Page 52 of Drown Me Gently

Ulric.

Auren spent too long just… watching him.

Ulric’s human form was unfamiliar, and in the quiet intimacy of the cabin, Auren was given an unobstructed chance to observe. His top half looked much the same—broad shoulders, arms dusted with ink, his scars and sharp lines exactly as Auren remembered. But lower down…

His legs were sturdy, long, and powerful. Muscle shaped the curve of his thighs, the solid line of his calves. Auren flushed the first time he caught himself staring when Ulric bent low to tend the fire. The hem of his tunic shifted just enough to reveal the sharp lines of his back and, lower still, the firm curve of his ass.

Auren buried his face in the blankets and groaned. “Unfair,” he muttered into the pillow.

“You said something?” Ulric called over his shoulder, glancing back.

“Nope. Nothing. Sleep-talking.”

Ulric gave a suspicious hum but said nothing more.

The next day, Auren woke, and as they talked over a breakfast of fresh fish Ulric caught that morning, he asked, “How… am I still human?”

Ulric glanced up from his plate, his expression softening. “Once you’re strong enough, I’ll give you the transformation tonic, and you can return home. You’re too weak to survive the transformation right now, or I would have given it to you already.”

Auren nodded, swallowing against the lump of guilt.

“Oh.” His gaze dropped to the blankets curled around his legs—whole now, healed. The horrible places where Elias had cut into him were nothing but faint pink scars, like echoes on his skin. He didn’t deserve to feel whole. Didn’t deserve Ulric tending to him for days, all because of his own stupidity.

“I’m so sorry,” Auren blurted out. It was the first time he’d managed the words in all the days spent in the house. “I stole the potion. I thought I knew better. I didn’t know what I was walking into. You tried to stop me, and I—I should’ve listened.”

Ulric didn’t look surprised. He nodded, like he’d been waiting for this moment. He set his plate on the coffee table before the hearth, but the food was only half finished.

“The blame isn’t with you alone,” he said quietly. “I bear half the blame. I took your freedom, tried to cage you, and when I did that… I made you desperate. It should never have happened the way it did. I shouldn’t have allowed it to happen.”

He sighed, dragging a hand down his face, rising from his chair and pacing the small room.

“Ulric, you can’t truly believe⁠—”

“What happened to you,” Ulric’s voice rose in volume. “It should never have… What you had to—I could have⁠—”

It was the first time Auren saw the Kraken at a loss for words. For once, the weight of centuries offered him no answer. And in that pause, Auren saw not the Court Sorcerer, not the Kraken, not the legend… but a man who suddenly didn’t know what to say.

Ulric stomped heavily to the edge of the bed and sat hard, head falling into his hands. “I thought I was protecting you. That I was following orders. The Queen wanted you close, and I… I wanted that too. I told myself it was duty. But I would be lying if I said there weren’t other motives. It was selfish.”

Auren leaned forward, crawling closer until he was within reach. He brushed a lock of dark hair from Ulric’s face.

“You were doing your job,” he said. “And I was being stupid.”

“There were other ways to serve the Queen,” Ulric muttered, not looking at him. “But I didn’t take them. Because I wanted to keep you close. I wanted to pull you into the deep…”

His voice dropped to a whisper.

“…with me.”

Auren’s heart stumbled in his chest.

Ulric couldn’t be saying what… what Auren thought he was saying.

He rested a tentative hand on Ulric’s knee, the heat of his palm settling them both. Ulric exhaled slowly. His hand dragged through his dark hair, shoulders hunched forward.

“I’ve pushed you away for years,” he said finally. “Watched you from the shadows but never let myself get close.”

He hesitated, fingers curling into the fabric of his trousers. A tremor ghosted through his knuckles.