Pheolix glanced at the two of us.
I motioned toward the water. “Go, you idiot.”
“I am,” Pheolix said. “You’ll stay with her, fish king?”
Aegir’s mouth crooked. “I’ll stay with her, gnat.”
The drone hurried to follow Selena’s steps, yanking off his shirt much the same as she had. He disappeared into a cresting wave, and then all was quiet except for the sea. My thumb twitched absently, and I realized Aegir’s hand was still wrapped around it.
“She doesn’t like to talk about what Theia told us,” I explained, calmly pulling myself out of his grasp. “She pretends it didn’t happen.”
Aegir shifted away, folding his hands in his lap. “You scared her when you jumped.” One of his braids swept my shoulder, and he gathered it away, his fingertips warm. “You scared all of us.”
I nodded. “I needed her to see it.”
“See what?”
“All of it,” I sighed. “The impossible task designed to kill. But also, that it didn’t kill me.”
But more than that, I needed Selena to witness me leap into a black pit and emerge alive. To prove a forecast she’d been trying to deny since Theia sent the tide crashing through our plans. My fate was decided, and no amount of stone collecting or Naiad befriending would sway fate’s hand.
“You needed her to see it? Or you needed yourself to?”
“I don’t know.” I set the plate beside me to draw in my knees, wrapping my arms around them.
Aegir’s mouth thinned. “Where did Theia say you’d die?”
“In Leihani.”
“Leihani.” He leaned away, gazing at me in quiet shock.
“She said I’d take a humancordaeand have a daughter.” For some reason, the words felt like an apology. One I hadn’t prepared to give, surprising me as it left my tongue.
Aegir scratched at his cheek, taking his time to consider my words as his green gaze chased the corners and shadows of the cave. “A humancordae,” he finally echoed.
I smiled. At least, I tried to. The corners of my mouth lifted, though my eyes sank to the floor, and an iron anchor pressed into the center of my stomach, weighted with cold shame and, to my disbelief, a twinge of disappointment. “I’m sorry, Aegir.”
“Why are you sorry?” He smiled, and something about his smile sent an electric tingle through my skin. “It’s not as though you led me to think there was any chance of a match here.” He motioned between us. “If anything, you did the opposite.”
I arched my back, stretching the tightness in my neck. “Maybe not, but still. I think you…”
“Wondered?” His smile grew. “I suppose that’s fair. I wondered.”
We watched the tide. The slow roll of it, the soft crash.
“So, this entire plan was for Selena’s benefit? You didn’t actually think we could kill Thaan, and you didn’t want my help. You just needed Selena to see you try?”
I ran a hand through my roots. “Theia said she’s the only one who could reach the stones.”
“Selena?”
I shook my head. “My daughter.”
“Ah. Well.” He broke a piece of fish off, tossing it into his mouth. “It sounds as though she’s worth following Theia’s words for. If she’s the only one who can reach the stones, how will you convince Thaan to let you live on the islands and raise her?”
I met his eyes, that iron in my stomach growing, digging into my lungs and swallowing my breath. Heat prickled the back of my throat, a watery burn I didn’t even try to banish.
Aegir’s mouth parted. “Oh.”
