on your face. The scratchy edge of it set my insides on edge and turned them to jelly. “But many are watching. So…”
“So?” I challenged him.
“So,” he countered. “They’re playing my song. Come.”
Chapter Six
Waltzing and Wondering
Amid blonde Aegirans were creatures of all shapes and hues. Swimming, skimming, undulating. Alone, or with creatures of their own species, or with those of other clans.
It was the Siren Sense. And one thing I knew for sure, my own senses were screaming.
As we danced, the wolf held my hands in his and flicked me away from him effortlessly, like I was a child. I remembered the moves, and lolled and frolicked with the other women before sliding slowly back to him. He pushed me away again and again, and each time we came back together we drew closer than the last. Somehow the flashing colors of the creatures around us – the kaleidoscopic Rainbow Fish, the swirling silver Gynomarls, the almost-lewd purple deep sea squid – intensified the moment, lending it a technicolor edge that was nearly indecent.
His skin was warm, almost hot, where I touched it, and as he took my hands I swore I could almost hear the zap and feel the water vibrate around us.
The first time we came together, our bodies barely connected, the soft whirls of fabric on my dress just brushing his naked chest.
The next time my thighs whispered to his before he thrust me away again at the cue.
The third time he crushed me into his chest and I felt my breasts light up in response.
If we got any closer there was going to be a serious breach of etiquette.
Over the wolf’s shoulder, I could see the watching crowd, including Lecanora, a small frown creasing her brow. I saw Mom too, slightly apart and watching also, her eyes flashing joy and pride, and something else.
Something more worried.
“What are you?” His eyes were wide with surprise, like a man who’d taken a body blow and wasn’t used to it. The scratchy edge of his voice was even harsher, an edge of anger in it that I recognized. I’d known enough people who lived on the edge.
I shook my head like I didn’t understand the question, and he gripped my wrist hard in his big hand, and pulled me further back behind Gag-ai-lan serving area he had spirited us into. It was much darker back here, and I suddenly felt very conscious of our aloneness. And the fact that my Glock couldn’t hydroport. My insides were churning like I was perched precariously at the high point of a roller coaster, waiting for the drop.
His voice was louder this time, and he reached up to grasp my chin in his hand, examining my face like an interrogator demanding the truth. “I said, what are you?” The last three words were separated viciously, and slowed down even further, laced with threat.
“You must know,” I responded finally. “You must know who I am. Everyone here does. What I am. I’m… half.”
He laughed, his raspy chuckle stroking the inside of me in places that hadn’t been stroked for far too long. “No-one was ever half anything.”
I shook my head, ready to explain. But he hadn’t finished. “You misunderstand me, Rania.” The hand that had held my chin so roughly began to stroke it with long fingers. “I know who you are. Of course I do. That wasn’t what I was asking. And you know it.”
I shook my head dumbly, and he dropped his hand, shaking his head. “Whatever you are, I can tell you this. You are not half of anything.” My insides, which had turned to mush some time ago, began to quiver. My heart was thrumming so fast and so hard I expected to see the ripples it created in the water around us. He lifted a finger and traced my lips with it. They annoyed me by parting obsequiously. “You are very, very whole. Very complete.”
Something about his tone made me blush. Me, who hadn’t blushed in whore houses, crack dens or the unisex change rooms at the academy. His voice sounded like he really could see all of me. Like I was standing there as naked as he had been in my arms back in Missy’s dressing room. Like he could x-ray my insides to confirm my origins.
I wanted to tell him he didn’t know anything about me.
But instead I turned the tables on him. “More to the point, who are you?”