The flames melted away, and she turned slowly, her eyes wide at the sight of the place. It was magnificent and magical, an enormous, ball shaped cavern with a large hole in the centre where the roof had caved in, was feeding water down at a steady pound. The water was incredibly clear, and the walls were covered in thick moss that turned everything green.
The water was a pale blue, though as she approached it was surprisingly clear and empty. No creature had claimed this place for itself, and she turned on him, his face showing his pleasure at her wonder.
"What is this place?" she asked.
He shrugged, crimson eyes turning around the cavern. "I found it a few decades ago, had to get the nymph out and she wasn't very happy, but no one has come since. I check in occasionally to make sure. But it's my favourite place to come and relax."
"It's incredible," she whispered.
He made a soft sound of joy.
Turning back to the water, she stepped out into the coolness and her eyes slid shut, simply enjoying the peace of it.
"You can swim if you want," he said, but she hesitated. The thought of him seeing her naked scared her, the thought of any male seeing her naked scared her.
Fighting down the fear, she looked down at her dress and then at him.
"Turn around," she said, and he did so obediently. Turning her back to him as well, she pulled it off over her head and dove into the water. She was still in her under things, but it was too little for her comfort.
"Alright," she said as she surfaced, finding him with his back still to the water. He turned, smiling slightly at her in the water before he pulled off his boots, socks and shirt and then he ran for the water, diving in and surfacing at her side. He was still wearing his pants, and she decided not to mention it, anxious he might take them off if she did.
He swam around her, and she felt a genuine smile coming over her face as she sank until only her eyes were above the water, squinting at him.
He looked at her, suddenly wary at her expression, and then he got a face full of water.
Spluttering, he glared at her before dunking her under and she smirked, looking up at him and remaining under the water.
He started to grow tense at the one-minute mark and then he ducked under the surface, looking down at her.
Sticking her tongue out at him, she swirled her arms up to push herself down until her feet touched the rocky floor and she exhaled all the air in her lungs so she would stay there.
He watched the bubbles, and then looked down at her, frowning, and then he grew alarmed.
Swimming down for her, she watched the slow drift of her hair in the water, relaxed and feeling oddly peaceful. She felt no immediate urge to get to the surface for air, and it was wonderful to be there.
He grabbed her wrist and pulled her up sharply, his grip hard, and she frowned, confused by his anger until they surfaced, and he snarled, lifting her up enough that her head was above water. Sucking in air, she looked at him in confusion while he glared.
"What is wrong with you?" he demanded.
"What?" her mind went immediately to Jaia, and she swallowed, not willing to discuss that with him.
"I will not let you kill yourself," he raged.
She blinked and then she laughed, realising what it must have looked like.
"I could spend a week down there, Dirdos. I don't need air when under the water."
He looked confused, and she grabbed his head, planting a wet kiss on his forehead before swimming away from him.
"How?" he demanded after several seconds.
"I don't know, could be any number of my mixed blood. Asrai, siren, water nymph, anything." She knew which one it was but she didn't want to tell him. She liked keeping things from him, it kept him guessing, and she liked it when he was trying to figure her out.
"Oh, I didn't realise," he said, and his interest in her sharpened. "What about out of the water?"
"I can be choked out; I don't think I can die from it any more though. But in the water, I just don't feel any urge to breathe. It's so peaceful and calm under there."
He looked down and then back up at her warily. "Don't do that again," he demanded.
She only shrugged in agreement.
***
It was several hours before they got out of the water and he obedient turned his back to her while she pulled on her clothes again, coming to sit at his side. Wrapping his arm tight around her, she leant into his warmth and closed her eyes, enjoying the peace of the moment and his quiet stillness. He seemed to be entirely content to just stay there with her, more so when she started humming softly under her breath.
The echo caught her attention, and she smiled, rather liking the sound of her voice repeating a second late. It sounded pretty, almost haunting, and so she started to sing, delighted when the cavern sang her words back to her.
Glancing at Dirdos, she realised he had fallen asleep against her side, and she slowly laid him down on the moss with his head in her lap.
Closing her eyes, she listened to his soft breathing, and the sound of the water falling while her fingers traced through his hair. It was the most peace she had known in as long as she could remember.
She didn't know when she had begun to cry, her head bowed and biting her lips to keep from making a sound. Clenching her eyes shut, she took in a deep breath to calm herself. But it wasn't working, and she pulled her hand back from him, not wanting the trembling in her hands to disturb his sleep.
She could feel his hands on her, feel him moving against her, and she jerked violently when a hand touched her cheek. Looking up, she saw his blood and realised she had lashed out, raking her nails across his arm in a defensive reaction.
Dirdos sat up, looking down at his arm and then twisting to look at her. His jaw clenched and she prepared for the blow, expecting him to strike her.
He did something worse, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her around to sit in his lap. Struggling against him, she left slash after slash on his body, but he refused to let her go, his body tense until she finally stopped fighting and simply accepted his warmth.
He relaxed slightly as she stopped fighting and rested his chin atop her head, silent and listening to her broken sobs.
She couldn't stop them, her body refusing to listen to her internal screams to stop, but it continued on and on for what felt like an eternity.
***
At some point he had laid her down on the moss, clutching her to his chest and curling himself around her to wrap her up in his warmth, and she shuddered, her body totally exhausted.
Finally, silent once more, she laid still with only the occasional hitch in her breathing while his hand trailed up and down her forearm.
His face was buried in her hair, and she looked at his arm, wrapped all the way around her and tracing lines on her skin. Taking it slowly, she held it before her and tapped his fingertips gently in the same pattern the little flame had danced. She felt him taking a deep breath behind her, sighing with his breath tickling her hair against her neck.
