‘How about— I shove a— clam in your— mouth?’ I grit out between violent blows.
‘Big talk for little man with tiny legs.’
Sighing, I ease forward, looking down the sheer drop to the glimmering water below, feeling my eyes glaze.
Zyke stills, charmed by the sight, sending atap-tap-tapdown into the abyss as I swallow thickly, the urge to have and hold and cradle andstealboiling in my chest …
‘Yes! Yes! Yes! Steal treasures. Build big trove for little chosen one. Much work. Zykanth only one who thinks important things. Little man think with wrong head.’
Actually, he has a point. We absolutely need a bigger trove. More treasure to impress her.
‘More seaweed for soft bed.’
‘Okay, you’ve convinced me,’I concede, praying there’s an exit that doesn’t spit me out in the ocean. Or that I can find a way to climb up through the hole again afterward. ‘It would be nice to get my tail out …’
Anver’s right—it’s been too long.
‘Yes. too long. Exercise tail in trove. Swirl, swirl, swirl!’
‘If we find anything good, I guess we can just take it back to the hut and store it amongst Vicious’s pile of knickknacks.’
‘Yes! Impress little savage one,’Zykanth trills, churning round so fast he’s a scaled blur. ‘Steal, little hands! Go now.’
Heart thumping hard, I take off the shorts, happy to toss them aside as I move to the pinched end of the hole. Shifting to the edge, I plant one hand on either side of the jagged cleft and ease forward, drop all my weight into my shoulders, then lower my feet toward the depths.
A tingling sensation kindles at the tips of my toes, rippling up my legs. My skin tears, scales peeling to the surface, bones extending—blunt tips tapering off. My feet elongate, stretching out like curling waves that swish and sway to the flexing dance of my mighty muscles.
A smile spreads across my lips as the point of our frilly tail brushes the surface of the water far below, euphoria flooding my veins—
The words whisper up from the water’s depths, sharpening, spearing through my heart and making my stomach convulse. Making Zykanth still so fast my arms buckle.
‘Treasured one …’
My smile drops as I cling to the edge of the well, her voice raw and halting. Churned out on a sob. Her words not an admission, but aplea.
I swallow the bile rising in my throat, releasing a pained groan …
Orlaith needs me.
* * *
Her words haunt me, her chilling whisper pulsing up and down my spine as I look at Vicious sound asleep coiled within the nest I bound her in.
I study her beautiful lines, aching at the thought of leaving her.
Knowing I have no choice.
It’s too dangerous for her out there in the big wide ocean. I may not make it across the abyss myself, so I can’t risk taking her in Zykanth’s mouth.
Won’t.
She stirs, blinking up at me, her eyes like sleepy suns that glow in the dark amongst her whitewash of hair.
“Mine,” she says, reaching for me with one arm.
I give her a melancholy smile. “Yours, Vicious. Always yours.”
She frowns as I push my pants off and tuck into the furs beside her, lengthening her body so the plump curve of her ass is pressed against my thighs. She stretches around, twisting at the waist to set her hand upon my cheek, then searches my eyes in slow sweeps, like she’s trying to delve beneath the waters.
