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Black, entirely. Inky and dark, they stared straight through her as though she was nothing. Just a maggot wriggling beneath him.
Everyone who had ever whispered about undines claimed they were unfeeling monsters. But this one wasn’t. Hate like this burned through a person for years before it ever got this hot. He wanted to murder her, and he didn’t care if anyone would miss her. She could see all of that in his angry gaze.
She tasted like the deep candies that his people liked. Tiny pods of bright flavor that burst on the tongue and made the back of his mouth salivate. Not quite sour, but a flavor that both hurt and intrigued.
She might not know it yet, but that achromo was his. And he intended to take her.
She was every temptation he’d ever had, all wrapped up in a body he should hate and a mind that was far too devious. Mira was dangerous, he knew that. And yet, some part of him still wanted to keep her as his own.
“Good,” he said quietly, knowing that she couldn’t understand him. “Because I would have turned the waters black with their blood. I don’t care that he’s my brother, or that the others have been in my pod for years. They do not understand the value or the worth of your life, kairos, and I will not stand for their mistreatment of you.” Brushing his fingers gently through her hair, he added, “You are dear to me now, Mira. I fear I have brought you into a world where you can only meet your end.”
He ran his fingers through her hair, letting it float across his shoulder and tangle around his neck. Just as he wished to feel her. Tangled up in him. Just as tangled as he was in her.
They would never be able to be anything other than two people who wished they could be together. And that would break them, eventually.
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.
He had found a mate, a true burning light that even now warmed his chest. He’d almost had her, and now they tried to take her away. She was his. His to take, to steal, to kiss. And oh, what a kiss. He’d seen humans do it before, but he had never thought devouring another person would make him feel so complete. 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.
“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.”
“You make my hearts bleed when you worry like that.” “Hearts?” “I have two.” Arges brought her hand to first one, then the other. “One beats for my people, and it will never stop beating for them. But the other beats for you, Mira. I’m sorry it took me such a long time to realize that.”
“You are a gift from the sea, Mira. A rare pearl I am so lucky to have found. I do love you, you know. More than anything else in this world. You hold my soul in your chest. Wherever you go, I will never be far from you.”
