Song of the Abyss

How could I? When your hair is the color of the sun on a cloudless day? When your smile warms the entire ocean around me? When I touch you, your soul is so familiar to me. It is like I have known you in a hundred lifetimes before this, and some part of me that I’ve forgotten wishes to bury itself inside you. It tells me to cling to the curve of your waist, to clutch at the feeling in my chest that lingers when you are near. My soul wishes to keep you and never let you go.

Bowing his head, he murmured, “I honor your reminder. The darkness and the depths do no favors for my state of mind. I should not seek out the shadows when there is so much to see in the light.

Come back to me,” he growled, before shoving the rebreather aside with his nose and kissing her once again. It felt like a brand. Like he knew this could be the last time either of them saw each other, and he refused to let this end without her knowing how much he wanted her. Heart thundering in her chest, she kissed him back with every ounce of hope in her chest. She would get back to him, no matter how hard that was.

When the first and last tear slid down his temple, he felt the spasm of death take him. His powerful tail curled up toward his body, the muscles bunching despite the drugs they had filled him with. Then and only then did he feel the sea reach to take him back.

With her chin on his shoulder, she watched Alpha disappear behind them. Her home was gone. But her heart was free.

who had kidnapped her.

The moment she walked through the bathroom, she dumped her armful of stuff on the floor. She could already see him. The dark fringes of his fins were sticking out of the pipe that led into her private bath. And if she peered a little harder, squinted her eyes to see better, she could see there was a face looking at her through the water. It really was him. Not that Anya had a lot of experience with undines, but she assumed she would be able to recognize this one no matter where he was. Those scars decorating his shoulders, the dark glint in his eyes, all of it hinted at a man possessed by a plan and barely leashed rage. Maybe that was what called to her about him. He was angry, and she was angry, and maybe two monstrous people were supposed to find each other. They’d either end up like a bomb or they would fizzle out beating against each other’s rage.

I am Daios,” he replied, because what else was he supposed to say? He didn’t know what to do with someone like this. She clung to him like some of the cleaning fish that followed him when he swam through waters that were closer to shore. And when she peeled one of those strange, pale eyes open to glare at him, he almost grinned at her. She was a monstrous little thing underneath that strange exterior. Or she was insane. One or the other. He wasn’t sure which was better. Part of him wanted her to be insane, because no achromo should so easily throw herself at what was a terrifying creature from the depths. If she was lacking in sense, at least then he knew that he should expect the unexpected from her. But if she wasn’t senseless? If this was just a strange moment between the two of them where she had decided she wanted to touch him? Daios wasn’t sure he was prepared for that.

If I’m guessing right, you’re here for a reason.” He nodded. “For me?” He lifted a hand and tilted it side to side. He was here for her, yes, but they really wanted to strike at her father. They needed a chance to prove that his people would fight to the bitter end against the achromos if required. His people would be left alone, and they would take their sea back. She licked her lip again, that aggravating movement stealing his mind until she spoke. “If you are here to take me away, then I want the same thing.” For a moment, he was tongue tied. What did she mean she wanted the same thing? Surely not. She was the General’s daughter. A paragon and figure of this place. Everyone knew that she was the General’s golden child, according to Mira. She must have seen the confusion on his features. “I will explain everything if you can get me out of this city. Can you do that?” He nodded, reaching for her. This had played into his plan so well, he almost had a hard time believing it.

She was so small and delicate. So easy for him to hurt and he didn’t want to hurt her. He shouldn’t want to mate a weak creature. He should search for the strongest, the most powerful, the best. Someone he couldn’t best or overcome in a fight. The People of Water valued strength, not delicacy. So while she turned her attention to stopping the alarm and freeing them from that gods awful noise, he’d fled. He couldn’t look at her when he feared what he might do if he stayed for even a moment longer. What if, for the briefest of moments, he fell to weakness like he had before? Daios had spent his entire life knowing that he was a weapon. He was proud of the danger that his body posed for almost anyone who was around him. That was his role.

What do you dream of?” His gaze flicked down to her lips. Maybe she would have missed the movement if she didn’t know him so well, but she did. She had come to read this creature as well as she could read herself. He licked his lips, that black tongue doing more to her than it should have. “I want to find someone who doesn’t fear me. I want to know that when I come home, there is a soft place to rest my head, and someone who cares if I had a hard day, or if I am upset. I want someone to take care of, and who takes care of me in return. That is what I dream of, kalon.” Tears pricked her eyes. This sweet, terrifying man had lived a life she couldn’t imagine.

They named me the enemy of yours.

Then he could only hear Mira scolding Anya, who couldn’t hear a word anyone was saying. “What were you thinking, doing all that by yourself? You should have set the bombs and run. That’s some stupid shit I would have pulled and I don’t appreciate anyone else doing it.

Mira shook her head. “You’re calling for a war.” In his arms, she shook. He could feel her trembling with emotion, and some part of him whispered it might be fear. “No,” Anya replied. “I’m calling for a massacre.

