Basil (The Brinnswick Chronicles #3) - Michele Notaro Page 0,109

runes?”

I nodded. “Rebe isn’t our enemy, and honestly, they’ve lived in Faela their whole life. When we first met, they only spoke Fae’lee, so I doubt they’ll recognize even half of what’s on your body.”

With a single nod, he stripped down to his bathing suit—and I pointedly looked the other way so I wasn’t rocking a boner on this trip underwater in front of my damn ex—so I did the same, and Rasha took her little cover off.

I knelt beside her and asked, “Are you ready? We won’t be able to talk in the water, not until we get through the caves to the spring.”

“Okay.” She looked nervous.

“Rasha?” I waited for her to meet my eyes before continuing, “I promise that I’ll protect you. Always. No matter what.”

She searched my face before nodding. She was still nervous, but my words seemed to ease her worry a tad.

When I stood, Hiro placed a hand on my upper back and pulled me in to kiss my temple. He didn’t say anything, but I knew he appreciated everything I was trying to do.

With a nod to him, I grabbed his hand in one of mine, then grabbed Rasha’s in my other and said, “We’ll have to sit on Rebe’s back and hold onto their mane as they swim. Kelpies swim really fast, so we’d get left behind otherwise.”

“Won’t that hurt them?” Rasha asked.

“No. They’re used to it. I promise they’ll be okay.” I shot her a smile, then dragged them into the water. “Don’t be scared. You’ll be able to breathe just like normal.”

“Daddy,” Rasha said.

“It’s okay, peanut. Want me to go first so you can see?”

Rasha nodded, so Hiro released my hand, stepped in front of us, and dipped his head underwater. He stayed there for a long time before Rasha knelt down and went under herself. Hiro grabbed her hands, so I released hers, and he pulled her around. It was pretty shallow here, but Hiro managed to keep them under for a while. Eventually, he popped up with a grin. “I think we’re ready.”

I nodded toward Rebe, who was gently swimming around, waiting for us. “Let’s go.”

Hiro nodded and pulled Rasha up until she was holding onto his shoulders, and the three of us made our way over to Rebe. The kelpie swam closer and gave us their back. I pushed Rasha onto Rebe’s back, saying, “Hold onto Rebe’s mane. Hiro get behind her, I’ll go behind you.” They followed directions, and since I couldn’t reach Rebe’s mane, I wrapped my arms around Hiro’s waist and whispered, “You okay?”

Hiro squeezed my hands before wrapping his strong arms around Rasha and gripping Rebe’s mane. “Everyone good?”

I nodded, and Rasha said, “Yep.”

Hiro said, “We’re ready, Rebe.”

My friend let out a noise that sorta sounded like a whinny, then dove into the water. I squeezed my eyes shut because this part always made me woozy, at least until I had time to adjust. After a minute, I opened my eyes, and just like every other time Rebe had taken me in the water, I was blown away.

The water here was crystal clear so I could see far into the distance. There were fish swimming everywhere, and so many magical creatures I didn’t know where to look first. Some of the sea creatures were similar-looking to the ones from our realm, but just like the rest of Faela, things weren’t always what they seemed. Sometimes you’d see a tiny fish eat one as big as a person, and… yeah, Faela had a way of playing mind tricks on you.

Nevertheless, it was beautiful under the water here. Where each individual land above stuck to mainly one color, in the oceans, rivers, and lakes, all the colors were mixed together. And the fish were bright and sparkly. A few even seemed to be covered in glitter— like someone dipped it in glue and rolled it in multi-colored glitter. They came in all different sizes: big, small, fat, thin. Some had a billion fins or octopus-like arms. Others had none and didn’t seem like they’d be able to move, but they did. Every time I peeked in the water here, I saw something new.

There were plenty of humanoid-esque creatures under the water as well, but they didn’t tend to come near us, either because they were scared or maybe because they were pissed that we were in their space.

And then there were the plants. Most of them were harmless to us, but there were a few that