Dark Waters Rising

Glow

Wesley swam close to Valentine as Andromeda led them deeper. The lower they sank, the darker it became, but Wesley was surprised to find his vision could still cut through the darkness. He couldn't see far, but he could at least see a little.

"How far down is Aurelia?" He asked quietly, a small shiver running through him at the icy water and the alien environment. Only dead men on drowned ships made it down this far.

"It depends," Valentine told him. "Aurelia is built on the side of an underwater mountain. The richer districts are situated higher up, where they can still get some light. The poorer ones are down near the bottom, where they live in complete darkness. Some go their whole lives without ever seeing the sun."

"That sounds awful," Wesley replied, peering into the dark abyss into which they descended.

"It's not all bad," Valentine said, turning his head to look at his mate. Wesley's eyes widened when he realized Valentine's irises were glowing softly. At least, it looked like they were. They didn't emit much light, certainly not enough to see by in the increasingly dark water, but they made his eyes seem more pronounced and distinguishable in the dim light that still lingered. "There are other things that produce light."

Wesley had no idea what that meant, but he found out when they finally reached the bottommost pits of Aurelia. Bioluminescence. Everything seemed to glow with it. The creatures, the plant life, Hells, even the water itself seemed to glow as they moved through it. It was mostly a stunning shade of blue, but there were also purples, greens, and a few yellow shades that lit up the mountainous roots that slithered across the terrain.

Wesley spotted a few sirens slipping in and out of the caves that littered the area. Most of them glowed themselves with some sort of intricate pattern in their scales or painted on their skin.

Valentine, catching his curious gaze spoke softly toward him. "Those who are born down here are more likely to develop bioluminescent patterns across their body. Not all do, but most glow in some way, shape, or form."

"It's beautiful," Wesley said, before looking back at his mate, "Your eyes glow."

"My mother was born and raised down here," he said, shifting his gaze to the woman who now swam on his other side. Wesley peeked past Valentine and noticed for the first time that Andromeda's lavender tail had a soft glow about it as well. It wasn't glaringly obvious though. It was brighter if he caught sight of it in his periphery vision than if he looked directly at it. "It's dim now," Valentine explained, "but after a few days away from direct sunlight, it'll get brighter. For her, it's mostly her fin that glows, along with the very edge of all of her scales."

"I wish mine had something like that," Wesley said, glancing down to where his own tail flicked, dull and unlit.

"It is not a desirable trait in siren society," Valentine murmured to him. "It is a mark of the poor. Those with higher rank and wealth live closer to the surface and therefore do not glow. Many that do try to hide it in hopes of being more respected by higher ranks."

"But it's so pretty," Wesley frowned.

"Not in their eyes."

That saddened him. To him, the features were stunning and unique, but in this culture, it was what made them undesirable. He wished he could tell them otherwise. Looking back at his mate, he realized he could. . . sort of.

"I think your eyes are amazing," Wesley said.

Valentine sent a soft smile his way. "Only my eyes?"

Wesley glared playfully at him before returning his awe filled gaze to the world around him.

"Is this a market?" Wesley asked, noticing the siren activity picking up a bit.

"Yes," Valentine said, looking around as if he was searching for something specific. Seeming to find it, he turned to Andromeda and said, "Mother? Can we stop for a moment?"

With a reluctant pair of lilac eyes directed back at him, Andromeda agreed. "Only for a moment. We have places to be."

Valentine nodded curtly to signify that he understood. Then, he pulled Wesley downward toward one of the vendors. It was a young woman with gold, glowing markings across her face, neck, and shoulders who sold trinkets and jewelry pieces by the looks of it. After his eyes roamed the laid out selection for a moment, Valentine pulled a trinket of his own from the bag he carried and held it out to her.

"Will you trade this for the bands?"

Wesley recognized the object Valentine held as a candlestick holder. He wondered what use a siren would have for it, but the girl's eyes seemed to light up regardless.

Valentine knew the object was much more valuable than the ones he sought to gain, but he could see the girl needed it more than he did, and the symbolic meaning of the items he wished for was worth the overpayment.

With slender, shaky fingers, the girl accepted the candlestick holder and ran her eyes over it in intrigue.

"I accept this trade," she said quickly, nodding to gesture her approval for Valentine to pick up his new items. Valentine smiled at her as he did just that. "Congratulations." She said just before Valentine swam with Wesley away from her.

"What are those for?" Wesley asked once they were out of hearing range.

"They're arm bands," Valentine said, slipping one over his bicep before moving to do the same to Wesley. Luckily, they were made of a soft, malleable metal, which made it easy to adjust the loops by hand to fit their arms. "We use them in my culture to signify mates. Now others can look at us and see that we are mated."

"Is- is that okay in your culture?" Wesley asked, suddenly nervous as his fingers felt the metal encasing his upper arm. "Two men, I mean."

"Of course," Valentine said. "Mates are the other half of our soul. To deny that for any reason is foolish. I will never understand why your kind is so weird about it."

Wesley shrugged lightly, "I don't think even we have a solid answer."

Valentine frowned as a different thought came over him. "Speaking of which, I've been meaning to ask you something. Does your friend have a wife or a mate of any kind?"

Wesley furrowed his brow as the new topic abruptly surfaced. "Castor? Not that I'm aware of. He's never really expressed interest in that sort of thing either. Why do you ask?"

"When I sang for him, he took on an idolizing form of platonic obsession for me, which leads me to believe he's already in love."

"He's never mentioned anyone," Wesley shook his head a bit, though he couldn't say for certain because in all honesty, he didn't remember a lot of the conversations they'd had between Wesley's mysterious return home and Valentine's resurrection.

"Is it possible it's you?" Valentine asked softly.

Wesley's eyes widened and his immediate impulse was to say no. Castor was just a good friend. His first mate for years as they served on the Queen Adelaide together. He stopped himself from saying any of that though, because in reality he didn't know. He'd never thought about Castor that way, so he'd never thought to question Castor's perspective either. It was entirely possible, even if Wesley himself thought it unlikely.

"I don't know," he said honestly, looking back into faintly glowing lavender eyes.

"Well either way, you're my mate and I love you." Valentine said, pulling him closer.

Wesley smiled softly, easily detecting the hint of jealousy in Valentine's voice.

"I know," he said. "I love you, too."

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A/N

How are you doing today? Really. Tell me your woes and then tell me what the best part of your day was (even if it was small).

Next update Friday,
-Mora Montgomery