Chapter 11
M yles had already departed by the time I’d packed the texts he’d instructed me to read for my next lesson. I hurried from the room, knowing he’d trail me the second I passed through the doorway. Sure enough, I could feel his presence looming at my back.
“How was your lesson?” he asked, increasing his pace with those long muscular legs to come up beside me—his scales shining against the light pouring in from the window of the stairwell landing. One small advantage to his presence was the sea of people parting for us as we approached. Silver lining and all that.
“It was good,” I told him honestly as we began our descent down the wide stone staircase. “He didn’t go into much. Just the basics. The other realms, which Fae rule them, which ones aren’t our friends and which are our enemies and all that.”
A Fae male rammed into my shoulder as we reached the foot of the stairs, pushing me into Draevyn’s side and sending my tote flying against my back. The growl that ripped from Draevyn’s throat gave pause to everyone in the room, including the Fae male who hadn’t been looking where he was going and likely regretted it at that moment. He held his hands up and stared at Draevyn with wide eyes. “Sorry, man.”
The heat gathering at my hip made me infinitely aware of his hand that had steadied my fall. I turned, my eyes trailing from the prominent chest blanketed in tunic-like scales to his chiseled jaw clenched tight. You could cook an egg with the heat rolling off of Draevyn’s face as he shot the Fae male a venomous look. I carefully reached for his bare elbow, my fingertips brushing there. It seemed to be the distraction the Fae male needed to get away and for Draevyn to look down at me with those intense green eyes that resembled the clearest tropical waters. After a long, heavy moment, Draevyn reached out and lifted the tote from my shoulder, placing it on his. Apparently, chivalry wasn’t dead. “Thank you.”
“You okay?”
All I could do was nod.
His warm hand came to the small of my back, guiding me forward—the crowd giving us a clear path to where the canoas waited in the dark, musty cavern at the other end of the hall. “Tell me more about your lesson.”
Right. My lesson.
“I mostly wanted to know how the tablet worked. I’ve never seen something that’s been spelled like that. Pretty neat,” I remarked as I gave him a brief sidelong glance.
The corner of his mouth twitched before he said, “Yes, I guess that would be pretty neat. It’s much different from the technology in the Above World. It’s a shame it took them centuries to match what we can do with our magic.”
I tilted my head as we exited the hall and paused in the waiting area for Braeliah. “I didn’t think of it like that, but I suppose the Fae have had faelights and tablets for a while then, huh?”
“Yes, for as long back as I can remember.”
I shook my head in wonder. “That’s wild.”
“Very wild.”
We both chuckled as we shared a look, and I realized it was the first time we’d laughed together. And I liked it.
Draevyn looked toward the ground and cleared his throat. “I was wondering, Princess, if you wanted to perhaps practice morphing into your scales? No need to panic. Just the basics.” He smiled warmly at my wide eyes. “Basics are the theme for the day, yes?”
I returned his smile. “Yes, it is.”
His head dipped in a nod. “Perfect. Then, that’s what we’ll do.”
We stood before the Shingu River, a slight tremble traveling down my spine. I expelled the breath I’d been holding and glanced sidelong at Draevyn, who waited with his arms crossed. “There’s nothing to it, Princess. You need to get in the water first.”
My brow quirked. “Easier said than done, don’t you think?”
A shrug.
We’d been standing before the river at the edge of the palace gardens for, give or take, five minutes while I worked up the nerve to step into the water. I gestured to my clothing. “I…uh…what about my clothing.”
The devilish smile that emerged on his face could melt iron. “Well, you are welcome to unclothe yourself if you’d like, but you’d be gloriously nude going in.”
I was sure I would die of mortification. “I just meant—”
“You’re stalling, Asherah.”
I blew a raspberry. “Yes, yes. I know.”
He strode into the shallow water of the river with a splash, his webbed feet leaving footprints on the muddy bank. When he was hip deep, he turned to me and beckoned. “Come.”
I put one foot in front of the other, the cool water rising to my knees and then my thighs as I gingerly stepped toward him. I placed my hand in his awaiting one, and the tingling sensation in my chest gave a little tickle. I brought my steady gaze to his eyes. “Okay. I’m here.”
