Page 56 of Echoes of the Tide

She looked down at them. “Goosebumps? You don’t get goosebumps?”

“Goose... bumps?” He shook his head. “I know the second word, but not the first.”

It seemed he had successfully distracted her from worse thoughts, because she turned toward him and held out her arm for his inspection. “Goosebumps. I don’t know why we call them that, because a goose is kind of like a chicken or a duck. It’s a response from my body whenever I’m unnerved or excited or cold or... I guess maybe it’s better to say whenever we’re feeling some kind of heightened emotion, we get the bumps. Or if we’re cold.”

“Like my gills.” He picked her up so he could look at these bumps. It almost appeared like they were attached to the fine hairs on her arms. “Are they your hair trying to get off yourbody? Perhaps you used to have spines that covered you. It would make more sense if it was a defense.”

“I don’t think humans used to have spines instead of hair,” she said with a soft laugh.

“Is it so hard to imagine?”

“Well, we’re mammals. We had fur.”

He shook his head. “Your people have a name for everything. Fur or spines, I find it hard to believe you truly have no natural defenses.”

Ace tapped the side of her head. “My brain is my weapon. I think that’s true for most humans.”

Maketes lifted her even higher, until she was standing on the rock and he was below her, holding onto her waist and staring up into her eyes. “It is a lovely brain, but it is no match for tooth or claw.”

A soft laugh bubbled out of her, flowing into him with the soft sound. And then she was stroking his hair, like she seemed to always enjoy. He curved into her touch, knowing this was the last chance they’d have for a little while yet.

“Maketes?” she said.

“Yes?”

“What does kefi mean?”

“I will tell you when all of this is done. When you have your hands on that key, and when your sister is free from the man who would kill her.” He turned his head and pressed a kiss to her palm. “No matter what happens, you are always my kefi, and I will help you until the very end of this.”

He could see how his words hurt her. She flinched as though he’d struck her, but there was also safety in what he said. Because they were a vow. He would protect her and her kin for the rest of his life, even if that was insanity.

Haunted memories filled her gaze. It was so easy to read this achromo. She feared for her sister, for his people, for all the things that she could not explain.

“Come,” he said. “It is time for us to return to your city. We have put it off long enough.”

He knew deep in his bones that both of them wanted to put it off longer, though. It was easier to exist here in this bubble of a cave where he could show her the sun every day, or at the very least, the stars. Even if it was storming, he would find a way for her to enjoy herself.

But they could not do any of that with the threat of her sister’s death hanging over their head. They could do nothing without giving her the chance to save her family and all those that she loved. It seemed they came to that conclusion at the same time, because she placed her droid in her pocket and wrapped her arms around his neck at the same time as he drew her in by the waist.

Together, they sank back underneath the water. She reached for the breathing tentacle herself, sliding it toward her neck with his guidance and finding the right place to put it. She inserted the end into herself, and he’d never been prouder. Breathing for her as he turned them into the darkness of the sea, Maketes told himself all would be well.

They were doing the right thing.

They were saving her sister, and who knows what would happen after that?

Still, he couldn’t forget the way she’d looked at him. The way she had been so close to asking him to kill for her. This key was something that made her worried, and that in turn worried him.

Once they had it in their grasp, what were they going to open?

That thought coiled up inside of him, like an eel waiting to strike at the right moment. He couldn’t give her the chance tohurt his own people. Maketes was enamored with her, but not that much. He wouldn’t sacrifice his people for anyone.

And yet his claws curled tighter around her the moment he saw the glowing neon lights that offered their first glimpse of Gamma. He didn’t want to let go of her. He didn’t want to give her the chance to make him choose.

Because he wasn’t sure that he would choose his people after all.

“There,” she said, pointing to a building bathed in yellow light. “That’s where we need to go.”

He dove, and vowed that no matter what happened, he would at least keep her safe.

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