It was a suffering he knew well.
A price he'd paid, over and over and over again, just to claim her.
But it was one he'd never meant for her to know.
His scales lifted in a cascade of so much impotent fury. "If she dies?—"
"Give her some credit," Serakh drawled, painting a beautiful arc through the water as she twisted around him. Ascending in a controlled spiral. "Your Siren carved a victory from Thalos' scales. She's earned a breath of confidence, I think."
Nyxarion laughed, low and bitter. "It's too soon, Sera," he snapped, spines flaring. "Her lungs?—"
"May never be capable of enduring the surface," Sera said again, agreeing. Easily. "And worse," she said, "the Chain of Breath was meant to test the endurance of Pelagorn. And even then, it favors Thalassari. Thalos," she drawled, swimming just out of reach, "is known to be able to endure above the surface for days without real strain."
A snarl bubbled from Nyxarion's lips. "Is this your brilliant counsel?" he snapped, hands balled in fists.
"You can endure it," she added as if he hadn't spoken, "but it isn't pretty. Oh, you can survive topside hunts. Orchestrate the odd raid with admirable proficiency… for an Abyssari. But there's a price." She gestured at the rows of missing scales, the strips of flesh flensed by the searing hot touch of the sun. "You'll endure because you are strong. Possessive over the girl. But by the second hour?" She clicked her tongue. "Half-mad with oxygen starvation."
Teeth bared, voice a low warning drum, he said, "Sera…"
She ignored the tone. "But Kore? With her fragile gills? At such a delicate point in her transformation?" Sera sighed. "She'll be lucky to make it through the morning without suffering catastrophic damage. And if her gills collapse while she's trying to breathe what her lungs can no longer process? Well…"
"Sera!" Nyx snarled, lashing out to catch the viciousVireliiby the back of her neck.
But she slipped away, out of reach.
"It'll be a drowning all over again. Suffocating in blood, if something ruptures in her delicate lungs."
"Say what you mean to say," Nyx snarled, scowling.
"Forfeit," Serakh returned without missing a beat. "Because?—"
At this, Nyxarion laughed, low. Incredulous. "And let Thalos touch what I created?" Hissing, biolume pulsing vicious and tight, he flashed his teeth. "No."
But Sera didn't blink. "Think, Nyxarion Korrides. With your brain. Thalos will sing cheerful hymns, laughing while you hemorrhage, and she?—"
"She what, Sera?" Voice dropping to a sub-audible rumble, scales lifting to vent the heat of his fury, Nyxarion made the water shiver and dance as he ascended. "While she's left to hiswhims? To spread her legs and take his venom? His seed? Shall I watch as he pumps a Thalassari brat into the womb I claimed?"
"How easy do you think it'll be to breed a dead woman?" Sera retorted, and he watched her temper flare in the light pulsing along her edges.
"No."
Fins flattening, Sera stopped. Catching her sovereign by his gills in a fist that wrapped about his throat that claimed every last whisp of his attention. "It isn't fair," she hissed. "But you cannot win the Chain of Breath against Thalos Asterion. And if you insist on trying, you'll kill the girl trying to prove me wrong."
For a moment, Nyxarion merely watched theVireliifrom unblinking eyes. Speechless until her touch gentled.
"One trial," she said, voice a low hum. "One tide. A sacrifice you shouldn't have to make. Forfeit the Chain," she said, and raised her voice to bypass any rejection he might have uttered. "Grant Thalos breeding rights.Yes. I'm sorry, yes. But"—her fins rippled in the current—"the final trial is the only one weighted to favor Abyssari. The Crucible of Bone is open combat. Trench strength. A perfect cauldron for the Deep's fury."
Pulse hammering in his throat, Nyx could only watch. Listen.
"You'll win," she said. "And when you do, Kore will be yours. By law."
The moon shimmered above them, distorted through the black waters.
"One tide," Serakh murmured, fins flicking as she released his throat and propelled herself toward the surface. "Thalos will be forced to sample your bride. Lower himself in front of the court"—she grinned, quick and vicious—"but she'll be spared the agony of drowning on land, while you bleed yourself dry trying to prove Abyssari can endure what they were never meant to know."
Pressing one palm to his chest, Sera offered a rare smile. "And then… you take her back. Forever."
From above, the chime that signalled the start of the trial. Crystalline and pure. A summons for Thalos and Nyxarion to beach themselves.
