In Deeper Waters by F.T. Lukens (best business books of all time txt) 📗

Tal had seen Athlen’s tail. It was beautiful—red and gold with gossamer fins and scales that sparkled—and powerful enough to cut through frothing seas and deliver Tal to safety.

“But… we’ve been friends for a while now,” Dara continued, “and you flit in and out of my life with no notice. Where have you been? I thought you’d been captured again. I was worried.”

“I didn’t mean to worry you, but I really need your help now. Watch your head.”

The voices moved closer, and Tal craned his neck to find Athlen leading Dara into the cave. Her long brown hair was plaited and hung over her shoulder. She wore trousers and boots and a stiff blouse with long sleeves and a high collar that laced at the throat. She reminded Tal of Shay, except with a rounder face and lighter skin, and his eyes pricked with tears.

He missed Shay. He missed her blush when Kest teased her. He missed her disapproval when he and Corrie sneaked away. He missed her laugh when she and Garrett engaged in one game or another. He’d lost her dagger. He’d have to buy her a new one. If he ever saw her again. If she even wanted to be near him after what he’d done.

“What is this place?” Dara asked, toeing a golden goblet out of the way.

“My home.”

“This?” she asked. “This is where you sleep?”

“No.” Athlen motioned to the water. “Under there. It’s nice and calm, and there’s a nook right in the side of the cave wall, and…” He waved his hands. “It’s not important.” He pointed to Tal in the boat. “He’s important.”

Tal saw the moment Dara realized who he was, and her eyebrows jumped, and her jaw clenched, and twin spots of red appeared on her cheeks, then bled to her temples and down her neck.

“The missing prince! Athlen! What have you done? Did you kidnap him?”

Athlen scoffed and placed his hands on his hips. “No. I saved him.”

“He saved me,” Tal echoed. “From mercenaries.”

Dara’s eyes widened at the raw sound of his voice, and she dropped to her knees at the edge of the water. Leaning over, she reached for him, then hesitated.

“Um…”

“You may touch me.”

Athlen crinkled his nose. “You have to ask?”

“He’s royalty. Of course you ask.”

“I didn’t.”

“I make exceptions for myths from the sea,” Tal said with a loopy smile.

“I’m not a myth,” Athlen muttered.

Dara rolled her eyes, then laid her palm on his forehead. “You’re burning up. What happened to you?” Tal opened his mouth to respond, but she shook her head. “Never mind. Don’t talk. It’ll be nonsense with a fever this high.”

“He’s bleeding, too. His shoulder.”

A wrinkle appeared on Dara’s forehead as she pulled the blankets away and found Tal’s bloody shirt. She pursed her lips as she inspected the wound. Tal grimaced when she skirted her fingers over his shoulder, then she shushed him when he groaned. “We need to clean and bandage it, as well as the other wounds.” She lifted Tal’s battered hand. “Even small cuts can go bad. Then we need to get him out of these wet clothes and warmed up.” She nodded to Athlen. “Hand me my bag.” Then to Tal, “Can you sit up?”

Grabbing the side of the boat, Tal struggled to sitting, but his body shook and his head spun.

Dara’s frown deepened, and she steadied him with a hand on his back.

Tal stayed stiff and still as Dara inspected and bandaged him. She poured a foul-smelling liquid over the puncture wound that stung and burned, and he gritted his teeth to keep from flinching. Then, using a bundle of cloth from her bag, she tightened a bandage around his shoulder and bound his arm to his chest. She rubbed a salve on his blistered hands and bandaged them as well. She checked his weeks-old head gash, and he grimaced as she clipped the crude stitches. She stabilized his swollen knee with sticks laid along either side of the joint, then wrapped it in cloth. She gave him fresh water in a canteen, and Tal resisted the urge to gulp it down.

“He needs dry clothes. Athlen, do you have any stashed here?”

Athlen scurried to the other side of the cave, and in a dark corner sat a chest. He flung it open and pulled out a pair of trousers and a shirt that were finer than anything Tal had seen him wear. Tal blushed when he needed both Athlen and Dara to help him change while he stood shivering in the damp air of Athlen’s home, his toes curled on the wet, chilled shelf of rock, and goose bumps blossoming over his skin. With his face flushed red from fever and sunburn, he hoped they wouldn’t notice his embarrassment. If they did, they didn’t comment. Athlen had no compulsions about nudity anyway.

Dara held up Tal’s tattered shirt between her thumb and forefinger. “I’m going to throw this away.”

“Wait.” Tal lunged forward, stumbling over a cache of trinkets. Athlen caught him by the waist as Dara handed over the shirt with a raised eyebrow and a wrinkled nose.

With trembling fingers Tal dug into the chest pocket, and despite the fight and the rough water, the shark’s tooth was miraculously still tucked inside. Tal clutched it in his palm, the comforting edge blunted by the bandages.

“The tooth?” Athlen asked. “You kept it?”

“Yes.” Tal’s mouth went dry. “It helped me when I was captured.”

“Oh?” Athlen’s gaze flitted to Tal’s hand, then to his face. “Oh.” His lips curled into a small smile. “Really?”

Tal’s cheeks blazed as he nodded. His knees trembled and Athlen clasped him tighter. This close, Tal tipped his head back to meet Athlen’s unwavering gaze. He spied the light line of freckles that spread over the bridge of Athlen’s nose, and the dimple in his cheek, and the slope of his neck as the collar of his shirt slipped sideways. Tal’s blood pounded and his head swam, and he didn’t know if it was