My hands slipped from hers and I swam in a circle, ducking under and shooting back up again.

  With the heat of the sun and the cool press of the water, life felt so good at the moment, and by the look on Calliope’s face, she felt the same. The water clung to her body, plastering her hair against her face and neck. Her violet eyes were bright with laughter and enraptured me in their depths a moment before she slapped her palms against the water and sent salt water over my face.

  I choked and went under before shooting back up and retaliating with a splash of my own.

  When the laughter died down I waggled my eyebrows at her. “Doesn’t it feel good to swim without magic?”

  Using magic for so long could be taxing sometimes. While the evolution of our bodies allowed us to become mer within the water, it was our own energy that held that change in place.

  Calliope sighed in response and kicked backwards, floating so she was facing the sky. Smiling, I followed so we were side by side, relishing in the relaxing sensation of doing absolutely nothing.

  We stayed in the silence like that for what felt like an hour but could have very well been minutes. She was comforting in a way no one else had ever been before.

  “I think I mucked things up with Rafe,” she confessed on a quiet, reluctant whisper.

  Something in my chest lurched because she was confiding in me. That she trusted me enough… I wanted to reach for her hand, but that would sink us both. “He’ll get over it,” I said.

  The water moved as Cal rolled to face me. “I don’t think he will.” There was a world of secrets in that single sentence, but I didn’t press her for more. If she had secrets with Rafe, that was between them. I wouldn’t deny my curiosity at what the big man was hiding, but I wouldn’t pry, either.

  “He will.” My voice was firm as I rolled, kicking my legs to keep me afloat. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but men are sensitive creatures. Give him time.”

  She snorted and I knew it was in agreement at my pronouncement.

  I glided closer to her, so close our bodies nearly touched. My thumb came up to caress the curve of her cheek. “Is that why you looked so troubled on the boat?” And after.

  She swallowed. “He thinks I’m embarrassed of him.”

  My eyebrows rose. “Are you?”

  Her brows pulled together on a glare. “Of course not! It’s just…” She broke off, taking her bottom lip between her teeth. She released it and sighed. “I just don’t want my father to know about me and him.”

  “So you are embarrassed.” She glared at me and I kicked away, holding my hands up before she got the idea to knee me in the balls. “I’m just saying, Cal. If you really liked him, none of that stuff would matter, would it? If you really, truly feel something for him you wouldn’t hide it. Not even from your father.”

  She groaned and dunked beneath the water. When she came back up, her eyes were squeezed closed. “It’s so damn complicated.”

  I smirked. “Love shouldn’t be complicated, though.”

  As if I were a fucking expert in love. I almost snorted at that idea.

  “It shouldn’t?” She almost looked as amused as I felt.

  “Love is easy, Cal.”

  “That would be great advice, Maks, but I never said anything about love.”

  I shot her a disbelieving look as a flush climbed up her cheeks. “You don’t have to say anything when it’s written all over your face.”

  She grumbled and splashed water in my direction. “Are we going to spend all day talking or are you going to show me a good time?”

  Something in my gut stirred at those words. Good time. I forced the sensation away and smirked. Fine. I didn’t bring her here to talk. I brought her here to have a good time and that’s exactly what I planned on doing.

  “Fine. Let’s have fun.”

  Vines hung from the sides of trees like makeshift swings, cascading down the side of rock. Some trees canopied the pool of water, creating cool shade. My hands grasped for a thick vine and tugged. When it didn’t immediately snap, I tugged it, walking backwards with it in my grip.

  Cal looked from me to the vine with unease. “Maks, are you sure about this?”

  I winked. “Where’s your sense of adventure?”

  She rolled her eyes. “I have a sense of adventure. What I don’t have is the desire to break my neck.”

  I gave another experimental tug on the vine. “The trick is to swing hard and fast and then let go.”

  “Have you ever done this before?”