“That’s half the battle,” he teased. “We’ll start with your lower body and work your way up. Your feet have webbing that protects your soles from puncture wounds or anything of the sort. It’s why we don’t wear shoes. There’s no need.”
My brow furrowed as I stared down at my feet in the clear water. “So, how do I…you know. Morph?”
“To be a Water Fae is in your very blood. You need to will it. I’m guessing that you feel a slight itch all over your lower body.”
I hadn’t realized it, but my wet skin was pricking slightly. “I do feel that, yes.”
“Most faelings begin feeling that itch a few years after birth. You wouldn’t have felt it being spellbound as you were. But now that you’re unbound, as soon as you come into contact with water those scales will be begging for you to let them loose. Close your eyes, Asherah.” My eyes closed as the soothing tone of his voice washed over me. “Imagine the thin layer of webbing between your toes, the iridescent skin draping all over your feet and rising to meet your beautiful blueish-green scales at the base of your ankles.” With each word from his lips, the vision began to take hold in my mind as if I were glancing down into the water and seeing my feet and ankles in my Water Fae form. “Those scales travel all the way to cover the sunkissed skin of those beautifully shaped legs.”
His words had me short of breath, but the itching sensation began to subside as I saw my legs blanketed with scales in my mind.
“They rise to the breathtaking curves of your hips and over the flat planes of your abdomen rising still to cover your…”
The flowing river of the Shingu was the only sound for a few heavy seconds. I didn’t dare open my eyes when I quirked a brow. “Yes?”
He cleared his throat. “To cover your chest.”
“Suddenly, out of adjectives?”
The deep rumble of his chuckle was such a beautiful sound I longed to hear more of. Without warning, I felt the warm breath from his mouth at my tipped ear. “Open your eyes,” he whispered.
When I did, the wall of muscle at his now bare chest greeted me before he backed away. “Look at yourself, Asherah.”
The light reflecting off the surface of the river briefly assaulted my eyes before I beheld what I saw below. A thin layer of skin stretched between my toes, and blueish-green scales rose underneath the sheer layer of my Altantian jumper. My mouth dropped open as my gaze roamed over my legs and torso, observing the scales fanning and rising to the top of my breasts and spreading outward to the center of my upper arm—the cool air kissing my bare shoulders in contrast to the comfortable warmth my scales emitted on my skin. My breath hitched as I took in the exquisite pattern that carried all the way to my wrists. As I held my arms out, the light glimmered across them. “This is amazing.”
“So beautiful,” he whispered. That had my head snapping to him, a pure look of wonder on his face. We were lost for a moment, just he and I in the shallow part of the river, drinking in every detail of each other like a spell had been cast that neither of us wanted to break. I could get very, very lost in him without any intention of being found. Draevyn was the first to shatter the spell as he cleared his throat and briefly looked away. “Very nice job. The shape suits you well.”
The tips of my fingers brushed over the fanning in an A-line off-the-shoulder style. “I don’t know how I did this.”
He ran a hand through his long, dark brown locks. “Soon enough, you’ll be able to manipulate the scales into any design you wish. It takes some practice, but many Atlantians fashion their scales into dresses, tunics—”
“Tails?”
His mouth quirked. “Like a mermaid, you mean?” He continued when I gave him an apprehensive nod, “Yes, there is some truth to the whole mermaid mythology. We can fashion our scales into a tail. It’s rather useful for traveling at great speed with the other predators of the deep. Or we can swim just as fast with our scaled legs and webbed feet.” His shoulder lifted in a shrug. “The scales are meant to give your body warmth, to protect it from puncture.”
The question was out of my mouth before I could stop it, “Then why couldn’t the scales save my mother?”
There was a darkness that spread across his features. “We can’t figure out what happened on the yacht after you all escaped that evening. Normally, our scales can protect us from puncture and fire to a certain degree. My theory? Something kept them from donning their scales. It’s possible she and Dax were injected with something. I…” he shook his head. “I wish I could give you a better answer, one that you deserve, but there was very little we could tell from the yacht since it had been so badly burned. And Dax’s memories of the day…well…he hasn’t been able to speak of it. It’s as if he’s blocked it all out. Like the details are too painful to recall. I don’t fault him for it.”
