood. She had the most stunning pink eyes though. I’ve never seen anything like them.”
Nyx tucked that information away for later. She would find this Ruby and figure out why the fuck she was living in Nyx’s town unannounced. It could be that she blew in on the wind while Nyx was away, but someone would have told her about the newcomer by now.
Right?
“Okay. Well, Right now I’m just gathering water. We need to fill all ten of these barrels. Most will be divided into the homes and boiled for safe drinking. About four of them will stay for washing. We need to prep water to store for winter and give the linen a final scrub. Winter brings sickness, and the last thing these people need is dirty linen to lie on while trying to heal.”
Xia nodded and accepted the bucket Nyx handed her. Nyx didn’t look back as she walked toward the river. If she had to explain how to fill up a fucking bucket she would just send the damsel back to her prince charming.
“Nyx?” That sing-song voice called from behind and grated on her nerves. How could someone’s life be so perfect? Nyx bet Evangeline’s dinner that Xia had never known a day of strife. Even Aphrodite would weep in her presence.
Bitch.
“What, princess?” Annoyance oozed from her voice as she kept walking. When no answer came, Nyx scoffed and knelt by the waiting pool of water. She pressed her bucket to the top, careful not to collect too much debris, when the water shivered. Ripples went against the current as tendrils rose and drifted seamlessly behind her.
Nyx turned and watched in awe as Xia used her chaos with ease. Xia’s feet were planted and her body moved as delicate as the water she wielded. Her arms ebbed and flowed like the tide.The crystalline streams thickened as they traveled and filled the buckets. A fine mist sprinkled Nyx’s upturned chin as fine as the morning fog. When the streams stopped, Nyx stood and damn near ran back to where ten full barrels sat.
Incredible.
“How did you do that?”
“I’m a Siren, Nyx. I live and breathe the water. I understand it better than anyone or anything in the world.”
Nyx fell back to reality and crossed her arms. She wasn’t supposed to be impressed. She risked her ass and her town to save the dainty female and haul her brute of a boyfriend back.
“Good. Now you can save me time and take the barrels where they need to go. Four to the laundry, six to the town. You’ll need to gather pails from every home, fill them up, and return for boiling. It’ll take you the better part of the day, princess, so you better get moving.”
Nyx turned to stomp away, but Xia called her name again.
“It’s already clean.”
“Excuse me?” Nyx spat.
“The water. It’s clean and ready to drink.”
“That river is full of shit and bacteria. It needs to be boiled.”
“It’s clean, Nyx.” Xia said each word slowly and with care as if she were speaking to a child, and fuck if it didn’t ruffle Nyx’s feathers even more. “I’ve also been thinking of a way other than this to provide water for the people. If we could dig a hole deep in the ground, we could tap into water from the river. The minerals in the ground would filter anything harmful from it and the heat from the ground would stop it from freezing.
