Austin was going to growl again, but then he thought about it. If Tristancarriedhim to the ocean, that wouldn’t be so bad. There was no way he was walking half a mile down soft, sifting sand. “I don’t like how far away the water is,” he managed.
“In that case, I have a pleasant surprise for you.” Tristan bundled Austin in the silk sheets and lifted him easily. Outside, a gale whipped at Austin’s hair, and with a groan, he buried his face into Tristan’s throat and kept it tucked there until they reached the porch.
Tristan paused at the top of the steps. “Have a look.”
Grey clouds blotted out the sky, hiding the sun and its heat. As Austin turned, a strong gust caught a cresting wave and doused them in sea-spray. He blinked to clear his vision, and his eyes widened. The tide had engulfed the beach.
There wasn’t a speck of gleaming white anywhere, every inch of sand replaced by waves. And these weren’t the lethargicwaves that lapped invitingly, baked hot by the sun. These were storm waves.
“Your estate.” Austin clutched Tristan’s shoulders, but what he felt was not worry but a curl of excitement, the keen pleasure of an unexpected delight. He glanced down and could just make out the stone steps of the porch vanishing into black water.
Tristan followed his gaze. “This is the highest the tide rises.”
Wind raced across the ocean’s surface, rippling it as though some formless being skimmed overhead. Fast approaching sheets of rain blurred the divide between ocean and sky. The air was thick with ozone and static, a promise of thunder and lightning still to come. Austin turned an expectant look to Tristan.
The beginnings of a smile formed. “I enjoy storm surges too.”
He descended the steps with Austin bundled in his arms, turning his back when waves crested to protect Austin from the force of their strike. There was an eagerness in the water, a deep enjoyment as the usually tepid ocean revelled in its destructive potential.
A laugh bubbled up as they slid beneath the ocean, and the plunge turned it into an odd echo. The water vibrated around them, responding to Austin’s frequency.
Tristan released Austin as the transformation swept through him, turning his legs into a mighty tail. A wave stole away Austin’s silk sheet. He caught Tristan’s sides, gripping warm scales as he swam them out beyond the shallows.
Austin hitched a ride until they were deep enough that waves didn’t stir the sand into a haze. He swam down, not even caring that it was barren, boring sand. He knelt and gazed straight up. The wind created ripples as it raced across thesurface, joining the breaking waves to churn the watery ceiling above. The sheeting rain arrived and blotted out the light, but Austin’s senses had adjusted by then. He felt what darkness hid.
Tristan circled at length before venturing into the depths. He returned several times, lugging great obsidian black rocks, some broader than his chest, some nearly the size of Austin himself. Their darkness was so engulfing they stood out with eerie clarity.
Tristan dropped them too close, throwing up sand. It clogged Austin’s gills, and he bared his teeth in irritation. Tristan’s apology hummed through the water but did not stop the behaviour.
Austin was trying to watch the water! Playing with rocks? Was Tristan a child? A dozen cutting remarks were ready for the moment they were above water.
Austin glared at the rocks, but the glare softened as he studied the formation. It was circular. Austin drifted closer, exploring the arrangement.
Austin took the time to carefully kneel in the exact centre of the rocks and hissed at Tristan when he approached, another rock in hand. Tristan wisely set it aside far from Austin and neared with empty hands. He circled once above, then curled around the outer perimeter of Austin’s nest, the rocks set in a perfect circumference for his tail to wind around. He closed the circle, enclosing Austin, his top half leaning against the largest rock, as he turned a watchful eye to their surroundings.
All of Austin’s anger vanished. The urge to reward Tristan with a kiss simmered, but Austin liked being the centre of his nest too much. He couldn’t bear to leave it just yet. He didn’t know how long had passed before the sentry sweep of Tristan’s head stopped. His eyes fixed on the middle distance. A grey shape approached, slowly getting larger.
It emerged from the shallows. A merman, whose tail moved through the water with the long, coiling grace of a sea serpent.
Tristan hummed a greeting, and the merman—it felt to Austin like Hal—hummed it back.
Austin tilted his head, curiously examining Hal’s tail as he got closer. It wasn’t large and powerful like Tristan’s, nor was it small like the southern merfolk Bee, Dew and Goldilocks. He thought it was emerald green like Tristan’s, but where Tristan’s was built for power, Hal’s was all length.
Hal kept a healthy distance from Austin’s nest, circling wide under Tristan’s watchful stare, but even from there, Austin could see the emerald green of his tail was unbroken; there were no pale scars like the ones that decorated Tristan’s body.
Austin abandoned the middle of the nest, his instincts urging him to Tristan’s side, where he curled under his arm. His shirt drifted up often in the waves, and the nakedness of his lower half felt vulnerable in front of Hal in a way it didn’t with Tristan.
Tristan pulled Austin to his torso, tucking him between his body and the black rock, shielding him from view. Austin sensed the warning look Tristan sent Hal. Through a gap between chest and rock, he saw the dismissive flick of Tristan’s fins. Hal hummed goodbye and departed.
Austin stayed safely tucked against Tristan and watched the storm in peace while Tristan kept watch. Unpleasant body sensations eventually encroached on Austin’s peace: a pain in his stomach, a pinch in the base of his skull. Irritated, he buried his face in Tristan’s neck and bit him.
A hand cupped the back of his head. Austin felt the vibration of Tristan’s rumble in the water. His tail unwound from the circle, and he bundled Austin in his arms, swimmingto shore. The second his head was above water, Austin was speaking.
“I just want a snack, and then we’ll go back in.”
Tristan nodded.
Austin wiggled as Tristan stepped onto the porch, and Tristan carefully set him down. His wet silk shirt stuck to him. With the way it clung to his upper thighs, the space between was more illicit than when the water billowed it up. Austin’s face warmed. He glanced at Tristan, who stood stark naked on the porch, ocean water racing towards his feet in rivets.
