Chapter 352 Chapter 352
“The man that kept me, he said there was more, he was working on getting them.”
Konner felt her grip tighten in his hand. “We’ll find them.” He vowed quietly.”
“If we’re not mermaids, what are we, Konner?”
He looked down at her, and debated on letting go of her hand, but found he was enjoying holding it, so he didn’t. “Mermaids had many names in many cultures—they’re too numerous to list off.” She slid sideways and if he hadn’t been holding her hand, she would have hit the ground. Without complaint, she righted her footing again and began walking. “Water spirit is probably my favorite of all of them.”
“Water spirit,” she said slowly like she was tasting how the words felt on her tongue.
“We’re referred to as the water clan, or water shifters with the Alliance,” he smirked when she looked at him, “it simplifies explanations.”
The serious note in the depths of those blue eyes held his own gaze prisoner for a brief moment. “I want to be a water spirit.”
He thought of how she was in and out of the water, the glow she had, the fact that she was intact and whole after the life she’d had. “You are probably the purest form of a water spirit that I’ve seen in decades.”
She smiled, fleetingly, “decades?”
They began to move. Konner noted that the compliment he’d just given her went unnoticed, which was probably for the best, he couldn’t afford to have attachments to her. She could be someone else’s mate and that, he’d learned the hard way was a painful thing. “Ten years is referred to as a decade.”
“You have seen a lot of decades?” It wasn’t a jab at his age, and he was thankful for it.
“I’ve seen enough.” He didn’t know if she understood the most basic of facts about their people. “We can live a long time.” He thought of his Auntie, he wasn’t even sure how old she was. “With constant exposure to the right water and nutrients,” he patted the pocket that held the Biotrien, “we age very slowly.”
She stopped and looked up at him. “How many decades am I?”
Konner glanced around them again, just checking to be sure they were still alone. He looked back down at her, “I have no idea.”
She frowned.
“I’m hoping we can figure that out once I get home and look at the records.” She watched his mouth as he spoke, he knew it was from the habit of doing that in the water, through the glass, but it unnerved him. “We know your mother was carrying you when she was taken, so that should help narrow it down.” He left off the part that if it wasn’t written down if her clan hadn’t kept up the records, they may never know.
“These records will have my mother in them?” She nodded slowly, “I will talk to your phone now.” She leaned closer and patted her hand on his chest.
Konner had forgotten all about asking if he could record the names she recited. He watched the rainfall for a moment; he hadn’t even realized it had lightened considerably. Licking his lips, he nodded. “Okay.” Releasing her hand, he opened his swim pack. “I’ll hold it inside my jacket, so it doesn’t get wet.
“Your phone doesn’t like water?”
He smirked, “most electronics don’t.”
“That is too bad.” She nodded and watched him open the screen on his phone as he brought up the voice recorder.
“Just say them as you normally would.” He told her and then hit record.
Terah took a deep breath and then exhaled it. She closed her eyes, and began to talk softly, “I am named Terah Matthews,” she licked her lips, “of Markus and Elise,” her mouth curved in a relaxed way, “who came from Dayne, Jillian, and Jack, Nora.” She blew out a soft breath, “they were of Xavier, Willow, and Percy, Carolyn.”
Konner was mesmerized at the tone of her voice, the serene look on her face as she continued. This was her family line, there may be no last names, but mated couples were recorded and as she continued, he realized he would be able to trace it at least four generations back, maybe five if it were recorded by the clans then. Some of the records were only written from elders’ memories, so accuracy wasn’t a guaranteed thing.
“Did I do it right, Konner?”
At the mention of his name, he blinked to come back to the present. Her voice, her tone like that was almost hypnotic. He stopped the recording and nodded. “You did.”
She looked at him, then at the phone, “can I hear what I said?” Her eyes were wide with excitement.
Nodding, he hit play on it and made sure the volume was up. He watched her face as she listened to herself speaking the name of her ancestors, she was breathtaking. The look of fascination and pure joy stole the air from his lungs for a moment. He stopped it and wiped the phone against the inside of his jacket. “I better get this out of the wet.” He put it in the pack and then inhaled the air around them. With a smirk, he looked down at her. “Have you ever seen snow?”
“Out the window.” She gave him a curious look.
Konner grinned, “the temperature is dropping, the rain has slowed,” he looked around them, “you may get to see snow before we’re picked up.”
The animated expression on her face, made him smile. “I want to taste the snow.” She nodded and started walking again.
Konner watched her for a moment. Seeing everything as she did was making him feel less aged because some of the time, he felt haggard and tired. Wiping the water from his face, he started after her. As soon as they stopped, he was messaging Reeves to look up her parents’ names, with luck, he’d know how old she was then and could at least offer her that. He frowned, part of him didn’t want to know, how young she really might be.