Minutes stretch, marked only by the settling water. The shivering stops completely. The frantic tempo of his heart slows, falling into rhythm with the steady, heavy thud of my own. His breathing deepens into a slow, even cadence that brushes against my skin.
I look down, hardly daring to believe what is happening.
Vaelis has fallen asleep in my arms.
I remain perfectly still, anchored in the black water, shocked by the profound, terrifying weight of his trust. He fits against me like he was carved to be there, a piece of the sun lost in the deep.
And as I hold him through the darkest part of the night, I know with a cold, clear certainty that I am ruined.
By the time the water begins to pale with the gray promise of morning light, the violent roaring outside has died down to a dull hum.
The surge has broken. The bubble we built in the dark is popping.
Vaelis notices it at the same time I do. He straightens up, pulling away from the circle of my arms with a sudden, sharp movement. The easy, quiet intimacy of the night vanishes, replaced by the heavy, crushing reality of daylight. He pushes his crimson hair back from his face, and I see it.
A jagged scrape mars his forearm.
It must have been from the rock when we squeezed through the narrow passage. A thin line of darker red seeps into the water around the wound.
I move before I can stop myself.
I cross the small space and take his wrist. My pale fingers wrap around his skin. He goes perfectly still. He should pull away now that the danger has passed, but his pulse jumps against my thumb, rapid and hot. A frantic rhythm that speaks of fear and something else.
"Stone cut," I murmur, my voice dropping to a gravelly low. "It will fester if you don't clean it when you get back."
Vaelis stares at my hand holding his, his golden eyes unreadable in the dim light. "I still don't want to go back."
The confession is a stark, terrifying thing that settles in the water between us.
I look up, meeting his golden eyes directly.
The hunger I've been fighting all night claws at my throat. I want to drag him deeper. I want to hide him in the basalt and never let the sun touch him again.
"You have to," I say harshly. I force myself to release his wrist, propelling myself back so the cold water can rush between us. "The light is growing. The patrols will be looking for you."
Vaelis searches my face, his expression wounded. "You're chasing me away."
"I'm saving you." My jaw aches from the force of my clenched teeth. "If you stay, Vaelis, you do not go back. The deep does not give things up once it claims them."
He lifts his chin, that iron spine returning. "And what if I want to be claimed?"
The words are madness. They are an invitation to a drowning.
I crowd him, letting the heavy mass of my body push him until his back meets the stone wall with a soft thud. My chest hovers inches from his, letting him feel the undeniable physical threat of what I am.
"You think you want this because we survived the night," I growl, my voice vibrating through the water. "But the deep is not a game. It is a life of scraping sustenance from the rock. It is no place for you."
"Stop looking at me like I'm something that will break," he snaps back, glaring up at me, his golden eyes flashing with defiance.
"I know you will not break," I say. I lean in until the erratic flutter of his breath brushes my jaw. "That's why I am sending you away. Because if you stay here with me... I will keep you."
His breath hitches.
"You heard me," I say, tracking the soft parting of his lips. "I would keep you until you forgot the sun. Until the only thing you knew was the dark and me. And you deserve better than a new cage."
The silence heavy with the weight of the night we shared and the morning that is tearing us apart.
Vaelis is trembling now. He wants me to close the gap.
