Page 16 of A Sea of Vows and Silence (The Naiads of Juile #3)

Selena

I watched the body drop in silence, but internally, a rough whirr spun in my head. Had Thaan trailed us before? “We killed one of our own.”

The words tumbled out of me before I had the chance to decide whether they mattered.

Pheolix sighed. “I killed one of Thaan’s. We protected your cover. Even if you hadn’t accidentally seen him, he was never going to make it back to Thaan’s office alive.”

I tossed the bloodied handkerchief down, brushing a wild lock of hair behind an ear. “What’s your stake in this?”

Calm eyes stared back at me, shining with a flinty edge, and I was suddenly reminded of the night ten years ago when he’d pulled me under the waves and breathed Naiad air into my lungs. “I have my reasons to want Thaan dead as much as you.”

Vouri’s caution against drones echoed in my head.

“Come on,” Pheolix said, indicating with his chin at the door. “You were on your way to return something to the offices.”

I stepped ahead and briefly faltered. “You listened to the entire meeting?”

“No. I was watching him, and he watched the three of you through the glass walls. I only heard the end when I followed him inside.”

“But you heard what Vouri said. ”

Pheolix chuckled. “About trusting me? Yes. Don’t worry about it. I’ve heard more unflattering things about myself than a well-founded warning based in unsound faith.”

I sent him a sideways glance.

He smiled. “You’re allowed to be suspicious of me.”

“I knew what you meant,” I snipped, though the cut of my voice only made his humored slash of white grow.

He leaned in close to grasp the doorknob, pulling against the heavy wind.

Leaves rustled and stalks swayed at the sudden gust, though the humid warmth of the solarium kissed my cheeks almost as soon as the door closed tightly behind us.

“Well.” I adjusted my dress. “Thank you. Both for stepping in and insulting me.”

Pheolix tilted his head. “When did I insult you?”

“You said I didn’t know where beef came from.”

“Oh yes,” he said, fighting a smile and lifting his eyes to the glass ceiling as though enjoying his little joke all over again.

I suffocated a harrumph in my throat, stalking ahead to locate the parchments Madam Freisa would surely find missing. But Pheolix grasped my elbow, pulling me back.

“Wait. Try to stop my heart.”

“Honestly.” I tossed a hand in the air to shake him off, but he held on.

“Honestly,” he echoed. “Stop my heart, heiress.”

My tongue clicked, loud in the otherwise quiet room.

Water calling had always frustrated me. Small handfuls of liquid were easy to summon, of course.

I could tease enough water from the air to fill a jar.

Could swish the thin mist that gathered along the floor as easily as a pair of legs walking through it.

But large bodies of water? That had always been beyond my grasp.

“I could kill you,” I stalled.

“Could,” he lifted a casual shoulder. “But won’t. I’d like to know that you can, in case someone else surprises you. ”

“Fine,” I shot through my teeth, marching to close the distance between us.

I was as adept at mapping water as I was calling to it, which was to say my skill in seeking water I couldn't see was equally deficient.

My arms stretched to release the first few buttons of his shirt, pulling the hem aside to reveal the firm lines of his chest. Cebrinne could probably map a moon-damned heart just by looking at a man. I required a more tangible target.

In my periphery, he raised a single brow, but I was determined to avoid his eyes.

Heat invaded my blood at the touch of his skin.

I gave my head a small, confident shake, suddenly unable to think properly while hair rested in my eyes.

My neck lengthened as I tapped impatiently down his sternum, searching for the source of the soft heartbeat before me.

“Like what you feel?”

“No.”

He smirked. “Once you start, don’t stop.”

My eyes shifted up to meet his.

“I’ll eclipse you if it becomes too much.”

My fingers flexed against warm skin. “What if you can’t?”

His crooked smile grew. “It’s a test for us both, then.”

I closed my eyes, feeling through the boundaries of his chest, searching the whoosh of ventricles within.

He breathed under my hand, the gentle rise and fall of his air somehow grounding against my palm.

Liquid tunnels opened slowly to my touch, the rush and pump of steady valves opening and closing.

I followed the pattern of it, rhythmic and strong and soothing, a tune for my head to follow.

“Ready?” I murmured. My eyes remained closed, though I sensed his patient stare as he watched me.

“Ready,” he answered just as softly.

I pressed in.

Into the core of him, the place where vessels mated with oxygen, where everything contracted and released in a single beat of muscle. And latched on. Tissue swelled under my fingertips, circulation slowing as my block grew.

Pheolix’s breath caught. He staggered a small step away, but before I could release him, he clapped a hand over mine, holding me in place.

I pushed harder. His fingers tightened over mine, though I wasn’t sure if he did it to steady my grasp or his own. He drew a long, rattled pull of air. Then sank backwards.

His heart flagged. I squeezed my eyelids tight, top teeth cutting into my lower lip as I followed him to the floor. A heavy thump announced the drone’s fall, but I climbed over his legs, unwilling to lose the connection.

My breath fogged. Ice warped the air, mist evaporating into frost. A breath choked, guttering and raw, the same cough a drowning man might force from his lungs. Pheolix’s palm patted mine, and I whipped my hand away, yanking my eyes open.

He lay unmoving on his back, eyes wide and skin pallid, a thin coat of dew across his forehead. Blue tinged his lips, and a sudden strike of fear bolted through my chest. “Pheolix?” I blurted, searching for a pulse. “Say something.”

His lips moved, but no sound came.

“What?” I leaned forward to hear him.

“If you feel guilty, you can kiss me.”

I snarled my disgust, pulling away to glare at him. “You’re foul.”

Pheolix flashed his teeth. “You’re enchanting.”

He’d landed partially against the eastern wall, and I grasped him by the collar of his shirt, guiding him upright to lean against the glass. He massaged his heart vaguely with his fingers.

His opposite arm curled around my back. The motion was so commonplace, the pressure of his palm and fingers so natural, that I almost didn’t notice. But I did, realizing I sat in his lap, straddling his legs.

Blue-mouthed, pale-skinned, he winked .

A small fire lit in my belly, but my groan of annoyance only widened his smile as I rolled off him.

The room around me glittered. Crystals sparkled over the windows, fractals blooming from the corners like frosted explosions frozen in time.

Small icicles hung from leaves. A smooth glaze covered the floor, and when I flexed my fingers, they moved slowly, joints hindered by the cold.

“Pheolix,” I said, watching the plants twinkle under the strands of moonlight. “I think eclipsing is a type of water calling.”

He cleared his throat loudly. “Maybe. I’ve never focused that hard on a single target. Now you know how long you’d have to hold it to kill someone.”

I watched as he rubbed a circle in his chest, cutting deep between his pectorals. “I don’t want to do that again.”

Pheolix curled his fingers into his palm, watching blue fade from the beds of his nails. “Thaan is sending Naiads to track you. I don’t think you have a choice.”