Page 18 of Drown Me Gently

Ulric was devastating.

It hit him like a breach to the ribs. He dropped his gaze before it could betray him, pretending to brush glowing algae from his arm, but the heat had already risen to his face. He felt it in his ears, his gills. Everywhere.

Ulric let out a low chuckle, that same rough, unguarded laugh that made something flutter low in Auren’s gut.

“That’s what I thought,” the Kraken backed away. “All talk until you get your ass handed to you.”

Auren swallowed hard, voice hoarse. “I liked that.”

“What? Getting tossed around like chum?”

“Hearing you laugh.” The words slipped out too quickly, too honestly. Ulric stilled. The water went quiet. Auren winced. “Sorry. That was weird.”

Ulric’s voice was softer when he replied. “It happens… sometimes.”

“You should do it more.”

Their eyes met. And something cracked. Something shifted. The water between them held its breath. Auren’s thoughts tangled. He didn’t want Ulric to scold him. Didn’t want his protection. He wanted Ulric to stay—like this. Unguarded and real.

But he couldn’t say that. Not when his stomach still twisted with discomfort. Not when he didn’t even understand why that look set his skin alight.

He turned away, twisting the silver silk in his braid like a nervous habit.

Ulric’s eyes landed on it, and Auren quickly dropped his hand. But it was too late. Whatever softness had been growing on his face turned to stone.

“Let’s go,” Ulric said, voice tight. “It’ll be dawn soon.”

Auren didn’t argue. Not this time.

They swam back in silence, but it was far from quiet inside the bedlam of Auren’s mind.

Ulric. Ulric, the nag. Ulric, the stone-faced Court Sorcerer, who probably remembered the formation of the first rock and had the attitude to prove it. Ulric, who scowled at everything and laughed at nothing, bossed Auren around like it was a holy duty.

Ulric, who’d held him—when he could have easily broken him. Whose laugh was deep, like the rumble of the sea.

Ulric, the strong, beautiful Kraken from the deep.

Auren didn’t say a word, not as the shimmer of the bloom faded behind them, not as the familiar shapes of Atlantis rose in the distance. But a smile tugged at his lips, shy and entirely involuntary.

He hadn’t expected any of this. Not the way Ulric had looked at him. Not the way he’d felt in Ulric’s arms. Not the way something shifted and settled, like a door opening inside his chest that he hadn’t known was there.

He should’ve been afraid of it.

But he wasn’t.

He was curious. Hopeful. Like maybe—for the first time—he wasn’t broken for wanting something different. Wanting something he wasn’t supposed to have.

Like maybe it could become something new.

Something wild.

Something real.

Something unapologetically his.

Ulric had to admit—Auren surprised him.

A full moon cycle had passed since the Queen’s decree forbade him from surfacing, and yet the prince hadn’t tried again. Not once. Not even with his usual reckless defiance. That alone was enough to make Ulric suspicious. But the truth was…Auren had found other ways to breathe.