Page 16 of The Withering Dawn (Wicked Tides)

When we returned to the beach, I saw Nikolas lounging on the sand, hands behind his head as if he was teetering on the edge of sleep. I scanned the beach for Aeris and when I didn’t see her, I walked up to Nikolas and kicked his boot, waking him from his meditation.

“Where is she?” I asked, dropping the bag of supplies next to him.

Nikolas turned, pointing toward the trees. He’d picked up a few hand signals over the years, most of which I could understand, and gave me the gestures for “water” and “swim.” I stared at the trees, frowning.

I bent to pull the dress out of the sack of supplies, rolling it in one hand.

“Load everything on the boats to take it all to the Amanacer,” I ordered, marching toward the trees.

My boots crunched through the thick foliage as I listened for freshwater. It was a bit of a trek, but eventually, I heard the soothing melody of a lightly running waterfall and hiked toward it.

The moment I cleared the trees and saw the pond with the thin, winding stream flowing into the crystal water, I stopped. On the bank was Aeris’s dress draped over a large stone. I stood, waiting, watching the water for movement. When I could see no traces of her, I ventured closer, scanning the foliage around the pool for her fair skin and vivid red hair, but still, I saw nothing.

Then, as I neared the water, I spotted it. A long shape in the pond swimming gracefully toward the bank, tresses of silk trailing behind her head. She breached the surface, unaware of my presence, and lifted herself from the water to reach for her garments. Red designs blushed down her arms and along her belly and breasts, faintly contrasted to her otherwise pale complexion. The same blush traced her high cheekbones and the edge of her hairline.

As she reached for her clothes, her peripheral caught sight of me. She turned her head, her green eyes paler and more feral than I remembered. She sucked in a sharp, startled breath and dropped back into the water, putting quick distance between us with one beat of her long tail. I walked slowly the rest of the way to the water’s edge, peering in to see her eel-like lower half where I was used to seeing two limbs. It was at least twice the length of her legs with a ridge of fins on her hips. It was the color of a muted sunset, all crimson and copper depending on how the light hit it. And at the very end was a narrow, leaf-shaped fin that swayed slowly from side to side.

I slowly draped the new dress on top of her old one and crouched down at the edge of the water, perching my elbow on my knee.

“So, this is where you’ve been,” I said.

She folded her arms shyly over her breasts as if I’d never seen them. Her sharp canines peaked timidly from her parted lips like she was looking at a stranger.

“Let me see you,” I said calmly, trying to coax her away from the opposite side of the pool.

She skirted along the bank for a bit, her head tilting subtly to the side like she was a curious animal wondering whether to take food from my hand or not. But soon, she began to drift toward me, slipping beneath the water to swim to my side of the pool. I watched her scales shimmer in the light as she neared, her long tail acting like an entirely separate entity. Then, mere inches from me, she emerged silently from the water and opened her beautiful, haunting eyes up at me. She slid her hands onto the bank by my boot displaying her elongated, red-tinted nails, the color of which faded up the length of her fingers.

She stared, her body doing everything it could to cover up the fact that she wanted to sink back into the water and out from under my scrutinizing gaze.

I could not read her thoughts like she seemed to be able to read mine, but I could see that she was preparing for me to be appalled by her changed form. But I was anything but appalled by what I was looking at. I was entranced, which perhaps should have worried me, but I didn’t care. My heart sighed at the enchanting sight of her.

“Mu?equita, you…” I whispered, slowly extending my hand toward her face. “Are stunning.”

She looked nervous at first until my fingers grazed her cheek and then she began to lean into my touch like it was all she’d ever wanted. I could still see her fangs and admitted to myself that she could so easily bite off a finger. I knew she would not and that made her all the more gorgeous. She was so lethal under her soft expressions and her gentle demeanor. So capable of violence and yet so hesitant to inflict it.

“I lost track of time,” she said, her voice a strange mix of what I was used to and something faint and high pitched. Something I was sure could be heard much clearer underwater like the shrill whistle of a whale or dolphin.

“Have you been here all day?”

She nodded, an air of shame in her eyes. “I… I have not felt this form in a very long time. I thought, in this small pool, that I might find the courage to reacquaint myself with it.”

“And? Are you reacquainted?”

She nodded again, biting her lower lip as if there was more.

“Then, come out,” I said. “The sun will be setting soon. I want to take you back to the ship.”

Her eyes wandered again.

“Nazario,” she muttered. “I am not fond of changing. Less fond now that I have refreshed my memory of it.”

