Page 80 of Whispers of the Deep

“Stop it,” she scolded. “You’re hurt. Get out of the water, Arges.”

“I can’t... Have to get you...”

He wasn’t making any sense. She clambered out of the pool and then turned toward him, grabbing onto his wrists and helping him drag himself out of the water. It took so much effort for him. Eventually, he gave one massive splash of his tail and threw himself onto the floor. But then his tail was still in the water and she didn’t know if that was safe. So she bent and picked up the massive tail, heaving it out of the water with her whole body until she could finally slam the door shut again.

And then she was in the room with an undine. Again. Just like it had been in the beginning.

Their gazes locked before he made a strange undulating motion with his chest again, and she groaned. “Oh, not that again.”

At least he had the decency to turn away from her as he expelled all the water out of his gills. Thankfully, whoever had designed this dome had put vents on the floor near the moon pool. All the water drained who knows where, but at the very least, it wasn’t all over her floor for her to mop up.

But he didn’t look good. As the water came out of his gills, so did more of that dark liquid. Blood, she knew. And that wasn’t all. The lights illuminated countless scratches, wounds, and torn pieces of delicate fins. His breathing was even ragged, rougher than she’d ever seen before.

It hurt her heart to look at him like this.

“What did they do to you?” she asked as she walked around him to get to the medkit.

“Nothing I wouldn’t have done to them,” he replied, quietly grumbling even though she could see how much it hurt him to even speak.

“For what? Keeping me here?”

Medkit in hand, she turned it on him and clicked a button. It would take a few moments for the device to calibrate to his body, and then she could get to work healing him. Of course, he had no idea what she was even holding. She should explain. She should...

Her stomach turned as she rounded his side and saw the extent of the damage. First, rage swelled in her chest. She wanted to kick someone. To break something so that she might get a little of this aggression out. And then her heart just hurt. Mira felt like she might burst into tears as she sank down next to him, carefully reaching out with her hand and grabbing his.

“I don’t know where I can touch you,” she whispered. “Everything looks like it hurts.”

“This doesn’t.” He squeezed her fingers in his and then drew her hand over his chest. She could feel his heart beating, though it was a strange beat compared to her own. “Neither does this. Nothing ever hurts when you touch me.”

A ragged sob made its way out of her mouth. “Arges. You look awful.”

“I feel awful.” But then he rubbed her hand up and down his chest in a soothing motion, and he sighed. “Less awful now.”

Her heart squeezed and every part of her wanted to weep. He didn’t deserve this pain because she was in his life. Leaning down, she pressed their foreheads together and tried to will her own healthy energy into him.

With his wounded arm, he reached up and cupped the back of her head, holding her a little closer. For a moment, it felt like nothing had happened between their kiss and this moment. She could pretend he wasn’t injured if his fingers weren’t shaking as he tried to hold her to him. “I’m so sorry," she whispered again. “I have a tool that will help heal you.”

“In a moment.”

“You’re bleeding all over the floor, Arges.”

“I know.” He inhaled again, and she watched the torn gills on the side of his neck attempt to flutter. But they were so torn up, it was hard for them to move at all. “I just want a few more moments, Mira. Just let me remind myself that you are fine.”

“I am,” she said. “Thanks to you.”

They stayed still for a while. Just breathing each other in, even as she felt the shudders running through his body every time he breathed. He was in so much pain, and yet somehow this was more important.

Finally, she couldn’t stand it anymore. Mira pulled herself away and picked up the medkit. It looked similar to her welder, but this one had a strange goo that healed everything really fast. She had no idea how it worked.

“This doesn’t hurt when I use it on myself, but we have different make ups. I don’t know if it’ll...”

He tilted his head away from her, exposing the wounded gills to her with ease. “I am no stranger to pain, Mira. If it will heal me, then I would rather have it done. It cannot hurt worse than the water did.”

She winced. “I imagine that was painful. If you don’t mind, I’m going to get started. Can you tell me what happened while I do this?”

She thought only to distract him from the pain, but his story made her hands shake. Already she felt terrible as she lifted his torn gills and gently reattached them with the medkit. This time it didn’t use goo like it would have for her. Instead, it seemed to reattach the pieces of his body with a strange, clear, jelly-like substance. But it held everything together, and she knew it would speed up the healing process. At the very least, when she was finished with his gill, his breathing sounded better.

He relaxed a bit into her grip, turning to face her as he told her more of his brother’s anger, and the rage with which he had thrown Arges onto the stones.

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