Page 25 of She Who Was Once the Sea

Slowly, I walked towards where he stood, the only sound in the apartment the rushing of the still-running water, completely forgotten as he watched me approach. I let myself step closer to him than was probably necessary, trembling as I reached out to take the glass from his hand. For a moment, our fingers brushed, and I almost dropped it, as the brief touch sparked something beneath my skin that made me gasp.

"Are you okay?" he asked, brow furrowing in concern. His voice was breathy, as if he’d been running, and I wondered if he’d felt the electric current humming between us as well. "Did it burn you?"

I let myself feel the pooling condensation on my fingertips. It felt cool and soft and… wet. It felt wet without feeling painful, a sensation I hadn’t experienced in hundreds of years.

With a choked sob, I brought the water to my lips so quickly that I nearly chipped my teeth on the glass. It slid down my throat like honey, and I could swear that I’d never tasted anything as sweet. I closed my eyes against the pleasure of it.

When I drained the glass, I immediately filled it again, repeating the process as many times as I could before my stomach felt sick and distended. As I took my final few sips, I finally let my eyes slowly open once more. Garrett was still there, watching me, smiling slightly as if amused by what he saw.

"What?" I snapped, perhaps too defensively. "I was thirsty."

"I can see that." He smirked. "And it seems like the water can’t hurt you anymore."

I nodded absentmindedly, trying to piece together all that this could mean. Garrett had shown me how to run water to take a bath. I could sit submerged in water for as long as I liked.

Would my tail appear? The prospect nearly took my breath away. If I stepped into that bathtub… would I finally be whole again?

And while I knew that I had a job to do, that I should spend as much time as possible with the man in this room, all I wanted in that moment was to send him away so that I could peel off my clothes and let the water run over me for hours.

I was just about to tell him so when I was struck by an idea.

There was, in fact, a way that I could accomplish both tasks. Or at least, make progress.

Without taking my eyes off his, I slowly set the glass down on the countertop beside the sink. His seawater-blue eyes held nothing but questions as I took a step backward, then another, before turning my back on him and walking into the bathroom. Following the instructions he’d given me just moments before, I inserted the drain stopper and pulled up on the lever in the bathtub, relishing the thundering sound of water as it filled the basin.

When I emerged, he was still standing where I’d left him, shuffling nervously from foot to foot and looking back and forth between the phone he’d pulled from his pocket and the door.

"If you’re going to take a bath, I guess I can—"

I cut him off with the sound of a zipper, reaching behind my back to peel open the red dress. It loosened around me in waves of fabric before falling to the ground at my feet. All the while, I kept my eyes locked on his, waiting for the moment when he’d tear them away from my face to take in the sight of my bare skin.

He never did.

There was no denying that something shifted in his expression—his throat bobbed with a deep swallow, and a muscle twitched at the corner of his mouth. But he never let himself look at the space beneath my chin.

Still, I wasn’t deterred. I smiled, letting the tips of my canines peek out against my lower lip, then took one step backward, inclining my head in invitation for him to follow me back into the bathroom.

He cleared his throat once. Twice. And then, finally, he broke eye contact, not to look at me, but to look at a spot on the floor across the room. He smiled and shook his head before turning on his heel and walking out of the apartment without a word.

I was left alone, with nothing but the sound of running water and the distant chatter of people in the square below to fill the empty space around me.

Chapter 13 - Garrett

Imust have walked a dozen circles around Piazza Centrale before finally turning away and heading back to the monastery. Each time I passed the door to the little apartment, I felt my hand twitching, as if it were ready to reach out and turn the knob whether I wanted to or not.

And if I were being honest, I definitely wanted to.

It took a level of self-control I wasn’t sure I possessed to finally grit my teeth and leave the square behind entirely, and as I walked home, I felt the continuous urge to turn around and run back to the apartment. Flashes of possibility danced across the edges of my vision. I imagined running back to the apartment, beating my fists against the door until she opened for me, pulling her face towards mine, knocking over one of those stupid plants as I pushed her against the wall, and…

A low curse escaped my lips as I stopped walking and looked around, wild-eyed and desperate, debating whether I should act on my fantasies. The few people in my immediate vicinity side-stepped me nervously, eyeing me up and down as they passed.

"Mi scusi," I apologized under my breath.

But thankfully, their skepticism acted like a bucket of cold water over my thoughts. I shook my head and drew in one long, deep breath.

Saving one of the monsters was one thing.

Fucking her was something else. While there was technically no rule against it, I was sure that that was simply because no one had ever imagined a scenario where a member of the Fratelli would ever be presented with the opportunity, let alone be tempted to act upon it.