Page 24 of A Sea of Vows and Silence (The Naiads of Juile #3)

Selena

“ W hispers,” Ceba repeated, skeptical.

If her tone bothered Aegir, he didn’t let it show.

“As a child, we were always taught that water remembers the dead. I’d always brushed it off as old tales.

But when I was down there…” He tilted his head, gazing back at the dark cave.

“The passages echo, and the echoes bound far away. Water drips on one side, but it sounds like footsteps on the other. The tunnels breathe with the tide. When they start to fill, it sounds like voices, both in your ear and far away.” He sighed, giving himself a small shake. “Are any of you claustrophobic?”

We each shook our heads.

“You will be,” Aegir pointed down at the rock toward the heart of the cave. “Down there.”

Pheolix stretched. “How can we ensure ourselves safe travels through the haunted catacombs? Shall we all get naked and dance around the fire before we make a sacrifice to the Fates?”

"Yes." I shot him an icy glare. "You'll be our sacrifice."

Aegir handed me a bioluminescent jar as though he hadn’t even heard Pheolix. Cebrinne reached for the twine, and Aegir laid his hand over hers, halting her. “I think we should stay together.”

She looked up at him softly, teal eyes delving into his. “Are you all right?” she asked quietly. So quietly, I almost couldn’t hear her.

I’m not sure I’d ever seen her ask anyone that. Other than me .

“I’m fine.” He released her with a soft smile and walked away. All the way to the edge of the island, slender toes hanging off the sharp rocks.

I stared wide-eyed at her. She met my gaze and raised her brows as though to ask, What?

“Found some feelings for old fish king there, did yeh Cebrinne?” Pheolix snatched a pile of rope and began twisting it over his elbow, coiling it in a wide circle.

Ceba smiled, though the grin reminded me of a cat flashing its fangs. “It shouldn’t impress you. Nothing’s as pathetic as the way you hide your feelings behind all your little jokes.” She glanced at me then quickly looked away.

“You’re right,” he said, holding a hand to his heart.

Cebrinne stalked away, hardly looking at Aegir, and she passed him and dove into the water.

He jumped in directly behind her, and Pheolix turned to look at me, fitting his knife snugly in its leather sheath at his hip.

“If those two crazy kids don’t end up together, I’m telling the Fates I want my money back. ”

“Piss off,” I murmured, stepping past him.

“The vulgarity.” he exclaimed behind me, but I’d already hit the water.

I’d always found the sea surrounding Laurier Palace cold and gloomy, but it felt bright compared to the water under Paria, quickly losing color as we descended.

Green sea faded to gray, darker and darker.

Pheolix passed me, his tail’s wave of current fluttering against my face and hair as his steel-clad scales dimly reflected the last of the fading sun’s rays.

It was quiet.

The kind of quiet that gives you pause in the dead of night.

The kind that hovers around you, itching over your skin, making you want to turn around and ensure nothing’s watching you.

The water was thick with cold. Deathly still, yet something about it pulsed softly.

Vibrations from the seabed below. Rhythmic and delayed, like the beat of a heart long since entombed .

Clutching my jar of light, I pushed into the black dark.

Sea creatures skittered as I came close, fleeing back into the darkness before I could make out anything but their shadow.

No long trails of seaweed to swim through, no coral or anemones or grass.

The void was open, and I was merely passing through it, a tiny grain of sand in an endless vault.

Unable to see Aegir or Cebrinne, or anything else, so I pushed to top speed, leaving Pheolix behind.

I wondered where he might have found the entrance. Even with my water call, nothing seemed to stand out to me, the black water as endless as—

A jagged rock wall appeared.

It came from nowhere, blurry for only an instant before the sharp edges came into view.

Directly in front of me.

There wasn’t even time for a burst of shock. I braced to collide, and an arm wrapped around me. Followed by a warm chest against mine.

A tight squeeze.

A roll.

Then we hit.

Impact jarred my neck and back. Hair flew over my eyes in delayed ripples.

A forehead tucked over my cheek, the force of a strike shattering through it—the whiplash of rock hitting the back of his skull.

Glass shattered. A blue fog erupted around us, illuminating the silhouette of Pheolix’s chin next to mine.

We rolled once more, razored stone clawing at my arms and side, then began to fall into the depths.

His limbs loosened before I even opened my eyes.

Panic raided my tight lungs, blaring as he tilted away toward the sea floor.

I dropped my broken jar and reached for his intact one, slowly descending out of his hand, holding it up to find his eyes open.

Relief flooded.

He wasn’t moving .

Relief evaporated.

His eyes stared vacantly ahead, frozen and unfocused. A small, dark cloud slowly burst from the back of his head. I grabbed Pheolix’s shoulder and shook, but all it did was send smooth waves through his hair.

We were alone, far from the surface. So far, I couldn’t even see it. And I didn’t know where the entrance to Paria lay hidden. Pheolix had shown Aegir before we’d left for Calder. But not me.

It had to be close.

I looped my arms under Pheolix’s, and, possibly against better judgment, swam down.

With every stroke of my tail, the soft edges of his flukes brushed against mine.

His head rocked against me, and I wrapped my hand around it, holding it in place against my collarbone.

Even underwater, he was heavy. His chest and stomach flattened against mine like a solid slab of wood, hindering my every move, leaving my strokes clumsy and erratic.

Overhangs and underhangs in the rock came just as spontaneously as the entire wall had, forcing me to slow and avoid colliding again. I searched for a hole. It couldn’t be far.

The water stirred underneath me.

I stopped, hand cradled against Pheolix’s head. The jar sat in my opposite hand, and I held it below us, but I couldn’t see anything beyond the span of our faces.

He lifted his chin. His arms twitched, and he brought them down, feeling his way in the dark through my hair and the nape of my neck to my shoulders. We were suspended upside-down, and he began to pull away, his body seeking to right itself.

I yanked him closer, a mental command to hold still in every stitch of muscle.

Pheolix studied me for only a moment before tilting his head to look up. Or more accurately, down.

Together we stared into the deep .

Tiny things drifted through the blue light. Like motes of dust or ashes lifting from a fire.

Silence.

I glanced back at Pheolix, gauging for signs of injury.

His attention remained below, but his fingers curled into the small of my back.

Embers sparked beneath his fingertips, warmth flickering to life as I became aware how firmly our bare bodies pressed together.

Blue lit all the hard lines and edges of him, the hollow under his jaw, the curve of his throat, the shadow of his upper lip.

He must have sensed my gaze. His eyes slowly returned to mine, head tilting down.

The bridges of our noses overlapped. Gray flecks in his irises reflected tiny shards of blue light.

They shifted left and right, incremental grains of motion, as he read the colors of mine.

We hovered together in the quiet, neither of us moving.

My mouth parted to say something, lips brushing his. But we were underwater, with no way to speak. And I wasn’t sure what I might have said.

A dark shape lurched from below.

Like the rocks, it came from nowhere. A bulky head with a pointed nose. Its mouth opened like the petals of a rose. Jaws peeled back in every direction, each lined with a row of bony teeth as long as my fingers. No eyes, no nose.

Only a wide throat.

Pheolix pushed me away as he thrust an arm out, straight into the grasp of the waiting jaws. It clamped immediately; mouth slamming shut like a hinge.

And then ripped him into the darkness.