But he didn’t look good. As the water came out of his gills, so did more of that dark liquid. Blood, she knew. And that wasn’t all. The lights illuminated countless scratches, wounds, and torn pieces of delicate fins. His breathing was even ragged, rougher than she’d ever seen before.

It hurt her heart to look at him like this.

“What did they do to you?” she asked as she walked around him to get to the medkit.

“Nothing I wouldn’t have done to them,” he replied, quietly grumbling even though she could see how much it hurt him to even speak.

“For what? Keeping me here?”

Medkit in hand, she turned it on him and clicked a button. It would take a few moments for the device to calibrate to his body, and then she could get to work healing him. Of course, he had no idea what she was even holding. She should explain. She should...

Her stomach turned as she rounded his side and saw the extent of the damage. First, rage swelled in her chest. She wanted to kick someone. To break something so that she might get a little of this aggression out. And then her heart just hurt. Mira felt like she might burst into tears as she sank down next to him, carefully reaching out with her hand and grabbing his.

“I don’t know where I can touch you,” she whispered. “Everything looks like it hurts.”

“This doesn’t.” He squeezed her fingers in his and then drew her hand over his chest. She could feel his heart beating, though it was a strange beat compared to her own. “Neither does this. Nothing ever hurts when you touch me.”

A ragged sob made its way out of her mouth. “Arges. You look awful.”

“I feel awful.” But then he rubbed her hand up and down his chest in a soothing motion, and he sighed. “Less awful now.”

Her heart squeezed and every part of her wanted to weep. He didn’t deserve this pain because she was in his life. Leaning down, she pressed their foreheads together and tried to will her own healthy energy into him.

With his wounded arm, he reached up and cupped the back of her head, holding her a little closer. For a moment, it felt like nothing had happened between their kiss and this moment. She could pretend he wasn’t injured if his fingers weren’t shaking as he tried to hold her to him. “I’m so sorry," she whispered again. “I have a tool that will help heal you.”

“In a moment.”

“You’re bleeding all over the floor, Arges.”

“I know.” He inhaled again, and she watched the torn gills on the side of his neck attempt to flutter. But they were so torn up, it was hard for them to move at all. “I just want a few more moments, Mira. Just let me remind myself that you are fine.”

“I am,” she said. “Thanks to you.”

They stayed still for a while. Just breathing each other in, even as she felt the shudders running through his body every time he breathed. He was in so much pain, and yet somehow this was more important.

Finally, she couldn’t stand it anymore. Mira pulled herself away and picked up the medkit. It looked similar to her welder, but this one had a strange goo that healed everything really fast. She had no idea how it worked.

“This doesn’t hurt when I use it on myself, but we have different make ups. I don’t know if it’ll...”

He tilted his head away from her, exposing the wounded gills to her with ease. “I am no stranger to pain, Mira. If it will heal me, then I would rather have it done. It cannot hurt worse than the water did.”

She winced. “I imagine that was painful. If you don’t mind, I’m going to get started. Can you tell me what happened while I do this?”

She thought only to distract him from the pain, but his story made her hands shake. Already she felt terrible as she lifted his torn gills and gently reattached them with the medkit. This time it didn’t use goo like it would have for her. Instead, it seemed to reattach the pieces of his body with a strange, clear, jelly-like substance. But it held everything together, and she knew it would speed up the healing process. At the very least, when she was finished with his gill, his breathing sounded better.

He relaxed a bit into her grip, turning to face her as he told her more of his brother’s anger, and the rage with which he had thrown Arges onto the stones.

He hissed a bit when she reached his ribs, but the worst was when she got to that torn hip fin.

“This looks very painful,” she said, not sure where to start with it. “Should I just...”

“Do what you have to do, achromo.”

Figuring she should just get it over with and not make either of them wait any longer, she grabbed the fin and put it back in place. He arched, his spine coming up off the floor as she apologized repeatedly. The sound of his pain, the deep rumble echoing through his gritted teeth, made every inch of her ache with him.

“I’m sorry,” she said, turning the medkit on and filling the space so the fin would stay in place. “I’m so sorry. I know this hurts, it’s almost done. It’ll be okay.”

And then she was done. Tossing the medkit away from them, she cupped her hands behind his head and drew it up to her chest. “You’re okay. You’re going to be okay now, I promise. That’ll fix you, and you won’t hurt anymore.”

But then she realized he wasn’t shaking in pain. He was laughing, his arms already coming around her and holding her a little more tightly against him. He lifted his head, looking up at her with far too much humor for a man who had just been in significant pain. “You are more worried about my wellbeing than I thought you would be.”

“You were in pain!”

“I have been in pain many times in my life. I’ve been bitten by sharks, attacked by squid, even had a turtle latch onto a gill when I was little.” He shrugged. “It’s all something that happens when you live as we do. I have never been cared for so gently, though. I will say that.”

She shouldn’t preen at the words. She shouldn’t be proud that she had taken care of him better than others, but she absolutely was.

Still. He laughed at her when she’d been worried about him. “I should toss you back into the sea, you beast.”

“Why’s that?”

“I was actually worried about you.”

“I know you were.” He smoothed his hand down her back, tugging her a little closer until she had no option but to straddle him. Then he did the strangest thing yet. He arranged her legs on either side of his tail, then snuggled her against his odd heartbeat.

Resting her cheek on his chest, she toyed with his rib gills. “Are you really okay now?”

“I’ll be fine. I just need rest.” He never stopped touching her. Gently moving his thumbs over her spine, sometimes coiling his fingers through her hair. She even felt him touch the lobe of her ear once.

And when she was almost drifting off to sleep, she muttered, “This can’t be comfortable for you. You’re laying on a hard floor.”

“You’d be surprised, Mira.” Then she swore he added, “Having you in my arms is the most comfortable I’ve ever been.”

OceanofPDF.com

Thirty-Two

Arges

He came to the next morning, already significantly healed. His body, though still sore and a little aching, was no longer torn or bleeding. Arges could even flex the fin at his hip. And though it wasn’t moving like normal—not even close, if he was being honest—he could at least move it.

And then there was the warmth spread out across his chest. The heat of a woman who had not only saved him but also wriggled her way into his heart. He wanted to hold her for longer. He wanted to cup the back of her head and rub her over every inch of his scales so that he could keep her scent with him always.

It was a strange sensation. One he’d only experienced with her, and he knew that was silly. There were plenty of his own people who were very interested in him. If he wanted a mate, he could find one with a snap of his fingers.