Page 73 of Song of the Abyss

She wanted a friend.

Bitsy drew a large circle around Mira with the words, “You can trust her.”

Taking a deep breath, she looked up at the glass dome and wished there was a familiar red scaled undine floating above her head. “He makes me feel safe.”

Bitsy had to highlight a few exclamation points, and the animated figure of a person shaking with laughter. She could see the image of Mira laughing in the reflection of the glass above her head.

Let her laugh. She didn’t need the other woman to understand how she felt.

But then Bitsy got more insistent, and she looked back to Mira.

The redhead was suddenly quiet, staring at her with an expression that said she was shocked, horrified, and maybe a little bit ill. “Wait, you’re not kidding?”

Anya shook her head. “No, I’m not. He made me feel very safe the whole time I was there.”

“He’s huge, though. You must have been terrified of him when you first saw him.”

Anya tried to remember whether or not she was. It was hard to think back on those moments when she’d first seen him and thought of him as a monster, now that she knew Daios a little better. But she didn’t think she had ever been terrified.

“Not really.” She shrugged. “He was my best option at escape. I grew up with the real monsters, Mira. I have seen what they do and how terrible they are. An undine never seemed so bad when I knew just how powerful they could be. I was looking for a protector, I suppose, and he fit into that role all too well.”

The ghost of his lips against hers pressed to her skin. She could still feel the strength of that powerful arm as he’d dragged her closer. The press of his claws against her flesh. But it wasn’t just those memories that made her feel so soft around him. It was also waking up to him brushing his claws through her hair so there weren’t any tangles when she woke up. It was the low murmur of his voice that she could actually hear, and the way he softened when he looked at her.

“I’ve never felt so cherished,” she said, not even certain that her voice was loud enough to be heard. “I know that’s insanity. He’s someone I don’t know, not really. I haven’t talked to him much about his life or where he came from. I don’t know his struggles or his family or what it was like for him growing up. All I know is that the core of him...” She thumped her fist against her chest. “It’s the same as what is in here.”

Mira watched her with wide eyes, and she thought maybe the other woman wouldn’t believe her. Maybe all those words would feel like a lie.

But then Mira nodded, slowly, but still a nod. “When Arges first kidnapped me, he took me to a facility underwater as well. He hid me away from the others to see if he could convince me to turn on our kind. But then, something happened. The more I saw his resilience, the stoic ferocity that made him who he was, it called out to me. I know what you mean when you say something in here feels the same as what lives in them.”

Anya watched Mira press a hand to her heart as well, and she felt something inside herself unravel. “It should not exist.”

“Perhaps not. Your father would call us abominations for feeling it.” Mira shrugged. “But I have never followed the rules, and I’m not going to start now. I still can’t believe you feel that way about Daios, though. He sucks.”

A little giggle slipped out, and then another. Then, soon enough, Anya had lost all control over her mirth. Laughter bubbled up and out of her mouth, boiling over in hysterics. She’d almost gotten herself under control when she saw Mira was also laughing, and then that set her off all over again.

Finally, they stopped laughing after her stomach muscles screamed in protest. Mira had slid down the wall to sit on her butt, and Anya was braced against a box of growing basil. Her nose was filled with the scent of green things growing, of earth and loam and the calming smell of herbs.

Wiping tears from her eyes, Anya finally managed to say, “He doesn’t suck.”

“He does! He tried to kill me multiple times when I first came here. Even after he’d decided that he wouldn’t do that, he’s always been a gruff bastard.”

“Not to me,” she replied, laughter probably making her words almost impossible to understand. “He’s always been so sweet to me.”

“That’s so hard to imagine.”

She couldn’t imagine why. He always seemed aware of his own strength around her. And he was kinder than any of the people in her city, because he was kind without an ulterior motive. He didn’t want something from her. He just wanted her to smile.

Sighing, she slid down until she was sitting on the floor as well. Leaning her head back against the worn wood, she replied, “He brushed my hair.”

“He what?” Mira even leaned forward with the force of the word. “When?”

“All the time.” She shrugged. “He likes my hair.”

“That’s...” Mira shook her head. “Tell me everything. All I know is the grumbly asshole who tried to kill me. Clearly, I do not know this version of the man.”

And for the first time since she’d been abducted, Anya just relaxed. She told her new friend everything, well, other than the more physical aspects they’d indulged in. She told her all the stories and all the kindness and all the strangeness she’d been feeling.

Mira never judged her, not even once. All she saw was another woman who had fallen in love with an undine, and Anya knew she would be accepted here.

---