Page 46 of Guarded By the Vodnik

“No. I hate them. This one the most.”

There was no vehemence in his voice, but I felt the way his body hardened even more. So much pent-up emotion roiled within him, and he kept it all inside—hardened himself not to let it out.

“Do you want to tell me about it?” I asked carefully, afraid I’d scare him away.

He said nothing for a while, but then, he breathed out through his mouth, folding around me as he slowed to a halt. His forearm that was under my butt shifted until I sat in his open palm. His fingers dug into me with compulsive urgency.

“Do whatever helps,” I said without thinking. “Whatever you want.”

He released a low snarl, pressing my face into his neck. His grip on my nape was tight, the sounds he made violent, and yet, I wasn’t afraid.

“You keep doing this to me,” he ground out, his voice sack barely lighting up, his voice was so low. “You keep dragging all these things out until I’m choking. It would serve you right. If I took it out on you.”

He changed the angle of his hand until his finger pressed between my legs. I moaned at the sudden burst of electric pleasure. Fuck, he was angry. And even though it wasn’t appropriate, I felt giddy and eager.

“Okay,” I said simply. “Take it out on me.”

He shivered but didn’t move. We were silent, floating in place, until Vodyan released a long, bubbling breath and resumed swimming.

“I got stuck in one of those graveyards when I was four,” he said quietly.

His palm remained under my ass, but he didn’t move his fingers. I didn’t say anything, waiting for him to continue, and after a moment, he did.

“I was out with my mom. Playing. She took me secretly in a rare moment when my grandfather was away. He didn’t condone playtime. Or letting us go anywhere in the lake without him.”

I nodded against his throat, and his fingers flexed against my buttock. He pressed me more tightly to him, and I embraced him harder with my arms.

“My grandfather hunted lamias. It was his… His way of life. His calling. And my mother… She was young. She had me when she was sixteen. Sometimes, she could be… unthinking.”

My heart thudded, my body covering with a cold sweat under the suit. Whatever was coming would be awful, I just knew. A part of me hated listening to his story already, but I knew telling it must have been so much worse, and the least I could do was listen.

I tried to stroke his nape, which was as hard as stone, but Vodyan barked, “Don’t!”

My fingers stilled instantly, and his chest expanded against me in a long, controlled breath.

“Don’t move, Zoe,” he repeated quietly.

“Okay.”

We swam in tense silence until he spoke again.

“It happened so fast. We were swimming together. She laughed because I chased that fish and whenever I caught it, it would slip out of my grip. She had a beautiful laugh, but it was so rare.”

My heart squeezed painfully, and I itched to move, because that would ease the tension. But Vodyan needed me still, so I obeyed.

“When they came out, she was so shocked. You know, my grandfather trained her ruthlessly, just as he did me, and she probably could have taken one, even two. But there were three.”

I clenched my jaw and forced my body to be completely still. His fingers dug into my flesh painfully, but I didn’t protest. It was a relief, in a way. Something to focus on.

“She told me to run. They converged on her, deciding to leave me for later. They didn’t think I’d manage to get far since I was so small. And you have to understand something.”

He pulled my head away from his throat, grabbing my nape in a firm but painless grip. We were still, slowly sinking into deeper darkness as he angled my head so I would look at him. When he spoke, his light played across the sharp, unforgiving angles of his face.

I didn’t dare make a sound.

“You must understand. I was four. I was a child, and I was terrified. I did what she told me, because she was my mother, and I’d been brought up to obey. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” I choked out, my heart breaking in two.

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