Fathoms of Forgiveness (Sacred Breath, Book 2) (2 page)
Read Fathoms of Forgiveness (Sacred Breath, Book 2) Online
Authors: Nadia Scrieva
For Melody Bernal. Your enthusiasm is my rocket fuel.
Chapter 1: Tremendously Effective Threatening
Chapter 3: Napoleon of the Undersea
Chapter 4: Elegant Crimson Calligraphy
Chapter 8: Desperate and Convenient
Chapter 9: Tell me Something Good
Chapter 10: Doubt my Stylishness
Chapter 11: Sunday, February 23
rd
Chapter 14: Firebird and Falcon
Chapter 15: Barrel of Piranhas
Chapter 16: Sheer Power of Rage
Chapter 17: Goodbye, Terrestrial Dwelling
Chapter 19: The Suicide Sisters
Chapter 20: Correcting Her Attitude
Chapter 21: An Intimate Activity
Chapter 23: Only Two Syllables
Chapter 25: Letter of Resignation
Chapter 26: Conversations on Ice
Chapter 27: Aazuria Goes Apeshit
Chapter 30: Better than Othello
Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes;
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
- Shakespeare, The Tempest
“If you ever attempt to harm her, I swear on the souls of my Viking ancestors that I will not hesitate to shoot you again.”
He swallowed. “I believe you… grandma.”
Visola snorted at being called this. She moved her slender fingers up to fiddle with the barrel of the rifle on her back. “Young man,” she almost sneered. “Don’t you dare think that just because I’m now aware that you’re my grandson anything is going to change between us. I have been Aazuria’s defender for five hundred years, and she is more than a job to me. She is my friend, she is my mentor, she is my monarch, and she is at the top of my list of females I would totally experiment with if I ever happen to develop lesbian curiosities. The last time I shot you? Consider it a warning spank on the bottom. Next time I won’t be so forgiving.”
Trevain lifted a hand to scratch under his ear sheepishly. This encounter was not going as smoothly as he had hoped. He glanced at Aazuria, who only gave him half of a shrug (one of her shoulders had been badly injured) and a half-encouraging smile. He still was not accustomed to the changed appearance of his fiancée. Aazuria’s snowy-white hair had been garnished with dozens of strands of freshwater pearls, and gathered into a stylish side-ponytail which hung over her good shoulder. He could not look into her newly cerulean eyes without feeling a small jolt of electricity travel through him. It was silly and superficial that the melanin draining from her body would have such a profound effect on him, but it was what they represented that thrilled him most: her true self was bared to him, all her secrets exposed in her new skin.
They would be married soon, but not soon enough for his liking.
He realized that he felt a bit jealous of his grandmother; he wished he could have been at Aazuria’s side for five hundred years. The loyal bond between the women was so fierce that he could hardly understand or relate to it. He had never loved anyone that hard, or for that long. There was his younger brother Callder whom he had taken care of for most of his life, but that relationship had been strained even at its best. As Trevain beheld Aazuria’s stately posture he realized he was hoping to learn what it was like to be devoted to someone for centuries. He was only a normal almost-fifty-year-old man, and not too long ago he had considered himself elderly. How quickly everything had changed.
Aazuria sent him a puzzled smile, and he realized that he had been staring at her, lost in thought. He cleared his throat before turning back to Visola. “I’m very sorry to have stolen your woman, grandma.” He was lying. He was not really sorry.
“Okay, cool it with the ‘grandma’ shtick. It’s making me uncomfortable. Just call me ‘General’ for now.” Visola grimaced. It was a peculiar situation, because the red-haired warrior woman still looked like she was in her twenties. “For the record,” she said, “I’m completely straight, and so is Aazuria, but I was just trying to demonstrate the unparalleled breadth and intensity of my love for her. She is as close to me as my own sister—and my own sister is my
identical twin
, in case you haven’t noticed!”
“I noticed,” Trevain said, glancing at the other green-eyed redhead in the room. The quiet doppelganger was leaning against a wall with her arms crossed, rolling her eyes at her sister’s temper and unobtrusively observing the conversation. He feared having to deal with another overbearing and aggressive matriarch like Visola. (One was truly enough.) However, his curiosity and politeness won out, and he extended his hand in greeting to the woman in the shadows. “We haven’t been introduced.”
