Slowly consciousness swam within Illala’s mind once more. Small blurs moved across her sight, like stars reflecting through the ocean’s surface, and a room came into focus. The vast walls were white stone decorated with sapphires and tapestries formed from golden gems pressed within them. A high dome arched above her, while about her was a scribing desk, shell mirror, a single window, gem jewelry and a shell horn music player.
A black-skinned man was nearby, his pure opal eyes staring gently within her own. A single tailfin beat beneath him.
Evanshade. She knew it at once to be him, the man who had brought such darkness to her family and her people.
Yet at the same time, one look from his eyes brought such warmth to her heart… She felt safe for the first time since he had left her and yet felt such darkness in him as well.
“Are you alright?” he questioned. “I told Venge to not harm you, and see he has disobeyed. He will pay for that.”
A pulsing feeling came from behind her eyes, roughly where Venge had spun her into the log. “My head’s sore. Why did you have him come and take me from my friends?”
“When I was young I had a family,” Evanshade began. “When I was with them I felt warmth and love. They filled me with a feeling that I had not felt since their perishing, had not felt until I laid my eyes on yours last night during the mayhem of the siege. I felt warm when we looked to each other. I feel warm now.”
“Somehow I do, too.” Illala smiled slightly towards him. But I shouldn’t, she thought. You murdered my family and have torn my world apart. A piece of me hates you for that. And yet the rest of me looks into your deep eyes and is attracted to you. How can I be attracted to a man like you?
“I think there’s just something unmistakably true about me and you. That’s why I sent for you,” Evanshade said. “Because, no matter the things I have done, I want to feel that warmth with you for as long as I can. I am a terrible man. I won’t deny that but I will never be bad to you. I would never do a disservice to this warmth like that.”
“How could you kill my family and friends and then expect me to just be swept away and want to be with you?” An angry heat burned from Illala’s eyes now. “How do I know you wouldn’t do the same to me if I angered you?”
“I spared your life once before, and if I could take back the destruction my people have caused your world I would. Someone with such beauty as yours does not deserve to have something like this done to them.”
“And my people, all of Meridia deserved this?” She was furious now. “How could I ever love a man like you?”
“It wasn’t just me. I was following orders, and if I would have disobeyed then someone would have slain me, taken my place and done the same thing. I would not be here with you and things would still be the way they are. You would probably be dead.”
“Some things are worth giving up everything for.” The waters seemed to chill about the room for Illala. And then warmth bloomed in her fingertips as Evanshade touched his hand to hers.
“I would never force you to stay with me,” he spoke. “I’ll accompany you back to your friends if you wish to leave. Though I would love to know you better and spend our lives together, warming each other’s days and nights.”
Something then formed in Illala’s mind. Here’s my chance, she thought. I’ll tell him I’m leaving and to take me back to the others. There would be four of us and one of him. They could take him and punish him for what he has done. If they don’t kill him, then maybe he can be convinced to stay with us and help retake Meridia. We could still be together if he lives. After all he had done surely she could betray him. She would tell him to accompany her to the others. It would be for the good of both of their lives.
Her eyes stared at the patterned stone floor below. Evanshade’s warm hand touched hers. “I’ll stay with you.” Then she looked up with a penetrating gaze. “Don’t ever hurt me.”
“I won’t,” his voice held sincerity.
Their lips met, engaging in a passionate kiss as the warmth of their bodies touched. His hands held her waist. Hers slid down, barely touching his scaly tailfin, and she realized how little she truly understood of the man. Despite his lips embracing lips, they were somehow foreign…
Then he kissed her hand and bowed, before swimming toward the room’s door. “I have to attend to my soldiers and the remains of the city but I’ll be back as night falls. I will never keep you against your will. If you wish to leave just let me know. Thank you,” he smiled and paused, “for being with me.”
The large ornate stone door opened with a pull of Evanshade’s hand, causing water to weave inwards from the hall. It rushed back out again, as the door pressed closed behind him.
In the wake of Evanshade’s departure Illala noticed a light crimson hue seeping past the windowsill and moving like a serpent along the stone ceiling above. Her ankle and wrist fins carried her to the opening as curiosity churned inside her, longing to find the origin of the light.
The East Shale Wall spanned before her along Meridia’s ocean floor. To her horror, she saw chained Meridians carving out the stone and sand below, revealing a molten cavern crevice where she had known the marketplace to once be. A Meridian man faltered in his shoveling of the earth and a guard speared him in the back of the skull, sending his face into the searing molten ooze.
What have I done? Illala huddled in the shadowed upper corner of her room after covering up the window with a kelp blanket. What have I done?