I expect brutal violence. I brace my frozen mind for the fatal strike, the satisfying crack of bones that will end this miserable failure.
The strike never comes.
His rough hand wraps around the leather strap of my harness. His grip is firm, but it lacks all cruelty.
He pulls my heavy body downward.
He tows me through the freezing water. We swim past Vaelis. The striking prince watches my capture with eyes full of hatred and betrayal, his beautiful face a mask of cold fury. The accusation in his face is a physical blow, more painful than the crushing pressure of the abyss.
The shark tows me toward the open mouth of the glowing Shell, the sickly blue light spilling out to paint my useless body.
He's not killing me in the dark.
He's keeping me alive.
The crushing realization is far worse than a quick death. I am a helpless prisoner in the monster's lair. I have failed my mission. I have failed my prince. The poison in my veins feels like a mocking laugh.
Kael drags my rigid body through the torn kelp curtain. The sudden warmth of the shell hits my skin, a shocking contrast to the freezing abyss. The heat fails to thaw the magical ice in my sluggish veins.
He lays me down on the soft sand. He positions me near a large pile of scrap metal. He leans his body over my face. He places two rough fingers against my neck. He checks my slow, thudding pulse, the contact a violation.
He rises to face Vaelis. The angry prince followed us inside the shell, his crimson hair a dark banner of defiance.
Vaelis glares at the shark.
"Why did you save her?" Vaelis demands, his sweet voice cracking with raw emotion. "She tried to hunt us in the dark, Kael. She poisoned you in the trench. She left me to die on the Ridge."
Kael looks down at my paralyzed form. He looks back at the furious prince.
The monster raises his scarred hands in the space between them.
He makes a tight fist over his own heart. Then he opens the fist, turning his palm up in a gesture of surrender.
Mercy, he mouths.
Vaelis stares at the silent shark. The prince turns to look down at my broken body.
The bright anger slowly drains out of his fine face. A terrible, pitying exhaustion replaces the fury. He looks at me exactly like a stranger.
"Fine," Vaelis whispers, leaning his head against the shark's broad chest. "But if she ever tries to hurt you again, I'll throw her out the airlock myself."
Kael nods in silent agreement. He wraps a protective arm around the prince.
The monster turns away from me to tend to the humming engine.
I lie in the white sand.
I'm paralyzed. I'm trapped in a nightmare, yet I'm alive.
The prince and the monster move together as one in the warm light.
For the first time in my rigid military career, I lack a tactical plan. I lack a weapon to strike my enemies.
I am nothing but a silent watcher on the floor.
The agonizing silence inside the shell is deafening.
Chapter 14
