Chapter 28
Varum rubbed his chest. The tightening wouldn’t loosen, no matter how long he stood at the window. There was also his knotted stomach. But the worst was the fear with its icy fingers sinking into his back. And the culprit?
Kalyani.
He turned to look at her. She was sleeping soundly, thanks to the nectar. If he thought he could achieve that kind of rest, he’d chug the entire bottle. But he knew if he did, the sleep he’d get would be filled with variations of Kalyani captured by his people.
No matter how many times he thought back to when he first saw her, he couldn’t pinpoint when or why he had thought it best to bring her to the city.
It was as if he’d lost his mind for that space in time.
He hadn’t just pushed against the rules.
He had busted through them as if they were nothing.
The repercussions would be extreme, and he was prepared to accept them—for himself.
He didn’t want any kind of blowback on Kalyani.
She was innocent in everything. Not that anyone would listen to him. It was why she had to leave. The sooner, the better. Because every minute she stayed, it put her more in danger. He didn’t want to carry the weight of her death for a single second. He wouldn’t be able to bear it.
His feet carried him to the bed, and before he knew it, he was standing beside her. He ran his eyes over her face and the wild curls that seemed to have a life of their own. His hand lifted, fingers outstretched to stroke her cheek, but he stopped himself and dropped his arm to his side.
Would she have found a way to free herself from the chains had he left her that day?
What might he have found if he had brought her to shore?
Why had he risked both their lives just to have her in the city?
Had he seen something during that brief battle that triggered the thought of sneaking her into his home?
He wondered if he would ever learn the answers. Maybe they would only confuse him more. He should be studying the patrols, but he couldn’t seem to stay away from her. He walked a treacherous road. The more he was with her, the more she fascinated him.
And the more he wanted to know.
She wasn’t his. Could never be his. So where did this sudden ache come from? Why did he yearn to hold her, to feel the length of her body against his? Why did he feel…everything now, after years of nothing?
It was futile to allow himself to think about what it might be like to run his thumb along her bottom lip.
It was pointless to wonder how sweet her kiss would taste.
It was hopeless to speculate about a night in her arms. The trajectory of his life had been cemented the moment his parents discarded him.
He started to turn away, but he froze, shock running through him. His heart thudded against his ribs as he slowly turned his head and looked down to see her fingers gripping his hand. His gaze jerked to her face, but her eyes were still closed. Did she know he was the one she grabbed?
Varum stared down at their hands, immobile. He lightly caressed his thumb over her fingers, marveling at the contrast of his blueish-green skin against the brown of hers. There was no webbing between her fingers or toes, no points to her ears, yet she belonged in the water like any Sea Elf.
“Who are you?” he whispered.
He should return to the window and his study of the patrols, but Varum carefully sat on the edge of the bed with his back against the headboard. The minute she released his hand, he would leave. Until then, he would enjoy the time she granted him.
It wasn’t long before he stretched out one leg on the bed to get more comfortable.
Ten minutes later, he had both legs up with his ankles crossed.
Just as he was settling in, Kalyani rolled onto her back, still clutching his hand.
He rested his head against the headboard and closed his eyes, his mind going over the few patrols he had seen to look for weak spots.
He needed to know all the patrols to get the complete picture.
The truth was, he was surprised that the Assembly had agreed to the patrols, merely from his incomplete report.
There had to be something else afoot that he didn’t know about.
Finding out more would be next to impossible.
Nirav might have better luck. Even Tanira would know before he did.
He didn’t want to go to her, but he might have no choice.
She wouldn’t give up the intel for free, though.
She would want something in exchange. He would give Tanira whatever she wanted if it meant Kalyani could go home.
He was the one who should have to pay for his mistakes.
The guards patrolling the area outside his home were more frequent than he had anticipated.
They swam in teams of three. If every area of the city had such patrols, that meant they were using every guard on rotation.
It was a good way to keep the city safe for a short period of time, but it wasn’t sustainable.
Was this a show of force? Had there been a threat from the Masters already? Or was this to hold others within Tarangarh?
Varum sighed, hating that there were always more questions than answers.
He was thinking about how much magic it would take for him to carry Kalyani out of the trench while shielding her from the pressure when she rolled toward him again.
