Page 48 of Song of the Abyss

Because if I keep you, feed you, bring you everything you ever dreamt of, maybe you’ll give me a chance.

Because no one has made me want them as much as I want you.

Instead, what he said was, “I wanted to.”

Her lips twisted into a little half smile. “A man of many words, aren’t you?”

But he knew that expression on her face. He could see the way the half smile stayed, and her eyes crinkled just a little. There was a sparkle in her gaze as she held out the next oyster for him to open with his claw. All of this meant she was amused by him. That she... maybe enjoyed his company.

Daios didn’t know what to do with any of that. People tolerated him, they didn’t enjoy him being around. He was too difficult, too forward, and certainly too angry for anyone to really want to spend time with.

So all he could do in response was grunt, open the next one with a sharp twist of his nail, and then smile at her chortle of glee.

“There’s another one!”

Heart squeezing, he told himself to store this memory away for when he no longer had her. Her happiness was a fleeting moment he would cling to for the rest of his life. He scooped the next pearl out for her, so she wouldn’t have to touch the oyster she found so disgusting. “Here you are, kalon. Another for your collection.”

18

Anya

She’d gotten used to their routines, although she still wasn’t sure why she was here. Bitsy had pointed it out multiple times. He’d kidnapped her. Taken her away from the city for a reason, and she hadn’t delved into the why.

But did it matter? She was out of Alpha. No one knew where she was yet, and she was able to work with Ace as often as she needed to figure out a new plan. Not that they were getting anywhere with that. Alpha was shut down after her disappearance, apparently, and no one was entering or exiting the city.

“Your father is in a rage,” she read on the screen as Ace sent their newest message. “Tearing the whole city apart.”

She braced her feet up on the consoles in front of her and wrapped the blanket around her shoulders a little tighter. “Good. He deserves to be a little scared after everything he’s done.”

“It’s affecting our plan.”

“What do you want me to do?” She dropped her feet onto the ground with a hard thud. “Do you want me to go back?”

There was a long pause before three little bubbles blinked in front of her eyes. Clearly, Ace was typing. And her little droid thought it was smart to let her know that Ace was typing, then deleting, then typing more, as her partner tried very hard to figure out what to say.

“What do you mean, go back?” Ace finally asked.

Shit. She hadn’t told Ace she had left, had she? That was a problem. The lie she’d originally told her counterpart was that she was still in Alpha, but she was safe in a new place where her father couldn’t find her. That was easy enough to pretend.

But she couldn’t keep lying if they were going to make this work. “Bitsy,” she said, pinching between her eyes. “Send Ace my location.”

When she finally opened her eyes, there were words hovering in front of the consoles. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. Someone needs to know where I am, just in case something goes wrong.”

Bitsy played an animation of an envelope throwing itself into the wind. At least now she knew someone would come to recover her body if she froze to death here. Her gaze caught on movement in the murk beyond the facility. She really wished there was a light out there. Because it seemed like nothing came to this area of the ocean. She hadn’t even seen a fish, but she was quite certain they were out there.

Frowning, she leaned forward to stare off into the distance. “Bitsy, do you see anything in the water?”

Her droid turned its attention to the glass even as Ace sent a message through. “What do you mean, you’re in the middle of the ocean? Where the fuck are you?”

“An abandoned research facility, I think,” she replied, leaning even closer to the glass. “It was one of my father’s failed experiments, I guess.”

“How the fuck has no one caught you yet?”

“I don’t know. Bitsy is using minimal energy and redirected it all. Unless someone is actively looking at this space, I don’t think they’ll realize I’m here if the energy output is the same.”

Of course, it would be nice if she had some heat. She was so tired of being cold all the time.

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