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chapter 69
ELLE
Cepharius brought me food to eat, explaining that it was traditional for men to go hunting after breeding—but he didn’t have to hunt, he just had to go to the storeroom, which I gathered was like a very nice cave where the eating-fish were kept.
I still hadn’t gotten the hang of a lot of kraken habits yet—but it was a good thing I enjoyed sushi.
And he was feeding me—another tradition!—when we felt Sylinda on the ’qa. “Come to the throne room. Both of you, please.”
Ceph questioned her, but when she didn’t answer he took my hand and tossed the fish we hadn’t finished to the anemones on the wall. There were no other kraken in the hallways we took in, a thing that struck me as odd—especially when I couldn’t feel any on the ’qa.
“Cepharius and Elle,” his brother Balesur said as we entered. He always made sure to include me, but I was still nervous, especially given the circumstances, which were feeling strange.
“I sent everyone else away,” Sylinda said to calm me. “Because there’s someone here to see you both.” She pointed above her head.
I recoiled into Ceph’s side instantly. “No. I’m not going,” I said, and his arms were around me at once. I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving Cepharius.
“Who is it?” Ceph asked. “Royce?”
“Your two-legged authority. Complete with the siren again,” Balesur said. “I believe he has questions about your last assignment.” He then looked to me. “But do not worry, Elle. If anyone tried to take you from my brother, we would meet them with the full power of the ocean.”
I calmed down some, as Ceph’s hands smoothed against me. “I can go alone, if you’d like.”
“No,” I said, settling. I didn’t want to think about being away from Cepharius’s side.
“All right, then,” Ceph said, giving his brother a nod. “Come with me, and I will teach you how to rise.”
It took the rest of the morning, and I still wasn’t good at it. The spaceship had given me the same kind of powers that Ceph had for accommodating pressure changes, but he’d been doing it instinctively his whole life, whereas I had to think about it.
It was like learning how to drive again, while feeling queasy.
“You are doing better than you think,” Ceph said, hovering beside me.
“You make it look so effortless,” I said with a frown, trying to concentrate on going up, but not too quickly.
“You will get there,” he promised.
“You look like a natural to me!” said a voice I hadn’t heard before on our ’qa—as someone who looked like a mermaid swam up. I’d seen pictures of them before but I’d never met one in real life—she was gorgeous.
“Siren,” she corrected me. “Mermaids are coastal.”
“You’re so pretty,” I thought out on the ’qa, and heard her laugh.
“I like her, Cepharius,” she told him. “My name is Omara,” she said, introducing herself.
“I’m Elle,” I said, even though I knew she could already get it from my mind.
“She also thinks I am pretty, just so you know,” Ceph said, putting an arm around me, and giving me a grin. “Her taste is suspect.”
I laughed—and then felt a new presence join us. I knew at once he was fully human.
“Doctor Kepzler?” he asked, too loud and very clumsily.
“Royce, of the Monster Security Agency,” Cepharius answered on my behalf. “She is safe. I have done my duty.”
“I see,” he said—as the siren in front of us blinked and her eyes went white.
“And I’m staying,” I added, because no one else had said it yet.
