Page 58 of These Godly Lies
“Good,” he soothes, taking another step back. And another. She follows. “Just keep looking at me.”
She wets her lips, following his every step, and tries not to think of how the light is fading because the water above their heads is growing deeper. “I hate this.”
“I noticed.”
“Please tell me this is a short trip.”
A moment of silence, a skipped heartbeat. “Khiran?”
The tiniest hint of a smile plays across his lips, eyes shining despite the dim. “Kaia’s magic works in similar ways to Eira’s paths. It will be far, but it won’t be long.”
“Good. Because Ihatethis. It’s terrifying.”
Khiran glances up, thoughtfully. Anna has to force herself to focus on the hollow of his throat instead of following his gaze. “I can’t say I disagree.” His eyes meet hers. “I was afraid the first time, too.” It shouldn’t, but somehow the confession makes her feel a little bit better.
After a few minutes, her heart gradually slows to a pace that isalmostnormal, and the crushing weight on her chest floats away. In a moment of bravery, she begins glancing over Khiran’s shoulder as they walk. Testing the strength of her courage.
Goosebumps dot her arms, her breath fogging. “It’s getting colder.”
“Yes.”
“Is that because of the depth or the destination?”
He thinks about it. “Both, actually.”
The sand under her feet has turned rocky and slick. She’s not entirely sure when that happened. With a feeling of unease, she realizes it’s slanting down instead of up. “Does… does she liveunderthe water?”
“Yes.” At her look of alarm, he chuckles. “Magic, Anna. You’ll feel perfectly at ease once we get there.” His eyes crinkle in the corners, mischief in his grin. “Other than the feeling of thousands of tons of water being magically suspended over you, it’ll feel just like you’re on land.”
She glares. “Mean.”
“A taste of how I felt on that disgrace of a ship.”
“There was nothing wrong with the ship,” she huffs. Her breath curls into clouds with the force of it. “You just have a frighteningly weak sto—” Movement catches her eye, a shadow moving through the water just over his shoulders. Large and getting larger. Colossal.
The hands around her wrist tighten. “Anna—”
“I’m okay,” she murmurs. And, for the first time since watching the tide rise around her, she truly feels it. As the shadow comes closer, the details the water masks become clearer and wonder overshadows the fear. It’s not one creature, but many. A pod, her mind supplies, fishing the word from somewhere in the corner of nearly forgotten bits of knowledge.
They swerve, the pod splitting around their bubble of air, swimming through the wall of water on either side of them. So close, Anna could reach out and touch their white and gray mottled sides if she were brave enough. Flashes of tusk, a wand of spiraled ivory on some of their heads.
“Narwhals,” Khiran says, standing beside her, shoulder to shoulder, as he watches them glide past. “Unicorns of the sea.”
Anna wonders, awe stricken, how an everyday creature could feel more magical than the forces allowing them to walk the ocean floor.
Anna isn’t sure what she was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t this.
The mouth of the cave yawns open, icicles lining the top like rows of teeth. Perhaps it is Cassius’ influence, but part of her had expected something more opulent. Which is silly, really. Eira and Silas hardly lived in luxury.
Khiran prods her forward, shaking his head. “We still have a little ways to go. The caves are part of the journey, not the destination.”
“Caves,” she echoes, under her breath. “There’s multiple?”
“It’s an entire system. A labyrinth for anyone she wishes to keep out.” His hand goes to the small of her back as they step through the entrance, his eyes raised to the icicles above them until they’ve safely stepped past. “Before I became immortal, I’m told she drifted much like Silas. Traveling between the seas, slumbering on the isles, as it pleased her.”
Anna watches a crab scuttle across the cave floor, pincers searching for its next meal. “Why the change?”
“If I had to guess?” He sighs, eyes clouded in memory. “I always thought it might be for Eira.”
