Drowning,Thaan answered.
I closed my eyes. Kye had warned me for days not to enter the water. The channel was cursed—something lived deep under the waves. Something with multi-jointed legs that connected to a bodiless frame, with fangs and claws and a clicking mouth.
Mihauna, I was thankful it had been dark. Thankful I hadn’t actuallyseenthe thing. Its mandibles sounded sharply in my mind.Click click click.
I blinked and squinted at his face, trying to clear the blurriness away.
He lifted the tin cup for me. Freshwater hit my tongue, along with bite-sized chunks of fish and a lacey grass that tasted like shrimp.
Shield weed.
I turned my head, violently ejecting the mouthful.
Kye ran a hand through his dark-gold hair, eyes large as he gazed down at me. His breath ghosted over my nose, shallow and fast. He glanced around the camp again, as though searching for something to help. “What do you need?”
I couldn’t answer him.
I didn’t even know what might help me. I rasped torturously as I expelled my oxygen. Each breath brought ragged pain, but I pulled it deep into my lungs anyway—the only thing I knew might heal the bends.
Detoxify. Ignore the pain.
“What happened?” Kye asked again, his thumb sliding over the curve of my shoulder. His opposite hand wove into mine, and a wave of guilt engulfed me without warning.
My fingers twitched as I attempted to hold his hand. I tried to apologize. Brows drawn, I mouthed the words, and he went still, golden gaze rapt on mine as he watched, puzzling out my silent message—until he suddenly understood. Clarity parted his mouth, but my apology only seemed to drive desperation deeper into him. He shook his head, glaring out at the sea.
“Don’t you fucking dare,” he whispered. “I don’t want to hear it.”
But his arms pulled me closer, wrapping tight around me, and the scent of metal I’d expected was nowhere to be found. Acrid fear met me instead, sour and sickly sweet. His heart pounded against my ear, his breaths stunted and gasping even though they fell silent. His Adam’s apple bobbed against the crown of my head.
Dimly, I realized he thought I was dying. I considered the possibility myself. It certainlyfeltas though I was. My eyes closed, and I sank against the soft thud of his chest.
There were worse ways to die. I’d escaped death’s hand more than once now. Nahli had tried to drown me. Naheso had tried to strangle me. Kriska had tried to stab me.
It wouldn’t be that terrible to go here and now.
“Don’t,” he ordered, as though he’d read my mind.
How easy it would’ve been if that were true. If we could share thoughts, passing them back and forth without the need for secrecy. The idea burned deeper than the ache in my limbs and chest.
We didn’t move for several hours. The sun came up, early light warming the rocks.
Kye settled me back onto flat stone, tucking the leather bag under my head. “There’s a stream not far from here. I’m going to get some water. I’ll be right back. You’ll be okay?”
He stared, waiting for some indication from me. I tried to nod, but my head couldn’t move. I simply stared back at him.
Kye hesitated, watching me. His thumb smoothed over my cheek, tracing my jawbone. Then he pulled the jacket over my chest and turned out of sight.
I listened as the rapid crunch of pebbles under his boots faded.
He returned not ten minutes later, carefully setting our tin cup onto the coals of our fire, leaving it to boil. After it had cooled, he hauled me up against his knee, tilting the cup into my mouth.
The fire in my throat soothed at once. My muscles took relief as well, my hands lifting, weakly grasping the cup and gulping the whole thing down.
He exhaled a shaking breath, taking it from me. “More?” His brows lifted hopefully, his foot already braced over the rocks.
“More,” I croaked.
He turned and fled again.
