“In a moment.”
“You’re bleeding all over the floor, Arges.”
“I know.” He inhaled again, and she watched the torn gills on the side of his neck attempt to flutter. But they were so torn up, it was hard for them to move at all. “I just want a few more moments, Mira. Just let me remind myself that you are fine.”
“I am,” she said. “Thanks to you.”
They stayed still for a while. Just breathing each other in, even as she felt the shudders running through his body every time he breathed. He was in so much pain, and yet somehow this was more important.
Finally, she couldn’t stand it anymore. Mira pulled herself away and picked up the medkit. It looked similar to her welder, but this one had a strange goo that healed everything really fast. She had no idea how it worked.
“This doesn’t hurt when I use it on myself, but we have different make ups. I don’t know if it’ll...”
He tilted his head away from her, exposing the wounded gills to her with ease. “I am no stranger to pain, Mira. If it will heal me, then I would rather have it done. It cannot hurt worse than the water did.”
She winced. “I imagine that was painful. If you don’t mind, I’m going to get started. Can you tell me what happened while I do this?”
She thought only to distract him from the pain, but his story made her hands shake. Already she felt terrible as she lifted his torn gills and gently reattached them with the medkit. This time it didn’t use goo like it would have for her. Instead, it seemed to reattach the pieces of his body with a strange, clear, jelly-like substance. But it held everything together, and she knew it would speed up the healing process. At the very least, when she was finished with his gill, his breathing sounded better.
He relaxed a bit into her grip, turning to face her as he told her more of his brother’s anger, and the rage with which he had thrown Arges onto the stones.
He hissed a bit when she reached his ribs, but the worst was when she got to that torn hip fin.
“This looks very painful,” she said, not sure where to start with it. “Should I just...”
“Do what you have to do, achromo.”
Figuring she should just get it over with and not make either of them wait any longer, she grabbed the fin and put it back in place. He arched, his spine coming up off the floor as she apologized repeatedly. The sound of his pain, the deep rumble echoing through his gritted teeth, made every inch of her ache with him.
“I’m sorry,” she said, turning the medkit on and filling the space so the fin would stay in place. “I’m so sorry. I know this hurts, it’s almost done. It’ll be okay.”
And then she was done. Tossing the medkit away from them, she cupped her hands behind his head and drew it up to her chest. “You’re okay. You’re going to be okay now, I promise. That’ll fix you, and you won’t hurt anymore.”
But then she realized he wasn’t shaking in pain. He was laughing, his arms already coming around her and holding her a little more tightly against him. He lifted his head, looking up at her with far too much humor for a man who had just been in significant pain. “You are more worried about my wellbeing than I thought you would be.”
“You were in pain!”
“I have been in pain many times in my life. I’ve been bitten by sharks, attacked by squid, even had a turtle latch onto a gill when I was little.” He shrugged. “It’s all something that happens when you live as we do. I have never been cared for so gently, though. I will say that.”
She shouldn’t preen at the words. She shouldn’t be proud that she had taken care of him better than others, but she absolutely was.
Still. He laughed at her when she’d been worried about him. “I should toss you back into the sea, you beast.”
“Why’s that?”
“I was actually worried about you.”
“I know you were.” He smoothed his hand down her back, tugging her a little closer until she had no option but to straddle him. Then he did the strangest thing yet. He arranged her legs on either side of his tail, then snuggled her against his odd heartbeat.
Resting her cheek on his chest, she toyed with his rib gills. “Are you really okay now?”
“I’ll be fine. I just need rest.” He never stopped touching her. Gently moving his thumbs over her spine, sometimes coiling his fingers through her hair. She even felt him touch the lobe of her ear once.
And when she was almost drifting off to sleep, she muttered, “This can’t be comfortable for you. You’re laying on a hard floor.”
“You’d be surprised, Mira.” Then she swore he added, “Having you in my arms is the most comfortable I’ve ever been.”
Thirty-Two
Arges
He came to the next morning, already significantly healed. His body, though still sore and a little aching, was no longer torn or bleeding. Arges could even flex the fin at his hip. And though it wasn’t moving like normal—not even close, if he was being honest—he could at least move it.
And then there was the warmth spread out across his chest. The heat of a woman who had not only saved him but also wriggled her way into his heart. He wanted to hold her for longer. He wanted to cup the back of her head and rub her over every inch of his scales so that he could keep her scent with him always.
It was a strange sensation. One he’d only experienced with her, and he knew that was silly. There were plenty of his own people who were very interested in him. If he wanted a mate, he could find one with a snap of his fingers.
But he wanted her.
His brother’s warning rose in his mind, filtering through the warm fuzzy feeling of the morning. He would be hunted. His people would never understand their connection. Of course, that hurt his heart. He didn’t want to give up anyone at all and certainly didn’t think a love with this woman was worthy of throwing him out of their home. Nerves churned in his belly and he had the sudden desire to shove her off of him.
Then he remembered the skeletons outside of this dome. The way they had been coiled around each other, even in death. He knew what was the most likely story for how they had ended up there.
She’d died. She’d been in this dome, with her pretty dresses and all the beautiful things that undine had gathered for her from across the ocean. Age had caught up with her, or maybe she had gotten sick and no one had been able to help her. the achromos would certainly deny that any of their own people had ever had a connection with one of his own.
So maybe she had gotten sick and there was nothing her mate could do. When she had died, he’d gathered her in his arms and sank them both beside the home. Perhaps he had coiled his tail around her then, keeping them both beneath the waves until he had died.
Though the story was a sad one, there was also a lot of happiness in it as well. The love the male had for his mate was one that had extended beyond death itself.
He’d be lying if he tried to convince himself that he felt any different for her. For Mira.
Sliding his hands down her back, he felt the delicate bumps of her spine and the way she shifted in her sleep. She drew even closer to him, nuzzling her face against his chest and letting out a little sleepy sigh that went right into his very heart. She was so comfortable with him, knew she was so safe that she could sleep deeply. She didn’t even wake when he touched her.
It was an honor. And it was one that affected him far too much. Already he could feel himself growing thicker, longer underneath his scales, until soon he would embarrass himself in front of her. She wasn’t singing the mating songs. She wasn’t asking him to give her pleasure or coiling around him as his own people would do.