Page 47 of Song of the Abyss

Taking the next one off, he waited for her to balance it before prying it open again. “They are wet, I suppose.”

“What do they taste like?”

“Salty.”

That damned wrinkle deepened. It made him want to press his thumb there, to ease the tension from her features.

“You’re not really making these sound good,” she said with a soft laugh. “Wet and salty isn’t on my list of things that I like to eat.”

He opened the next one a little harder, and his claw thunked against the metal floor. “I am wet and salty.”

She blinked, her mind clearly trying to catch up to what he had just said. He wasn’t even sure why he had said it. He was wet and salty, but what did it matter if she didn’t like those things? Sure, he had tasted her tears. The flavor was still on his tongue as one of the best he’d ever tasted, even better than the oysters he had brought her.

It didn’t matter if she didn’t like him. He was her captor. He didn’t even know what he was doing with her here or why he was keeping her here for such a long time.

It was wrong. He was wrong. Everything about this situation was wrong, and he should...

Her hand touched his jaw, gently stroking down his neck to his gills. “Thankfully, I have no intention of eating you. So it doesn’t matter if I don’t like wet and salty foods.”

Right. He was overreacting.

Grunting, he ran his claw over the oyster to find that there was exactly what he was looking for inside of it. Nerves churned in his belly.

She had no way of knowing that, step by step, he’d been completing a mating process that was as old as time. His ancestors had done it years and years ago. They were the ones who had started this ritual by listening to their gut and the sea who guided them. She didn’t know what it meant when he brought her food, or that he had kept her to himself so no other competing males could find her.

The last time he’d tried any of this, he’d been shot down so quickly it had made his gills ache. He’d been told he was too large, too bumbling, and that his hunting skills were lacking. Back then, he’d brought his chosen one a necklace made of bones. The back of it had been a massive shark jaw, and she’d looked at him like he was a fool.

Perhaps he should tell her. He should probably explain why he was doing all this and yet, that same instinct told him not to. Hooking his finger around his treasure, he held it up so she could see it.

A tiny, pale pearl perched on his claw. He had a feeling she would have the same reaction as all the other females before. It was too small, too dull. A pearl like this wasn’t nearly enough to impress a female like Anya.

But then her breath rushed out of her lungs in a very long, “Oh.”

Anya reached for the pearl, her hand shaking as she took it off his claw. Like she was scared that the slightest breath on it would make it tumble from his grip and she would lose it.

She cradled it in one hand, turning it this way and that in the light. “I’ve only seen these...” She lost her words, her hands fluttering with movement that was so pretty he forgot it was a language. He should be listening to her, but instead, he was just enjoying the way her hands moved.

He tried to catch what she was saying, but there weren’t a lot of words there that he knew. He could only wait until she finally gathered herself enough to say, “This is so pretty. I’ve seen pearls before. I just... I’ve never seen where they came from.”

“You like it?”

“I really do,” she breathed, her voice the tiniest whisper that was so hard to hear. “It’s beautiful. Are there more?”

He gestured to all the oysters beside her. “We won’t know until we find them.”

“Oh.” She sniffed hard, and he eyed her to make sure she wasn’t crying again. “I feel bad that we have to kill them to get the pearls.”

His teeth flashed in a dark grin. “I was going to eat them anyway, kalon.”

Her eyes widened a bit, but then she grinned right back at him. “Okay, then. If you’re sure.”

He touched his claws to his hearts and then gestured to the other oysters. “I am certain. They cannot feel much pain. Now, let’s gather you a fist full of pearls.”

“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.

---