Chapter 7
“Mmmm.” Soulara moaned as she pushed against the water, a quick flick of her fluke fins. Her head breached the surface of the water as she matched Autumn’s kiss with her own.
Their lips slid together, soft and sensual against each other. Soulara’s breasts pressed against the unfamiliar rough fabric of Autumn’s clothes. Even through the cloth, she felt the curves of Autumn’s own breasts beneath.
Soulara opened her mouth and ran her tongue along Autumn’s bottom lip. She had dreamed of this during those long nights since the last time they’d seen each other. She’d done her best to protect those thoughts from her mother when they were practicing, and she was fairly sure she’d managed. But by Zeus, this was so much better than what she’d dreamed of.
Autumn’s arms were around Soulara’s neck in an instant while Soulara pulled Autumn’s legs around her waist and cupped her ass to keep Autumn in place against her. Autumn instinctively hooked her ankles together and squeezed tight.
“Fuck.” Soulara gasped. Legs were so much better than a fucking tail for this. She scraped her fingers against Autumn’s body to her thighs, nibbling her way against Autumn’s jaw and back to her lips. Their mouths pressed together again, Autumn no longer holding back like she had before.
Autumn plundered her.
Soulara struggled to keep up, wise to the fact that if she allowed them to sink too low, Autumn would struggle again. Autumn moved against her so quickly, a current of arousal hitting Soulara hard. Their mouths joined again, Soulara’s eyes fluttering shut. Autumn slid her fingers against Soulara’s back, up to her shoulders as she held on and pressed their bodies together hard.
Moaning, Soulara angled backward and dug her fingers into Autumn’s hair. Their tongues touched, slipping against each other as they explored. Autumn’s mouth was so warm, hot almost, which was something Soulara had never experienced before. Shivers ran through her, peaking her nipples and settling in the center of her tail.
Oh just what would this be like?
Autumn pulled back and gasped heavily, a glint in her eyes as she nipped at Soulara’s lower lip and hummed.
“I’m sure fucking can be arranged.” Autumn laughed in delight.
“You sure about that?”
“Not normally.” Color marked Autumn’s cheeks. “But yes.”
“Great answer.” Soulara squeezed Autumn’s ass cheeks tightly, the soft flesh so squishable. Her hands curved around them. She moaned as she pushed her own and Autumn’s bodies even closer.
“You’re an ass girl?”
“Oh yes, and a tit girl.” Soulara moved quickly, kissing Autumn’s neck. “If only you didn’t have these pesky coverings on.”
For a moment confusion raced over Autumn’s face and then her eyes closed.
“Is this only something new and exciting?” Autumn’s voice wavered.
“What?” Soulara stopped her groping. But she needed to keep touching Autumn. She trailed her fingers up Autumn’s back and rested just below her shoulder blades.
“I’m some exotic stranger, a human. You said others can’t change their form so, I’m the first in human form?”
Soulara brushed away a strand of hair that now stuck to Autumn’s face. “No. That’s not it.”
It wasn’t, was it?
“Really?”
“I feel a connection to you. I don’t understand it, but it’s real.”
“I feel it, too.” Autumn looked back down at Soulara’s lips and then met her eyes. “I think I might have had enough of this swimming thing for one day.”
“I’ve got you.” Soulara smiled and moved slightly so Autumn’s weight no longer pressed against her throbbing center, which made thinking hard.
Autumn nodded and allowed Soulara to help her as they swam.
“Where are we going?”
Soulara smiled. “To my sanctuary.”
“Oh.” Autumn didn’t look over at Soulara.
As Soulara swam and Autumn tried her best, Soulara found herself constantly turning her head to investigate Autumn’s face.
Autumn didn’t once look her way, at least not that Soulara noticed.
Soulara knew instantly the moment Autumn saw the small island. Her mouth and eyes opened wide.
“It’s beautiful.”
Soulara beamed at the compliment.
“Yes, it is.”
Soulara helped Autumn out of the water and pulled herself out of the sea. The magic danced over her skin as it always had, but this time was different. Everything about this time made her more exposed than she had ever felt in her life.
Autumn watched in open curiosity and wonder as Soulara’s fluke split.
She was a princess, so being looked at wasn’t an unusual occurrence. While she couldn’t, or wouldn’t, pinpoint exactly why it seemed so different to any other time, she couldn’t decide if she liked it or not.
“Are they heavy?” Soulara had been raised in the palace and been taught ways to deflect in all circumstances. “Those coverings?”
Autumn smiled, and it radiated heat from Soulara’s chest to the apex of her new legs. Now that was new. And something Soulara most definitely wanted to explore.
“They are now.” Autumn laughed and pulled at the covering over her chest.
“Why now?” Soulara asked as she lay on her back on the dry sand and relished the sun as it soaked up the water from her skin.
“They’re wet, and that creates a lot of weight.” Autumn hesitated before joining Soulara.
She lay down just close enough to Soulara for her to feel the brush of Autumn’s wet sleeve against her arm.
“Oh.” Soulara wasn’t entirely sure what else to say. Instead, she searched her mind for something else. There were so many things she wanted to ask. But each question flew by in her thoughts, pushed roughly aside by yet another one.
“What did you think of your first swim?” Soulara finally settled on a safe enough question.
“I enjoyed the end.” Autumn flicked her eyes to Soulara and then back up at the sky.
“As did I.” Soulara moved her hand inch by inch until her fingers brushed the back of Autumn’s fingers.
Autumn’s hand twitched. Just before Soulara moved her hand away, Autumn’s little finger hooked itself around Soulara’s.
“I don’t think they’ll believe me.”
“Who won’t believe you about what?” Soulara asked.
