Page 20 of Waves
His nod had me pulling away, my hands and countenance aghast. “You poor man! There are so many delicious things I’m going to have to spoil you with!” I then spent a good two minutes terribly explaining butter to him because, while I knew the process to create it theory, I’d never actually seen it performed.
“I might have to pass on the blocks of fat from the breast milk of land-walking creatures.” Taft’s nose crinkled.
“Don’t say it like that!” I told him, a little bit horrified by his all-too-accurate description. “You have to give it a chance. That’s like a sky breather saying boots are disgusting!”
Boots were disgusting. But he was wrong about butter.
His lips thinned into a reluctant line. “I’ll attempt to withhold judgment.”
“Thank you. I promise, once we get our trade routes running regularly, you’ll become such a fan of so many things.Butter. Chocolate. Coffee. You’ll think some glorious afterlife has arrived.”
He leaned back in his seat and his posture relaxed. “You’re very excited.”
“You don’t know what coffee is yet, but once you do, you’ll understand my excitement.”
His eyes fluttered closed and, for a second, I thought he might be letting himself drift off. But his lips tilted up into a slight grin after a minute and he murmured, “It’s nice to be around that.”
“What?”
Those blue eyes cracked open, swimming with emotion. “Hope. Haven’t been around it in a long time.”
The silence that followed was a shared moment where we sat and imagined a better tomorrow, faces painted with daydreaming expressions.
But tomorrow would only improve if we were all there to see it.
If the rebels didn’t win.
Clearing my throat, I broke the peaceful spell. “Taft, I have something to ask you that I know you won’t like.”
“What do you need me to do?” His question was straightforward and flat. Honest and without complaint as he sat back up straight as an arrow.
Guilt pinched my sides, but I ignored it as I leaned forward, elbows propped on my knees. In a low tone that I knew wouldn’t carry outside the carriage, I said, “I need you to spy on Watkins for me. I need proof he’s still working with the rebels.”
“Done.” The nixe nodded and exited my carriage swiftly after that.
I stared at him as he swam back to the giant transport for the contestants, strong arms cutting easily through the water.
Using one liar to sniff out another.
Was I being wise or was I a fool?
Only time would tell.
Chapter 9
Avia
Kremos was a spiderweb made of cobbled sea glass bridges that crisscrossed the sea, linking buildings carved into either steep mountain cliffs or floating glaciers. Pale lights lined the floating roadways and cast a ghostly blue hue over everything as people strolled with their pet seals, hawked their catch, or ran their errands.
The entire place was touched by ice.
Unlike the other two cities we'd visited, there wasn't the sense of bustle and massive enterprise in this northern town. Perhaps it was the cold, or just their nature, but there was a slow deliberateness to everyone's movements here that I hadn't seen before.
I couldn’t imagine Keelan fitting in when he was stationed here. He was so gregarious and constantly moving. It also didn’t entirely make me feel relaxed. Something about the sluggish peace I saw in the expressions of the citizens made my insides rebel, programmed as I'd been from birth to scurry from one activity to the next.
Did they not have a sense of urgency?
Or had they realized that most things didn’t require it?
