Drawing a breath through his gills, slow and deliberate, Thalos savoured the scent of blood in the water. Of his victory. His Siren, approaching estrus. Letting his eyes drift closed when the delicious music of her scream rippled over his skin.
Perfect.
He paused, waiting for the chime to announce the end of the Spiral. Watching Nyxarion sink, observing as the ribbons of blood followed him down.
Tail limp, frozen in a full, stunned flare, the trench king drifted. One hand pressed to the gills on the right side of his neck. Desperate to draw a breath that wouldn't come.
Rolling his shoulders, ignoring the splintering agony slicing through his ribs, Thalos grinned. Watching as Nyxarion's biolume guttered and flicked. Going dim.
The chime would sound.
His win would be announced to the gathered courts.
Turning his glacial eyes toward the audience of Pelagorn, sweeping over the Hollow Court and the trench-born, Thalos turned until he found his prize.
Kore.
His bride.
The instant that chime sounded. She'd be his. Sanctioned by Spiral law.
Flicking his tail, he started to turn.
When light caught his eye.
A shimmer.
One he recognized.
Intimately.
Thalos stilled.
Watching the pattern shift. Different than the glitter and swirl of the Pelagorn moving around the mid-ground. This was reflective.Translucent.An opalescent sheen that flickered with the ragged pulse of her terror. Her Abyssari biolume dimmed with every shift of color.
And he knew.
At a glance.
What it was.
Chromatic camouflage.
Gills flaring on a shocked breath, Thalos blinked.
It was proof. Evidence that his Thalassari venom had fostered change within her. Fundamental change, affording her one of the Asterion line's most sacred gifts. Invisibility in the hunt.
He forgot the chime that would signal his victory.
Abandoned the sight of Nyxarion sinking into the deep.
Neglected the court, his wounds, and any whisper of his ego.
All of it, forsaken.
For this.
He snaked closer, leaving a trail of ichor in his wake. Refusing to blink, his eyes fixed to her grotesque, perfect scales.
