Chapter 7 #2
“My whole life,” they said, their tone as dark and lacquered as a coffin, as if it contained death and decay inside.
I assumed they meant since they started their work as a lawyer, but something in their tone unsettled me. “Did you live on the surface growing up or in the sea?”
“So curious, sunshine,” they purred. “Do you ask everyone these questions?”
The nickname sent a thrill through me. The intimacy in the way they spoke, like they peeled back my layers with each conversation, had me craving more and more time around them.
I shrugged. “I’ve always been curious.”
“I lived in the sea,” they responded, one of their tentacles curling and brushing my leg again.
This time my breath hitched, a full-body shiver running through me.
Their eyes widened but then grew voracious, dark and consuming.
Their full, lush lips were pursed in an analyzing, assessing way.
When their tentacle slid back against my leg, they rested it there.
A sob rose in my throat, one I hadn’t realized bubbled inside me, and I swallowed it back.
I’d been craving touch for so long that this filtered into me like the sunrise after an ageless night.
Ursuline didn’t realize what a gift they offered with such a simple gesture, but I remained still in my seat, not wanting to break this moment.
“Down in one of the settlements near New Atlantis,” Ursuline continued, their voice low and sonorous. “I came from a mining family.”
“Do you ever visit them?” I asked. Maybe all families weren’t flawed and fragmented like mine. Maybe parents actually cared for their children.
“I can’t,” Ursuline said, their voice flat, even though their tentacle brushed along my leg, as if offering comfort.
I blinked, sadness spreading through me, though more questions bubbled up as well. “Sorry” dried on my tongue, feeling paltry. “And you came to the surface?”
Their gaze softened a fraction, their expressions so minute they fascinated me.
To anyone catching a glimpse, Ursuline would seem stonefaced, uncaring, but their responses were so small, so fascinating, as if they kept an ironclad control over themselves at all times.
“Let’s just say I’m familiar with arrangements like yours. ”
Forced.
I swallowed hard, my fingers twitching. The temptation to reach out and rest a hand on one of their tentacles rose in a real way, but I wasn’t sure if the touch would be welcome. When I looked up at them, their serious gaze stripped me bare.
“Did you have dreams?” The words escaped my lips as we treaded into deeper territory than I’d expected for someone I’d only met twice. And yet, something was familiar about them, their voice. Something that screamed safety.
“Waking nightmares mostly,” they commented in a wan tone. “Though when I do dream, I dream of freedom.”
Their words struck me square in the chest.
I’d never connected with another person this deeply, and their steadfast touch on my leg amplified that all the more. I gripped the edge of the bench. “When I feel that way, I swim,” I murmured.
“Lucky for you, the whole bay is available,” Ursuline responded.
“Do you swim here?” I asked, assuming since they were cecaelia they frequented the water.
“Here, the Sentient Sea, wherever I can find water. I need a certain amount of time in it or I start to feel withered, desiccated.” Ursuline leaned back a bit, tipping their head against the wall.
Their flat chest was on display, wide planes of muscle, their shoulders broad.
My mouth watered at the smoothness of their skin, at the lingering scent of currants and salt air around them.
“Do you miss living under the sea?” I asked, curiosity bubbling to the surface again.
They shook their head. “Not solely. Peregrine City’s become a home, and I’ve carved out my friendships here too. The Tritons might own my contract, but they don’t own my soul.”
Those words resonated within me, a reminder I needed. Because I was going to be marrying a woman I barely knew, who had no interest in me back.
“There you are.” Arielle’s voice rang through the room, startling me out of whatever spell I’d been under. I shot upright, and Ursuline’s tentacle slid away from my leg. I missed the touch at once, craved it with a fierceness that surprised me.
“I was sleeping off a hangover all day,” Arielle said, flouncing into the room without a care in the world. She flashed a grin at me but then gave Ursuline a sour look. “Were you playing your depressing music again?”
“I was just heading out for the day,” Ursuline stated, rising to full height.
Awe filtered through me at the regality of their movements, at the lift of their chin.
They didn’t strike me as the sharing sort, and yet they’d sat here with me and done as much.
They’d offered a safety raft when I’d been adrift in a loneliness that threatened to wash me under.
Ursuline’s gaze landed on mine. “Thanks for the chat.”
I swallowed hard and bobbed my head, words escaping me for a moment.
Before I could push them out, Ursuline slunk toward the door in those fluid movements.
Arielle strode up to me in their wake. She’d begun to chatter about something she’d drunk last night and a guy who’d hit on her in the club, but my gaze was fixated on Ursuline’s departure.
I watched until they vanished through the doorway, taking the brief glimpse of comfort and safety along with them.