Page 50 of Elanie & the Empath
“Neither will your sarcasm,” he returned, half-smiling. “That doesn’t mean I ever want you to stop trying.”
“Seriously, Sem. How do you plan to fish?”
“Simple. You’re going to run out onto the ice, punch a hole big enough for me to dive through, and then run back into the cave. I’ll do the rest.”
I had never, in my entire life, laughed so hard.
“What?” He crossed his arms over his chest, pouting. “It’s a good plan.”
Wiping away my tears, I said, “No. It is not.”
“It is, though. Portisans are fantastic swimmers. I can hold my breath for ten minutes at a time. If there’s anything down there, I’ll have it back and roasting over the flames before you can even roll your eyes at me.” He frowned, because I was already rolling my eyes.
“You’re used to balmy Portisan water. You’ll freeze to death down there.”
He crouched beside me, his voice going low and soft the way it did when he was about to deliver bad news. “We atethe last MRE last night. We’ll die either way, so we might as well try. First me, but eventually you too. And I will not let you die.”
His sincerity tended to catch me off guard. At least I thought that was what the sensation was—feeling dizzy, out of breath, my heart beating harder, faster. “What if the ice is too thick and I can’t get through?”
He made apshsound. “You are the strongest being I’ve ever known. That ice doesn’t stand a chance.” Rising to his feet again, he started unbuttoning his shirt. Taking that off and tossing it onto the ground, he reached for the button of his pants.
“What are you doing?” Because it looked a lot like he was undressing. Something we hadn’t really done in front of each other since we moved into the cave, at least not while one of us was staring directly at the other.
Unzipping his pants while firelight glowed orange over his abdominal muscles, he said, “I’m not swimming in my clothes.” His pants slid into a pile around his feet. He reached for the band of his sailboat boxers next, and when my eyes felt like they might actually pop out of my head, he turned around.
I knew I should look away. But my attention was locked helplessly on the curves of his perfectly round, perfectly blue butt. His cheek wasn’t the only place he had a dimple. There were two on either side of his spine, small enough that if I were to spread my hands out on his lower back, my thumbs would just fit inside them?—
“Ready?” he asked, turning around.
Throwing my hands over my eyes, terrified that if I saw the part of his body pointing my way now, I’d never be able to make eye contact with him again, I squealed, “You’re naked!”
“I’m covered up. Come on. I’m already freezing.”
I spread my fingers enough to peek through them and exhaled. His hands were cupped between his legs, hiding everything I didn’tthinkI wanted to see.
“On your feet, soldier,” he barked. “Let’s fucking go!”
Punching through the ice was easy enough, although I did scrape a knuckle. But hiding from the voice in the cave, waiting for Sem to return as time ticked by at a glacial pace? That was next to impossible. It had been seven minutes already, and bleak images of a beautiful blue man stuck forever at the bottom of a frozen lake made my eyes burn. I’d just decided to risk it by running back out onto the ice when he stumbled into the cave.
“I don’t believe it,” I whispered, staring wide-eyed at the two hugethingsin his hands.
“I think they’re edible,” Sem said, his teeth clacking together, his skin so pale it was chalky. “But I’m not sure they’re fish.”
Staring sideways at the shiny silver creatures that looked like enormous, ambulatory crater eels, I said, “They have feet.”
He hissed, shaking one of the foot-eels with a little violence. “And sharp fucking teeth.”
“I can’t believe you actually did it.” Smiling because he was still alive, because we had food, because he was smiling too, I took the foot-eels from him and placed them by the fire. And when I looked up again, I finally saw him,noticedhim. Naked.
His legs were long and well-muscled, slender ankles leading to full calves. Firm thighs dusted in silver hair. And between them,oh, was that what it looked like?
“You’re staring.” The words came out low and hoarse. But he didn’t cover himself up.
“I’m sorry.” I knew it was rude, maybe something even worse than rude. But I couldn’t take my eyes away. “I’ve just… I’ve never actually seen one?—”
“It’s okay,” he said. “You can look. Although I feel like it’s pertinent to remind you that I was just swimming in freezing water, so…”
His penis was blue like the rest of him, but deeper. The color of the sky at twilight. It was thick, round, and seemed heavy. Substantial. I wondered if it was cool or warm. Soft or hard to the touch. “What does it matter if you were in freezing water?”
