Page 31 of Call of the Fathoms (Deep Waters #4)

Thirty-One

Alexia

T he suit wasn’t entirely bulletproof, but it would have to do. Sliding into the water, she affixed the head piece a little tighter. The fibers of the suit were made from iron, and they were so thin, they almost appeared like threads. The idea had come from research they’d stolen from Tau. She had to give it to Ace and her people, the droids they built were useful when it came to hacking.

It had taken little Byte only a few moments to splice into the mainframe and download a significant amount of data points. Nothing that was protected, of course. Tau wasn’t so arrogant that they didn’t ensure their most important files were hard to get. But they didn’t put as much care into making sure it was hard to find suit protocol for the deep ocean excursions.

The suit was air tight, reinforced in multiple ways, and the headpiece shouldn’t crunch in the pressure. It would also help her breathe oxygen with tubes inserted directly into her airway through her nose. It would make talking a little difficult, but she could still do it.

She’d had to insert the tubes herself. Anya had nearly thrown up a couple times before Alexia had grown too angry with how long it was taking and did it herself. Alexia had medical training, to make sure she was prepared just in case anything happened to Harlow while she was on duty and no medical professionals were available. Inserting a tube was easy enough, even if it was nasty work.

The water was cold, but she couldn’t feel it through the suit. That was good. While Mira was worried about structural integrity and its ability to maintain pressure changes, Alexia had been worried that it would be cold. Metal and all that. She had feared the heating units wouldn’t work like her exoskeleton had.

It was working well enough for now, at least. Hopefully, she would get through this without dying.

If she didn’t, well, it would be an adventure that she wouldn’t regret. No human had been into the abyss before, and certainly not with a depthstrider. Not even in a ship. The opportunity to do so burned in her chest. She wanted to see it with her own eyes, even if it was just darkness.

A rush of water pushed her forward before an undine circled her. The flash of deep purples, lavender, and bright yellow lights gave away who it was long before she saw his face.

“Every time I’m in the water with you, I am shocked by your size.” She spun with Fortis, looking along the massive expanse of his tail until she reached his chest. The bulging muscles there flexed with every movement and made her mouth water.

She wanted to drag her hands all over those muscles, and it killed her that she hadn’t gotten the opportunity to do so yet. She wanted to rake her nails down his chest, bite down on those incredible pectorals, and then lick her way between the valley of his abs. None of these thoughts were safe for what they were doing right now, but she couldn’t help herself.

She knew the moment he smelled her arousal. His dark eyes seemed to sharpen on her, and a wicked grin spread across his face. “No, Alexia. We have things to do.”

“I hate it that you can smell me so easily.”

“And yet, I love that I can.”

The deep rumble in his voice sent shivers throughout her entire body. She hated that she reacted to him like this when there were other things for her to focus on. She needed to get her head on straight. But all she wanted was to ask him to take her somewhere else so she could experience the pleasure only he seemed to give her.

“Are you ready, Alexia?” he asked, jolting her once again from her thoughts.

Taking a deep breath, she nodded. “As ready as I’m going to get.”

He looked around them as though he were making sure no one was going to see him, and then he swam closer. In a sudden rush, his hands grabbed her around the waist and pulled her to his side. With a delicate touch, he ran his finger down the side of her throat where her pulse rapidly beat.

“It is a shame Mira found a way to let you breathe on your own. I quite liked doing it for you. My tentacle inserted into your neck made me feel... strange.” His gaze didn’t move from her pulse. The thudding of her heartbeat clearly captivated him, and for a moment, he looked like he had the first time he’d scented her arousal in the water.

But then he stiffened and moved away from her, and she saw that another undine approached them. Clearly, she wasn’t someone he wanted to be seen with. Not yet, anyway. Why did that sting so badly?

She swallowed hard and pulled herself together. Even Fortis seemed to swirl the water around them, yet another way he hid the scent of her desire.

It made her feel foolish. To him, this was just curiosity. A way to satisfy a need… But here she was, pining over this undine who did nothing but disappoint her.

Arges approached them with a grim expression on his face. “All right, there’s not much more I can do to prepare everyone. You two head out, and I’ll make sure that I get everything situated here. There are plenty of people willing to fight with us, but almost everyone is waiting to see if the depthstriders agree to help. Then they’ll make their decision.”

“This is why I wanted to hurry,” Fortis scolded.

This time, he reached for her without hesitation. A quick grab, and a sudden flick of his powerful tail, and they were off. Flying through the water as though rage powered him to be even stronger. They darted past the rest of the village that she’d seen from the inside, then over the edge of a drop off that descended far into the darkness. The light faded, and the entire time she watched his colors fade as the light stole them away.

It was easier to stare at him than look at where they were going. After all, the depths were still terrifying. The last time she’d been down there, the squid attacked her. She could still feel their powerful jaws gnawing on her body and sawing through muscles. But this time, she had him.

As his muscles moved between her legs, sending them careening into the darkness without an ounce of fear, she felt very confident that he would keep her safe. What creature in the ocean would be mad enough to attack him?

“Stop staring at me,” he muttered.

“Why?”

“Because it’s unnerving.”

She shook her head and chuckled. “You can’t see anything, anyway. There’s no light down here.”

The darkness had snuffed out the sea. Now it was just her and her own thoughts, existing in the nothingness of bleak dark. If she was still staring in his direction, it was entirely without her knowing. She was just looking where she had been moments ago when there had still been light.

He snorted. “I can see just fine. You and your human eyes are just weaker than my peoples’.”

There was a long pause before she repeated, “Human eyes, huh?”