“Yes. You said it was painful.”

“I will be along. I just need some time.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “How long have you been here because you did not want to change back?”

She didn’t reply, but that in itself was an answer. Taking a deep breath, I stood from the bank and slid my coat off my shoulders, dropping it carelessly onto the ground.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

I kicked my boots off and then unbuckled the leather belts around my waist and tossed my bandelier to the ground with everything else. When I started to walk into the water, she drifted away, giving me room to do so. I got in until the water was just below my chest and stopped, realizing what a vulnerable position I would be in if Aeris was any other violent mistress of the sea. I held out my hand, coaxing her toward me, and like she’d become that suspicious animal again, she hesitated.

“You fear changing,” I pointed out. “But what you fear does not have to be faced alone. Not when you are part of my crew.”

“I am part of your crew?”

“Mmm,” I smirked.

She eyed my hand and then finally, reached out to take it. I pulled her closer, wrapping my other arm around her waist. The slick, finely textured scales where her fins turned to flesh were unfamiliar under my fingers. I could feel her powerful length coiling like a snake around my legs as if to steady herself. Curious, I moved my hand lower, tracing the stiff fins along her hips and then gradually moved them up, finding two grooves following the angle of her ribs. She shivered when I touched them and as she sucked in a breath, the grooves pulsed.

“I am sensitive there,” she whispered.

“Your gills,” I said.

She nodded, her posture still telling me that she was expecting me to wrinkle my nose with disgust. And why wouldn’t she expect that? She’d never been looked at as anything but a foul creature and she’d been treated as such.

“Do you just will the change?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Go on then.”

She swallowed hard, her hands lightly gripping my biceps. “It will not be pleasant. If you—”

“I’m staying.”

There was a flicker of relief and anxiety quarreling for space behind her eyes. I knew she was afraid. I also knew she didn’t want to go about it alone, despite the shame I felt in her rigid muscles. I pulled her close, my palm flattened against her back. She held my gaze for a while, silence reigning, and then I felt her whole body shudder against me. She gritted her teeth, her neck muscles going taut.

“Do not leave me,” she whimpered, her tone pleading.

It made my desire to stay that much more prominent.

Her fingers curled against my arms as she gasped, her eyes screwing shut.

“Why must it be like this?” she strained, suddenly throwing her head back with a choked cry.

Under my hands, I felt her body writhe. I felt the snapping of her bones vibrate up her spine and heard them breaking, moving, and reforming beneath the water and all around me as her long fin changed shape. Aeris wheezed for air, dropping her head to my shoulder and muffling another cry against me. Around us, the water turned red as blood filled the once crystal-clear water like a storm cloud forming beneath my feet. I felt the absence of her tail around my legs and instead, her feet were reaching for the bottom of the pool, her hands still clinging to my arms.

She lifted her head from my shoulder, a gentle sob leaving her lips as she slumped against my chest. I knew she could not drown if I let her slip beneath the surface of the pond, but I still did not want to let her go. Instead, I gathered her up and walked out of the pool with her cradled against my chest. She wrapped her arms around my neck, hiding her face against me as she shivered.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured. “You did not need to see that.”

I chuckled, gently setting her on her feet and making sure she did not waver now that she was back on two legs.

“I have seen all manner of ugly things in my life and that was not one of them,” I told her, reaching for the new dress.

I unrolled it before her, watching as her eyes skimmed over the moss-green cotton. The pain of her transformation was all but forgotten as she reached out, her fingers tracing the beaded trim along the neckline and down the bodice.

“Is this for me?” she asked.

“It is more your size I think.”

I gathered the fabric in my hands, lifting the garment above her head.

She raised her arms as if she’d been dressed by others many times before and slid into the new dress with ease.

The material draped over her lithe frame with much more grace than the dress she’d been wearing.

Once she was settled in, I started to tug lightly at the thin leather string that laced up the front, tightening the bodice until it hugged her waist and chest.

Once I’d tied it into a bow, I paused, watching a drip of water run in a slow line from her hair, down the side of her neck, and toward the small separation between her breasts.

I wanted to touch her, but refrained, imagining there would be a better time.

“There,” I said, pulling my hand away. “How does it feel?”

“Good,” she nodded.

“Then let me take you back to the Amanacer. This port is not a place I want to stay.”

“Did you find anything about Antonio?”

“Yes. And if Kristoff holds up his end, he will come to meet us in the morning to acquire his lost treasure. And we will be waiting.”