"You are exactly on time," I say. My voice is a low, heavy rumble. I speak slowly, savoring the physical vibration in my throat.
Vaelis smiles. It is brilliant, unrestrained.
"The Council session ended early," he explains, getting closer. The water displacement carries the Reef's scent, the smell of clean silk, and the intoxicating, natural sweetness of his skin. "Elder Soryn talked for three hours about draft logistics, but I barely heard a single word. I stared at the water outside the plaza windows, waiting for the tide to turn."
He stops drifting, hovering inches from my chest.
"I missed the dark," he whispers.
He looks directly at my mouth. The hunger in his golden eyes is undeniable. He wants me to close the distance, to finish the agonizing moment we started two days ago near the thermal vents.
The urge to drag him against my chest is overwhelming, a physical agony. I want to bury my face in his bright hair, wrap my heavy arms around his lean spine, and claim him.
My hands become fists at my sides. I force the knuckles white, a physical anchor.
"You should not miss this place," I rumble. The words are gravel in the water. "It's entirely unforgiving."
Vaelis's smile dissolves like salt. His golden eyes search the rigid lines of my face, seeking the warmth I showed him at the vents. He finds only shadow and stone.
"It forgaveme," he says, his voice a soft counterpoint to the deep's thrum.
He reaches. The distance between us vanishes as his tanned, lean fingers brush the heavy, scarred scales of my forearm. The touch is a live wire. It sends a violent, desperate shiver through my blood, a jolt of pure heat in the freezing water.
"I brought you something," Vaelis says, his voice brightening, trying to mend the sudden gap. "You hated the mirror and the comb. You liked the last fruit. So I brought you another."
He turns to the woven kelp satchel resting at his hip.
My heart beats a single, heavy rhythm against my ribs. A drumbeat for the abyss.
Vaelis's hand emerges. Resting in his stark palm is a bright, soft piece of surface-fruit. It's exactly the same kind he offered me on our first night. The rare, sweet thing I devoured against every instinct screaming in my blood.
The scent hits the water.
My entire body locks into rigid, predatory stillness. Every muscle coils.
Beneath the cloying, sugary scent of the pulp lies a dark, rotting, chemical undertone. The sour, unmistakable stench of Hush-Urchin venom. A lethal dose designed specifically to paralyze the throat and destroy the inner ear.
As I expected, this is the laced the fruit.
Mira.
I stare at the fruit, a perfect, poisonous jewel in his trusting hand. My eyes snap up to Vaelis.
I search his face for any flicker of guilt, any tightening of the jaw, any scent of fear. There is nothing. He looks incredibly hopeful. Entirely innocent. He has no idea he is holding a weapon. He is a blind pawn in an assassination attempt against me.
Our time together must shatter here.
I must let the silence take me to save his rightful home in the light.
A violent apology tears through my mind.
I am so sorry, my sun. I am so sorry for bringing you into the dark.
I reach out.
My large, scarred hand covers his lean one. I don't just take the fruit. I let my rough fingers linger against his soft skin for one agonizing, selfish second. The stark softness of his hand burns into my memory.
"Thank you," I whisper. My voice is incredibly hoarse. It is the very last time I will ever speak to him.
