Page 149 of Cathmoir's Sons

“Cait.”

We banter all the way down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Law standsbeside me on the beach of Torre Faro hours later. The way he keeps eying my legs, now wetsuit-clad, makes me wonder if he plans to carry me into the water, too.

“I really can walk on my own,” I point out.

“I’d think so.” He chuckles. “Your legs look so fucking long in that getup.”

Rhodes, standing on my other side, nods. “So fucking fuckable.”

I elbow them both. “Eyes off my legs and on the horizon.” Where the small flotilla has returned, although they’re still quite a way from the anticline. “Our competition seems undeterred.”

Law grunts. “I didn’t get to send them on their tour of Faery’s lost seas before you started making apocalyptic deals with watery tarts.”

“At least they didn’t throw a sword at her,” Rhodes observes.

“Might have been more useful if they had,” Law counters. “At least it’s the basis for a system of government.”

“More effective than a mandate from the masses,” Rhodes rejoins.

I roll my eyes at both of them. “Help, help, I’m being repressed.”

“Not yet, you’re not,” Law says, flicking his tongue over the points of his incisors. “But it can be arranged.”

“Run away, run away!” I wave my arms over my head until Gabe and Arch notice and come trudging down the beach. I stop playing with my consorts and greet them. “We’re keeping an eye on the other teams, but they don’t seem to have discovered the Devourer’s Breast yet.”

Arch nods. “Val’s just suiting up, then we’re ready to dive. High tide’s in thirty minutes.”

“Where Jou?” I ask Gabe, since I haven’t seen the demon since we arrived at Torre Faro.

“Playing with Danny’s toys,” Gabe says. At the looks Rhodes and Law gives him, Gabe rolls his eyes. “Not likethat. Jou’s fascinated by human technology. And for a demon lord who has a whole harem, he’s completely faithful to Tsara, so get your minds out of the gutter.”

Rhodes and Law snigger in stereo.

“If those ships look like they’re closing in on Charybdis’ cave, what are the Water-mages prepared to do about it?” Arch asks Rhodes and Gabe, bringing the mood back down.

“I’m not sinking any ships,” Rhodes says. “Enough lives have been lost already.”

“A rogue wave might not sink them,” Arch points out. He’s clearly been doing his research on the Straits. “Or a whirlpool. Just damage the boats so they slink back to Scilla. Besides, Maher and van Wyke and the captain are still missing. No bodies have been found.”

I have a terrible feeling that’s because the Graeae keep what they claim.

Rhodes crosses his arms over his chest. “If Caileán or the team is at risk, I’ll defend you, but I’m not damaging those ships just because you’re paranoid.”

Arch glares but my consort is unmoved. I glance at Law, who always seems more willing to cause mayhem, or at least bodily harm, but evidently, we’re presenting a united front today, because he simply returns Arch’s glare while shifting to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Rhodes.

Arch sniffs and looks back over his shoulder at Danny’s tent. “Here come Val and the demon. Let’s go.”

I spare the moment to hug and kiss my consorts before wading into the surf with Gabe. The sea is sullen in the wake of the storm, small waves hissing over the sand and rocks. Although the Cait cleared the beach, there’s still ample wreckage bobbing in the yellow foam: branches with brown leaves still clinging to them, torn plastic, thick tangles of seaweed. The beach smelled, oddly, of butterscotch, but out in the waves, there’s a fishy, rotten stink. I’m glad when Viv’s gill spell kicks in and I stop smelling anything as I plunge under the surface.

The water’s murky, so very different from the crystalline blue of our earlier dives. I didn’t do much diving off Isla Cedros because the Magi of the Mist were primarily land-dwelling, but the water’s opacity reminds me of the algae blooms that turned California’s water to green glass.

I’m glad when Gabe spins out the golden tow line our Water mages have been using. I grasp it with one hand and kick along behind him, drawing on my Element to propel me as well. Gabe said he could tow three of us plus Jou without exhausting himself, but there’s no reason for him to drain his reserves if I can help us along.

The demon comes up the tow line hand-over-hand until he’s even with me. He doesn’t have any gills on his neck. His horns and claws shade to the color of old blood in the murky light. Bubbles stream off his horns; maybe he’s breathing through them somehow? He kicks lazily, barefoot and just wearing his usual black leather pants. I’ve heard Jou talk about “spinning a glove” when he’s in the mortal world. Seeing him immersed in an antithetical Element, unbreathing and unbothered, reminds me not just that Jou isn’t human, but that he’s alord of Hell.

Benighted Mother, I’m glad he’s on our side.

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