Page 68 of Echoes of the Tide

“As well as I can. But realistically, there is nowhere to hide from these people. At least now, I have leverage. I can keep the secrets from others if I must.”

Secrets? What secrets? Maketes frowned and drew closer to the glass, if only so that he could overhear them easier.

Ace slumped back in her chair, the scalpel forgotten in her lap. “There’s really another city down there? You grew up there?”

“Tau,” he said quietly, as though even the word itself was poison. “A city of terror and nightmares. The things I have seen and heard, those are things you will never forget. It is a place for the lawless and the unworthy.”

“That’s Gamma.”

“You have no idea what they are doing down there. All the cities, every single one of them, are run by Tau. There is someone powerful in each city that has a direct connection to them. Every single person takes their orders from the depths of this sea.”

He watched Ace’s face go pale, and he knew this was when everything changed. Even he hadn’t realized there was another city, but it made sense. There were far more cities down herethan anyone knew about, but wouldn’t his people have found it? If there was another city in the depths...

Fortis, he thought. Damn Fortis and all his secrets.

Blowing out a long breath, he stared through the bubbles of the smoke screen for a few moments until he focused on what they were saying again.

The man had leaned forward, something in his hands. It looked like a strange little rectangle. Nothing all that important until he realized Ace was staring at it as though it was worth more than all the treasure in the sea.

“This key has unlocked more horrors for me than it has helped,” he said. “But I do think that it will answer many of your questions.”

“I was sent here to get the key to unlock something. I never knew what it unlocked, only that the person who sent me said it was the key to unimaginable power. I thought it was a weapon storage.”

The man shook his head. “It’s far more than that. Whoever has this key has the ability to speak with Tau. That person is the only one who can be informed by Tau itself about what to do, who to work with, and all the other terrible things that city can provide.”

Ace’s face turned bloodless, and Maketes felt all of his fins flare wide.

That key... It was host to unimaginable things, absolutely, but it was also the secret his people had been searching for. A way to control the cities was right within his reach. It was the end of the age of the achromo. If he got that key, found out where they were hiding, then he could lead the force that would destroy the achromos at their root.

Could he pick her over that? Knowing that this key would be the end of both of their peoples?

Watching her through the window, that inner turmoil ate him up. She deserved so much more than someone who would have to betray her. She had never been chosen first in her entire life, and this was his moment to do that. But he didn’t know if he could.

Ace’s expression hardened. “If that’s the truth, then Jacob cannot get his hands on any of this.”

Thank all the gods of the sea. He wouldn’t have to choose between her and his people.

But it did mean... Her sister. Everything she’d ever done in her life was for her sister, and now what was the choice? Where did they go from here?

Breathing hard, he watched her move and couldn’t believe how lucky he was to find her. This achromo, this woman who had burned through every hesitation he’d ever had with their kind. She was beautiful, remarkable, a terrifying creature who was willing to give up so much for him and his people, even though she wasn’t part of their lives.

He would dedicate himself to her wellbeing. Even though he already had done so. She deserved everything he had to give her.

But then there was a knock on the door and both achromos in the room stiffened.

“Expecting someone?” Ace asked, her voice hardened with fear.

“No,” the man replied. He stood, holding a hand onto his lower back as though there was pain there. “I am not.”

Maketes bared his teeth in anger the moment the door burst open. He didn’t need to see who was on the other side or who dared to attack his woman. With a flick of his tail, he darted away from the window and toward the opening he’d already found nearby. He didn’t care who stood between him and Ace.

They would fall under his claws. Each and every one of them.

Breathing hard, he slammed against the opening. The sharp pieces of metal tore at his scales, ripping them from his flesh and darkening the water with black. But he didn’t stop. He didn’t hesitate. Deep furrows etched into his scales all the way down his sides. And still, he did not stop until the blinding pain turned white hot and then the building released him from its tomb of metal.

He burst out into the water and tumbled out onto the smooth metal floor. With a hiss that echoed throughout the room, all the fins and spines down his back and forearms stood out as he faced the people who stood in his way.

There were more of them than he’d anticipated. Terrifying examples of what the achromos could become if they were allowed out into the wilds on their own. Masks covered their faces, and all of them had long, wicked knives in their hands.

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