The Devil You Know

As Marius pulled Kai to him, Kai noticed for the first time that the King's black scales bodysuit was gone, leaving his impressive upper body exposed. He looked around the surface of the pool for any signs of it, but the only thing with black scales in the bath was Marius' magnificent tail.

Kai asked about it.

"The transformation is essentially magic. So is the suit." Marius explained briefly.

"So, you're saying it disappears when you hit water?"

"It does disappear when I want it to, not necessarily when I'm in water. Now, enough questions."

Marius dragged Kai to the edge of the pool in one stroke of his large tail. He leaned against the edge, lifting his arms to rest them on the tiles.

"Attend me," he repeated.

Kai tried to ignore his pounding heartbeat, and opened the jar of soap and poured it onto the yellow sea sponge. The soap smelled like the kelpie tea he'd enjoyed in Astria. He dipped the sponge in the water, then lifted it, watering streaming from it, and then gave it a few squeezes, lathering the soap.

He raised his head and his eye met Marius's. At the sides, the water was only waist-deep.

"You're seriously going to make me do this, aren't you." It wasn't a question. It was a statement full of dread.

Marius didn't grace him with a response. He closed his eyes and leaned his head against the edge.

Oh, if Kai had something sharp-edged right about now...

Being at such close proximity to his mortal enemy-turned-partner was disconcerting to say the least. So, he hastened to finish the embarrassing task.

He slapped the sponge against the hard expanse of Marius's chest and began to scrub with determination.

"Are you trying to scale me?" Marius opened his eyes and stilled Kai's hand against his chest with his own. "Do it gentler," he said, annoyed.

"Fine." Kai grunted. He tried to not overly notice how Marius's much larger hand practically engulfed his own, and how cold it was.

Marius released his hand. "Continue."

So he did.

Kai didn't want to stare at Marius's abs of steel, but he had to admire them. Hakan could build muscle his whole life and he would never look like this. Nevermind Kai, merman or no merman blood.

He scrubbed him slower and with a lot less force, just like he would scrub himself down. He was thorough but fast, his movements precise and practical, leaving a trail of suds on the King's body.

The stream rising from the pool flushed his face faintly. He would have cooked alive if the water was a few degrees higher.

He worked his way up his chest to his shoulders, and then started down his left arm.

"Give me your arm."

He took hold of one bicep and circled it with the sponge. It was like he was holding a steel pipe. He reached for the other jar of soap he'd brought and lathered the sponge with it. This particular soap -much to Kai's surprise- smelled like honeyed lavender.

"Should I... wipe your tail?" Kai asked once he was done with Marius's upper body.

Marius pulled his tail out of the water and brought it to Kai.

Kai hesitated, unsure how to go about cleaning a pretty clean-looking scaly tail. Marius watched him the whole while as he puzzled through it, his eyes boring into the side of his face. He hated the feeling of being watched, like he was standing on stage in front of a crowd.

Finally, he decided to start from the top: the fins. He gently wiped them, aware of their delicate makeup. Carefully, he worked his way down, rubbing the tail in circular motions. This was Kai's first time touching a tail, and the thing felt powerful. Up close, it was much bigger, yet it didn't feel slimy like a fish tail would be. In fact, it was as smooth as silk.

Soap bubbles and foam danced at the surface around them, clinging to both their bodies and filling half the pool.

"Where are you keeping my mother? Is she here in the Palace?" Kai asked as he worked. It was his half-assed attempt at prying information about his mother's whereabouts. Knowing Marius, he wouldn't get a clear answer, or one at all.

"She's still in your home."

He breathed a sigh of relief. He'd been fearful of her being in this black Palace of Horrors. He said more to himself, "She must be going crazy worrying about me."

"Not at all."

"What?" Kai stopped scrubbing. The insinuation upset him. Of course his mother would be upset about him!

"I had a spell cast on her to keep her unaware of your disappearance."

Kai's jaw dropped. "You're keeping my mother in an illusion?"

"Wouldn't you agree it's for the best? Or would you have her die of worry over you?"

Kai did agree, though he didn't say it. He might have even been thankful, if it weren't for the fact that it was Marius who'd created this whole ordeal in the first place.

As if reading his mind, Marius said, "If it wasn't me, it would have been someone a lot less magnanimous."

He was saying: If it wasn't me who took you, it would have been someone else. He'd said it before. The devil you know rather than the devil you don't know, was it? Kai always thought the principle in which the saying was founded was quite absurd. He'd rather know all the devils surrounding him.

Brows furrowed, he asked, "Like who?"

"Like your uncle."

Kai felt his blood run cold. His moving hand stilled for a moment. Their eyes met and suddenly the warm water around them felt cold. Softly, he said, "You're the second person to warn me of King Zolban."

Marius didn't say anything.

"What do you know? What's his deal? Does he want my power too?"

"Not tonight. Rinse me off."

Kai sighed, but did as he was told. He picked up the gold pitcher, dipped it into the water, and then tossed the water in Marius's face.

He quickly dropped the pitcher into the water and swam away.

Unfortunately, his speed was no match for a full-fledged merman with a tail that was nearly as tall as he was. An arm circled his waist and pulled him downward into the water.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

This is one of the most fun chapters I've written. Kai is one of my favs, lol. Please consider joining my Patreon or Ko-fi where you'll find the next 5+ chapters available for early access and exclusive sex scenes and NSFW content of Abyssal and all my other stories, or if you're just looking to show some support for this novel!



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