Page 13 of Drown Me Gently

He surged forward.

And then he saw him.

Auren knelt in the sand at the edge of the reef, just beneath the shimmer line where water kissed the open air. His body was still, fins fluttering behind him. His head was bowed low, shoulders hunched.

Ulric slowed, his reprimand already dying on his tongue.

There, nestled in the sand beside Auren, lay a seabird—small, delicate, and heartbreakingly still. One wing was splayed at an unnatural angle, the other tucked beneath its body. Its eyes, swollen from salt, stared blankly through the water. Most of its feathers remained intact, suggesting it had only just fallen… or been pulled beneath the waves.

“I was coming to check on Iska,” Auren said quietly, not turning to look at him. “And I saw it hit the water. Its wing was broken. I tried to keep it up… so it could breathe. But…”

His voice caught. “…it just gave up in the end.”

Ulric’s anger faded, hollowing into something gentler. He studied the gills along Auren’s neck, the tension in his jaw, the way he looked at the bird like it had taken something precious and never meant to give it back.

Tenderness cracked Ulric’s chest open.

“I can help you bury it,” he said softly. “Properly.”

Auren looked up at him, and emotion lightened his eyes. Surprise, mostly. Gratitude, maybe. He gave a slow nod.

Together, they buried the seabird in a patch of sunwarmed sand, nestled between the rocks. Ulric said no words. Auren didn’t ask for any. When they finished, Auren lingered for a moment longer before turning and swimming slowly back toward the cave.

The silence between them was quiet, but not heavy. Until Auren finally broke it.

“I know it’s stupid,” he muttered. “Getting upset over a common seabird.”

“Death is upsetting,” Ulric said. “Even expected ones. Everything dies eventually.”

“Except you,” Auren said quickly.

Ulric tried not to let his discomfort show as they swam.

“You’ll live forever, won’t you? Even my mother will eventually fade, once Poseidon’s bloodline is secured. But you…You’ll just keep going.”

Auren didn’t say it bitterly. He said it like a fact.

Ulric didn’t answer right away.

The Queen’s immortal tether had been granted. As the vessel for Poseidon’s bloodline, she was ageless only so long as that bloodline needed her. Once it flourished on its own, her tether would dissolve. But Ulric… Ulric had bound himself for eternity. His life was inked in service. And like the creatures that lived at the ocean’s deepest floor, he would remain. Unmoving. Unchanged. Alone.

When they reached the reef’s bend, Auren darted back through the crevice leading to his secret cave.

Ulric hesitated.

He wasn’t sure why he followed.

But he did.

Inside, the glow of bioluminescent moss and reflected metals painted strange shapes across the walls. Auren’s cave was a shrine to human curiosity. It was reckless but also brimming with wonder. It drew Ulric like dumb prey to an anglerfish.

Auren turned on him immediately. “What? You have to babysit me here, too? Am I not allowed in my own cave now?”

“I never said that.”

“Shouldn’t you be somewhere important?” Auren snapped. “Don’t you have a beloved mate to get back to or something?”

Ulric gave him a long look. “The Kraken chosen by Poseidon do not take mates. We serve and in exchange, wield his magic. That is our promise.”