Page 55 of Echoes of the Tide

Two more sounds, which he could only mean that he was right. Perfect. This would make communicating with them a little easier. He was used to droids who could speak on their own. At least, Byte could. Bitsy, Anya’s little interpreter, was still broken and unfortunately never had a voice of her own.

Pressing his lips together in disappointment, he hummed low under his breath. “Understood. So Jacob is using Ace’s own droids against her, then. Shit. Well, that doesn’t make it easy to find where this sister of hers is being kept.”

The droid circled the drawing a few times and then pointedly stared up at him.

“I suppose I could have someone else follow the droid,” he murmured. “I can’t leave Ace’s side, but there are others who may help.”

Not that he wanted to ask them. The only people who seemed to lurk around him these days were Fortis and Fortis’s son. Neither of the depthstriders were the people he wanted to work with. If only because they annoyed him.

However, it gave him the opportunity to annoy Fortis even more than he already did. Which was a chance he would normally take willingly.

But he hated the idea of other undine around her. And maybe that was because she hadn’t gone through the correct mating rituals with him. He hadn’t fed her properly. He hadn’t givenher all the trinkets and gifts that he could find. Ace had accepted nothing from him but his body and that didn’t sit right with him.

There was only so much a man could run on hope. Hope that she liked him as much as he did, that she would stay, that she saw something more in him than just the male who was fun to pass the time with.

Logically, he knew that wasn’t what he was to her. But there would always be some fraction of that fear.

He felt her stirring against his chest, and he gave the little droid a severe look. “I’ll consider it. You think that’s the way to find her?”

Another clack, and then they’d run out of time for their private conversation. She was already coming to the surface of the water. Not spluttering like he had expected, or even panicking. She just rose to the surface and blew some water out of her mouth.

“I fell asleep,” she said, looking up at him from where he was propped against the edge of the stone.

“You did.”

Maketes couldn’t help himself. He reached out to palm the back of her head in his hand, stroking her temple with his thumb as he looked down at her. She was such a courageous little creature who had no idea how much she held his heart in her hands. Someday she would know. Likely someday soon. But at the moment, all he had were these finite moments when he felt like this and she still didn’t know.

She grinned up at him. “That’s wild. I didn’t know it was possible to sleep underwater.”

“The others do. I’ve seen them sleeping with their partners, tangled in kelp so the sea doesn’t carry them away.” He tugged her a little closer, lowering himself in the water until their lips almost touched. “I would like to do this with you someday. I will hold you as the sea rocks us to sleep.”

Somehow, it felt like a sexual thing to say. He watched as her pupils blew out, her already dark eyes grew even darker as her breath caught in her throat. He wondered what was going through her mind.

Perhaps she, too, was stuck remembering that she’d promised to kiss him with that mouth. That she’d promised to show him that achromos were better with their tongues than any of his people could hope to be.

Maybe it was a dream, though. There was a long way for them to go before they would be alone again.

He had half a mind to encourage this moment. If he drew her even closer, kissed her as he had before, perhaps she could be convinced. They could linger here in the cave for days if they wanted to. Because now that she’d mentioned using her mouth, he wanted to taste her as well.

He should have talked with Arges or Daios more about... all of this. He knew that they had mated with their females. Both of them always smelled like their partners, no matter how long they had been gone from their sides. The scent of their women was melted into their scales at this point, and that was something he wanted as well.

How, though? He had no idea.

Maketes wasn’t exactly experienced in this. He’d only ever tried to mate with a female of his own kind once, and it hadn’t gotten very far. He had seen the swiping claws and the rage on the female’s face as she’d swam at him. Terror was to be expected during mating but that feeling had been enough for him to call it off.

Ace seemed kinder. Softer. She was ready and willing to welcome him with open arms instead of claws and teeth.

Then Ace leaned over the stone and looked at what her droid had drawn. Her eyebrows drew down in concentration. “Youwere trying to figure out how I was keeping track of my sister, huh?”

It was like she’d thrown him out of the water and let him flounder on jagged rocks. “I was wondering how Jacob knew where she was.”

“He’s not as stupid as I thought he was, that’s how. He was following my damn drone the entire time I was using it, and that gave him access to... everything.” She blew out a long breath, and bumps rose all over her skin. He watched them, surprised to see them again since the only other time he’d seen them was when she was cold or in the heat of passion.

But she wasn’t cold. He knew that. She wasn’t shivering and her teeth weren’t chattering. She certainly wasn’t feeling the heated blood that had turned them toward such carnal pleasures.

So what were those bumps now?

He touched them, watching her hair raise a little more before seeming to settle at his touch. “What are these?”

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