Page 74 of A Fae in Finance
She took another piece of cheese off the plate and settled herself once more, this time so close to me our shoulders touched, and her thigh rested under mine.
I took a smaller bite, and so did she. The tang of it stayed on my tongue. When she brought the cheese back to my lips, she smiled and pushed it into my mouth, her finger resting against my lower lip. “We have shared food,” she said. “It is almost as if we had kissed.”
I could feel the muddle of my own thoughts, the strain as muscle fought mind. I wanted so badly to lean in to her, to press my lips to hers, to flatten our bodies together. Even just to tilt my head to her neck and breathe her in.
You know nothing about this woman.
I swallowed, hard. “You wanted to show me something, my lady.”
“Ah. Yes.” She stood gracefully and held out a hand to help me up. I took it, and she pulled me upright with ease. I watched the muscles in her arm flex.
We walked toward the edge of the water, the silvery dome keeping pace with us, and stopped at the edge, standing together on the smallest pebbles. “Take off your shoes,” she said, kicking off her own. I toed out of my boots, then socks, following her lead. I dropped my cell phone into a shoe.
She stepped into the water, and I followed. It was cool but not unpleasant around my toes. She took another step. So did I. And another.
As much as I wanted to go along with this, unburdened by questions or concerns, a part of my mind wondered about the plan. Were we about to wade in up to our chests, ruining our clothes, and then splash around until we got hypothermia?
I stumbled.
She glanced at me and took my hand in hers. We waded in to our calves. Our thighs. Our hips, mine submerged before hers.
Some part of my brain screamed at me,Stop, stop, are you insane?But the water was lit all around with the glow of her silvery magic, and when she looked at me, I nodded. We took one more step together, off a ledge and into the depths. I closed my eyes as we sank.
My hair floated in fine strands around my head. I opened my eyes and looked around. We were submerged a foot or two below the water, her magic around us in a bubble: It stopped a yard or two below our feet. I kicked up, for the surface, but she caught at my hand.
“Breathe,” she said, her voice burbling but comprehensible.
I stared at her. I could feel my heart pounding. I had known it was coming. But I couldn’t—
I shook my head, my lungs burning.
She pulled me to the surface; our heads broke and I gasped for air. Her hair was plastered to her long cheekbones.
“You can breathe underwater so long as I hold you,” she said. It couldn’t be a lie, but I still had a very hard time believing it.
“So come with me.” She tugged on my hand and I took another deep breath.
We submerged again, down and down this time. The water in our bubble remained clear, lit through by the silver of her magic. Everything outside was blurred, like a darkened street viewed through a window in the rain.
I tried to inhale but couldn’t make myself. She must have seen something in my face—she directed a stream of bubbles toward me with a finger, and they formed an air pocket around my nose and mouth. I inhaled gratefully.
Our feet hit the sandy bottom. I looked down, not sure what to expect. There was a mosaic beneath our feet, partially obscured by the sand of the riverbed. Every tile glittered—I couldn’t tell if it was constructed from precious stones, or just polished glass reflecting the ever-changing miasma of our light.
The mosaic shimmered far beyond the light of our bubble, little glints of light reflecting back through the shield of magic. I tilted a little, until I floated face down above it. There were clearly figures—faeries—being chased away by… other figures?
“What is this?” I asked, not sure if she would hear me.
“They created the river much later,” she said. “This used to be an entrance to Faerie.” I strained to understand her through the mild distortion of the water.
She pulled me to one edge of the mosaic. It must have been a road once. We floated together beneath a high rounded arch, staring down at our feet. The keystone of the arch was beyond the edges of our bubble, and columns loomed over us, bending toward each other and then disappearing into the rippling silver of her magic.
“It tells the story of our flight and liberation in our own world,” she explained. “The mortals had discovered our weakness—”
“Iron,” I interjected.
“—which is now again lost to time,” she continued. “And not iron, obviously, or Sahir would not be able to work in your building.” Even muffled underwater she managed to convey a startling level of contempt. But her gaze hadn’t left my face since we descended, and her expression was one of fascination—almost longing. For a world lost to her? Or for something else?
My face flushed; I wondered if a blush would be visible underwater.
