Page 65 of Song of the Abyss

“Anya.” The two women shook hands, all while he narrowed his eyes and couldn’t stop looking at where Mira was touching her.

Was she gripping Anya too hard? She wasn’t so delicate that she couldn’t handle a firm handshake, but he didn’t want her to be uncomfortable here. He didn’t want her to be afraid of anyone here.

The water stirred beside him and Arges lifted himself onto the mats beside the moon pool. The graceful movement didn’t startle the other two women in the slightest, not like Daios had. Instead, Arges shook his hair back and grinned at Anya.

“Making friends, yet?”

“I don’t know.” Anya replied with a laugh. She adjusted Bitsy again, the only sign that she was slightly nervous. “I’m still not sure what you want me to do here.”

“We’re not either.” Arges shrugged. “I think there’s a lot you could do for us, but we want to talk with you about that first. We’ll let you get settled before we fill your mind with all the possibilities. We don’t want you to think you’re stuck here.”

Right. Because they were all still under the impression that he had kidnapped her. Stolen her away from her home like a creature who had snuck out of the depths to drag her into the undercurrents with him.

He awkwardly yanked himself out of the water as well, having to brace himself on his good arm as his gills flared a little wider. “She’s not afraid of us,” he growled.

Mira crossed her arms in front of her chest and he noticed how she moved just slightly in between him and Anya. “Daios. It’s a lot for anyone to process, especially someone who grew up in Alpha. I know you think you’re helping, but you’re very large and intimidating.”

“She’s not afraid of me,” he hissed.

All his fins flared even more. He wanted to puff himself up even larger. Intimidate the hell out of this achromo who thought she had the right to stand between him and Anya.

He knew this was ridiculous. Anya was somewhere safe. He should be happy and satisfied knowing that nothing would happen to her here. But he wanted... something. Something that he couldn’t figure out and that was so frustrating.

Anya stepped around Mira, walking over to him until she was all that he could see. She blocked out everyone else in the room, with her sweet face and golden hair that always reminded him of sunlight. Her expression was soft, not like the others, who looked at him with distrust and sometimes disgust on their features.

He knew he was lacking in many things. Kindness, softness, the ability to see what other people were feeling and react accordingly. His outside now matched that monstrous interior, and some days he was ashamed of that.

But when she placed her hand on his wounded shoulder, so covered with scars that some of his scales had lifted over the worn skin, he didn’t feel so ugly. Daios forgot what he looked like when she touched him like that.

“I’m going to be fine here,” she said, a soft smile on her face. “But they are right. You are very large and you take up quite a bit of room.”

He didn’t mind it so much when she said that. In fact, it almost felt like a compliment. Especially when her fingers squeezed the broad muscles of his shoulders and danced up to the side of his neck.

The slightest brush against his gills had his eyes rolling back in his head. In mixed company, she shouldn’t touch him like this. But she didn’t know... couldn’t know...

When he finally opened his eyes again, he saw a vixen smile on her lips. She knew what she did to him. And she liked having that control.

“I promise, I won’t talk about too much while you aren’t here,” she said. “But I think that I want to settle in, and perhaps let Bitsy and Byte catch up. I’d like to get warm, change out of this wetsuit into something more comfortable. Then we’ll call you back so we can all talk together. How does that sound?”

Even though he didn’t love it, he nodded all the same. “I’ll find you something to eat.”

“I think she has food here.”

“Nothing like what I can get you.” He brushed his shorter arm down hers, gently tracing the soft skin there. And he imagined that his phantom hand also slid down her back. “Be safe, kalon.”

He saw his brother twitch at the word, but then Daios was already sinking into the water of the moon pool. He had to pretend he didn’t overhear Mira’s exclaimed, “Well, you’re a beast tamer, aren’t you?”

24

Anya

As soon as Daios left, a whirlwind of movement swept her up. Mira meant the best, Anya could tell. The other woman was a veritable storm of a human being, though. She was loud and boisterous, or at least that’s what Anya thought, from the way she used her hands when she talked and the constant exclamation points that Bitsy threw up. She could only imagine that Mira was nearly shouting whenever she opened her mouth.

The amount of swears that woman uttered, it was impressive to say the least. And they were usually directed at Arges, who stayed at the edge of the moon pool with an amused expression on his face. Mira wasn’t scared of him at all.

Neither was Anya, when she looked inside herself. She should have had some amount of healthy apprehension about the new undines. After all, this was a group of people who had ordered her to be kidnapped and then brought to their doorstep. She had no idea what they wanted with her, or what their plans were.

But they didn’t seem like they wanted to hurt her. And she also didn’t think Daios would let them.

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