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“I didn’t—”
“Spare me, Maeve,” Elaine spoke with venom but didn’t take her eyes from her empty glass. “I felt her die as you cut through her heart. It took a lot of magic to free her and even more to cast her across the lake, following the scent of your blood.”
I froze as my brain struggled to connect the words she’d spoken.
“You freed Charybdis?” I said in disbelief. “But you’re—”
“A trophy?” Elaine laughed freely. “My dear, we both know that no person is one thing alone.”
“How?” I whispered.
Elaine stood up, drifting toward me. The floating fabric of her dress looked like the fins of a Betta fish. The same color as her lapis lazuli adornments. She fiddled with the necklace at her throat. A pearl pendant.
“I have had many names, but you may know me as Balor.” Elaine stopped in front of me. Still fiddling with her necklace. I looked down; a single moon-shaped pearl hung from the pendant.
My cheek itched as if it sensed the pearl that had been ripped from my skin.
But why was Elaine wearing it?
“The God of the Deep?” I echoed with disbelief. “Balor?”
Elaine’s face morphed in front of my eyes, her features dissolving to reveal an endless series of holes. Each one contained darkness so vast that I could not see the end of it. My skin crawled.
I reached for the lake, and the magic of the water, but nothing rose to greet me.
I staggered back but found the door behind me. I reached for the handle with a shaking hand but couldn’t find it as my eyes refused to leave her face.
“You killed them, didn’t you?” I whispered. The taste of bile tainted the back of my throat.
She laughed. “I assure you, your mates are in the harem. Enjoying all the concubines have to offer.” The sound of her laughter echoed through the numerous pits in her face.
My blood ran cold.
I blinked, and Elaine’s face was back to how it had always been, but the sick feeling in my stomach didn’t abate.
“You know they're my mates,” I whispered.
She smirked as if enjoying an inside joke. “I can see your bonds.” She winked. “I can cut your bonds. Just as I can sever your bond to the lake.”
“Who are you?”
“I am Balor, God of the Deep.” She tilted her head to the side. “I told you.”
“What do you want?”
“Why, Maeve, what makes you think I don’t already have what I want?” Elaine tittered. “I have the ruler of the Mer, the Kelpies, and the nymphs in my domain. As well as the youngest of the Selkie Queen’s pups.” She reached out and touched my face, and I flinched away. “I have you. And thus, I have the four other creeds of the lake at my disposal. It’s what I wanted all along when I poisoned your mother.”
“What?” I didn’t dare move. I wanted to rake my nails down her face, but even though I couldn’t sense the water, I knew lashing out was a bad idea. If Elaine truly was a God, what hope did I have against her?
I could just pray that she didn’t want to kill me. That she would leave my Shíorghrá alone.
I told myself I didn’t care that they were in the harem, that I trusted them. Still, as I looked into Elaine’s endless eyes, I knew she could spin enough magic to make them do something they didn’t want to do.
“You killed my mother?” The rage inside me frothed and foamed at the mouth, demanding to be freed, but my connection to the lake was gone.
No weapons. No strength. No magic.
“Belisama.” Elaine clarified. “I killed Belisama. She had lived in the Aos Sí for too long. Ultimately, a simple iron powder in her food was enough.”
