Whispers of the Deep (Deep Waters, #1)

by Emma Hamm

DISCLAIMER. I am not a scientist. I fully realize a lot of what is said in this book simply could not happen. Human bodies are not meant to be in the water for a long time, and they certainly are not made to withstand pressure changes easily. I say some things in here about an invention that allows our heroine to breathe underwater for a bit, and avoid the bends. Do not try this at home. It’s entirely made up, and honestly, probably impossible. Please suspend your disbelief for this monster fucker book. It’s a book about fucking mermen. Let’s not get into a scientific conversation about whether the bends would happen or if she could die doing half the stuff she does. K? K. *smooches*

Mouth full, still chewing, she looked up to find the source of the shadow and froze. A monster hovered in front of the glass. His black tail, so long it tangled in the kelp, was at least ten feet long. Blue slashes of fins, so deep they blended in with the water, undulated all along the black scales. It stretched up to his waist, seamlessly turning into that pale, almost gray skin. His body was as all the rumors claimed. So handsome it was painful to look at, and eerily like the gold sculptures that surrounded her. Dark claws on his hands were intimidating enough, but it was his black eyes that felt like they’d somehow captured her soul. Black, entirely. Inky and dark, they stared straight through her as though she was nothing. Just a maggot wriggling beneath him. Long dark hair floated around him, perhaps waist length, although there were thick cords interspersed through the strands, much thicker than her own, almost like tentacles. And if the rumors were true, his plush mouth was full of razor-sharp teeth. He tore through his prey like a shark, but so much more intelligent. So much more dangerous.

He looked down at her and grinned. Those sharp, gleaming teeth were a clear threat.

But oh, he was so beautiful. Those hard edges of his face, almost human but not quite close enough. The sharp teeth bared at her, like this was her fault. Like she had somehow done this. As she stared into his gaze, she wondered why there was so much hatred in those eyes.

So she bared her teeth at him as well, mimicking his expression as best as she could. “Sorry, you pretty bastard. Better luck next time.”

he’d paid with his life as they had all started shooting at his father. The achromos were monsters. They had ruined this sea and they would continue to ruin it if they were allowed to do as they wanted.

Watching her was incredibly boring. How did the achromos live like this? Arges had never wasted his time trying to understand her people. He was more interested in finding flaws in their city. Dents in the armor that he could use to his advantage as he attacked and destroyed. Now, he was forced to watch them. He had to see what they did with their lives as he tried to find an opportunity to steal her away. And by all the seven seas and the gods within them, they were boring. How did the achromos survive like this? They did the same thing every day. They walked the same corridors. Seemingly performed the same jobs. Day in. Day out. They even seemed to eat the same food. Some wet looking gloop that made him want to vomit the first time he’d seen it. No wonder they were so aggressive. He’d have gone mad long ago as well if he was forced to live such a life.

Perhaps she’d heard it as well, because she yanked the fins off her feet. He wasn’t sure why she was doing that, considering she’d need them if she wanted to flee from him, but then he realized she was going to wiggle deeper. One fin popped off, revealing multiple tiny flippers at the base of her twin tails. If he hadn’t been so startled, he would have used the moment to snag her. But he was horrified at the sight of them. They were mangled. Cut at the ends as if someone had taken a sharp stone to her flippers for decoration. They were so small, too. Was she deformed? Was that why her people had sent her out on her own?

One of those horrible, mangled flippers caught him right in the gills. Wheezing out a breath, bubbles erupting from his mouth in a rather embarrassing display, he shifted just enough for her to slide past him.

But the entire journey, all he could think about was her little flippers pressed against one of the most private places on his body.

She drifted out of his arms, so slowly without those false flippers. Those she’d left in the lava fields, and he already knew he would retrieve them for her.

