Page 45 of Guarded By the Vodnik

Chapter 16

Zoe

I stroked his nape, keeping my feelings to myself. I had a hunch Vodyan would think I pitied him if I let him know how I felt, but it wasn’t pity. I was deeply sorry someone had hurt this magnificent, strong, beautiful man and convinced him he was bound to be a disappointment.

Will you forgive me?

I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed my face into the crook of his neck. He sounded so unsure of himself, so sad, when he said that. It nearly broke my heart. As soon as I realized where that must have come from, I couldn’t hold back the words of affection and praise, because I longed to soothe him and show him how amazing he was. Yet for a moment, I was afraid they were too much.

Whatever Vodyan’s wounds were, they made him skittish, which was understandable. He’d already opened up so much, and I was afraid to push him too hard. So even though I knew I definitely wanted a relationship with him, not just friendship, I left the choice to him. Commitment could be scary, so I did my best to make it sound light and playful.

I kept my heartbroken anger to myself. And I didn’t ask, even though I desperately wanted to know who hurt him so horribly.

“Thank you,” Vodyan said after a while, his voice carefully neutral. “You can trust me. I’ll keep you safe.”

“I know.”

We traveled in silence after that, but it was peaceful and cozy. I breathed water, even though it should have been impossible. It floated in through my nose, cool and pleasant, and at first, I’d expected to choke, to drown.

But kissing Vodyan helped me ease into it until I grew accustomed to this weird, magical experience. I was dying to know how that was even possible, but I put off asking him for later.

As we swam evenly, I kept my eyes closed, since I didn’t see anything without my goggles. But I didn’t sleep. I spent that time trying to detangle everything I knew about Vodyan and wondering why he’d become so important to me so quickly.

Was it because he was the only person around when I was at my lowest and loneliest? I didn’t think so, but just to test that theory, I tried to imagine the same scenario with different people I knew accompanying me instead of him.

And it felt wrong. Because none of those other people smiled so rarely that every smile felt like an intoxicating victory. They didn’t listen to my stupid rambling with attentiveness one might reserve for an amazing lecturer. They didn’t bother answering my idiotic questions and just being near me in such a quiet, protective way.

They didn’t have this unabashed, direct way of speaking that I suspected was born from reticence. Vodyan was a man of few words, so he used them wisely.

And still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was an entire volcano of words just brewing inside him and waiting for the right moment to spill out. I craved to be the one to hear them once they came out, and I wanted it so much, that longing hurt deep in my chest.

He never told me much about himself, and I had only glimpses into his solitary life filled with work and training to keep his skills sharp. His existence seemed so desolate, just like the underwater landscape of the lake. Murky dark water, perpetual cold, and monsters hiding in the deep.

Was that what Vodyan’s life felt like?

When he made a low, growling sound as his muscles hardened around me, I shivered from fear.

“Lamias?” I whispered.

“No,” Vodyan answered in a low, grating voice. “Nothing dangerous. Don’t worry.”

“Okay,” I said, but I didn’t relax.

When his hand spasmed against my hip where he held me to him, my curiosity prompted me to speak. He was obviously triggered by something, and at this point, I was invested in finding out who hurt him and whether they were still alive so I could… Well, I didn’t know what I would do yet, but I’d figure it out. It would be vicious and painful, that was certain.

“It’s nothing dangerous, but you clearly don’t like it,” I said carefully.

It was an invitation to share but not a question, because those could put pressure on the other person. And I didn’t want to pressure him, no matter how curious I was. He already had enough to deal with.

Vodyan was quiet for a while, and I resigned myself to never learning what horrid, dark thing hiding in the depths made him tense, when he surprised me by speaking up. He slowed down until we were barely moving.

“We’ve just passed a shipwreck graveyard. The biggest one in the lake.”

I shivered, remembering I’d read about those. Now I was grateful I didn’t see it. There was something eerie about those sunken ships holding bodies that wouldn’t decompose, the entire structures enclosed in giant cages so no one would desecrate the graveyards.

Not that anyone should. But the reason those cages were necessary—to keep morbidly fascinated people away—gave me the ick. The dead should be left alone.

“And you don’t like them?” I asked after Vodyan relaxed a bit, making a low hum that lit his throat but didn’t penetrate the ubiquitous gloom.

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