Page 40 of Echoes of the Tide

“That’s it,” he muttered, flicking his tail and heading back to the building. “I’m going to check on her.”

“I thought you said nothing could happen between the two of you? That Mira and Anya were just anomalies?”

“Maybe they are!” he shouted back.

“And?”

“And what, Fortis?”

“And what are you going to do about that?” The big male suddenly swept in front of him, stopping his progress with the sheer mass of his bulk. “Are you going to sit around and decidethat the sea is lying to you? That you found this woman for no reason at all, and that you are unworthy of her? Or are you going to do something about it?”

“What would you have me do? I can’t steal her away like in the old days. I can’t take her, hide her, feed her, gift her all the things that I desperately want to give her. I can barely flutter for her, Fortis!”

The depthstrider placed a webbed hand on his chest, the massive clawed hand nearly as large as Maketes’s entire pectoral muscle. Tiny, sharp points of nails dug into his skin. “Barely fluttering is still fluttering, Maketes. It may not be the display you always wished you could give someone, but it is still a display. You are showing her your need, and that is more than you ever have for anyone else.”

Of course it was. Of course, he fluttered for her because she was the best person he’d ever met in his entire life. And probably was the best person he ever would meet in his entire life.

Fortis seemed as though he could tell what was happening behind Maketes’s eyes. Because he gave him a little shove, letting him float a small distance away. “You’re the only one holding yourself back, little brother.”

Maketes hated how right he was. They had only been holding each other back in these moments. Both he and Ace. They’d looked at each other as friends for such a long time, it was hard to be anything else. But maybe, just maybe, they hadn’t allowed themselves to be anything else.

“What if I ruin it?” he asked, his voice wavering with fear. “What if she doesn’t want to be more and then I lose both her and my friendship with her?”

“It is a risk you have to take. What is your future without taking that risk, Maketes? You remain her friend? You watch her find someone else, because she eventually will. If you do not give her another option, then she will never know that option exists.”

Even though this was terrifying, it gave him some sense of purpose. It felt right to swim down this stream. If he could just tell her how he felt, then maybe she would listen. Maybe she would understand that all he wanted was just her attention, even if that attention came from when she was angry.

“Right,” he muttered. “No time like the present.”

He’d never get a talk like that again, which made him actually want to tell her his feelings, so he might as well capitalize on it. Maketes pushed his fins, speeding through the water until suddenly he realized there was a bloody handprint on the window where he had left her.

His stomachs dropped. His hearts thundered in his chest. He couldn’t get enough oxygen in the water because he was so terrified that he had made a mistake he could never come back from. He’d left her alone.

Leaving her alone had been a bad idea. He knew it. She knew it. And he’d still left her, anyway.

“No!” he shouted, swimming up to the window and slamming his hands upon the glass. Through it, he could see that his little kefi was still alive. But such was meager comfort when he surveyed the scene before him.

There were males and females in the room with his achromo. They surrounded her, all of them holding weapons in their hands. He’d feared the blood on the window was Ace’s, but now he wasn’t so sure. There was another young man holding his side where red blood oozed out from between his fingers, and Ace held a bloodied weapon in her hand. His little achromo had more bite to her than he’d thought.

At the sound of his strike to the glass, everyone in the room froze. They stared at him, the shock in their expressions only making him wish to harm them more. Did they really think she had come alone? Was it so much of a stretch to imagine he was the one protecting her?

Then he heard the words that made his blood boil.

“You have an undine for a pet?” One of the women said, the scar on her face making her stand out far more than the others. “How interesting. I’ve never heard that one before.”

“He’s here for me, and he’s not going to let you get away,” Ace hissed.

“Oh, what a pity that he’ll have to watch you die. He’s out there. You’re in here.” And then the woman had the audacity to draw her finger across her own throat and laugh at him.

That one would die first.

He felt the massive wave of Fortis approaching. The other male was larger and slower, but he brought a tsunami along with him as he moved through the water. On his face was an expression of glee unlike anything Maketes had seen before.

Fortis let out a booming laugh that had all the achromos covering their ears at the thunderous sound. “I know why the sea brought me here!” Fortis shouted, and then he was swimming away. Moving so quickly that Maketes marveled at his speed before he realized what the depthstrider was doing.

Casting one last look at Ace, he promised her with his gaze that she would be safe. “Get yourself in a corner, kefi.”

“What?” she cried out, lashing out at one of the men who lunged for her. The scalpel was sharp, it seemed. The man flinched back with blood on his hand.

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