Echoes of the Tide (Deep Waters #3)

Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22

H e glided with her through the sea, all the while reminding himself that he couldn’t keep her. It wasn’t right for him to force her to be underneath the sea. But then, another part of him was reminded of the other two women. There was room in their home. They were building more and more onto it, taking pieces of Alpha and making their own little town where there were individual places for people. Growing areas. Spaces where humans could thrive, even under the sea.

And if he could bring some of them above when there weren’t storms, perhaps they could figure out a way to expand back onto the land where humans lived as well. All they had to do was create a home that could hold up to the sharp storms of ice and flying metal pieces that would slice their skin, the heat of the day, and sometimes tides that rose over the building.

If anyone could do it, it was Mira and the other women who had created a home for themselves where he had left them. And his dear Ace, his little kefi who had proven herself thoroughly intelligent. He was certain she could do more than he expected.

And yet, there were only a few moments for him to even consider these things before he knew their time was running out. Because though they could enjoy time on the back of a whale shark, reality was barreling toward them.

Her sister needed saving, and if she wasn’t going to ask him to help her, then he would figure out a way to do it on his own.

The problem was that he didn’t know where to find her sister. Maketes glided with her back toward the cave, still feeling like he was missing a piece of the puzzle. There were things he didn’t know, things that he wasn’t certain he would ever understand.

Ace was asleep in his arms, though. And he didn’t want to wake her to answer his questions. So once they got back to the cave, he kept her relaxed in his arms with his breathing tube in her neck, and popped his head above the water.

“Droid?” he called out, hoping that he wouldn’t wake the sleeping achromo in his arms.

Her droid zipped toward him from behind a rock, clacking together in excitement as though it recognized him. It should at this point, but he never knew with droids.

“Ah, good. You’re still here.”

It wheeled in a circle and then stood still, eerily like a pet waiting to be told what to do.

“Who is this Jacob, and how does he know about her sister?” That maybe wasn’t the right question. “Actually, how does he keep track of where her sister is? His threat is very real, I’m certain, but I want to know how he’s keeping track of her.”

The droid started to spell out a reply on the sand, but froze when he made a tsking noise.

“I can’t read your language.”

It clacked together harder and then moved farther away from him. With all five of the silver balls splitting apart, it quickly worked on a picture in the sand that was eerily accurate to what he imagined it looked like in real life.

“A surveillance drone?” he murmured. “He’s sending one of those out to spy on her sister?”

The droid made two sharp clacks and then started on another corner of the picture. It drew Ace out in the sand. She was so accurate, it was like he was looking at her. Right down to the bend in her glasses that was just over her right ear where she’d maybe broken them before.

“So it’s Ace’s drone that keeps track of her sister? And he’s just watching through the same thing that Ace is using?”

Two clacks.

“One means no, two means yes?”

Two more sounds, which he could only mean that he was right. Perfect. This would make communicating with them a little easier. He was used to droids who could speak on their own. At least, Byte could. Bitsy, Anya’s little interpreter, was still broken and unfortunately never had a voice of her own.

Pressing his lips together in disappointment, he hummed low under his breath. “Understood. So Jacob is using Ace’s own droids against her, then. Shit. Well, that doesn’t make it easy to find where this sister of hers is being kept.”

The droid circled the drawing a few times and then pointedly stared up at him.

“I suppose I could have someone else follow the droid,” he murmured. “I can’t leave Ace’s side, but there are others who may help.”

Not that he wanted to ask them. The only people who seemed to lurk around him these days were Fortis and Fortis’s son. Neither of the depthstriders were the people he wanted to work with. If only because they annoyed him.

However, it gave him the opportunity to annoy Fortis even more than he already did. Which was a chance he would normally take willingly.

But he hated the idea of other undine around her. And maybe that was because she hadn’t gone through the correct mating rituals with him. He hadn’t fed her properly. He hadn’t given her all the trinkets and gifts that he could find. Ace had accepted nothing from him but his body and that didn’t sit right with him.

There was only so much a man could run on hope. Hope that she liked him as much as he did, that she would stay, that she saw something more in him than just the male who was fun to pass the time with.

Logically, he knew that wasn’t what he was to her. But there would always be some fraction of that fear.

He felt her stirring against his chest, and he gave the little droid a severe look. “I’ll consider it. You think that’s the way to find her?”

Another clack, and then they’d run out of time for their private conversation. She was already coming to the surface of the water. Not spluttering like he had expected, or even panicking. She just rose to the surface and blew some water out of her mouth.

“I fell asleep,” she said, looking up at him from where he was propped against the edge of the stone.

“You did.”

Maketes couldn’t help himself. He reached out to palm the back of her head in his hand, stroking her temple with his thumb as he looked down at her. She was such a courageous little creature who had no idea how much she held his heart in her hands. Someday she would know. Likely someday soon. But at the moment, all he had were these finite moments when he felt like this and she still didn’t know.

She grinned up at him. “That’s wild. I didn’t know it was possible to sleep underwater.”

“The others do. I’ve seen them sleeping with their partners, tangled in kelp so the sea doesn’t carry them away.” He tugged her a little closer, lowering himself in the water until their lips almost touched. “I would like to do this with you someday. I will hold you as the sea rocks us to sleep.”

Somehow, it felt like a sexual thing to say. He watched as her pupils blew out, her already dark eyes grew even darker as her breath caught in her throat. He wondered what was going through her mind.

Perhaps she, too, was stuck remembering that she’d promised to kiss him with that mouth. That she’d promised to show him that achromos were better with their tongues than any of his people could hope to be.

