“Not really. The properties of blood from a lung will offer you a bit less freedom than that carved from a vein.”
“Fascinating,” I deadpanned, denying myself the impulse to snatch the drop back. Selena would have launched into a series of questions, cataloging information away to bring up at the strangest times. Unsolicited trivia had always bored me, but in this moment, watching a drop of my freedom sway in the canyon of his palm, an unwitting rope wrapped the center of my belly, wringing me tight.
Aegir offered his hand to me. “You’ll want to put it back for safekeeping,” he said, the smoke returned to his voice. I wedged the drop back under my scales. Green eyes cut into mine then dropped to the arc of my bare hip, his gaze laying warmth across my skin.
His height rendered him almost eye level to where I sat at the pool edge of the dais, and he laced his fingers again, leaning his elbows onto the surface of the platform. “So,” he said. “Had you not confessed you’re a servant of Thaan, and had I believed that you came fromGarieh Kon,what would Thaan’s next intended move be?”
“He knew you’d be suspicious. Cautious. But he presumed you’d spend a few days familiarizing yourself with us before negotiating acorda-cruorwith one of us, most likely me. Selena is gifted inincantation;I’m skilled in water-calling.”
“He expected me to take you as acordaewithin fourteen days?” The hint of a smile played with the corner of his mouth as he pointed to the small supply of freedom Thaan had offered me.
Giving me a large quantity would have been a risk for Thaan. I might have tried to flee. Might have been killed, his blood lost to an enemy. I lifted a haughty shoulder. “Not quite. I’m here under the guise of negotiation, but if I had the opportunity tocordae, I’ve been instructed to take it.Prizivac Vodesare rare. He expected the color of my tail to catch your attention.”
“It did.”
We stared at each other. The thick weight of silence gathered within the blue lines refracting off the pool’s surface. Hands clasped, Aegir slid the pad of one thumb over the other. “And then you were to lead me into some sort of planned ambush?”
I raised a brow. “Eventually. I was instructed to report back first. Give Thaan a detailed account of your habits, the colony layout, the number of Naiads here. If we hadn’tcordaedand I needed more time, he’d offer me more blood then.”
“If you are to do this,” he said, thumbs stilling as he took me in, “if you are to play double agent, to go back and forth between him and I, I’ll need all the details about Thaan that he planned you’d give him about me.”
I lowered my chin. “Selena can help with that. My sister. She manages his private office, all his personal scrolls.”
“Perhaps. I’ll need certain information she can’t find in writing.”
“I don’t care what it is. I’ll get it. If you’ll help me kill him.”
He huffed a laugh suddenly. My brows tightened at the sound of it. “Do not make the mistake of believing I trust you,” he said, adjusting the hem of hisbyssuscloak. “You signed your loyalty to Thaan, yet openly intend to aid in his death. We can strike a partnership for now. But we won’t make any moves until I’m ready. Keep taking thesanguis proditionisso that your blood and tongue remain free while here, otherwise I’ll be forced to take you captive.”
Despite the abrasion in his words, something in me relaxed. “So you’ll help me? I’m not a prisoner here?”
“You're not a prisoner.” He began to move away and stopped. “That’s the side of the pool where the Queen of Venusia would sit. Step off my dais.”
10
Selena
“You don’tcordae,” I said, narrowing my gaze onto Pheolix. “Or youcan’t?”
He shifted closer to the shell wall, angling the tip of his knife against its smooth surface, and etched a small line. “What’s the difference?”
“I think the distinction is fairly clear.”
He didn’t answer. The scratch of his knife grated in my ears. “You shouldn’t carve on their walls. It’s disrespectful.”
“I’ll ask again. Do I seem respectful?”
“You asked if you were respectable, not respectful, you miscreant.”
“Gnat,” he corrected, shrugging one shoulder as though the words meant the same thing and crossing his first carved line with a second.
His rust hair shone almost lavender under the bioluminescent lights. His half-bun had worked itself almost loose, the strands framing each side of his eyes, but the bun itself hung lazily from the back of his head. I watched it, fighting to keep my mouth from flattening in agitation, and wondered if I’d ever met a more insufferable being.
As if he heard my thoughts, he paused. Then rotated enough to look at me from over his shoulder. And winked.
I leveled him with an unamused stare.
“Are you carving into our colony wall?”
