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“When we were drowned.” He tilts his head, waiting for me to recognize him.
“Aquarus,” I say, quickly covering my breasts. God of the sea.
“Yes.”
I glance at the water that spilled onto the marble floor. “You thought I was drowning.”
He stares at me, hickory-brown eyes holding worlds of wisdom.
“That’s why you’re here.”
“This body has been under severe stress. It hasn’t been sleeping. And it’s disturbing the other alters.” Aquarus looks away, thinking out loud. “It seems you’re experiencing similar pain.”
Our situation has made it hard for his system to function. His world of alters. They’re all affected by what we’re going through on the outside.
I nod. “It’s been hard.”
“Hmm.”
“I’m sorry you don’t get to surface on better circumstances,” I say.
Aquarus lifts his chin. “I don’t mind it.” Accent rugged and northern.
I feel like an insect under a magnifying glass. The way he looks down at me, examining my mouth, my bare body. Like he’s never been this close to a naked woman before.
“You are rather beautiful.” He sighs, looking as if he might smile. Just a little.
“And what do you look like? In the inner world? How old are you?”
His chest rumbles with a closed-mouth laugh. “I’m three hundred thousand years old. I’m six foot eight, with long golden hair like yours.” He twirls a finger through one of my wet strands with a smile. “I believe Kane read a book about me when he was young. That’s why I split with this identity. Because I am Aquarus, the god of the sea, and I am not afraid of water or drowning.”
Every time I learn something new, it stings in my chest. Kane remembered a fictional character that felt invincible.
“We call them introjects. Fictive alters,” he adds.
“And what do you do in the inner world?”
“They don’t see very much of me. I stay in the ocean until I’m summoned to the front. Like I was today… with you.”
“Oh. I’m sorry.”
Aquarus studies me a moment longer, glancing down at the milk water and the floating dried leaves and lavender. “Dessin was worried because you’ve been in here for so long.”
“I—I thought this bath would relieve my anxiety.” My heartache. My churning stomach of toxic lies that I’ve been swallowing. My fear of what is happening to DaiSzek.
“But you’re still in pain.”
I nod.
“Would you like my company or prefer to suffer alone?” He shifts his large body toward the door.
My eyes roam over his face. “I’d like you to stay.” Time alone has always made my mind race with bad memories. And since there are a lot of those lately, I’ll take his company gladly.
Aquarus acknowledges my words with his eyes. A slight glint of an idea. He grips the edge of the tub and pushes himself to his feet. “Wait here.”
Moments later, he slips back into the washroom with a full glass bottle of brown liquid and a tray of steaming bread. A smirk warms my cheeks. This reminds me of my days in the thirteenth room with Dessin, minus the alcohol. Or that night, Ruth and I stayed up talking, drinking wine, and eating Aurick’s food.
Fully clothed, Aquarus steps into the copper tub with me, lowering himself into the hot water across from my end. He’s lucky this is an abnormally large bathtub; otherwise, he’d never fit.
