He would do anything to keep her by his side, no matter what.
As Proteus tilted his head back, he stared at the ceiling. There were etchings in the gold there. He didn't think Ellie had noticed, or she would have brought it up. But there were serpents and gods who mated with them. Creatures from the minds of the humans who had worshipped here.
It had been a temple of fanatics. He'd avoided those who had worshipped the sun god in the end. They were the ones who had unfortunately thought the rising temperatures of the world were a blessing from gods who thought the humans could take it. Or that they would become creatures that could manage the heat.
They'd been wrong, of course. And they had died like the rest of them.
His gaze turned instead to the sea. The cold, endless sea that had survived the chaos of the world above. He could see the kraken as it waited for prey to come near it, and the shadows of the water as night fell above. He swore there was another shadow nearer to them, something that was vaguely familiar. But then it darted away.
Such a thing must have been a figment of his imagination. No one knew they were here. No one but him and her.
Gathering Ellie a little closer to his body, he breathed in her scent once more before squeezing her tightly. "There's more I wanted you to see here. It wasn't meant to be all pleasure, you know."
"I thought you said this was a gift?"
"Ah, I can give you a gift and then want something in return, can I not?"
She stuck out her tongue and blew air at him. The strange expression made him laugh, even as he helped her stand up. "Come on now, Sisu. What's an adventure without a discovery?"
"And what discovery is that?"
"Get dressed and I will show you. This facility used to be so much more than just a temple. The people who were here kept a close eye on the surface. I think it's important for us to be able to do the same."
He rolled onto his belly, watching as she pulled the wetsuit back on. It was a slow process, and she continued to make these little grunting noises that made his chest ache with how cutethey were. She was struggling to get it on, but he didn't offer to help. Instead, he watched as the angles of her struggle showed him parts of her body that he hadn't seen yet.
The power of her abs as she arched into it. The shape of her shoulders as she tugged on the tense fabric. The column of her throat as she swept her hair out of the way so she could zip up the rest of the suit.
All of these were details he burned into his memory, so he would never forget a single one of them.
And when she was finished, he asked, "Ready?"
"Ready. What other adventures do you have to show me?"
Thirty
Ellie
Ellie should have known he wasn't going to bring her somewhere just to enjoy themselves. But it had been nice while it lasted. She'd liked lying on top of him, listening to his breath as he slept. She'd pretended to sleep with him, maybe even dozed off a little herself. But she hadn't been able to sleep completely.
Not while the most remarkable thing happened to her. Seeing Proteus at ease, relaxed, trusting her not to harm him while he rested? It was a gift she would treasure for the rest of her life.
She'd watched his eyes move underneath the lids as he dreamt, trying to guess what she thought he might be watching or doing. Perhaps he was swimming through the waves, scheming some other plot. Maybe he was fighting the kraken off. Trying to keep her safe in a glorious battle between two ancient gods.
But no, she liked to think he was dreaming of what they had done. That the taste of her was still on his tongue, and that his mind was going back through all the pleasure she had given him.
Even now, as she walked through the room trying to find the panel he had told her about, all she could think about was the pleasure they had found in each other. She hadn't even realized it would feel like that. No wonder so many people in Tau had chased it for hours on end. She would have too if she had known it would feel so good.
"This panel?" she asked, finally seeing a small square in the wall that looked like what he had said. It was etched there, almost as if someone didn't want anyone to find it other than the person who had made it.
She bent down, looking it over before planting her hand against it and giving it one firm press.
The panel shifted into the wall and then turned around to reveal a touch screen on the other side. "Seems high-tech considering what you said this place used to be," she muttered.
Once the panel turned on, the controls were pretty easy. She just had to enter a few additional coding pieces to bypass the password she didn't know, and replace a few of the wires in the back that were easy enough to reach. And then voila. She was in.
Proteus shifted closer to her, dragging himself across the floor so he could look as well. "This whole wall should be screens, if you can pull them all up. The permissions are lost on me, though. I don't remember what was required to?—”
She'd already tried out a code, and the panels were all rotating around. Exactly as he said they would.
