“Why would I want to know?” asked Eris, keeping her eyes on the wharf.
“Because you feel it, too.” The sea spirit smiled a sharp-toothed smile. “Once he’s free, he’ll come for her.”
Eris frowned. This thing was talking nonsense. She felt no such thing. “Come for who?”
“You know.”
“I really don’t,” she said.
Suddenly, it leaned closer, reaching scaly fingers towardEris’s wrists. “Who did this to you?”
Eris pulled her bound hands back. “Please. Just go away.”
“I could help. I could soothe.”
Eris paused, studying it. The thing had no eyelids, only liquid black eyes. Its feet were slightly webbed, and its teeth were needle sharp. But there was something ethereal—something almost serene—as it pursed its thin lips at the sight of her bound wrists.
“I could... remove.”
“Yeah?” Eris hissed under her breath. “I know your kind like the taste of flesh. Is that what it would cost me?”
It wrinkled its nose. “Silly thing. Notyou. It would be a gift... from those who want him free.”
A sudden chill swept over Eris. She glanced up into gleaming, razor-sharp teeth.
“Want who free?”
It sighed a long sigh. “I just told you. The Shadow God.”
A noise interrupted. Footsteps on the dock.
Behind them, a familiar voice said, “Eris, we’re—”
The sea spirit’s eyes snapped toward the sound. Eris turned to find Safire, frozen at the sight of the monster. When Eris looked back, she realized why. The sea spirit’s eyes were now blood red, its face changed from serene to...
Hungry.
It lunged for Safire, its white teeth flashing as its jaw yawned open.
Eris grabbed its scaly leg. The creature hit the dock. It kicked, hands scrabbling for a hold on the wood, trying to dragitself toward Safire. Desperate. Crazed.
Safire drew her knife, trembling as she did.
Eris’s grip was slipping. Knowing exactly what would happen if it slipped entirely, she dug her fingers inhard.
The spirit screamed, then swung back to face Eris. It hissed in her face, angry and wild.
But it didn’t bite. It didn’t want Eris.
When it hissed again, Eris hissed back.
The spirit blinked, as if startled. “Fool,” it spat, then it glanced back once at Safire, eyes ravenous, before turning sharply toward the dark sea. Eris let go as it dived into the water and disappeared with a plop.
Safire’s chest heaved. She lowered the knife.
Eris held up her bound hands, signaling for her not to step any closer to the water. But the sea was calm, and all sign of the sea spirit was gone. The only sound remaining was the rubbing of hulls against the wood of the wharf.
Beyond Safire, the soldats had all drawn their blades, their eyes on Eris.