  “Many times. There’s a river that runs through our property at Tallis manor. We can follow it all the way to a secret cove and waterfall. Ambrose and I always used to play there when we were younger.”

  “Somehow I can’t picture Ambrose playing.”

  I heaved a sigh. “He used to be fun.”

  Before all the responsibilities began falling on his shoulders. Being a Tallis always came with its own curse, one I was sure Calliope understood all too well. Since we were born, there was that infinite amount of pressure. It wasn’t until we were older that things changed. Ambrose changed. He’d always been the more responsible of us, but from one morning to the next, it was like those games were beneath him. Instead of laughing with me, he’d made it his duty to watch over me and hadn’t changed since.

  “Anyway, meet you on the other side or you’re a coward.” That being said, I broke out into a run, drowning out her cry of warning. Before I knew it, I jumped and was suspended over a chasm. It was instinct to let go. My fingers slid from the vine and I plunged to the drop below, kicking my legs out and hollering my laughter as I hit the water.

  I slammed against the surface before sinking. I broke free, laughing and looking up the cliff to find Calliope staring down at me. I waved then cupped my hands around my mouth. “Jump, you coward!”

  She disappeared behind the trees. I waited and waited…

  And then she swung into appearance above me, a scream ripping from her mouth. She swung back and forth, back and forth.

  “Let go!” I urged.

  And she did.

  She plunged straight down into the water, landing near me with a splash. I pulled her up by the hands, and the both of us dissolved into raucous laughter.

  “See? I knew you could do it.”

  She gulped in a few breaths. “That was so fun.”

  I knew she’d like it. Her soul craved adventure, craved the danger as much as my own did. Who wanted to live their lives constricted with rules and propriety? Life was too short to live shackled to other people’s expectations, anyway.

  We played around for a while longer, no inhibitions holding us back. When we grew tired, our muscles weary, we climbed the cliff once again and sprawled out to dry in the grass, the sun beating down against us.

  Our fingers touched slightly and I heard Cal take in a discreet breath.

  “Thank you, Maksim. Today meant a lot to me.”

  I propped my elbow up and rested my head in my palm as I turned to look at her with a smile. She was so damn beautiful, it hurt to look at her sometimes.

  “Did you know that your eyes light up when you smile, as if the sun itself gets captured in those purple depths?” What the fuck did I just say? Heat suffused my cheeks. Perhaps my words were crossing a line, but like I said, life was too short for regrets.

  Cal turned slowly to face me. “I didn’t know you were so poetic.”

  “I’m not. I failed Atlantean Lit.”

  She laughed, and it was a sound I knew suddenly that I wanted to hear for the rest of my life.

  That revelation brought with it a pang to my chest that I ignored.

  “You’re such a good friend, Maksim.”

  Another pang.

  “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  Pang.

  I wriggled with discomfort. The feeling in my chest was abrupt and physical, like I’d gotten punched. I was more tired than I thought.

  “You’re the best friend I’ve ever had,” I told her, ignoring the wince that wanted to pull at my features.

  “You’re the only friend I’ve ever had.”

  She shook her head back and forth. “I don’t believe that. You’ve had friends.”

  “Ambrose has had friends. Most of the people who meet me only talk to me because they want to know him. The Golden Tallis.” I tried to sound as sarcastic as possible, but I felt the hurt that was more painful than any pang in my chest. Once the confession slipped from my lips, I couldn’t stop. “He’s always been special, smart, and talented. I’m just his careless younger brother. When everyone in Atlantis wants to better their social standing, they look at me because I’m just a means to an end.”

  Her fingers brushed across my chest and settled over my beating heart.

  I wondered if she could feel the damn thing lurch in my chest. If she could feel my pain. If she could feel why she meant so much to me and why I would do anything for her.

  Because in a world of fake friendships and disappointments, she was the only honest one I’d ever met. Because she’d hated Ambrose and liked me.

  Perhaps that made me a garbage person and a shitty brother, but it was the truth. It didn’t happen ever, so to have someone as beautiful and amazing as Calliope choose me over my brother, it made me feel something like pride.

