“Fuckyou!” I screamed, forcing the blade to the left to carve through even more tissue.
But he held strong, his eyes beginning to flickerwith an inkiness I’d never witnessed before. Darkness poured into his once ghostly irises, filling them as one would fill a glass with the finest wine. With each incantation, those corrupted shadows devoured his gaze further, and, for some reason I couldn’t pinpoint, I wished to call for Caspian.
“Sorva vel un tharosh.”
“To the shore!”
I replied with a whimper,“Ellira, I’m trying, but he won’t—I can’t!”
“Velum naezh ith’varon.”
Gods above, please.
“Khaelis mor-thun valeth?—”
Blood-curdling screams swallowed his continuation, drawing my attention in the direction they’d come from. Only a block from the docks, I watched in horror as spined arms, protected only by a thin layer of gray skin, jutted from the water’s surface. Tentacles followed behind, plucking men from the royal ships as if they were weightless. Nausea built as the swell of siren-like cries flooded the island, the sea settling to a stillness that only meant one thing.
The Seven-Headed Terror of the Deep, one warned of in old tales when Ellira used to command the tides, had awoken once more. Each word of her lore flowed through the back of my mind.
You won’t hear your crewmates die. You’ll just turn and notice you’re alone, and then she will drag you under.
“Holy gods…” I mumbled, stumbling back a step as Malrik’s grip loosened. “She’s… alive.”
“You do not need to fear,”Ellira answered, brushing against the back of my subconscious.“I sent her.”
A protruding spinal column breached the surface as Yxalune rose, peeling herself from the water. Once her humanoid torso fell into view, three of her seven necks followed. Sprouting from her vertebrae, each head was grotesque in its own right—one skeletal, one fish-like, and one eyeless with a blunt snout.
Body moving with unnatural grace, she skittered along the sea floor, arms and tentacles continuing to pick apart the ships with ease. The gilled one continued its song, and with it, the waves roseagain, but it wasn’t due to gravitational pull. It was because of an approach; the call hadn’t been offered to further frighten those she tormented. It had been to gather reinforcements.
The Vellari.
“What the fuck is it doing?!” Malrik shouted, turning to me as if I would offer him answers. “You’re her daughter! Stop that thing!”
His fear became palpable, something I wished to take my time lapping up. “Call uponyour godsfor mercy. Perhaps they can save you, though I wouldn’t hold my breath.”
He reached for me again, but I batted away his hand before he had the chance. “You care for the innocent, do you not? Thisthingwill destroy everything!”
“Good,” I hissed, running my tongue across my teeth. “Maybe then you’ll realize that women aren’t to be trifled with.”
Pivoting on my heel, I turned my back to him. Confident that between the gaping wound in his stomach and his split Achilles, he would remain kneeling like an obedient bitch, I moved toward the dock. With my trust instilled in Ellira, I continued my route, basking in Malrik’s ensuing screams.
“You can’t just leave me here!”
Allowing my grin to bloom, I slipped into an alleyway and out of his sight. I progressed down its length until it spat me out on the shoreline. Footsteps drumming against the planked walkway, I cast my gaze over Alastair’s ship, which remained untouched. But it wasn’t his vessels' unscathed shape that caught my attention.
It was Caspian’s.
Swallowing the slew of curses I wished to utter at the Goddess of the Sea for even considering sparing the piece of shit captain and his remaining men, I stopped when the tips of my boots came to settle just over the dock's edge.
“If she eats me, I’ll personally kick your ass in the afterlife. I don’t give a damn if you’re a god or not,” I scoffed audibly.
Ellira merely laughed.“As much as I would love to see you attempt it, Ipromise that, to an extent, you carry as much command as I do over the creatures of the sea.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean? To an extent?”
“Your thoughts of Caspian, for example.”The smile was prevalent in her timbre, as if she were getting enjoyment out of it.“I refuse to allow you to destroy the ship of the man your heart calls for, regardless of your refusal to admit it—your Mizani.”
“Mizani, my ass. Whatever?—”