“About what’s in the water here.”
“Why wouldn’t they believe you?”
“I’m not an important person to my people.”
“Everyone is important,” Soulara said. This was a very basic concept. One she had always known and always lived by. How could these humans think any one less than?
“Maybe in your world, but not in mine.”
From the corner of her eye, Soulara saw Autumn move her head back and forth, shaking it in the negative.
“In yours?” Soulara prompted.
“In mine, I’m barely worth the food I cost to keep alive.”
“That’s horrible. And it’s not true.”
“It’s okay. It’s better than I had on Earth. But still, I’m just a grunt, a nobody. I tried to question what we saw and I was just shut down.”
“What you saw?” Soulara sat up.
Autumn followed suit and looked pale even with the sun painting colors over her face.
Autumn fumbled for words, and Soulara used the opportunity to slide easily into Autumn’s thoughts. “I just meant about you. They won’t believe me.”
In Autumn’s mind, Soulara saw the world she knew, changed and shifted through a lens and perspective that was disorienting.
But then, in a flash of movement, she saw Zendalia. Her body whipping around tentacles, and … Soulara pulled out of Autumn’s mind.
“Are you okay?” Autumn reached out, and Soulara flinched.
The hurt that scrunched Autumn’s features threatened to tear at Soulara’s resolve. But no, she had seen the attack. The one that had caused Zendalia pain, the one that had hurt her and put her life in jeopardy.
She wouldn’t let this soft creature lure her in against her own people. An anger she so rarely allowed bubbled to the surface.
How had she been so stupid as to be lulled into this human’s open face and strange ways? She couldn’t have feelings for Autumn. She shouldn’t have been so stupid as to kiss her. To want more. To want to fuck her on this beach. Or even bring her here.
Autumn was the enemy.
“Do they not believe you because they think you lie or because all they care about is themselves, no matter who’s hurt in the process?”
“It’s not like that.” Autumn jumped to her feet. Her hands clenched into fists at her sides. “You don’t know what it’s like to see your people die because they couldn’t find enough water for a single drink. We’re saving our people.”
“By killing mine!” Soulara’s voice rose. She’d watched people die. She’d watched them become sick from the sun and the thinning water. She’d seen Zendalia’s broken and battered body. Zen’s fins ripped apart to shreds.
“Take me back. Or will you drown me instead?” Autumn accused.
Soulara stood up slowly, pushing into Autumn’s face. That anger took root in the center of her chest, and she wasn’t going to let it go. Not now. “I’m not the murderer.”
“I’ve never killed anyone.” Autumn spoke with scrunched eyebrows. Confusion covered her features, but Soulara didn’t care. Her best friend had been hurt. All because of these thieves.
“But you’ve hurt them.” Soulara wouldn’t give Autumn the satisfaction of explaining her words. She held onto the silence, and as soon as Autumn was about to object, Soulara shook her head sharply to interrupt her excuse. “I’ll take you back.”
Autumn had no chance to protest before Soulara grabbed her by the hand and dragged her to the water. The swim back had no magical moments, no stolen kisses, or shared air.
“What happened?” Autumn asked quietly as Soulara remained in the water, refusing to shift into a form that would so willingly kill her people. She wouldn’t become like them.
“I know you’re not like them. But you need to make your people listen to you. They need to get out of my waters.” Soulara turned away, not wanting to see the hurt she could already imagine in Autumn’s eyes.
“Soulara,” Autumn called, but Soulara pushed herself beneath the water and ignored the warmth of tears as they mixed with the sea.
She swam deep into the water, blindly, not watching where she was going or who might be following her. She should have paid better attention. Wiping her face, Soulara steadied herself and started in the one direction she knew she would be safe.
“Mother?” Soulara called as she got to Milan’s home.
“Soulara.” That calm sweet voice wrapped around her moments before her mother’s arms embraced her. “What’s wrong? You look awful.”
“I’m lost.” Soulara sobbed into her mother’s hair, taking in the familiar warmth and scent. Even in the soundings her mother always smelled of sunshine. Was that magic? Growing up she hadn’t known that had been the scent, but since her magic grew and she learned the secrets of shifting her form she understood it all so much better.
“Come and rest. Tell me what happened.” Milan led her to moss covered rocks.
Soulara all but collapsed onto them, curling her tail under her as she tried to become so small. Before she could word it any other way, the truth of her encounters and subsequent kiss poured out of her.
“What am I going to do?” She might as well have been fourteen seasons again, asking her mother for advice about her attraction to her childhood best friend.
“Oh my sweet child.” Milan pulled Soulara into her embrace.
Soulara rested her cheek against her mother’s chest. She closed her eyes and leaned into her mother’s touch, her fingers gently combing through her hair, and the beat of a steady heart beneath her ear.
“She isn’t like them. Despite what I saw, I know she isn’t. But she’s a part of them. She has no power to stop them from hurting us.”
Milan gently cradled Soulara’s face in her hands. “You have a choice to make.”
“I don’t want this.”
“You’ve never been one to shirk the hard work, Soulara.” Milan’s head tilted, and her eyes narrowed. “You feel more for her than you’ve told me.”
“No, I…” Soulara stumbled. She couldn’t feel much for Autumn. They were practically strangers, and different species.
“Your heart is involved. Whether you want it to be or not. The choice you have to make is not to choose one or the other, but to choose a way to follow your heart and protect your kingdom.”
“Perfect.” Soulara rolled her eyes. “Because that’s fucking impossible.”
She scrunched her nose and swam away. She was wrong. Her mother wasn’t a safe place.
She could trust the enemy or she could be the person she never wanted to be.
So what was it?
Queen or exile?