Flinching, she flung her hand up to cover her face in some vain attempt to protect herself.
Merciless fingers found an anchor, engulfing her forearm from wrist to elbow. He hauled her up. Tore her free of the rocky snare where her chains had caught on the riverbed before he turned again.
Toward the surface.
Making short work of the depths, he carried on swimming without so much as a backward glance at his captive. Heedless of her weakening struggles, her silent pleas went unheard as he towed her toward a destination only he seemed to know.
Lungs frozen as if truly dead—neither breathing nor drowning—she dozed for a while, if one might call such a stupor sleep. Hypnotized by the way her limbs fluttered in his wake.
Senseless until the hint of fresh water had grown salty once more, for he’d used the river as a bridge to claim access into yet another sea.
One Kore couldn’t name, for what use had a servant of Apollo for knowledge of geography? She’d known nothing but the shores of the Aegean. Never been anywhere but the temple of Delphi, where she’d served since she’d been given to the priests as an unclaimed orphan.
The next time they surfaced, the sun’s rays were being swallowed by the night—the second such evening she’d spent in his company. As his tribute. His… captive.
And as she looked, the last of the sun’s rays burned across the surface of the water.
Kore squinted and cringed away from Apollo’s kiss… for she was unworthy of his golden touch.
Tarnished by a son of the Deep who’d come when she’d begged to be saved.
Rescued, but for what, she didn’t know and couldn’t ask.
She was helpless but to observe until the moon was high and they had arrived at last.
The demi-god slowed before he stopped.
Pausing only to observe the low tide before he surged forward once more.
Navigating the turbulence of the shallows with confidence and patience, he skirted jagged rock, eased over sandy banks,and dragged her through shallow pools warmed by even this weak sunlight.
Careless of her tender, water-logged skin, he dragged himself onto land. Using his magnificent tail as leverage, he moved with a slow, serpentine grace that was an insult to his mastery of the sea. It was ungainly. A chore to heave that heavy appendage across land and drag her ashore.
Kore’s chains rattled across stone worn smooth by the endless tempers of the ocean.
All she could do was endure.
Ignoring the burn of tender flesh, she forced herself to grow deaf to the many unanswered questions echoing between her ears.
Contenting herself with prayer, she waited as he worked. Watching until he’d found a perch tucked beneath a rocky ceiling, he pulled her into a shallow cave. One carved straight from stone over many long millennia.
It was dry enough, she supposed, with the tide at its lowest.
A cavern that would flood when the moon was full and the waters high.
He turned, then. Dumping her in a messy heap of limbs and tattered rags and chaotic heaps of untethered chain, he watched her for a moment. Mighty chest expanding as he fought for breath outside of his natural element, he kept her glued to the stone with a fierce, alien scowl.
And then he lifted his trident.
Poised to strike.
Silhouetted against the sun, he struck a figure that might have sent Kore screaming for the safety of this unnamed ocean once more, could she so much as draw a single breath into frozen lungs.
As it was, all she could do was squeeze her eyes shut and wait. Blinding herself to the end.
When the trident fell, it struck with an impact that cracked stone. Sent shards of limestone to spatter against her bare, waterlogged shins.
She yelped.
