“If I tried to swim out of here without you, would I make it?”
He goes still, his tentacles freezing in place. That’s answer enough, but I want to hear him say it. I hold his gaze until he shakes his head shortly. “It’s possible but unlikely. There are predators in the bay that don’t bother my people, but you are not one of my people.”
“So. I am trapped.” I don’t know why he’s so determined to argue with me. “A princess in a tower, except I’m no virginal innocent waiting for my Prince Charming. I guess that makes you the monster, huh?” Calling Thane a monster isn’t kind, and it sure as fuck isn’t smart. There’s nothing stopping him from leaving me in a huff and not coming back for a few weeks.
Or a few years.
What am I going to do? I don’t think the demon deal considers mental and emotional harm. How could it? It’s such a nebulous thing to articulate, especially when my indicators of what really constitutes harm aren’t exactly reliable. More than that, Thane isn’ttryingto hurt me. He’s just being ham-handed about things.
“I want to show you something,” he says abruptly.
“Okay?”
The word is barely out of my mouth when he sweeps a tentacle around my waist and slides into the water, taking me with him. The water closes over my head with a whoosh, and my instinctive need to hold my breath only lasts a moment.
I clutch the thick tentacle around me, mostly for the comfort of stability even if I have no control in this moment. Thane drags me deeper, though I distantly note that he’s not going nearly as fast as he could. I expect him to head toward the opening I can see, the jagged rock tunnel illuminated by whatever plant populates the walls. Instead, he twists and takes us back toward the tower.
Well, that was a short trip.
Thane dips beneath an outcropping of rock, and later I’ll appreciate how deftly he maneuvers me after him, ensuring I don’t drag along the sharp-looking walls of the tunnel around us.
We emerge into light.
I blink and look around. A different type of light is in the water now. It’s pale and soothing, and I’m still trying to figure out why when Thane begins his ascent. Once again, he does it slowly, though I think we can’t be more than thirty feet below the surface, and the pool descends much deeper. Still, it’s a level of caring I don’t know how to deal with. He’s still angry with me, but he’s not letting his anger direct his actions.
He’s not turning it on me.
We surface, and all I can do it stare. Above us is a gently spiraling opening of rock that leads directly to the sky. It’s late afternoon, so the sun isn’t directly overhead, but there’s plenty of light to see by.
Three waterfalls pound down from various heights. The sound is strangely lovely, the rush of water constant and just loud enough that I could drown out my own thoughts if I wanted to.
The rest of the space is all rock formations that are mostly half-submerged in a handful of pools. The one we just emerged into is the deepest and obviously the only one that opens to the greater body of water. Thane carries me onto a shallow rock shelf and sets me carefully on my feet.
I turn slowly, taking in details I missed before. The overgrown patch of flowers in the center, where the sunlight must linger the longest. The openings at the top of the waterfalls that look quite a bit like doorways. The strange look on Thane’s face, as if being here pains him.
The last observation gets me moving. I take a careful step toward him, and then another. He doesn’t shift his tentacles out of my path but doesn’t use them to hold me at a distance either. I pick my way through them until I can press my hands to his chest. “Thane... Why did you bring me here?”
13
THANE
Idon’t have an answer to Catalina’s question. I haven’t been to this room in five long years. It was always special to me, but after Brant was killed, I couldn’t bear to be here without him. I look down at Catalina. Having her here should feel wrong. She’s not Brant. She can never be Brant.
It just feels... different.
“This is a safe place,” I finally manage. “A place I value.” Her words still ring in my head.Trapped. I shouldn’t care too much if she feels that way as long as she’s safe... but I do care. Too much. Showing her this space won’t magically make her feel less hemmed in, though. She can reach it on her own, but only if she swims. An impossible feat considering her current circumstances.
I don’t know why I brought her here. There are dozens of places about the tower that would serve the purpose of a safe space for her to learn to swim. But... I don’t regret it.
She steps carefully away from me and turns slowly to look around again. The relaxing of her body is subtle, but I’ve watched her closely enough to note it. Catalina inhales deeply and glances over her shoulder at me. “Well, don’t just stand there like a bump on a log. Show me around.”
Everything here can be seen in a single sweep, but I move closer to her all the same. “There is a hot spring there.” I point to the pool tucked back between the two waterfalls closest to each other and then to the one in the middle. “This is not connected to the rest of the water by any openings big enough for predators to get through. I would like to teach you to swim here.”
Catalina blinks those big eyes at me. I have no idea what’s going on in that frightening brain of hers, but she keeps her wild smile tucked away. She’s very serious as she examines the pool, circling it slowly. “You brought me here... to teach me to swim.”
Her disbelief makes me straighten. “You are not comfortable in open water,” I say stiffly. “This is deep enough to serve but also closed away so you can feel safe.” When she keeps looking at me, I find myself continuing. “You’re always safe with me, of course, but you won’t be able to concentrate on swimming if you are too busy flinching at every movement around us.”
She stares at me for another long moment and then nods, almost to herself. “Okay, you’ve convinced me. Teach me to swim.”