Maybe it was a dream, though. There was a long way for them to go before they would be alone again.

He had half a mind to encourage this moment. If he drew her even closer, kissed her as he had before, perhaps she could be convinced. They could linger here in the cave for days if they wanted to. Because now that she’d mentioned using her mouth, he wanted to taste her as well.

He should have talked with Arges or Daios more about... all of this. He knew that they had mated with their females. Both of them always smelled like their partners, no matter how long they had been gone from their sides. The scent of their women was melted into their scales at this point, and that was something he wanted as well.

How, though? He had no idea.

Maketes wasn’t exactly experienced in this. He’d only ever tried to mate with a female of his own kind once, and it hadn’t gotten very far. He had seen the swiping claws and the rage on the female’s face as she’d swam at him. Terror was to be expected during mating but that feeling had been enough for him to call it off.

Ace seemed kinder. Softer. She was ready and willing to welcome him with open arms instead of claws and teeth.

Then Ace leaned over the stone and looked at what her droid had drawn. Her eyebrows drew down in concentration. “You were trying to figure out how I was keeping track of my sister, huh?”

It was like she’d thrown him out of the water and let him flounder on jagged rocks. “I was wondering how Jacob knew where she was.”

“He’s not as stupid as I thought he was, that’s how. He was following my damn drone the entire time I was using it, and that gave him access to... everything.” She blew out a long breath, and bumps rose all over her skin. He watched them, surprised to see them again since the only other time he’d seen them was when she was cold or in the heat of passion.

But she wasn’t cold. He knew that. She wasn’t shivering and her teeth weren’t chattering. She certainly wasn’t feeling the heated blood that had turned them toward such carnal pleasures.

So what were those bumps now?

He touched them, watching her hair raise a little more before seeming to settle at his touch. “What are these?”

She looked down at them. “Goosebumps? You don’t get goosebumps?”

“Goose... bumps?” He shook his head. “I know the second word, but not the first.”

It seemed he had successfully distracted her from worse thoughts, because she turned toward him and held out her arm for his inspection. “Goosebumps. I don’t know why we call them that, because a goose is kind of like a chicken or a duck. It’s a response from my body whenever I’m unnerved or excited or cold or... I guess maybe it’s better to say whenever we’re feeling some kind of heightened emotion, we get the bumps. Or if we’re cold.”

“Like my gills.” He picked her up so he could look at these bumps. It almost appeared like they were attached to the fine hairs on her arms. “Are they your hair trying to get off your body? Perhaps you used to have spines that covered you. It would make more sense if it was a defense.”

“I don’t think humans used to have spines instead of hair,” she said with a soft laugh.

“Is it so hard to imagine?”

“Well, we’re mammals. We had fur.”

He shook his head. “Your people have a name for everything. Fur or spines, I find it hard to believe you truly have no natural defenses.”

Ace tapped the side of her head. “My brain is my weapon. I think that’s true for most humans.”

Maketes lifted her even higher, until she was standing on the rock and he was below her, holding onto her waist and staring up into her eyes. “It is a lovely brain, but it is no match for tooth or claw.”

A soft laugh bubbled out of her, flowing into him with the soft sound. And then she was stroking his hair, like she seemed to always enjoy. He curved into her touch, knowing this was the last chance they’d have for a little while yet.

“Maketes?” she said.

“Yes?”

“What does kefi mean?”

“I will tell you when all of this is done. When you have your hands on that key, and when your sister is free from the man who would kill her.” He turned his head and pressed a kiss to her palm. “No matter what happens, you are always my kefi, and I will help you until the very end of this.”

He could see how his words hurt her. She flinched as though he’d struck her, but there was also safety in what he said. Because they were a vow. He would protect her and her kin for the rest of his life, even if that was insanity.

Haunted memories filled her gaze. It was so easy to read this achromo. She feared for her sister, for his people, for all the things that she could not explain.

“Come,” he said. “It is time for us to return to your city. We have put it off long enough.”

He knew deep in his bones that both of them wanted to put it off longer, though. It was easier to exist here in this bubble of a cave where he could show her the sun every day, or at the very least, the stars. Even if it was storming, he would find a way for her to enjoy herself.

But they could not do any of that with the threat of her sister’s death hanging over their head. They could do nothing without giving her the chance to save her family and all those that she loved. It seemed they came to that conclusion at the same time, because she placed her droid in her pocket and wrapped her arms around his neck at the same time as he drew her in by the waist.

Together, they sank back underneath the water. She reached for the breathing tentacle herself, sliding it toward her neck with his guidance and finding the right place to put it. She inserted the end into herself, and he’d never been prouder. Breathing for her as he turned them into the darkness of the sea, Maketes told himself all would be well.

They were doing the right thing.

They were saving her sister, and who knows what would happen after that?

Still, he couldn’t forget the way she’d looked at him. The way she had been so close to asking him to kill for her. This key was something that made her worried, and that in turn worried him.

Once they had it in their grasp, what were they going to open?

That thought coiled up inside of him, like an eel waiting to strike at the right moment. He couldn’t give her the chance to hurt his own people. Maketes was enamored with her, but not that much. He wouldn’t sacrifice his people for anyone.

And yet his claws curled tighter around her the moment he saw the glowing neon lights that offered their first glimpse of Gamma. He didn’t want to let go of her. He didn’t want to give her the chance to make him choose.

Because he wasn’t sure that he would choose his people after all.

“There,” she said, pointing to a building bathed in yellow light. “That’s where we need to go.”

He dove, and vowed that no matter what happened, he would at least keep her safe.