I promised Onyx I’d help her. And Alessio… he knows exactly what to do if they refuse to play by my terms.
Lurx swims forward with two guards, their waterbows aimed at Bay as he raises a spear toward her back.
Is he begging for a quick death?
Bay’s chest glows bright purple an instant later, and Myko explodes from her, his massive tail coiling around us as his snarling face dips just above Lurx’s head. The high-pitched scream that erupts from the merman strips away every shred of dignity he had left. He glides back in an instant.
That’ll do it.
I don’t bother silencing my aunt. I turn back to the king and queen.
“You kept the Beast locked for centuries. Now that it’s awake and bonded… yourforbiddenrune magic won’t hold it much longer.” I hope I’m right—if not, I just gambled away my leverage.
The princes start whispering, and the queen drops her gaze to the floor.
I knew it. They hid the truth.
“No.”
A soft voice rises behind me. Onyx’s hand grips my arm.
“I don’t want to go back,” she whispers. “I don’t want their forgiveness. I only need to sever the bond with the Beast.”
She says the last words louder than she probably meant to. If she doesn’t want to stay, then I don’t even need to get closer with the king…
Before I can blink, a sharp, blinding red glow ignites from her eyes, forcing all of us to turn away.
Myko’s roar fills the room, the water vibrating violently around us.
"Morvakar,"the word crashes in my mind, filled with venom. Myko spits it like a curse. I’m not sure if I’m the only one hearing it now—but I’ve never felt him this furious.
“Morvakar?”I echo, staring into Onyx’s eyes now. They look just like Bay’s… only hers are like twin blood-red gates to hell, newly opened.
Myko growls at Onyx’s frozen body.
"Mykonian,"an ancient, rough voice rumbles from Onyx’s lips, daring, mocking."You let me rot down here for centuries, and now, when I’ve finally marked my chosen, you come to break the bond?"
The queen lets out a strangled whimper. I cut her a glare sharp enough to tear scales from her face. She’d better stay silent—or not one, buttwoancient beasts will wipe out her precious bloodline… and leave me starving.
I don’t know how to break an ancient bond, but I’m willing to try. I promised Onyx. I promised my aunt.
I don’t know where I find the courage… but I do.
“Morvakar.”
His name feels foreign on my tongue, but just as venomous as when Myko spat it.
Onyx’s face jerks toward me, her glowing eyes scanning me from my tail to my head, her lips curling in a deep, guttural groan.
“Tell me your terms to break the bond, and I’ll see it done,” I say, calm and unwavering. He won’t rattle me. I grew up with Myko. I grew up in a family far crazier than this—an angry beast isn’t what’s going to break me.
“Break the bond?”
His snarl warps Onyx’s face into something grotesque. Then her head snaps toward Myko.
“You didn’t tell your chosen one—and the sad excuse of the Coral rebirth—that tiny, critical detail?”His laugh rattles out of Onyx’s mouth.“You merfolk have always been so ignorant… nothing’s changed.”
I glance between Onyx and Myko. Then at Bay.