She watched his hand, strong and large with hers feeling small inside it, her fingers only reaching his second knuckles with her palm against his, and she smiled as the little flame returned, dancing across his fingertips and vanishing as her finger tapped the digit.
It quickly became a game for her to try to catch it, but he was too quick for her, and it gave her something else to think about, leaving her feeling eternally grateful for him and his kindness when she needed it.
"Can they find us here?" she asked after ten minutes of chasing the flame around his fingers.
"Yes, when they realise you aren't in Ayathian," he said gently, shifting his head so that his cheekbone was resting against her ear, and he could watch their game.
"I'm sorry I hurt you," she said, moving her hand from his to trace her fingers along the four scars that she hoped would heal.
"I scared you," he said gently, his other arm going from around her middle to capture both of her hands between his palms, warming her cold fingers.
"That's no excuse," she said, watching their hands and smiling at the difference in their skin colours.
He let go of one hand but kept hold of the other, turning it over and splaying her fingers out against his, his thumb tracing over the perfect oval of her nail.
"How do these work?" he asked, tapping one of her nails with his.
"That's how they grow."
He made a soft sound against her ear and tested how long they were, only just extending past the tips of her fingers.
"How do you cut them?" he asked.
She laughed gently, the sound of it off, but he didn't comment. "I don't. They have never grown past that point. But I can use a metal file if I get a chip in one. It feels awful, but it works."
He laughed, clearly trying to picture that, and his arms went around her, squeezing her until she squeaked in protest.
"I don't recall the little Letari having the same nails," he said, a frown in his voice.
"No, she didn't get the nails, she got the iron immunity," she said, pouting at the luck of her twin. "Shape changing, no iron issues, those damned eyes…"
Dirdos sat up on his elbow and looked down at her, and she saw his indignation when she looked up at him.
"I happen to think yours are much prettier," he said.
"You've never seen her eyes," she countered.
He blinked, looking confused. "What do you mean? I see her almost every day."
Rolling onto her back, she smiled up at him. "That's not her body, Dirdos. We're twins, we look quite similar."
He frowned down at her, clearly confused.
"She's like Kai and Nayishma." He still looked confused, and she realised with a start that he had no idea. "You haven't heard that story yet?"
He shook his head and wriggled into a more comfortable position; his expression eager, with his head in his hand propped up to listen to her story.
"Nayishma is a gorgon halfling. The body she is wearing is my spare host," she paused, frowning at his confusion. "Okay, so let's take a step back. You know about my ability to consume a soul with a kiss. It's sort of like that. I take a mound of clay and craft a complete body, all the organs and tendons and everything, then I can take myself and put myself in it. Does that make sense?"
He shook his head but made a gesture for her to go on, anyway.
"Well, after about a year of Nayishma visiting, she was assassinated, and I took her soul before she died. It was horrible, and she was so pretty before with the snakes and the scales…" she sighed wistfully and then blushed when his brows lifted.
"Have a little crush on your friend?" he asked playfully. She swatted at him, though her blush only made him grin mischievously. "And here I thought you only liked me. I might be jealous."
"Stop teasing and listen," she said, her lower lip thrust out in a slight pout. "So Nayishma died, and I took her soul, and then I put it away inside myself." He looked confused by that, and she smiled slightly. "It's sort of like putting her in a little packet, then tucking her into a pocket where I could keep her safe. I didn't know I could do it at that point, and then the first time I became Death, I killed Kai." Dirdos' eyes went huge at that. "It's hard to explain what it is like to be death, but his death was so beautiful, and I wanted him, not to consume but to keep, because I love him. When Versalis took my magic, I had this terrible urge to make a host and put him in it. I didn't know how to do it, or why, I just had to. So, I crafted his body as he is now, and I reversed the kiss, and he woke up. I did the same to Nayishma."
His face was white as he looked at her, trying to understand her.
"With Lee, it was different. She had been with me for over a year. Cain murdered her and our sister, Avadari. Cain was an assassin who has been hunting us forever. I kept him chasing me so they could live at least somewhat normal lives. I just kept him running and hunting. Then he went after them, and he found them so easily. He killed Ava so quickly… for no reason…" Her eyes swam with tears as she thought of her beautiful baby sister, the sword going through her body. "Then Lee was fighting him, and I was so scared for her, she can fight well but not against a trained assassin, and then she was dead too. He just killed her, like that, and she was gone." Her voice had turned small, a child's voice as she spoke, and she couldn't turn it back. "For over nine hundred years I kept him running and then… both gone in less than fifteen minutes. Letari isn't like me. She couldn't be reborn, and so I asked Aelen to kill me so I could be there with her. I was going to break my soul connection… she was just sitting there, small and fragile, like the little girl she is, and I couldn't stop myself. I had to comfort her. When I touched her, we were thrown out of the spirit world and trapped in my body together. It hurt, and it was so hard to think with her screaming. But then we had to run, and I pushed her down so we could run. But then Uzo was gone, and I wanted to die… so I shoved her and everyone else I had taken from the battlefield into the first available fresh corpse. She's lucky she didn't end up as a frog or something…"
He was looking at her with a very odd expression on his face, and she squirmed, unsure of what he might be thinking.
"What are you?" he asked.
She shrugged, having no idea herself. "I keep saying I'll make her a new body and then I forget or get distracted, but there's clay in the kitchens ready for the process."
"Well, let's go do that," he said suddenly.
She went still, confused. "Now?" she asked, and he nodded.
"Right now. It'll make your sister happy, and it'll be interesting to see."
The thought was a pleasure to her broken mind, and she accepted his hand as he stood and pulled her up, picking up his things and wrapping his arm around her middle, the world vanishing into flames.