Fathom (Mermaids of Montana #3) - Elsa Jade Page 0,102
tongue. She would not lose him, not now. She’d only zapped him on accident twice, and the third time was the charm. That power was still hers.
But she’d only destroyed an armada in near space, never jumpstarted a heart. From too big to too small…
Fumbling at her breast pocket, she found the tiny seashell he’d given her. As the sun peeked over the horizon, the light shone on the delicate spiral of the shell. So small… She settled her hand over his still chest, the shell between them. With a rhythm that held all her love, she called to his heart—a spark across the distance between them, smaller than atoms, as far-flung as stars.
“I love you, i shah-lan. My Sting.”
The sun rose as the Abyssa sank, and blackness closed over her head.
***
“A hie kharea-wy, my Lana.”
The sigh of a breath across her lips roused her, but she didn’t open her eyes. She didn’t want to see waves about to swamp her, even if they were sweet morning currents.
Especially if she was floating alone…
But that whisper was just rough enough to be delicious, kind of like the unexpected scent drifting to her now.
“I need you to wake, i kharea nul’ah. It’s been nights and days, and I need to know you are still with me.”
“Sting?” she whispered back. More of a croak, actually. Gah, she sounded like him.
As she struggled to open her eyes, a strong arm at her shoulders lifted her from the softness around her, not as soft as water…
Letting out a cautious ping, she realized she was in a bed, with Sting.
Her eyes flew open. “You’re alive!”
Flinging her arms around him rocked them both. Because it was a waterbed. The bed was tucked into an airy nook carved into a rocky cliff. Beyond, the sea glinted blue-green and silver under a brilliant sky turning to fire with the sunset: a merman on a mountaintop.
She couldn’t let him go, just snuggled closer. “You’re so alive.”
He caught her hand against his chest, bare even of his skimpy battle skin, where his heart pounded. “Not a date recommended in the Intergalactic Dating Agency handbook. But matched to yours.”
Steady, strong, hers.
Under her fingertips on his armored skin, a tiny spiral of iridescence burned: the silhouetted edges of the shell he’d given her, flash-burned into his flesh. She gazed up at him, tears biting like very tiny boundary beasts. “What happened?”
“You brought me to life, fire-witch. So I made you silken chocolate pudding.” He reached behind him and palmed a small cup. “You need the energy after what you did.”
That was the delicious smell: chocolate and merman.
He wouldn’t let her hold the blown-glass bowl or the conch-like shell carved into a spoon as he fed her tiny sips of pudding.
Maybe there were times where she didn’t need strength after all.
When the pudding was gone, she kissed him. And kept kissing him until they both tasted of chocolate and tears.
She might not have stopped, ever, until both their hearts gave out again, except he told her she needed to replenish her water too. This cup he handed her, though it looked empty. When she gave him a questioning look, he said, “So pure it’s almost air.” He sprinkled the water with electrolytes and the shimmer of minerals looked like stars. “You need your strength back before the unveiling.”
She blinked. “Unveiling of what?”
“The memorial site of the last battle on Tritona.” He retrieved his wrist datpad from a nook beside the waterbed.
The official message was brief. Tritona’s first immigrant and newest Tritonesse-ra, Marisol Wavercrest, would be presenting the unveiling alongside the intergalactic council representative who was approving the planet’s official status as an open world. The memorial, which would only be open to those who could swim and dive, or who had someone willing to take them there, was a floating reef constructed from the remains of a unique data crystal that had already spawned several species thought to be extinct…
Lana glanced up. “Do your people know what the crystal was?”
He nodded. “In its last breath, the Abyssa’s song reached every Tritonan in the waters.” His brow furrowed. “And every Cretarni above.” He pulled her close. “You saved them too, most of them. Coriolis found their locked ships in port and remanded them to the council rep. The Tritonesse agreed not to seek reparations from the Cretarni if they leave forever, and now Tritona is protected by intergalactic law.”
She swallowed hard. “So it’s over, finally.”
“Not over. We must explore the Abyssa’s grotto for remaining treasures.