Truth be told, I didn’t blame Dax either. If I’d been on that yacht and watched someone I revered and swore to protect die before my eyes, I wouldn’t want to remember it either.
He let out a loud exhale and waded a little deeper, the deep ‘v’ of his abdomen dipping below the water’s surface. “At any rate, the scales are meant to protect you from all types of predators, even the ones within the queendom. There are many a human female who wishes they had scales to protect them from pathetic, weak men who take things without consent.”
I tucked a stray hair behind my tipped ear. “Oh. I hadn’t thought of that.”
“Yes, not having scales presents a certain level of vulnerability,” he cautioned, his palm coasting over the water’s surface absentmindedly. “It’s why I wanted to help you.” He held that strong, rough hand out to me. “Come. Let’s practice breathing the water.”
Breathing the water.
Totally normal.
The slick pebbles and rocks pushed against the soles of my feet as I carefully stepped forward, placing my smaller hand in his. Draevyn leaned back into the water and kept his eyes on me—pulling me to the center of the Shingu. When he let go of my hand, I swam in open fascination as my webbed feet flicked just enough to keep my head above water.
There was one question I was dying to ask but didn’t. My cheeks heated a bit at the thought of it.
“What—pray tell—is causing the blush across your face?” he asked with the most amused smile.
Well, now I’d done it. “H-how does…how do…”
“My, this must be a good question for you to be this flustered.”
I dashed the back of my hand across the water, splashing him in the face. His broad laugh reached his sparkling eyes.
“How does the Water Fae relieve themselves…or have sex while in their scales?”
His laughter stopped abruptly. I nearly melted into the Shingu when the commander of Atlantis bit his lip before providing his answer. “Well, Asherah. The answer to the first is the same for the second. If we are in the company of another and want to be discreet, we part our scales to relieve ourselves.” His glimmering green eyes glazed with naked hunger. “The area of my body used to bring females to pleasure is called a cock pocket, and when I use it, Princess, I part the scales there too, just as you can if you were to fuck a male.”
My cheeks heated with an immense flush. His carefully crafted words sounded like a sinful promise.
“Any other lingering questions in that wonderful mind of yours?” he asked, his murmur echoing off the surface of the water.
I could do nothing but shake my head. My voice seemed to have momentarily disappeared.
“Perfect. Then, let’s practice.”
My mouth fell open. “What?”
His brow lifted to his hairline. “Breathing the water, not parting the scales.”
I looked away. “Right.”
“Dip underwater.”
Wanting nothing more but to end the awkward tension, I took a deep breath into my lungs and dipped below the water’s surface—my arms cutting through the weight of the water. What waited for me below caused my eyes to widen. Every spec, every piece of debris, every jagged rock edge and smooth surface could be seen with perfect clarity. I reached out and plucked a sodden leaf from the current, marveling at the shades of dulling brown and deep hunter-green.
“Can you hear me, Asherah?”
I jerked back, my gaze immediately seeking out Draevyn, who looked upon me with careful patience. “It’s okay. We can mind-to-mind talk underwater in our Fae form.”
“Can you hear me?”
“Yes. Clear as a bell.” His grip came around my hand as he pulled me closer to him. “The water serves as a source of oxygen. You’ll need to let go of your breath first.”
A deep panic engulfed me. My head shook vigorously back and forth.
“It’s okay, Asherah. You’ll not drown. Breathe the water in.”
My scales began retreating, and my tanned skin took over as he held firm to my hand.
“It’s okay.”
“Stop saying it’s okay, and let go of my hand!” I shot back, spearing him with a glare.
The second he released me, I swam for the water’s surface, inhaling deeply as I breached. My breaths came in quick succession, and my heart pounded in my chest—a deep sense of failure immediately taking hold.
Draevyn rose a moment later, and his dark and stormy gaze landed on me. “What happened?”
I shook my head. “I just…couldn’t wrap my mind around it.”
He nodded resolutely. “Perhaps it was too much, too soon.”
“I’m sorry,” I breathed.
“No need to be sorry,” he consoled. His muscular arms cut through the water as he began swimming for the riverbank. “Come, let’s get back to the palace.”
I left a part of my heart on the Shingu River that day. I couldn’t help but feel I had failed my first test as a Water Fae and let Draevyn down.