Page 62 of Song of the Abyss

“The translation through this chip is not perfect.” He tilted his head to the side and gestured at his ear with his short arm. “But yes. We are born externally after growth, and then emerge from what you call a purse.”

“You just come out?” A shocked almost shout interrupted them.

She looked over at the blue undine, realizing his colors were suddenly vivid. The lights underneath his skin had flared so brightly, it was almost difficult to look at him before he dimmed them.

He flicked his tail, swimming almost too close to her, so he peered down into her eyes. “What did you just say?”

“I don’t know what you’re asking,” she stammered.

“Humans have live births?”

She arched a brow. That hardly seemed like something he needed to focus on, but... “Yes?”

Daios used his shorter arm to shove the other undine away, sending his actual brother careening through the water until he bumped against Maketes. “Space, Arges. You’ve never learned much about it.”

Arges, she thought, stowing away the name for later. They all had such interesting names, but of course they did.

The undines were people. They had a culture and a vast history she knew nothing about. And yet, they acted like the men she’d known before in her life. Shoving and gesturing and posturing all the time until she almost forgot they weren’t human. Their relationships were similar. Enough for her to realize quickly that this life might be too easy for her to get used to.

Maketes grabbed onto Arges by the shoulders, spinning him around. “You didn’t know that?”

“No, I didn’t know that!” Arges ran his fingers through his hair, the long locks billowing around him like a cloud. “Why wouldn’t she tell me?”

“Well, I don’t know. Maybe she thought you knew that it was... was...”

With a soft movement of the tail between her legs, Daios moved past the other two. Their arguments carried through the water, but the red scaled undine who had her in his arm had no plans to listen, apparently.

“You don’t want me to stay and clarify?” she asked, bracing her arms straight against his chest so the current didn’t shove her flat against his skin.

“No,” he rumbled.

“Why not?”

A slight smirk appeared on his lips, disappearing just as quickly. “I enjoy watching him struggle.”

Smacking his chest, she shook her head. “He’s your brother.”

“And that does not change my enjoyment.” He glanced down at her, that expression softening again while he just... looked. “But if you wish for me to turn around, I will.”

Unable to hold his gaze, she bit her lip and shook her head. “Where are you taking me?”

He pointed to the dome, and she was so relieved to know she’d be dry soon enough. “There is a woman here. Mira. She is Arges’s mate. She was the one who wished for me to find you.”

“Is that so? Do I know her?” Anya couldn’t imagine why anyone would ask her for unless they maybe worked with Ace. But Ace wasn’t someone she had ever met in person, so how would Daios have known to grab her?

“No,” he replied gruffly, moving so they were underneath the golden dome and just beneath a moon pool. “You do not know her.”

“Then why are we here?”

Anya couldn’t be more confused. Especially as he hesitated. Daios sighed, then leaned forward to press their foreheads together. He breathed her in. She could see him doing it, his gills moving and sucking in all the air around her.

With a long sigh, he rotated his head against hers. As if he were rubbing his scent into her flesh. “Don’t think less of me, my kalon. Not for this, and not after anything they tell you.”

“Why would I think less of you?” Tentatively, she cupped the sides of his neck just underneath his gills. She had to wait for him to exhale into her lungs before she continued. “I may not know you as well as I wish, but my soul knows yours, Daios.”

“We will see,” he murmured, his voice low as his hand wrapped around her waist. With a soft shove, he guided her toward the surface of the moon pool. “I hope you are right.”

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