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her dark eyes, attentive yet soft and sensual, didn t seem to miss a thing.
 We stationed ten beacons to mark off the area yesterday. There have been no
reports of any unauthorized persons swimming into the area.
Not that there would be. Out this far, there would be few travelers. The ocean wall
wasn t too far ahead. They were at the edge of Undrworld not a place anyone
ventured to that often. There wasn t anything out here. Which was why the rift in the
ocean wall was such a puzzle.
Her phone buzzed and she pulled it from her waist, twisting slightly in her chair.
He focused on the slender length of her neck, her damp strands of hair almost reaching
her shoulders. She crossed one leg over the other, her dress not quite reaching her
knees.
 Go ahead, she said quietly, searching the still waters through the window in front
of them.
Romair slowed and grabbed his own phone, pushing the buttons to let Jolen know
they d arrived. After verifying that a small group of his guards waited with Jolen in a
nearby tran-bus, and that Shara s personal aide, Jain, waited in her tran-bus, he
adjusted the lighting outside the ship, manually moving the beam while moving slowly
forward toward the ocean wall. He spotted one of the miners, who turned and waved.
Dirt in the water made it harder to see. There was definitely a good-sized tear in the
wall to cause this much murkiness in the water. In spite of the light, he could barely see
a fucking thing.
A long, silver water snake appeared out of nowhere in front of the window, gliding
before them, its scaly skin glowing against the tran-bus light, until it disappeared in the
murky water.
 Sounds good. Wait until I get there. Shara closed her phone, clipped it to her belt
at her waist and stood, twisting at the waist as if working out a few sore muscles.
He wouldn t let his mind go to just how sore she might be today. One glance and he
guessed she d read his thoughts. She looked away from him, turning her back and
heading for the door.
 We ve got a good-sized tear in the wall. Sounds like they see light at the end of the
tunnel. When she looked over her shoulder at him, gone was the look of trepidation
she d worn so far.
Her expression glowed with excitement of an adventure. He tapped one of the
compartment walls, and a small cubby opened. Taking out two belts, he handed one to
Shara. Both of them adjusted the belts around their waists and then tested the lights on
them. In water this congested, the lights on the belt would be the only way they could
see each other. They waited for the inner door to open and stepped side by side into the
small closet-sized space between the inner and outer door.
35
Lorie O Clare
 They see light? he asked, looking down at her as the outer door opened.
Water flooded around them, pulling both of them out into the ocean outside. She
nodded, grinning, before turning and kicking into the murky water.
All of them had been excited and a bit wary when news hit less than a year ago that
life had been discovered on the surface of their planet. Earth hadn t had an inhabitable
surface since the third world war. At least that s what they d all been taught. Humans
had migrated underground, biologically altered so their children would be born with
gills. According to the history books, scientists had struggled for decades until they
perfected the cells that would create gills in human necks. Living without water was
impossible. And what news reports had come in stated repeatedly that there was no
water above ground. After over a hundred years babies were still born occasionally
without gills. Minor surgery corrected the problem. Romair couldn t imagine any
human living without water.
The knot in his gut turned to excitement as he kicked alongside Shara, joining his
guards and Jolen along with the miners at the ocean wall. Jain moved next to Shara,
giving him a disdainful look before handing Shara protective glasses so that the dirt in
the water wouldn t bother her eyes. The other guards already wore them and one of his
men handed him a pair. Once he put them on, at least he wasn t blinking away dirt as
much. No doubt all of their eyes would burn later from these conditions. Filtering
systems kept water clean to breathe in the city.
Large clumps of rock and dirt floated through the tear in the wall. A zigzag-type rip
almost the length of his body looked like a nasty cut in the ocean wall. Roots and large
clumps of mud looked like guts, exposed as he squinted to see into the tear. His guards
floated around them, making room out of respect when Shara kicked forward. When
she looked like she might swim into the break in the wall, Romair grabbed her arm.
She turned on him, blowing bubbles from her mouth while she glared at him. Let
her be pissed. Respect could go to hell. His job was to stand by her side and protect
her. With or without the title she d given him, Shara knew he d always have her back.
She tried yanking her arm free and he pulled her closer. Her hand brushed his
chest, but to support herself, not out of affection. Her look told him as much. Romair
understood what plagued her. Glancing into the tear in the wall, he saw what
compelled her. There was definitely light at the end of the rift.
She glared at him, realizing she wouldn t win this nonverbal argument. When she
glanced at Jain, her personal aide shook her head, a small, quick gesture. Shara nodded
then pointed for him, Jolen and Jain to follow her back to the tran-bus. It was time to
brainstorm. The guards floated around them, making room as they swam back to
Romair s tran-bus. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]