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“She needs to calm down. Maybe once we name her, she’ll be able to fit better into the life she’s supposed to live.” Virago liftedher child up to her face, frowning at the giggling baby. “Enough, for once. I need to speak with your uncle.”
The baby gurgled a bit, but eventually quieted down.
Virago sighed, as though soaking in the silence for a few moments before she tied her daughter back to her hip. “Where have you been disappearing to everyday?”
“I’ve been seeking out new hunting grounds.”
“Yes, there are many who might believe that, but not me, brother.” The glare on her face told him that she didn’t even remotely trust that he was telling the truth. “If you’re going to tell anyone, you might as well tell me.”
He sighed, raking his claws through his hair. “I have met... someone.”
“Someone?”
“She is kind and different, Virago. I do not know where it is going at the moment, so I’m just allowing it to play out as it will.” The lie tasted acidic on his tongue.
He knew where he wanted it to go, at the very least. And he knew that the two of them had a connection he’d never seen before with his pod. They were bound, he and Alys, but he didn’t know where that was going to put the two of them.
They had a long way to go before either of them figured that out.
Virago’s eyes trailed along his face, as though she knew what he was struggling with. As though she could read his mind.
“You are being careful?” she asked.
“I am.”
“Then you should be more careful than you are now.” Her eyes narrowed even further. “I know you, brother. I can smell her on your scales when you swim by. You are coating yourself in her scent, and I’m not sure you know what that means.”
“I know what it means.” Imber tried very hard not to bristle at her tone. “I am not a child.”
“No, you are my older brother and yet I am the one always reminding you to not take risks.” She held out her hand for him, drawing him out of his stone nest and up into the ocean with her. Her child grabbed onto one of his hip fins, giving it a rather painful tug.
“Your words come from a place of caring, I know that.” Imber took his time gently unwinding her child’s fingers from his hip fins. “She is different, sister.”
“Then why have we not met her yet?”
Because she was an achromo. Because she had two tails, and he still hadn’t figured out how they worked yet. Because Alys was nothing like his family, and he feared they would take one look at her and see her as nothing more than a liability.
He swallowed all those words down and instead replied with, “I’m not ready to introduce her to you. But when I am, I will make sure you are the first to meet her.”
Virago reached for the back of his neck, drawing his forehead to hers and sighing. He could feel the current created by the deep breath through her gills, and he was reminded that this was his sister. She loved him, even if she was a little rough around the edges.
Gripping her forearms, he gave her a little squeeze before moving back. “Keep watch over that child of yours. I don’t want to find her at the drop off again.”
Virago rolled her eyes. “It was one time, brother! One time. She hasn’t gone back to the drop off in ages.”
“Days,” he scolded. “Days, Virago.”
“A long time in the mind of a child. She’s long forgotten it even exists.”
He rolled his eyes and sped away, listening to the sound of his sister’s laughter. That child was a wild thing, but he supposed she had gotten that from her mother.
Speeding through the waves, he made his way to their meeting spot with his heart in his throat. He hoped she was there this time. He knew that hope was dangerous, though. Especially after all the disappointment that he’d suffered through the past week. She had no reason to visit him often. Neither of them had made any promises, but he had hoped they had developed something that she could see. Especially after that kiss.
Oh, that kiss had haunted his dreams every night.
Maybe she’d gotten tired of him. But his twin beating hearts raced with the truth that she would never get tired of him. Not that easily.
Something must have happened, and today was the day he would see her again. He was certain of it.
