Page 60 of Call of the Fathoms

“Leaving,” she grumbled, grabbing onto the sides of the stones and using her grip to propel herself faster.

Leaving? Why would she be leaving? He just brought her here, and after what they had shared... Taking in a deep breath, he could taste her rage in the water. It was like getting punched in the nose, all metallic and oddly painful.

She had finally reached the end of the tunnel and then used her feet to kick off the edge. He’d thought she might go to the surface, but no. She propelled herself deeper into the darkness of the abyss. She wentdown, not up.

Frowning even more, he watched her descend. She was an impressive swimmer, he’d give her that. She knew the right cadence to bring her arms up and propel herself ever deeper, not even kicking her legs now, but just keeping her body in a straight line that sank nearly out of sight before he remembered that he shouldn’t let her do that.

Flicking his tail, he followed her. “Where are you going?”

“Back to the ship.”

“Why?” Or better yet, “How?”

Suddenly, he was angry. They had shared a passionate moment with each other and he was not going to let her disappear into the sea after it. He had questions. Thoughts. Things he wanted to talk to her about.

He’d enjoyed telling her stories about his son and all the mischief the two of them had gotten into. There were more stories he could tell, more pieces of his life that he wanted her to know. And now she wasgoing back to the ship?

Rage made all the lights on his body flicker to life, casting her face in harsh shadows that only made her appear to be even more angry. He wouldn’t let her keep doing this. So he moved in front of her, forcing her to stop or she would crash into his massive bulk.

“Fortis,” she snarled. “Get out of my way.”

“No. Go back to where I put you.”

Even he heard how awful that sounded. He ordered her around like he had any right to do so, but he was so angry at her. Her safety was all he cared about. That ship wasn’t safe anymore. He could give her the final battery back, but even that wasn’t going to power the ship. One battery wasn’t enough. She had another week in that cold, dark tomb at most. If the second battery even worked after being in the cold for so long.

This facility was safer for her. It was better. At the very least, until he knew what he was going to do with her.

She’d agreed to help him. That meant he could bring her back to the others, where there were more minds who understood how the achromos worked. She could be back in a city, safe with her own people.

But he didn’t tell her any of this. He was so angry, all that came out was, “Or I will make you.”

The glare on her face when she turned was enough to set him on fire. “You have nothing to say to me right now. After whatyou just pulled? I have no interest in you, Fortis. Not in the slightest.”

“What I just pulled?”

“You were the one who started all that,” she hissed, pointing at him with her gloved finger. “You were the one who made me want... anything at all. Your words. Your plan. Your guidance. And then all of a sudden, as soon as it’s over, you up and leave? Without a word. You just slide into the water and pretend that nothing happened between the two of us. I don’t care what you have to say or what you want me to do, you giant asshole. You can rot in the ocean for all I care.”

And then she kicked her feet and moved around him. But she didn’t have her flippers on, so she was damn slow. It was far too easy for him to grab her shoulder and reel her right back into his arms. “Absolutely not. You don’t even know where the ship is.”

She punched him in the throat. The water slowed her movements, but it was still enough of a jab that he hissed. His gills were sensitive, and she’d hit them hard enough to hurt. It only made him tighten his grip on her, though.

He squeezed her arms down, fighting through the pain. “What was that for?”

“I know where my own ship is! I have a link to it that I can follow. Now let me go.”

“Not until we talk about this. I needed to cool off in the water. Why do you think I left?”

“Because you wanted to!” she shouted. Her face was turning red beneath her air mask. He knew her expression when she was angry, and she was beyond pissed.

“Are you listening to me at all? I just told you I needed to cool down.” Should he tell her that he wanted to crawl inside of her skin? That he’d left because he feared what he would do to her next, and she deserved to be slowly introduced to the world of passion and desire?

He didn’t have time to consider what he would say, because she jammed her hand into his rib gills. Fortis froze as she grabbed a handful of them, pain vibrating throughout his entire body.

“Let me go,” she hissed. “I have a beacon. I can get back to the ship without you.”

“I did not intend to bring you back to the ship at all,” he wheezed, trying very hard to remain still so his gills wouldn’t hurt even more than they currently did.

“There are things I need from there. Useful items. If you want me to help you, then I need them.” The moment his arms loosened, so did her grip. She kicked off of him to get away, creating space between them that he suddenly realized he didn’t like. Not at all.

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