I was in the ocean again. And I wasn’t drowning.
Treading the water was a far cry from commanding it or even swimming in it, but it was infinitely better than going down like a rock.
“It’s working!” I panted, keeping my chin up to stop the waves from flooding my mouth. “I’m staying afloat.”
Maren gave me a warm look like I’d never received from her before.
“Yes you are, my king.”
“YOU HAVE TO SCOOP THEwater with your hands, Kye,” Maren instructed, holding up her hand to show me how to form a scoop with it. “Think about it like moving it out of the way, kind of like shoving away an object, really. When you can’t order a chair to move, you lift it up and move it yourself. You have to look at the water like that too. Now that it doesn’t obey your orders anymore, use your hands and feet to shift it into the opposite direction of where you want to swim.”
Forming scoops with her hands, she moved her arms and kicked her legs, swimming past me as I treaded the water a short distance offshore.
It was our third day of swimming lessons. I had spent the two nights prior mostly awake, pacing the great hall and waiting for more monsters to appear but none came. I’d sent a request for night guards to my uncle, but he was yet to reply.
Maybe it was the one and only visit from the Abyss for the rest of the century. Maybe no more monsters would come and no guards were necessary. But I couldn’t relax enough to sleep as long as Maren was in the palace. I just couldn’t risk another attack on her.
Just thinking about her being dragged away, had I not woken up and come to her rescue, terrified me. I was a heavy sleeper. What if her screams weren’t enough to wake me up next time?
“Your turn now, Kye,” Maren’s commanding voice brought my attention back to her.
By now, I’d learned not just to tread water but also to rest on its surface by spreading my arms and legs, just like Maren did that first day.
She had also noticed that I didn’t tire as easily as she did. And now, she used that knowledge to push me harder on every task, ordering me around with determination and authority that would make any army general proud.
“Faster, Kye, I know you can do it! Prove those arms aren’t there just to look pretty. Put those biceps to good use.” She swam along with me, somehow managing to keep talking at the same time.
I tried harder, reaching the coral a moment before her.
“Good job.” She smiled.
Warm pleasure spread through my body at her praise. Why did it feel so good to please her and then to hear her acknowledge that? I couldn’t answer that. But I was willing to swim all the way to the shores of Sarnala, just to hear her say those two words again and again and to see that warm, playful smile on her lips.
She sat on one of the underwater steps of the shore and stretched her legs out. The water covered her up to her hips, but it was clear enough to leave her entire body on display for my viewing pleasure.
I stayed close to my coral, not because I needed to hold on to it—I managed pretty well to stay afloat on my own now—but because as long as my hands held on to the coral, there was less risk of them grabbing for Maren’s tempting wet body.
She seemed comfortable without her clothes around me. Maybe because I wore none myself. But that didn’t make it any less exciting for me to see her wet skin glistening in the sunshine or to watch her nipples pebble after a swim.
“You’re getting to be a pretty good swimmer, Kye. You learn fast,” she said, leaning back on her arms with her hands propped behind her.
The pose opened up her chest, thrusting her breasts upwards. And for a moment, all I could do was just to stare at the droplets of water trembling on her skin with each of her breaths and imagine tasting salt on my tongue as I liked them off her.
“I have a good teacher,” I rasped when she glanced at me, expecting an answer.
“I know, right?” She grinned. “Who needs siren magic if you have me to teach you how to swim?”
I laughed with her, and my laughter was genuine. I might’ve lost most of my power over water, but I was gaining something possibly even more important—the confidence to do things on my own, without relying on magic at all. For the first time since the curse had wrecked my life, I felt proud of accomplishing something worthwhile.
“Thank you,” I said, humbled by what she had done for me.
Humility used to be a largely unfamiliar emotion for me. It looked like my little teacher had taught me more than just swimming.
She rested her head on her shoulder, squinting in the sunlight to look at me.
“You’re welcome. I have fun teaching you too. I don’t think I’d ever swum this much in my life.” She stared out into the ocean now, as if peering into her past. “We took vacations, but I was always so busy even then. I remember we rented a villa on the beach one summer. I was there for an entire week and only went into the ocean once. I spent almost the entire week in my room, working, eager to get ahead. And now, I don’t even remember what case I was working on or why it was so important.”
She exhaled a humorless laugh, tossing a pebble into the water before leaning back on her arms again. Closing her eyes, she turned her face up to the sun, allowing me to stare at her to my heart’s content. Except that my heart could never be fully content when I couldn’t touch her.
