Free Waterborne by Katherine Irons Page A

really have a better option at the moment.”
    “Hold on to my back again. Your swimming is better than it was, but you haven’t recovered your full strength.”
    “And you know this how ?” She didn’t trust herself to be that close to him. The thoughts that rose in her mind were all possibilities, but they really didn’t seem appropriate when they were attempting to keep from being sucked up by monstrous jellyfish.
    “Stop arguing, woman. I’m losing patience with you. Just do as I say.”
    She hated giving in, but on the other hand, he did swim like the devil. Reluctantly, she did as he asked, and he began to move through the water like some sort of jet-propelled watercraft. When she looked over her shoulder, she saw that the jellies were following.
    But not for long. They hadn’t gone more than a short distance when Ree began to see columns of steam rising from the ocean floor and the water temperature grew noticeably warmer. What had Alex said about a lava field? This didn’t look like lava, but ...
    “Stop,” Alex said. “You’re giving me a headache. Do you never stop talking?”
    “I didn’t say a word.”
    “You were thinking,” he said.
    “What? You read minds, too?”
    “Something like that.”
    “Fine. I won’t think. I’ll just cling to your back like a barnacle and not think a single thought.” Immediately, she began to wonder if he’d also picked up on the other thoughts she’d been having ... the ones that had to do with—
    “Ordinarily, I’d be only too happy to take you up on that offer,” he said. “But just now, I’ve got more important things on my plate.”
    Ree felt her cheeks and throat grow hot. “You have a wonderful imagination.”
    He laughed. “You’re an extraordinary woman, Ree O’ Connor. Don’t betray your own nature to play games.”
    “I don’t know what you’re insinuating,” she lied.
    “I think we’re two of a kind.”
    “And that means?”
    “What we want, we’re not afraid to reach for.”
    A geyser of molten lava shot up from the ocean floor only a few hundred feet away. Sparks and burning debris showered the water, sizzling and steaming. Ree buried her face in Alex’s back as the wave of heat washed against her skin. “Does it get worse?” she ventured.
    “Afraid so.” He began to swim faster, and when Ree next ventured a look, she saw that vast sections of the seabed were running with rivers of fire. “It’s best if you sleep now.”
    “Sleep? Are you crazy?” But she found her eyelids were heavy, and an unexplained drowsiness seeped over her. Suddenly, it seemed impossible to lift her head. Instead, she inhaled the clean-male scent of Alex’s body and let the rhythmic movement of his muscles lull her into a twilight state of nothingness. She hardly noticed when she slipped from his back and he gathered her in his arms and began to swim with her cradled against his chest once more.
     
    Even without the woman to worry about, crossing the lava field would have been a tricky maneuver. With her, it wasn’t a feat Alexandros wanted to repeat anytime soon. It had taken all of his strength to keep up a barrier against the intense heat from the flow that would protect them both while maintaining the illusion that would keep Ree asleep. Had she seen what they had to pass through, he wasn’t certain if she would have panicked. He didn’t think so, but he couldn’t take that chance. He had to reach sanctuary in the Old City, and he had to do it before ’Enakai’s troops caught up with them.
    The first shattered blocks of the sunken road beckoned to him like a fresh salt breeze. Here, he was able to put the mossy stones between him and the seafloor. The current brought cool water and the first glimpse of schools of fish and living sea grass and kelp.
    He let Ree sleep. There was no guarantee that the Lemorians weren’t here ahead of him. If they were, he might have to do the unthinkable—kill her quickly and painlessly while she was