Page 26 of Ocean of Silver

I took a moment, pretending to think it over. “And if I win?”

He arched his brow. “What do you want?”

“I want two things,” I said, surprising myself.

He chuckled. “Greedy thing,” he joked as he ran his fingers through his hair. I couldn’t help but notice how he bobbed in the water. Sinking too low for his muscular body. He spit out some water that had entered his mouth. I loathed the fact that my eyes darted to his wet lips. What would it be like to taste the water on them? I bristled, furious that the thought even crossed my mind. I had to remind myself that he was forced to train me. We weren’t two friends hanging out by choice.

“I want to know something about you, something that I don’t know. No. Tell me somethingno oneknows about you.” He still felt like a stranger to me, and even though I’d been spending my entire days with him, I found myself wanting to know more.

“Done,” he laughed. “And the second thing?”

“I want you to answer whatever question I ask, and you have to answer honestly.”

He was silent for a moment before agreeing. “Okay, but onlyonequestion. If I win, you have to do whatever I want.”

I didn’t get the time to respond or even process what that meant before he was gliding toward the shore. I dove under the surface and stroked as fast as my body could take me because I did not want to find out what he’d want me to do. I didn’t feel as weak in the water as I did on land. I didn’t notice that my muscles weren’t what they used to be or that I was still slowly recovering from months of being starved. In the water, everything was different. I felt lifeless and alive all at once. I just swam, becoming one with the ocean. I could see Tezya swimming at an unnaturally fast speed above me, which only made me pump my arms and kick my legs harder, putting everything I had into this race.

When I finally reached the shallow end, I stood up and sprinted the rest of the way toward the hut. The waves were pushing against my back, egging me forward. I stole a glance behind me as I felt Tezya’s fingers graze my arm. He was trying to grab me, probably to throw me behind him. “That’s cheating,” I squealed. I could hear him mumbling something in return, but I didn’t pay attention as I focused on my target ahead of me.

I stopped abruptly as I finally made it out of the water. Turning around, Tezya nearly tumbled into me. “I win,” I grinned and realized that I was actually laughing, that my cheeks hurt from smiling.

“Next time we do that, I want to time you.”

“Why?” I asked breathless. Now that I was standing on the hot sand, I realized my entire body was shaking.

“Because I’ve never lost a race before.” He was smiling back at me, which only made me grin wider as a feeling of triumph washed over me.

“What would you have made me do if you won?” I asked because if he never lost a race before, it dawned on me that he went into this fully confident that he’d win.

“I’m only answering that if that’s the question you want to ask me.”

“No,” I blurted a little too fast. There was no way I was wasting my question on curiosity. And as much as I wanted to know, I needed to use it wisely. I needed to learn something about my situation, but I had to be careful and make sure it was something he could answer.

“What’s the question you want to ask me then?”

“Hmm, I’ll think about it,” I said, dramatically putting my pointer finger over my lips. “We never agreed to a time that I could call in my win. But you also owe me one too. You have to tell me something that no one knows about you.”

“Okay,” he laughed as he walked to catch up with me on the sand. “I absolutely hate strawberries. They’re the worst fruit ever.”

A high pitch squeal escaped me. I was not expecting that. “That is sacrilegious. Strawberries are the best fruit. Next to bananas, of course.”

“Bananas I can get on board with,” he grinned, and we both laughed.

“That doesn’t count. I’m sure somebody else knows that you hate strawberries. I said it has to be something that no one knows about you.”

His smile faltered. “You’re right. I’ll think of something.”

“What? No. I want to know something now.”

He smirked. “How did you just phrase it?We never agreed to a timeor something like that…”

“That’s not fair,” I frowned, realizing he was using my own words against me.

Tezya shook out his hair, water spraying onto my face, before he suddenly became deathly serious. “I forgot to tell you, but your results are back. I brought them with me. They’re in my bag. I’ll have to give them to the King tomorrow when we make it back to the castle. He’s been waiting on them. But… I thought we’d look at them together first.”

I shuddered thinking about that test. “You didn’t look at them?” I asked.

“No, I waited for you. We can do it now if you want.”

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