He made to pull away, but I snatched his wrist. “Who? Thaan? No, you’re not.”
His mouth opened, but Pheolix aimed his empty stare at us. “He’s already gone.”
Kye glanced at the door. “He can’t have traveled far.”
“He can,” Pheolix said softly. “And did. I can feel him when he’s close. He’s miles gone, now.”
We shared a silent glance. Selena threaded her fingers into Pheolix’s.
“How?” I asked.
“Became a bird, became the wind. He can change form. I don’t know how he does it.”
I wondered how long Thaan had been inside him. How long it might take for the cracks in his flesh to seal, for lankness of his hair to thicken. But as he sent his gaze toward mine, I knew his milky eyes would never be what they were.
Selena delivered a long sigh across his chest, ruffling the edge of his tunic, and I suddenly felt as though Kye and I were imposing on a reunion that deserved privacy. Now able to relax without the threat of attack, I slowed my breath and transitioned back to my legs, bracing for the pain of separation at my ankles. Kye watched the length of my tail split into two, the gold scales disappearing into skin, my fins shrinking into toes.
He swallowed. “Well, a few things make more sense.”
I rocked onto my side, ignoring the sharp sting until I tried to stand. My foot rolled out from under me and I released a yelp as I went down. Kye caught my arms, frowning as he leaned to inspect my swollen leg.
“You need to get off that foot, Maren,” Selena said shakily. “You’ll only regret it if you damage the bone worse. What did you do?”
“Fell on it from midair,” I bit back at her, altogether annoyed that she’d suddenly decided to scold me as though I’d made the choice to break my moon-damned leg. I pointed to my black seasilk dress. “Hand me that please, Kye. And that blue stone on the floor.”
He pulled them out from under limp shield weed and gave my dress a shake, flecking the wall with water, but Selena cast her fingers toward it, sending the water out of the delicate fibers. Kye’s brows rose at her and she pointed a long finger at him. “Don’t ask me questions, human. It’s against our laws to reveal ourselves to anyone not like us. That Thaan forced Maren to as punishment…” Her clear blue eyes slid to mine, something foreboding in their depths.
“Sidra showed herself to humans,” I said, lifting my chin a fraction before pulling the dress over my head.
“She might have walked among them on her legs—" Selena pursed her lips "—but I assure you, she never revealed her Naiad tail to them.”
“It is forbidden,” Pheolix said, startling us all.
Selena tucked a strand of hair behind his ear, dropping to a whisper. “It is forbidden.”
I snorted. But a small chill hit me softly, a flurry of sleet and cold rain between my shoulder blades. Squashing it, I looked at Kye and blew a rough breath from my lips. “Shall we?”
“Wait,” Pheolix rasped, propping himself higher to look for us with his empty eyes. “You’ll want to know that Thaan isn’t here now.”Inside mewent unsaid, and he stopped to hesitate. Selena reached for his hand. “Thaan owns my blood.”
I nodded. “I assumed as much.”
Pheolix exhaled slowly. “He named me anOculos.”
“Oh.” That changed things. “Will he…un-name you as one?”
Selena chewed the inside of her lip. “He could. But he won’t.”
My leg throbbed. I smoothed my dress over my stomach. “So, he might not be controlling you right now,” I said slowly. “But he could be watching everything you see and hear?”
Pheolix blinked. “I can’t see anything when he’s not here,” his mouth curved in ironic humor, and Selena’s brows knit. “But yes, he could hear what I hear. If he were listening.”
“And will you know when he decides to drop in and listen?”
“I’ll know. But I’ll have no way to tell you until he’s gone again. And he could stay for days.” His voice shrank. “Weeks.”
"I can tell the difference," Selena said. "But I'm not sure that you could."
“In other words, when you’re in the room, we need to keep our mouths shut about shit we don’t want Thaan to hear,” Kye supplied, polished as always.
