Thane shakes his head sharply. “You want something. Stop playing games and state your offer.”
“Spoilsport.” Ramanu pouts. “Fine. You will grant me access to your keep to check on your pretty human.”
Thane narrows his eyes. “That was already in the contract.”
“Yes, it was.” Ramanu twirls the bracelet. “But I want solo check-ins with the human.”
If they were anyone else, I would think they were insinuating they want sex, but Ramanu is so focused on Thane, I get the feeling this little power play has nothing to do with me. Because why would it? I’m a newcomer to this realm, and beyond that, I’m only here because Azazel needed another pawn to move around his chessboard. I matter less than his endgame, than Thane’s endgame, and apparently even than Ramanu’s endgame.
Thane finally nods. “Deal.”
“Goddess, you didn’t even haggle.” Ramanu tosses the bracelet, and Thane grabs it out of the air with one of his tentacles. The demon looks at me, or at least turns in my direction. “I can’t speak to the quality of the company, but you’re safe with this stick-in-the-mud. I’ll come around in a week and check on you.” They grin. “Try not to wander your way into a watery grave in the meantime.”
We watch Ramanu push off the wall and stride gracefully to the stairs. Within seconds, they’re gone, leaving us alone once again. I stare after them for several beats, but I quickly grow bored of trying not to look at Thane. Also, the water is chilly, and I’m fighting not to wrap my arms around myself.
Thane is staring at the bracelet with the strangest expression on his face. It’s almost like loss. He shuts it down the moment he realizes I’m watching and shifts the tentacle with the bracelet closer to me. “Put this on.”
I make no move to grab it. “What is it?”
“Humans used to be more common in this realm. There were those among my people who had—have—a vested interest in not drowning those humans. They create these.” He shakes the bracelet at me again. “This is spelled to allow you to breathe underwater.”
Shock makes me forget to be snarky. “Is that possible?”
“It won’t help with your inability to swim, but you won’t die as you flounder.”
The sharp words snap me back into myself. This isn’t a gift. Not really. It’s a way of protecting his investment. I could stand here and keep arguing, or I can take the damned bracelet and let him get me back to his home.
Oh god, am I going to live underwater? Even if I won’t drown, surely I’ll freeze over time? Or at least wrinkle into a prune of a person?
I pluck the bracelet from his tentacle before I can think better of it and shove it onto my right wrist. “There. Happy?”
“I’m never happy, human.”
He sounds far too severe for that to be a joke. I don’t get a chance to question further, though, because he moves in a surge. His tentacles twist and squirm around my waist, far more strongly than I expected. I barely have time to gasp when he dives into the canal, taking me with him.
The water closes over my head, but we keep descending. I stare up, watching the light above us blink away. I instinctively hold my breath, but that only lasts until the first time Thane’s tentacles shift around my waist. It feels strange, and I gasp... inhaling water.
Or at least Ishouldbe inhaling water.
Instead, it feels just like air. Salty air, but breathable all the same. Magic. This whole damned world is magic. There’s no point in fighting Thane’s movements, so I let myself go limp. It’s... peaceful. I can’t hear anything but the soft sounds of us cutting through the water, can’t see anything but shadows, am completely buoyed by a strange weightlessness even as I’m dragged along.
I don’t notice the shift in color first; it’s the change in temperature I register before anything else. Warmth starts to seep into my bones until the water around me is almost balmy. The light has morphed as well, going from near black to blue and then turquoise.
Then I see the fish.
I gasp, bubbles erupting from my lips. I’ve never seen fish like this before. They’re bright and strange and don’t seem the least bit bothered by the predator in their midst. They flit and flicker around us in vibrant groups. It’s beautiful.
Thane doesn’t give me the opportunity to revel in the magic of the moment. He tows me up and up and up. My head goes a little funny, but I don’t have a chance to think too hard about it as he surges out of the water and onto a rock platform. He deposits me there, unceremoniously dumping me on the ground.
By the time I get to my hands and knees, he’s already moving toward a wide staircase leading up. I blink blearily. “Hold on.” The sensation in my head gets stronger. What the hell is wrong with me? It’s been a long day, and there is the whole “auctioned to a tentacle-man” that I need to process at some point, but I feel awful.
“Stop wasting time.”
I look up to find him back in front of me. He’s beautiful in the way that glaciers are beautiful. You’ll definitely freeze your ass off if you get too close, but it’s pretty and harsh and unforgiving, which draws you in all the same. The gray-blue of his skin makes him look at home in this rocky place with reflections of the water playing over the walls and ceiling.
The last thing I want is to stand right now, with my ears ringing like I just went three rounds with someone far more proficient at boxing than I am. But I can’t kneel here at his feet while he looks at me like I’m some piece of garbage that washed ashore.
I fight my way to my feet. My stomach threatens to rebel, but I haven’t eaten anything today, so there’s nothing to purge. I look up, up, up into Thane’s inky eyes. “Happy now?”