Page 8 of Whispers Beneath the Deep
His fingers threaded through the spaces between mine. The movement was so natural, I could have almost forgiven and forgotten what he’d done to me earlier. The ease with which he had pressed the blade of the axe to my throat, or had cut off my waterway, or had beat Captain Saber with two-legger kitchenware.
Almost.
The doorway to the cove closed behind us and we pushed our way inside the darkness. We swam in blind strokes. I was familiar enough with the inside that I knew when to curve at the drop. The phytoplankton stuck to the walls at the top of the cove weren’t enough to illuminate the way, but just enough to catch the smallest outline of silhouettes.
When the drop came, I tugged at his hand, indicating that he should swim down with me. We were closer to the ground now. To the explosion of two-legger things strewn about. I’d discovered this hideout weeks ago through a secret passageway behind a tapestry of Eramaea in Princess Odele’s chambers. It was a wide expanse of space, the cavern’s walls covered in furry green algae, barnacles, and tiny specks of phytoplankton. The floors were another matter, however. Like a shipwreck had exploded throughout the place, leaving behind a bunch of twoo-legger paraphernalia. Not to mention the hundreds of conches carpeting the ground.
I led Elias over to where I knew the two-legger couch was and sat him down. He went without a fight, grunting as he lowered himself onto the cushions. Then, I turned in the darkness, remembering the layout of the room. Perhaps Princess Odele had hidden a lava globe for illumination here somewhere that I hadn’t yet come across.
Blindly waving my hands in front of me, I began moving across the space in search of something that could be used for light. I bumped the left side of my fin onto the sharp edges of what felt like a table. A gasp of pain tore out of my throat. Pangs were sent spiraling down the entirety of my tail.
Ever since Captain Saber had escorted me from my pond home of Lagoona and brought me to the capital, my tail had hurt so much more than I was accustomed to. It had been shredded by a gator back home, and I’d swam with a limp for years. Since coming here, I’d been forced to speak and swim just so, having to move straight backed and with an elegance I’d never before possessed. Not to mention, the strain of having to swim fast through the market earlier was trying my fins and limbs.
I took a breath, willing the pain to relax. When it did for a brief moment, I started forward again, grateful when I finally made it to the massive treasure chest on the floor. I kneeled down at the tail, feeling for the latch in the front of the chest keeping it closed. Opening it, I dug my hands through the contents, pushing aside two-legger golden coins, rubies, and diamonds to feel for something rounder, smoother.
I moved aside a pile of coins, and a blue light greeted me. Giving a silent cheer of triumph, I dug the round glass lava globe from the inside of the chest and pulled it out, holding it to my body. I swam up and turned. The light on the inside of it illuminated at a distance of three strokes in front of me. The lava was still strong. A soft blue light fell across the space, showing Elias’s face contorted in pain.
I swam towards him and sat next to him on the couch, placing the lava globe between our bodies, giving the illusion of distance. Despite what had happened between us, despite him threatening my life, I couldn’t bear to see him suffering.
“Let’s see the wound, then.”
He drew in a ragged breath as he first tugged off the black cloak he’d stolen, and then unbuttoned the gray prison rags he wore. His fingers trembled as he went down the line of old, rusty buttons. I didn’t dare offer him help, out of fear that I’d find my fingers trembling as much as his were. When he finished, the scraps of cloth parted to reveal the panes of his chest. I found myself watching in fascination as he slipped one arm out of the shirtsleeve, then the other. The material bunched down at his waist, just where his black tail began.
My face flushed and I hoped he didn’t notice in the dimness of the cavern.
“That sea slug got me good.”
I broke out of my musings to look down at the wound on his abdomen. It was an ugly, bleeding scrap of flesh. I hissed through my teeth.
“It needs to be cleaned and sewed closed.”
Elias gave a tight nod. “So do it.”
The haughty, arrogant way with which he commanded me about grated on my nerves. I glared at him, crossing my arms over my chest. His eyes flickered to the movement before looking up at my face again, wearing a frown that was contagious.
“Why should I?” I demanded. “You were so willing to threaten my death in order to escape. Now you want me to help you? No. Absolutely not.”
Dark brows pulled tightly together, pupils narrowing into thin, angry slits. He seemed to push away any pain he felt in that instant, mustering up a new, darker emotion. Something dangerous that made me shiver involuntarily. And I wasn’t entirely sure if it was from fear or… something else.
“If you do not bind this wound, little fish,” he purred, leaning forward. The pretend space I’d placed between us really had been just an illusion, because he closed it within seconds until his lips were a breath from mine. “I will tell everyone that you are not the real Princess of Thalassar.”
If the room hadn’t been shrouded in darkness and blue shadows, he would have seen the sudden paleness of my face, the tightening of my features, and the way my lips thinned into a near invisible line. My brain raced laps inside my mind, each thought more anxious than the last.
He knows.
He knows. He knows. He knows. He knows. He knows.
One of the most carefully kept secrets of this kingdom lay in the hands of the Black Blade, enemy to the crown. He knew I was an imposter princess. That I was just pretending to be Odele until the missing mermaid could be found. My next words were crucial, this situation fragile, dangling on the balance of my ability to lie and swindle the most notorious criminal in the whole kingdom.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” My voice quivered, and because it did, he smirked.
“You’re not a very convincing liar, little fish.”
He leaned forward, despite the pain it so obviously caused him, and rested an elbow on his lap. The other hand went low until his palm came into contact with the dress I wore. I startled but remained surprisingly still as he slid the dress up the length of my scales. My face heated as his fingers suddenly stopped at the side of my tail where my shredded fins were. No one had ever come this close to me, and I was too nervous to do much but stare.
“You think I didn’t notice this?” His fingers were gentle, passing over the jaggedly thin edges of what used to be perfect, aquamarine fins at my sides. “You swim with a limp, Maisie.”
At the use of my name, my real name, I flinched.