What are you wearing?” he said, his mouth warping around the sound so she could only assume he hissed the words. “Bitsy, turn translation back on,” she said, certain that she was a little too loud. “I’m sorry, Dad, what did you say?” Again the nostril flare. Again, the pinched lips that surely meant he was about to explode. “I said, what are you wearing?” She liked to remind him whenever she could that she’d lost her hearing. It was, after all, his fault. And the man had been exposing her to situations that made her uncomfortable ever since. Oh, his poor baby girl was surely too fragile to do things on her own. That was the excuse he always said. But it wasn’t for that reason. No, he wanted to keep her under his thumb because he didn’t trust her. The old man was far too observant. “The clothes you sent me,” she replied. “You are wearing flat shoes!” Bitsy underlined and made the words shake in red.

Still, her pretty sea-blue eyes haunted him until he paused at the rendezvous place where he and Maketes were staking out the city. He could still see her eyes. His fingers could still feel her, trailing her fingers along his webbing like she wasn’t tapping her way through his carefully laid defenses.

The fire that burned inside him was one that she could easily stoke or extinguish. He’d always thought his rage and hatred would come before anything else. But this woman could make him pause if she wished.

So he did not trust that primal part of his mind

Daios wanted to turn to her and say that he would keep her safe. If she wished to send him out into the world as her weapon of destruction, he would massacre anything in her way.

I want to find someone who doesn’t fear me. I want to know that when I come home, there is a soft place to rest my head, and someone who cares if I had a hard day, or if I am upset. I want someone to take care of, and who takes care of me in return. That is what I dream of, kalon.

My lack of arm has nothing to do with feeling whole. A metal device or not, I was never whole before you. You were the first person to look at me and see a man after my injury. Not a mistake, not a failure. You were the one to see me.

Mira’s voice interrupted him with a hissed, “That’s the most words I’ve ever heard him say in one sitting.

Careful what you say, Anya. We’ve taken you in and given you this much leeway, but don’t think we cannot make you an unwilling captive.

Sighing, she tilted her head away from them a bit and looked up through the glass. At least she got a glimpse of Daios every day. He swam by the glass dome often. Whenever she caught his eye, he would nod at her and angle his body away from her sight. Just like he used to. All that forward momentum was lost. She worried maybe he didn’t even want to see her. He’d delivered her like a package he’d wanted to get rid of. Then he’d disappeared into the ocean. How was she supposed to feel? After that kiss, the way he’d touched her, and how she’d come apart in his arms… He’d dumped her and left, like he hadn’t wanted to be around her anymore. After everything they’d talked about and everything... Well, maybe she’d just been entertainment while they laid low so her father’s ships couldn’t find them. Maybe she was the only weird one who saw a man who had needed someone to see him.

She shouldn’t

I want you, Daios. I don’t know why or how, but I do. Every bit of you. Your anger, your rage, your pain. I want that just as much as I want your attention and your adoration.

Fuck this,” she muttered. “Pardon me?” the woman said. Or at least, Anya thought that was what she said. The woman had turned at the last second, making it hard for her to read her lips. “You’re pardoned,” Anya replied, and then brushed past her.

The People of Water have always been alone. The achromos, what we call your people, they have always been separate from our kind. But a year ago, a woman arrived. My brother took her as his mate and they have been discovering all the ways that we... fit.” He winced at the choice of words. That was a terrible way to explain this to her, and she likely thought... Well, he didn’t want to know what she thought. Shaking his head, he continued as he lowered her further into the water. The waves lapped at her neck now, and she clung to him as she hadn’t when they first fled from her city. “There are parts of me that can help you.” He cleared his throat. “It won’t hurt very much, but it will feel strange.” She struggled to pull away from him, but he didn’t let her. He couldn’t. If he thought for a moment he was hurting her, then he wouldn’t be able to do this. Biting his lip, he whispered again, “I promise it won’t hurt.

Leaning down, he pressed his lips to that graceful arch of her neck. He let his mouth linger, and then couldn’t stop himself from flicking his tongue against her skin. Her moan vibrated in his ear as her taste burst on his tongue. She tasted so fucking good. Warm and sweet, her pulse throbbing against his tongue where her heart raced as though she knew how much danger she was in. No, not danger. He shoved the haze away from his mind to realize she had arched in front of him. Her back bowing, she presented herself to him like she had no restraint either. A low growl rumbling through his chest. He laved her pulse with his tongue. Slow and methodical, he drew the entire bumpy texture down her neck to her collarbone. Drawing back, he knew his sharp exhale would send cold goosebumps dancing down her flesh. And he couldn’t stop himself now. He’d had a taste, but it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t nearly enough. Another growl rumbled through him as he curved his clawed hand around her waist. The blanket still separated them, and he didn’t dare move it. The barrier was good. The barrier reminded him that he couldn’t go too far with this, no matter how much they both wished for it.

Why?” Her gaze searched his. “Why did you bring these to me?” His mouth opened, the words ready to fall from his lips. Because I want to keep you for myself. Because if I keep you, feed you, bring you everything you ever dreamt of, maybe you’ll give me a chance. Because no one has made me want them as much as I want you. Instead, what he said was, “I wanted to.” Her lips twisted into a little half smile. “A man of many words, aren’t you?