Chapter 61
Alex stared down into the pool attached to the west wing apprehensively. Part of her was excited because it proved that she and Therxian had been on the right track, but the rest of her was very concerned that Ehsash was planning on taking her through there.
“There is a very small problem you may not have considered,” she muttered, drawing an amused glance from the male—though she certainly couldn’t understand why.
“What might that be?” he replied, his eyes following her as she eased back from the water’s edge.
“The part where you should know that humans can’t hold their breath for any length of time compared to Seshanamitesh.”
“Actually, I do know that, which is why I am always prepared,” Ehsash replied as he opened a small pouch strung around his neck and removed something that appeared like a mucus-y pearl. Worse, it felt exactly like that when he handed it to her.
Gross.
“What is that, and what exactly do you expect me to do with it?” she asked warily as she stared down at it.
“You swallow it, of course,” he replied.
“It is a drihili seed. A small Uralial trick for exclusive air-breathers that Seshanamitesh do not know about. It will form a mucus membrane that will convert the air you expel into something breathable to draw back into your lungs. The amount that it converts will gradually reduce as it cycles, so it will not sustain you underwater long, but it will significantly increase the length of time you can go without air.”
Alex peered at it skeptically. “It will do all that, huh? Are you certain?”
He flicked his ears casually. “Vi would testify to it if she were present,” he replied.
She sighed. “Good enough for me, I suppose.” Her gaze lifted to him. “How long does it take to work?”
“Instantaneous,” he replied. “You may take it now so that we can be on our way.”
With one last look toward the west wing, she nodded reluctantly. There was no point in waiting for someone else to be sent to murder her or investigate what happened to the other male. She just prayed that Therxian would make it out okay.
“Right,” she mumbled as she lifted the pearl to her mouth.
Who knew what formed the pearl—she would rather not think about it—so long as it did its job, that was all that mattered. She just hoped it didn’t taste as nauseating as it looked. Holding her breath with a prayer that it might cut any unpleasantness that might come up.
It didn’t help.
The pearl was thick and globby as it slid down her throat, the taste of a putrid fungus she’d been forced to eat daily on planet Dreghal Vox mingling with a peculiar fishy taste filling her mouth.
If that wasn’t bad enough, it was so thick and slimy that triggered her gag reflex.
She choked, her hands going to her throat, but the Uralial captured her hands in his and very gently drew them down.
Holding her hands between them, his pale blue eyes held her gaze.
Their color was so eerie. Different hues of blue formed the rings and striations of the iris with a burning ice-blue colored centered around his pupils.
It was distracting enough that she began to subconsciously relax.
“Good. Keep breathing just like that. Do not panic. Just breathe normally,” he whispered in a weak, thready voice.
He was right... she was breathing. She gave him a watery smile. “Thank you,” she mouthed, though the words failed to emerge. Her eyebrows rose in surprise and her eyes shot to Ehsash who smiled apologetically.
“I should have warned you about that. While you have it in place, you aren’t going to be able to speak.
The way it blocks everything up in the airway is good news for you in terms of oxygen supply but does not allow your vocal cords to issue sound.
” His wings stretched and flapped in easy rotations to stretch them, and he held out his hand toward her in silent invitation. “Time to go, human.”
She stared at his palm apprehensively, her eyes skittering back to the palace.
“I must remind you that we are on a time limit with the drihili seed.” Despite his impatient words, Ehsash smiled sympathetically. “I promise he will come.”
She would have sighed if she had the ability, but she settled for making a face at him. Fine, it seemed that her options were pretty limited. She glanced over at the Uralial Luoa as she took Ehsash’s hand, and the male tipped his head toward her in silent agreement to her unspoken question.
“I will see that you are reunited,” he replied solemnly, and his finned tail twitched as he eased back on it, settling comfortably onto the stone platform. His gaze drifted longingly back to the palace. “A mated pair should not be separated.”
Alex studied him. There was something so familiar about him, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.
She recognized the look of loss, however, because it was the same thing she was feeling now as she was confronted by the possibility of never seeing her mate again.
Like her heart was slowly fragmenting. Luoa, however, looked ravaged by it.
“It is time, Alex,” Ehsash reminded her, drawing her attention from the Uralial.
Giving him a small smile, she bobbed her head in thanks and turned completely toward Ehsash.
The male’s arms opened and gathered her in a hold against his chest that felt uncomfortably way too familiar for them.
Her body rigid, she turned her cheek against his chest and stared at his shoulder in an effort to find an angle that wouldn’t be misinterpreted as too intimate.
She clearly wasn’t the only one because he coughed awkwardly as he adjusted his hold on her, as if uncomfortable with the close contact.
“The currents are strong,” he muttered. She would have believed that it was for her benefit alone if he wasn’t visibly wrestling with his obvious impulse to just drop her.
She bit her bottom lip in amusement. Poor guy.
She understood that contact between the sexes wasn’t very common among the aliens, but he seemed especially conflicted.
Was there something going on with him and Vi?
She’d heard a rumor going around the colony about them, but she hadn’t paid much attention since Vi seemed to do her best to avoid him and hadn’t appeared to be very close to him when they interacted publicly together.
It seemed that there was some truth to it, after all—or at least that was the case now.
She patted his shoulder reassuringly as she offered him an understanding smile.
His gavo rose slightly in response, and his eyes dropped to study her.
She patted his arm again and gave him a thumbs-up in an attempt to communicate that she understood the predicament and was good to go.
He huffed, his gavo flicking in an expression of amusement.
“Humans,” he muttered, his gaze dropping back to the pool.
“I am trying to be a responsible and considerate male in what should be a delicate situation with a mated female, and here you are reassuring me.” He gave her a side-long look and hissed a quiet laugh before turning toward the pool.
“Just do me a favor and not speak of this to Therxian. Or anyone,” he amended.
“I do not think Vi would ever let me live it down.”
Alex’s smile grew into a broad grin. She bet she wouldn’t.
Now she was insanely curious about their relationship.
Too bad she couldn’t interrogate him the whole way.
Her smile slipped, however, when she looked down into the dark depths beyond the glowing surface of the pool, and she nervously swallowed.
She just hoped to hell she didn’t vomit that thing up and have to go through the whole bit all over again.
Thankfully, her stomach, though it heaved a bit, wasn’t trying to crawl up her throat.
Though she did dig her fingers into his scales uneasily as his body angled forward and the air stirred around her as he opened his wings wide.
And then the icy water hit her as he dived into the pool, and darkness descended all around her within the penetrating cold.
For a terrible moment it seemed too much like descending into a terrible nightmare—or into madness—as his body whipped through the water, propelling them forward through nothingness, but in the next she felt his wings catch on a current to carry them wildly forward.
Water flowed all around her as an explosion of color lit up the darkness to shimmer on the particles flowing within the water and the surroundings rocks encompassing them as he angled his body upward through a tunnel and slipped through.
The water rushed through the tunnel in a whirling current, the particles swirling like pixie dust all around them.
Ehsash rode it, his wings and tail shifting, the luminescence from his gavo and belly creating a glowing kaleidoscope of colors.
It was at once magical and dizzying as they were swept along and Ehsash sailed in a slipstream from one tunnel to the next.
It would have stolen her breath if she had any to take.
Not physically breathing was the oddest sensation that made her feel like she was suspended between worlds, which made the entire experience sailing through the underwater tunnels even more uncanny.
The only thing that interrupted it at all was when Ehsash surfaced briefly in an air-pocket and everything became still except the water lapping around them as fresh air rushed into her lungs.
But it was only for a moment before they descended again.