  They were friends now and that made me happy, but I knew that no one could give her that smile on her lips or the happiness in her eyes like I could.

  That meant the world to me.

  “I never had friends. Not even high society ladies.” Her own confession was a bit sad but drenched in humor. “No one was ever good enough for my family, according to my aunt. She spent her days bettering me, keeping me locked up in the house. Not even the servants would speak to me, no matter how badly I tried. One day, I just stopped trying.”

  “Wow,” I breathed, closing my hand over her palm. “That sounds so much fucking worse. You win.”

  At least I’d had some semblance of a childhood. At least it was better to have fake friends who would still play with me even when they were only after Ambrose rather than to have no one at all.

  I understood why she was usually so distant, so reserved and also so determined.

  My fingers smoothed out her own against the bare skin at my chest, keeping her tethered to me just a bit longer. I couldn’t fathom why I craved her touch. Perhaps it was because she made me feel alive.

  Perhaps it was because she made me feel—dare I think it?—loved.

  My heart beat so painfully in my chest that I gasped for breath.

  Calliope snatched her hand away and sat up as I rolled to my stomach on the ground, heaving for breaths that felt like they wouldn’t come.

  Pain laced its way up my body, pressing down on my chest, choking me.

  “Maks!” Her hands were gentle against my shoulders. “Maks, what’s wrong?”

  I didn’t want her to see me as weak. Pretty fucking funny, I suppose, when she already witnessed Vitas rip through my ass. This was different, though. I had to get my shit together right the fuck now.

  I took in a shuddering breath, willing away the sudden, odd pain. It ebbed so slightly, and I pushed myself up, rubbing at my chest.

  “I’m fine,” I rasped. I wasn’t fine. Something in my chest was aching, pulsing, demanding attention I didn’t want to give it. I flashed a smile that felt more like a grimace. “I’m fine, I promise.” I stood on shaking knees, pulling my chlamys with me. I slid it over my body, fingers shaking as I put the brooch in place.

  Calliope followed, her own movements stiff and her eyes glaring with worry.

  I did a slow twirl. “See? I’m fine.” I took a step. My damned shaking knees gave out, and I crashed against her chest.

  “Maks!” Calliope grasped my shoulders, steadying me.

  I couldn’t take in air and it was blinding me.

  “Maks!”

  Get it together!

  I pulled myself up. I didn’t want to worry Cal. We’d come out here to have fun. She was my friend.

  Just thinking that eased the ache.

  She was my friend. I didn’t want to worry her.

  I replayed those words over and over in my mind until the pain receded to a dull ache and I could stand.

  I smiled, genuinely this time, in the face of her worried features. “I’m fine.”

  She scowled. “You’re not fine. Can you walk? I’m going to take you to the infirmary.”

  I stepped away. “I don’t need to go to the infirmary, Cal. I’m fine.”

  But she was determined. She grabbed me by the upper arm and began to gently haul me away from our day of carelessness and fun towards the Academy.

  I should have pulled away, but I liked the feel of her hand against my arm. The way her hand seemed delicate yet strong to the touch, how soft it was, and how her palm seemed to curve perfectly against me.

  Another pang hit me and I gasped.

  Maybe going to the infirmary wasn’t such a bad idea after all...

  Chapter Six

  Calliope

  “I told you nothing was wrong with me,” Maksim grumbled as he adjusted the brooch against the white material of his chlamys. He sat on the white mattress and fitted sheets of the Academy’s infirmary, looking exactly like a disgruntled child.

  “He almost fainted.” I ignored him and turned to the medic, a Son with a bronze armband circling his bicep and big, round spectacles perched at the end of his wide nose. The man looked wise and old, with wisps of white hair plastered against his head like a cloud. “He couldn’t breathe, either.”

  The medic had already looked him over, but after declaring there were no external injuries, Maksim had shot up in bed and put his chlamys back on like everything was fine.

