Three hours later, he’d brought and boiled water six times. When I handed the final cup back to him only half-full, he sank to the rock beside me and scrubbed a hand into his face.
By the time the sun set, a sharp numbness began to billow into my toes like a spiteful swarm of ants. I tried to wipe insects away, and they persisted. It wasn’t until the morass of my cognition unraveled that I realized my prickling skin was simply that.
Kye laid beside me, asleep.
I tried not to wake him, watching the moon instead as it drifted over my favorite constellations. The flying whale, the ghost ship, the lonely sea. In six days,Mihaunawould be full. Her light shimmered over my skin, bright enough to recharge my body.
Kye had dressed me in pirate pants, and I pulled them off, drawing my satin dress up my thighs, careful to not shift against Kye as I drank in the cold moonlight. Each passing moment brought soothing strength into my arms and legs. I gazed at the man next to me. The dark shadow of his stubble. The architecture of his face. A proud nose between high brows and cheeks. A forest of lashes. The crescent scar on his lower lip.
Mihaunain the stars, he seemed so big beside me.
His mouth twitched as he released a deep breath, and I wondered if he was dreaming. I draped the jacket across him, and his eyes snapped open.
He propped on an elbow in an instant, eyes raking over me as he searched for what was wrong.
“I’m fine,” I said, my voice cracking.
He stared at me as though he didn’t quite believe me. Then his jaw hardened. He fell back onto the rocks, throwing an arm over his eyes. “What happened,” he deadpanned.
I swallowed. “Can I have more water?”
He handed me the cup without looking at me.
Apparently his forgiveness only applied while I was presumably dying.
Sitting up under my own power, I knew I’d improved. My lungs no longer ached, and the fire in my joints had cooled, even if it had left my skin itching.
I wiped my mouth and handed the cup back.
“What happened?” he asked again.
“The bends.”
Silence.
He didn’t move. Didn’t react. His arm remained over his eyes, hiding his face.
“How deep did you dive?”
“I don’t know,” I sighed. “Deep. So deep it was black.”
Click click click.
My blood chilled, my heart crawling into my throat. I tried to swallow it down, but fear preyed upon my breath, forcing my lungs tight as I remembered the feeling of thething’shooks in me, drawing me to its mouth.
I bit my lip, deciding not to mention it to him. The thing—the walking ribcage as large as a horse carriage, with spindly legs and disorienting fangs.
It wasn’t that I thought hewouldn’tbelieve me. Something told me I’d have to deal with the opposite. He’d believe every word, and I’d have to mount a defense to convince him that the sea was safe.
Because I’d have to return to it. Eventually. My Naiad skin needed the salt, my muscles needed the fish, my heart needed the tide.
Under his elbow, Kye’s jaw clenched hard enough to pierce stone, his fingertips drumming his leg as he waited for more.
“Is that Vranna?” I asked, gesturing toward the distant city lanterns even though he couldn’t see me.
“Yes.”
I forced away the urge to squirm at his clipped tone.
