Page 43 of Call of the Fathoms

“One time, Harlow brought me into a room that is off limits to everyone but the Originals,” Alexia said quietly as she stretched out her hand to touch one of the silver lights. “She said it used to be called an observatory, before they’d all come underneath the sea. We walked into a room and the entire ceiling was sparkling lights like this. She called them stars. I didn’t even know something like that could exist.”

“I’ve seen the real ones before.” It broke his heart that she didn’t know that. What kind of life had she led that she didn’t know stars existed? “There are still evenings where the sky is not so angry. You could see them too, if you stayed with me.”

She had quieted at the words. “Stay with you?”

Shit. That wasn’t the right way to say it. She would not stay withhim, she was just going to leave Tau. “If you wish to stay with the other achromos working with us, that is. You don’t have to. Beta is a perfectly suitable place to live. Albeit, a little cramped now.”

“Since Alpha was destroyed.”

“Correct.”

He swallowed hard, trying to clear the lump in his throat that he had gotten from the mistake. “Right, we keep going.”

“Where are we going?”

“Somewhere beautiful, virago. You said you had no kindness nor beauty in your life.” And everyone deserved that. Even an achromo like her.

Eighteen

Alexia

Tiny sparks filled her vision in stunning numbers. She’d never thought to see the ocean look like this before. All she knew was what surrounded Tau, and there was very little there. Only the few meager plants that grew around the edges of the city, and of course, Harlow’s small section of false ocean.

As Fortis drew her through the sparkling lights, she caught one of them in her hands and stared down at the little glow. “Harlow had a space beside her bedroom. She liked to fill it with all manner of creatures.”

He tensed at her back, all the muscles of his chest hardening. “I saw them. The creatures she has within that cage will not survive long. They were not meant to be trapped so deep.”

She knew that. She’d watched the dolphins wither and die, even though they had access to air and food. Something in them just gave up. She supposed, in a way, she had done the same. After all, there was only so much she could survive before it just wasn’t worth it anymore. Some part of her had wanted to fight,though, and thus she had been nothing more than a tool for Harlow to use. At least, until Alexia had been given a taste of freedom.

Biting her lips, she nodded. No response was right. Those creatures hadn’t deserved the fate they were given, and they hadn’t deserved to suffer just because Harlow liked pretty things.

Then Fortis rolled with her until her back was pressed against his chest and it felt like she was lying on top of him. For a moment, she struggled. This felt far too intimate, and she liked it a little too much. But he grabbed her forehead and forced her to look above them.

Her mouth dropped open.

Hundreds of jellyfish floated above them. So many that she couldn’t even guess at a correct number. They were all glowing bright blue in the light, floating through the water in a current that only barely stirred them. No tentacles floated below them, or at least, not many that she could see. They were little soft balls that appeared to bounce into each other, bumping and rocking through the waves as they tried to settle.

“They’re beautiful,” she said. She tried very hard to stay still as one came closer. She could see now that it wasn’t just a glowing ball of light. There were patterns within it. The outside edges refracted the light, giving it a strange bubble-like quality. The interior had a little flower shaped glow as well. Five concentric circles, all overlapping so they looked like petals.

The outside of the jellyfish undulated in the water, and then it bumped against her chest. She froze, fearing the creature might sting her, even though she was wearing a wetsuit.

“Fortis?” she asked as nerves tingled underneath her skin. “Are these going to hurt me?”

He chuckled and leaned forward. The gills on the side of his neck slid against the top of her head, and she swore she could feel him inhaling against her hair. “Nervous, virago?”

“I don’t want to get stung.”

“They will not sting you. These are not the kind of jellyfish that harm, although I find it interesting that you believe I would bring you somewhere you would get hurt.”

She cleared her throat. Perhaps he was right. There was no reason for her to distrust him at this point, and they were working on that now, weren’t they? He wanted her to trust him more, and she...

For her entire life, Alexia had been told to trust no one. She was a pillar of confidence, sometimes even bordering on arrogance, because that was who she was trained to be. She leaned on no one. She trusted no one. She did not speak to anyone about any feelings or fears.

Alexia was a starving woman, and he offered her a bounty that was hard to deny.

Pulling off the glove of her wetsuit, she danced her fingers on top of the jellyfish’s bubble. It was soft, just like she’d thought. But rubbery, as well. There was a tension to it that didn’t quite make sense. As though the jellyfish itself was covered in a thin layer that was rather thick and sturdy.

“Strange,” she whispered, before nudging the little beast back to all the others that were floating in the water. “I didn’t think it would feel like that.”

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