He peeled his eyes open to look down at her, just as her head moved from the pillow to his leg.
For several minutes, he did nothing but watch her.
Then he lightly stroked the fingers of his free hand over her head.
She must have been terrified being taken from her home and confined, but she had put on a brave face.
The only time he’d witnessed a crack was when she couldn’t see the sky to know what time it was.
Shouldn’t she have yelled at him? Railed about being kidnapped and held against her will?
Surely, she should’ve cried. Maybe she had when he hadn’t been around.
She hadn’t wanted to show any weakness. The lone human far beneath the water in a city that would gladly execute her before she had a chance to speak.
He couldn’t believe he had made such a blunder in bringing her to Tarangarh. It was no wonder his parents had left him behind. Perhaps they saw the mistakes he would make and thought it prudent to distance themselves from him.
Varum grimaced as he thought about Nirav.
He didn’t want his friend to get tangled up in all of this, but if Varum picked a fight, Nirav would know something was up.
He never should’ve gone to him about Kalyani in the first place.
But they were too close. No matter how loudly or vehemently Nirav declared his innocence, no one would believe him.
Had he just condemned two people to death? Varum squeezed his eyes closed as the truth hit him. The only way to save both Kalyani and Nirav was to get her out of the city and back with her people. It didn’t matter how many scenarios he pictured in his head. In each, he got caught by patrols.
The only way to bypass that was to wait until they slacked off. A week, at most. Seven days of leaving Kalyani alone. Seven nights of lying awake, thinking about her while listing out the many reasons he couldn’t have her.
A human and a Sea Elf weren’t compatible. Sea Elves weren’t even well-matched with other elves. But a human? That was like trying to force a bird to live underwater. It wasn’t feasible. Facts didn’t lie. And yet, it saddened him.
Kalyani had brought fire into his dull life. She’d forced him to see just how dismal his existence was. And what had he done for her? Not much. That would change, though. He had a problem to solve, and he was an expert at sorting through difficult situations.
Varum slowly scooted down while adjusting her head until she was resting on his chest. He stared at her face, watching to see if she woke, readying an excuse if she did. But she slept the sleep of the dead. He put one hand behind his head and lightly rested the other on her shoulder.
“What am I doing?” he whispered.
He should be putting distance between them, not settling her on his chest for the night. It didn’t matter what logic his brain gave. His body refused to move.
Nirav stalked into his home, slamming the door behind him as he made his way into his office.
He tucked the maps back into their slots and put away the tubes before rubbing his hands together and facing the shelves of books.
Some of the volumes had been handed down through six generations of his family.
He would pass them on to Varum. At one time, he had been desperate for a wife and children, but fate hadn’t delivered that to him. Instead, he had been gifted Varum. And right now, Varum needed him.
Nirav walked to the first bookshelf and ran his finger along the spines. He grasped a tome and flipped through the pages, scanning for any mention of humans. When he found none, he replaced that book and moved to another, then another, and then another.
Somewhere in the many records that had been passed down and added to over the generations, there had to be some mention of humans with gills.
He wanted to know how Kalyani had them. And now that she was staying a little longer, he might get the chance to learn the truth.
Of course, her remaining also put her and Varum in danger.
Nirav had favors he could call in, and he intended to use them if anything happened.
He would die before he let anything happen to Varum, and it was clear that Varum would do anything to protect Kalyani.
Nirav looked up from the page he was scanning. He wondered if Varum was aware of how he had come to care about Kalyani in such a short period.
“Or maybe I’m seeing something I want to be there but isn’t,” he mused.
Varum had given his word to Kalyani, which meant Varum would hold true to it.
It was up to Nirav to see that all of them came out of this alive.
He replaced the book and stretched his arm high above him to grasp another.
After flipping through the pages, he stopped and hurriedly flipped back a few when he caught the word human.
It took him reading two pages before he found it. The paragraph led him to another book. He carried it to his desk and began skimming chapter by chapter, hope fading each time when he didn’t get the answers he was looking for.
After three more books, he poured himself a drink and stared at the manuscripts before him. They had never let him down before. Maybe he was searching for the wrong thing. Perhaps he needed to try a different approach.
Nirav tossed down the liquor and set aside the glass before going back to the books.