Page 43 of Unmoored

The water swept me in with far more force than I was expecting, but my newly discovered fins helped me steady myself quickly. I drifted down to the bottom of the wall, landing on my feet as I reached the seafloor. Sunlight poked through from the surface, signaling that it was daytime, and the imposing city before me bustled with activity.

How peculiar, I thought,this entire world has existed for centuries, and humans have no idea.I silently vowed to keep it that way. If someone like my father had access to a society full of these beautiful creatures, he’d pillage and colonize it until there was nothing left.

I knew the Talassi used spells and water magic to keep the city hidden, and I had to hope my father was none the wiser. I prayed he believed they were lawless predators, floating around in packs and lashing out as they pleased. If he knew how intelligent and civilized they were, he’d see them as competition or merely another conquest in his endless search for some modicum of dominance.

Maneuvering through the open water was difficult, but I pressed on. I only made it a few feet before my sore muscles decided to give out, so I decided instead to allow the current to carry me where she pleased.

There must have been some sentience in the water, because she did exactly as I hoped. Once I stopped trying to push against her, she lifted me off the seafloor and I found myself drifting in the exact direction I wanted to go.

This must be part of being a Talassi, I thought. Maki had explained that Talassi have the ability to move and bend water, and I imagined they could speak with the currents, too. Odd that Cordelia had never mentioned it.

At any rate, I spent the next hour or so floating around the outskirts of the city, tangling my toes in kelp and trying to commit the images of coral and fish to memory. I’d never experienced anything so beautiful as what lived in the chamber of this underwater volcano, and for the first time in my twenty-five years, I felt like I’d found a home.Despite their predatorial nature and strange ways of communicating, the Talassi had never hurt me in the ways my father and the staff at the asylum did. While theyhadhurt me, it was never out of cruelty, merely the search for better outcome at the end of the challenges they put in front of me. They never implied there was something wrong with my head, never accused me of hysteria just to get me out of their way. Instead, they took me in. Despite their suspicions, they helped me until I could prove that I was one of them.

A strange emotion caught in my throat, and I was sure that if I wasn’t underwater, I’d feel tears streaming down my face. For once, I felt truly free, and it was a wonderful feeling indeed. I couldn’t believe it was real.

Although I could feel the water and seaweed in my hands, cou‌ld see the Talassi and their city through my own eyes, the nagging feeling that it was all a figment of my imagination threatened to send me into a dark place. I pushed it away, instead leaning into the comforting embrace of the ocean current.

When I’d finished my exploration of the waters, I eyed the side of the cliff that held my chambers, wondering how in the world I was supposed to swim back up there. The spirit of the current seemed to hear me, and before I knew it, the current was gently carrying me up to the entrance.

She dropped me into the dry hallway where I landed in a heap, and I whispered a thank you as I pushed myself off the ground. The muscle soreness hit me all at once, and I decided I could wait some time before shifting back to my human form completely. It would require far more energythan I was willing to expend at the moment, and my lungs still worked even when my gills were out.

I pushed open the door to my room, surprised to find Draya inside. He perched at the table by the door with a tray of food and a pouch of fresh water, his expression unreadable as his foot quietly tapped against the floor.

29

DRAYA

My breath hitched as Hazel stepped into the room, the click of the door latching echoing in the silence. An iridescent glow brushed over her skin, and those blueish strands of hair that caught my attention years ago peeked out from her long pale locks. She was half-shifted, her gills and fins on display, and I noticed two new features sprouting from her shoulders.

My gaze caught on the gold and green flecks in her eyes, and my heartbeat picked up as all thoughts left my mind. Whatever grand speech I’d planned before she entered was lost to the current, replaced with a desire so intense that I thought I might combust.

I wanted to drink her in and burrow my way inside her soul in the same way she had with mine.

“Hazel,” I breathed.

She frowned, and my heart dropped.

“What are you doing here?” She asked.

“You’re beautiful,” I blurted out, desperately hoping she didn’t send me away.

“Thank you,” she said, raising a brow. “But again, Draya, why are you here?”

I’d rehearsed what I wanted to say in my head over and over again, but none of the words felt right. Nothing I said would properly convey the emotions I felt for the woman before me, and I could sense her rising impatience.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I… I’ve never met anyone like you, Hazel…” I trailed off, the words lost on the tip of my tongue.

“I’m not sure what to think of that, but please, continue,” she replied, staring for a moment. The irritation written all over her face only made me ravenous for more of her angst.

“I ran away from our kiss because I was scared. No one has ever made me feel the way I do for you. I said I didn’t want to hurt you anymore, then I kissed you and left, and Iknowit hurt you again. For that, I’m sorry.”

“I fear you are grossly underestimating me if you think a broken kiss can hurt my feelings,” she said, her voice laced with amusement. Her antics were starting to frustrate me again, but I sat there in silence, forced into a chokehold by my deafening need to claim her.

She took a single step closer, and I inhaled sharply, hoping to catch even the slightest hint of the intoxicating arousal I picked up on her skin yesterday. Even in my human form, her essence engulfed me. I wanted to ravage her, worship her, make her scream my name so loud that anyone in this wing would know she was mine.

My hand reached out of its own accord, and I gently caressed the spike still protruding from her shoulder. I felt it prick the pad of my thumb, and both of us stilled as abead of my blood dripped over her skin, slowly making its way down her collarbone.

I was hanging on by afuckingthread, and when the corner of her mouth tipped up in a sly grin, the last shred of my control disintegrated.