The female had already dragged herself out of the water. And he watched with horror as she ripped the strange things off her face, showing that they had left deep red marks on her flesh. Then she pulled at the second skin around her face, slowly peeling it off her head and revealing all that red hair, like she was birthing herself. It was monstrous to watch.

lol

“The graceful sway of your hips. The way your eyelids widen and then droop halfway closed when I do something you like. I wish to touch all of you. To find every part of your body that makes you gasp or hiss. I want to know the sounds that come out of your mouth when I pleasure you. When you realize that the ocean itself would guide me into you, and set a pace that neither of us could deny. My people believe that lovemaking is the purpose of the sea.”

“I can smell how excited you are,” he groaned. “I draw that scent into my gills and tuck it underneath my scales for times when I am not by your side. Kairos, Mira, I grow so weary of seeking release in my hand.”

He’d lied to Mira. There were no rumors about anyone living there, nor had he been aware of its existence. He’d asked the sea to guide him to where she would be safe, and it had brought him there.

Outside of the home, he’d found two skeletons. One that was clearly of her people, the bones of her legs had been eerily interesting. And laid out next to her were the bones of one of his own kind. A massive male, with a tail nearly twice as long as Arges’s, speaking of his age and power. They had been curled up next to each other, almost as though the sea didn’t even dare move their skeletons. Together, even in death.

She waved for him to come underneath the dome, to join her in this home he had found. He almost wanted to tease her more. To stay laid out where he knew his tail was most impressive and his muscles were very obvious. He just wanted her to look at him. That’s what it all came down to. He wanted her to look at him and see temptation just as he did with her.

“You humans and your names for everything.”

“My people kiss. We press our mouths together. It feels good. Do your people do that?”

He had only wanted her more. Wanted to dig himself into her skin and coil around her heart until he was wrapped so firmly around it that he knew it would only beat for him.

And when she was almost drifting off to sleep, she muttered, “This can’t be comfortable for you. You’re laying on a hard floor.” “You’d be surprised, Mira.” Then she swore he added, “Having you in my arms is the most comfortable I’ve ever been.”

“Kairos,” he murmured, gently dragging his finger down her cheek.

“For us, it is a fleeting but crucial moment. An ephemeral rightness of time and place. A moment that brings you to where you were supposed to be.”

“Soft,” she whispered. “Not always, but soft is always a good start. We touch. Linger. We use our tongue and fingers to bring the other person pleasure.” “Tongues?” he tilted his head, watching her with a narrowed gaze. “You jest?” “I do not.”

She gasped, her rebreather suddenly not giving her anywhere near enough oxygen. “You have two?” “Most creatures in the sea do,” he grunted, but she felt him still against her back. “Your kind do not?”

How did he deserve a woman like this? How had he found someone who was so fierce and yet so soft at the same time? He was a fool for her.

“So what you’re saying is I shouldn’t need the rebreather as long as we’re connected?” “I imagine it will be an uncomfortable experience to get used to. It’s very similar to having a machine breathing for you. You would not need to breathe at all, because air is being directly sent to your lungs through your neck. It is... fascinating. It shouldn’t work, but it very well might.”

LOL "dont think too hard about how this works"

Tears dripped from her eyes into the water below. Salty tears joining the salty water that had kept her away from him for such a long time. "So you think I should stay," she whispered. "I think he loves you very much, and I can see that you love him. Leaving would only send you back to the city, where you already said you weren't very happy. Why not take a risk on an adventure while you're here?"

"Stop! Stop wait!" And that did it. He froze, his claws still outstretched but this time he stared at her like she'd turned bright blue and told him she was actually just a fruit.

Arges reached out his hand and laid it between her breasts. “You hold my soul, kairos. Keep it safe for me.”

Arching against his touch, she tried to remember what they had been talking about. “So your plan is to work with the achromos, then? You want to make a deal with them?” “My plan is to bring you to a grotto and fuck you where the water is warm and you can be comfortable.” He nipped at her neck, his sharp teeth likely leaving marks. “I want to hear the sounds you make again, this time with nothing standing in our way. I want to know that you are mine, and I am yours.”