The woman straightened and moved towards him to accept his greeting. “I am Sionna,” she said simply. He was immediately surprised by the difference in her demeanor. Although she was a duplicate of Visola, her expression was infinitely calmer, and her voice was infinitely more tranquil. It was impossible that anyone would confuse the two sisters after a few seconds of hearing each of them speak. Once Sionna clasped his hand, she seemed to realize that it was not affectionate enough, and she smiled and gave him a gentle hug. “I’m delighted to meet you. Aazuria has told us great things, but some of us did not believe them.” She glanced at her sister dryly as she said this, momentarily forgetting that she had been just as suspicious and disapproving.
“Should I have believed her, Sio?” Visola immediately snapped. “He did try to hurt her. Several times. If I hadn’t been there…”
“I doubt he really meant to… but it does not matter. The past is in the past,” Sionna said to her sister. She turned back to Trevain with a warm smile. “Don’t bother calling me great-aunt. That would be strange. Technically I have the same DNA as your grandmother, so I could be considered—oh, never mind. I sometimes ramble on and on about everything biology-related, so just stop me if I get boring. You may call me Auntie Sio if you like. That’s what your mum used to call me when she was a wee thing.”
Trevain was a bit surprised at the thought of his mother being young; he had never known anyone from his mother’s side of the family. Now that he was in Adlivun, he could fill in the pieces of his life that had always been missing. “It’s great to meet you, Auntie Sio.”
Visola frowned. “Don’t get too cozy with him, sis. He may have our blood, but he was not raised among us. We have no idea what large, crucial fragments of common sense he’s lacking. He put my little girl in an insane asylum for forty years!”
“Psychiatric hospital,” he corrected, but he had lowered his voice and head shamefully.
Aazuria stepped in then, seeing his discomfort. She slipped her arm around him gently. “This has been a rather touching family reunion. Thank you both for so warmly welcoming Trevain.”
“Welcoming?” he asked her in an undertone. “Warmly?”
“Darn, I forgot to pop a fruitcake in the oven,” Visola said, snapping her fingers. “I guess I was too busy
winning a war.”
When Trevain sent Aazuria an awkward look, Visola cheerfully took her rifle off her back and pointed it at Trevain. “Hey, grandson, do you want to see how my nifty underwater assault rifle works?”
“No, thank you.” He rubbed the wound near his elbow, remembering the impact of the previous bullet which she had delivered neatly between the bones of his forearm. The injury had not completely healed, but he knew that he had deserved that bullet. Long after the scar had faded, it would still be depressing to remember his own actions which had earned him the sniping from his grandmother.
“She’s just bluffing,” Sionna informed him. “That particular gun fires a heavy tungsten dart and it’s only meant for shooting underwater—it doesn’t aim as well in the air due to different dynamics.”
“Don’t tell him that!” Visola hissed at her sister. She moved forward, placing the muzzle directly in front of his face. “Can’t miss from this range. I will shoot you, kid. I will shoot you in a much more painful location than before.” As she said this, she glanced down at his nether regions and wiggled her eyebrows menacingly. Visola’s threatening stare had been expertly honed over several generations of threatening, and it was tremendously effective.
“Uh, I…” Trevain took a step back warily.
Aazuria could not hold back a chuckle. She gently elbowed her husband-to-be. “Do not worry so. Visola is the most terrifying thing in all of Adlivun. That is why she is my undefeated general.”
“She still has a gun pointed at my face,” Trevain said matter-of-factly.
“Oh, sweetie. Forgive my impolite sister,” Sionna said, putting her hand on the weapon’s barrel and lowering it. “She’s just very, very new to being a grandmother. Just give her some time, Trevain, and she will warm up to you.”
“I’m warming up to him already,” Visola said with a frosty smile.
“I can see that,” Trevain muttered.
“Dear, how about we check on your mother and Callder?” Aazuria asked, trying to ease the tension in the air. “Sionna will give you a tour of the infirmary.”
“Sounds great,” Trevain said. His head had jerked towards Aazuria at the mention of his younger brother, and he was fairly confident that if he had been a dog his ears would have perked up in recognition of a word that he was particularly fond of. Trevain had not seen his brother in weeks, and he had missed the drunken lout much more than he thought he ever would.
Poor Callder. The Coast Guard had declared him dead months ago.