  As if he hadn’t just almost passed out on me out there.

  Everything was not fine, and I was just trying to keep it all together.

  “I’m fine!” Maksim stood up from the bed, only to have the old medic’s hands against his shoulders, shoving him gently to the bed again.

  “While you show no signs of outward injuries, there still lies the matter of the internal. Please.”

  Maksim sighed dramatically, but he laid against the mattress again, his fingers fidgeting against the sheets. “You’re wasting your time. I was just tired. I feel fine now.”

  The medic pierced him with a stern look. “Many a Son has died by dismissing his injuries as mere fatigue.”

  I felt my face pale. Worry gnawed at my insides as I took a step back, giving the man his space to look over Maksim when all I really wanted to do was throw myself at him, grip his hand, maybe even weep.

  I had to be strong and stern, though, because it was obvious he didn’t plan to be.

  “Point taken.” A sigh pushed past Maksim’s lips. “But Calliope worries too much, I think.”

  “You. Stopped. Breathing. Why am I the only one worried about this?”

  Maksim didn’t reply because the medic shushed us both before hovering his hands over Maksim’s body, starting at the feet and making his way up. The sharp smell of herbs made me scrunch my nose up with distaste as his magic began overpowering the room.

  It was the gentle magic of wind, and it seemed to be tugging over Maksim’s body, searching for the cause. Almost as if it entered him through his orifices and searched from the inside.

  The medic closed his eyes and hummed, the sound a bit hypnotizing.

  It lasted for minutes, this strange trance of his. His eyelids fluttered a bit before he opened his eyes and took in a deep breath.

  “I sense…”

  “Nothing?” Maksim interrupted. He sat up, a fake smile plastered on his face. “Great. I can go back to my dorm now.”

  “Maksim, be quiet,” I hissed.

  The medic nearly rolled his eyes at the two of us. “I sense... something in you.”

  “Gas. It’s just gas.”

  “What is it, sir?” I dug my nails into the skin at my thighs so hard, I drew blood. He couldn’t be sick... he couldn’t be…

  “I’d like to keep you overnight for observation just to run a few more tests.” The medic swiped his hands down the front of his chlamys.

  “Absolutely not!”

  The medic cut Maksim a stern look. “Just for the night.” His tone brokered no room for argument.

  Of course, Maksim couldn’t read that in his voice. He started to get up again. I stopped him this time, placing my hand against his shoulder. He froze and looked up to me.

  “Maksim, please.” I felt breathless. “Please just do as he says…”

  I’d lost my mother when I was a young girl, and while I didn’t remember much about her, I did remember the heartbreak that came with her loss. It was like a chasm had been ripped up inside my soul and left me gaping and empty.

  “I care about you. Please... do it for me?” I bit my bottom lip, and his eyes followed the gesture.

  He inhaled sharply. “Fine… Ow!” He fell back against the bed, clutching his chest.

  “Maks!”

  The medic swiped his hands over his body again just as another voice shouted across the infirmary.

  “Maksim!”

  I turned in time to see Ambrose rushing towards us. His curly locks were covered in sweat as if he’d just come from training, the curls bouncing against his forehead and temples. His eyes were wide with the emotions mirrored in my own chest.

  Fear. Anxiety. They all thrummed to life, and we shared a quick look in acknowledgment before he dropped to his knees beside Maksim’s bed and reached for his brother’s hand.

  “What the hell happened?” he demanded to no one in particular and to everyone at once.

  “I’m...fine…” Maksim winced.

  “He’s hurt!” I shouted at the same time.

  The medic sighed. “Both of you, get out. Let me tend to the patient alone. You are causing nothing but distraction to him.”

  Ambrose looked reluctant to leave. I felt it too. But he slowly rose to his full height and turned. Before I knew it, his hand was clamped down on my wrist and he was hauling me away from Maksim’s hearing distance.

 

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