Page 115 of Citrine

Except what if Eli likes them more than me? What if they take her from me? Despite my agreements, my tentacles start reaching toward them.

The male seems very confident, even after I so easily stole his woman. I shouldn't underestimate him. Especially since it was him I went to grab, but couldn't.

Just like I couldn't harm Eli when she fell from the sky. Except why was I able to grab the purple female?

None of it makes sense.

Eli starts using my voice again. "You will keep the Many Teeth away while they swim across to our cove. Repeat it."

I agree to yet another one of herdeals,even though I already said I would do as much,and then pull her down so we are underneath the pair as they swim. They are even slower than Eli.

Many Teeth come to investigate, of course, not being able to resist the sounds of their flailing. I let one get close to them near the top of the water just to see what the male will do.

I have plenty of time to intervene, of course. I'm not riskingkind handsfor something so useless.

I'm not even sure what the male does. There is a blur of movement above the water and then the Many Teeth is thrashing. The male doesn't even pause in his efforts to reach the other shore. Not long after, the water behind us is murky with Many Teeth blood, except there is no killing frenzy.

The ones nearby flee with strong swipes of their thick tails.

A thrill passes through me. Finally, a worthy opponent.

Then I remember that I'm not allowed to fight with him, even if whatever prevented me from grabbing him wasn't already a barrier. And I also remember that if I die, Eli won't last more than a few minutes.

Not with such a weak body and ridiculous ideas about making everyone herfriends.

Will she still want to touch me if they are here? There is that new feeling in my chest again. One I do not like. That ache that keeps surging up every time she talks about freedom.

I can't keep resisting giving her what she wants, but the more I think about how much better they will be able to understand her, the more that terrible feeling grows. Maybe they will be better at keeping her from being sad and she won't want me.

I think I made a terrible mistake making thisdeal.

51

Eli

I let out a relieved breath when we get to the other side mostly without incident. There were some weird sounds in the water, but as much as I tried to maneuver myself in Wroahk's grip to see, I wasn't able to.

I shrug it off once I see Ree and Thivoll rise onto the shore ahead of us, Thivoll's scaled black paws the last to rise above the shimmering distortion of the surface.

Wroahk pulls us up but doesn't take us onto the shore. His grip is still steely and if I wasn't trying to be a good host, I would already be yelling at him.

"What do you think?"

Ree slides off Thivoll's back and they both look around, then Ree turns back to me. "This seems perfect to me, Eli."

My heart does a little leap in excitement. "I'm so glad."

She grins back at me. "I'm not sure how many allies we can find among the prey, but there should be plenty of room. There are four more of us, not counting Amethyst to find. Then… Well, we've been talking about it a lot and we think we'll essentially have to go to war if we ever want to be truly safe."

I gulp, not liking the sound of that, but they would know better than I would. "I've been kept pretty isolated by Wroahk, so I'm not really sure what all is going on out there. It's a bit overwhelming to think about, actually, but I do agree that the best place to start is to make sure we have as many people safe here as possible."

Thivoll makes a humming sound, then shakes the water out of his fur. It's jarring to see someone you have categorized in your mind as a person do such a thing.

He helps reestablish his sapient status for my sluggish mind by speaking again. "I can hear and smell someone over there. I've been keeping track of them as we talked and crossed."

He points to a section of the lake far east of where we just crossed. "I'm quite certain it isn't a hunter."

Another thrill passes through me. This feels like Christmas. "Do you mind staying here and away from the shore while we go check it out?"

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