out.
“Did you…?” Varun whispered.
I nodded, putting a hand on my pocket. “We need to go,” I said.
“Not so fast. We can’t form a pod like we did before – Unifying, it’s called. Abzu can’t know that we did that…”
“Why not?” I looked up in confusion. “Why did you have to lie?”
“I don’t want the kraken seeing us….” Varun sighed. ‘I didn’t want to tell you before – I didn’t want to freak you out. But Unifying isn’t something that just anyone can do.”
“What do you mean?”
“It only works if…” he blushed and looked down. “Look, I didn’t want to pressure you or freak you out…”
“Works if what?” I pressed.
“If the people involved are truly in love,” he muttered, turning pink “I was only ever able to do it with Jana…before you…”
“That was some risk you took,” I said. “Taking me underwater without knowing if we were truly in love. I could have been drowned!”
“I knew how I felt about you. And I guessed how you felt about me. Maybe not enough to take you away from Chance, but enough…for this.” He sighed. “Abzu thinks you’re just some girl I’m seeing. If he knows that we’ve Unified, he might guess the truth. That you might be the real Vesta. Any one of his kraken could spy on us – report the truth.”
“So what do we do?” I’d been able to breathe underwater when I first touched the stone, but now my breaths were growing shallower, hastier The initial effect of the stone had worn off, and I’d need to get another source of oxygen again.
“Follow my lead,” said Varun. “Mouth-to-mouth – what I said to Abzu. Not comfortable…and it won’t do much to protect you from the cold – but you have the stone now, so maybe it will be easier. You just have to breathe…from me.”
“From what?”
“From my lips…” Varun blushed. “You know – mouth-to-mouth.”
My heart sank. It was hard enough to resist my attraction to Varun when I was near him – it would be harder still if his lips were against mine.
“I’ll be a gentleman,” Varun promised, “Don’t you worry.”
I nodded as we stepped outside the palace.
“Close your eyes.”
I did. Immediately, Varun’s lips were against mine, soft and gentle, breathing life into my lungs – sweet, pure air. I inhaled greedily, feeling the oxygen pulse through my body.
“Swim,” Varun whispered, wrapping his arms around me as he kicked through the water, rising through the darkness of the sea. My heart was beating faster and faster; I could feel the intoxication of being near him, of tasting his salty lips. From time to time he would breathe into me – each kiss a moment of rapture as well as survival. At last, when we were a suitable distance away from the kraken, Varun began to Unify with me once again, the blue light shimmering all around us once more.
A part of me was disappointed – left still craving his kiss, still wanting him. My whole body ached to turn to him, to press my mouth against his, to drink in his beauty like sweet nectar.
I ached for him, my longing so great that my body shuddered with physical pain. But I held back, ignoring the excruciating torment that seemed to rend my heart in two. I loved Chance – I knew that I loved Chance! But then what was I feeling for Varun? My body and soul were at odds with each other; I no longer had one heart but two, each pulled in a different direction.
At last we reached the surface, breaking apart at the water’s edge. I felt a painful pull in my chest when we were no longer touching.
“I don’t know what to say,” I spoke at last, my chest heaving with exhaustion. “Varun…” I felt the stone in my pocket, so smooth and round. I held it out to him. “You saved my mother’s life. I don’t know how I can ever thank you.” And yet I could not look him in the eye. Looking up at him, letting our eyes meet, seemed too dangerous now. He’d see my desire pouring out of them. He’d see how much I wanted him. And then how could I ever resist. “I owe you…everything.”
He wrapped his arms around me once more, drawing me into an embrace. “All I wanted was to make you happy,” he said. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted.” He lifted my chin, turning my face to his. His eyes were so full of kindness, of