“My son has reminded me that even if I do not trust your people, you still deserve respect. If you wish to be called humans, then I can... learn.” He ground the words out like he was angry.

Of course it would be Aulax. The young man had popped in to visit her multiple times. And while he had been sweet and understanding of many things, he hadn’t exactly seemed to realize the danger they were all in. He wanted everyone to see the use in each other, that much she could understand.

But it would take more than that. Humans were terrified of the undines, and for good reason. With creatures as large as them, it wasn’t foolish to wonder what would happen if a human pissed one off. It was just basic survival.

“Well, your son does seem to have a streak of kindness in him that I don’t see as easily in you.” She snorted. “Actually, your son is a lot more kind than I’ve ever seen you be. He’s a good person.”

“You don’t think I’m a good person?”

“You’re...” Alexia hesitated. “You’re like me.”

“Which means?” He turned them, twisting them in a spiral down into a current that would help propel them deeper into the water.

She could feel their speed pick up. He seemed to have successfully pushed them deeper and deeper into the ocean, and she was already feeling the pressure change squeezing her. The suit seemed to hold, though, and she would take that as a win. Even if it meant she did have to explain her thoughts to him.

Alexia licked her lips and hoped she was explaining this well enough. “I don’t think either of us is necessarily good or bad. I think that answer is a lot more complicated for someone who has fought their entire life for people who have pointed them at an enemy and fired. Whether you believe that you are the same as me or not, I see it in you.”

His arms tightened around her. Carefully, he took her feet and tucked them against the warmer hip gills that would help keep her from freezing. “I do not think we are that different, virago.”

“Why do you call me that, anyway?”

“It is customary to give names to those you respect.” He obviously didn’t want to say anything to her about this. Every word was ground out through his teeth, like he was embarrassed to admit it. But perhaps they both needed this moment.

Even if she couldn’t help but joke with him. “Like a pet?”

“No, not like a pet,” he replied, perhaps a little harshly. “It is a gift. A name that means something. A respect that is shown as a way to tell you that I see into your soul. I see who you are and I have named you from what I saw.”

“Ah.” Another long silence that was only broken by the sound of his fins slicing through the water. Then, very quietly, she said, “Are you going to tell me what virago means, then?”

He took a long time to reply. “It is a warrior woman. A fighter who is recognized by another fighter, and a woman with... heroic qualities.”

She slapped her hands on his chest. “But you’ve been calling me that for a very long time.”

“I have.”

“Before you even realized I was going to help you.”

“Yes, virago. I knew even before you agreed to help our people what kind of person you were. It is not such a strange thing to admit.” His lights flickered on, some of the yellow illuminating his face in ghostly light. “The depthstriders you are about to meet might frighten you. They will touch you, most likely. Do not fight them. They are only glimpsing your future.”

“You’re changing the subject because you’re uncomfortable, aren’t you?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

His arms tightened a little more around her before she felt him sigh out of his rib gills. “Because I do not know how to have this conversation with someone I admire, Alexia. I haven’t had to do this in a very long time, and I will admit, I am suffering because of that.”

He... admired her?

That made parts of her light up that she hadn’t even realized could glow. She wanted to grab onto his stupid face and kiss him. She wanted to tell him that she felt the same. She’d never met someone so admirable, and that he’d taught her what that even meant.

But then she felt a hand on her ankle. Flinching, she tried to stay still like he said, but it was hard when a hand reached out of the darkness and grabbed onto her.

“Don’t,” he growled. “It is an insult to deny them.”

“An insult?” she grumbled in response. “It is my future. Should I not get to tell them whether or not they see it?”

“You will never know what they see unless you ask them to reveal it to you. They are in control here, and always will be. You are in their home.”

Another clawed hand passed down her back, smoothing over her shoulders in a caress before darting away. Another toyed with the edges of her helmet, as though threatening her that at any point, they could pull it loose. Another hand, this time touching the spots on her thigh where the squid had wounded her. Another hand, this time slipping between her and Fortis and moving along her belly.

Fortis growled at that, and the hand immediately retreated.

“You are doing well,” he said, though his voice was pinched. “Just let them keep doing this. We’re nearly at the center of their home.”

“Their home? Not yours?” She flinched again when another hand came out of nowhere and trailed down her spine in such a delicate touch that every muscle in her body twitched.

“I haven’t lived here in a very long time.” He cupped the back of her head and drew her tighter to him, almost as though he was afraid one of them would grab her and rip her out of his arms. “Most of these depthstriders have never seen a human in their life. They have spent countless years down here, living in the deep while seeking out the future. It is a difficult life, and I chose a different current when I was very young. I chose adventure rather than future seeking, although I am very good at that as well.”

“Ah.”

Alexia stared over his shoulder, where she swore there were lights flickering in the distance. Bright little flecks of white light that immediately called her gaze, trying to convince her to follow them. Only then she realized they weren’t actually far at all. Those lights were the tiny ones that decorated the chests of countless depthstriders who were so close to them. All she could see were the rolling masses of their lights flickering as they reacted to her future.

Their tails were all tangled together. A ball of them knotted around her and Fortis as they moved through the sea. They were all massive, so big she wondered if Fortis was even the largest of them. Their bodies were decorated with powerful muscles, dark colors that were nearly ink black, and bright specks of light created to lure in the weakest of prey.

Then their voices rose. All of them at once in a deep whooping call of the depthstriders, all echoing throughout the sea and making the surrounding water vibrate with their anger. They must have realized she was a human. And they didn’t like the snippets of her future that they had seen so far.

What had she gotten herself into? This place was cursed, and if she wasn’t careful, it was where she would die.

“Easy,” Fortis reminded her. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

But could he really promise that?