The queen’s shocked wrath morphed into curious greed as her eyes slid from the blood on her hand to Ti’s shield.
“Transcindiel,” she murmured, as she stood. “You can transform…death?”
Her lips spread into a wide smile, insidious delight dancing in her eyes.
Death… A distant memory pricked my mind.
“The magnitude of this power,” she mused, snapping her own shield back into place. “Death and transformation…Creation. Used together…Let me see, Tiberius. An oath binds us, whether you wish it or not.”
Queen Antares stalked toward Tiberius.
“It’s tied to our last breath,caeluma, until fulfilled. Or until death.”
Air oaths can only be broken by death…Tiberius whispered.
A question formed in my mind, but my thoughts scattered as Tiberius blew a snort and bared his teeth. The queen stepped closer, eyeing the shield of darkness, her wind testing its defenses.
The queen’s hand on the iron whip twitched, Ti’s eyes narrowing in on the movement. She raised the weapon once more, and the fingers of her free hand contorted and twisted as her wind spun the shards of rock back into the air.
Ti’s massive hooves shot into the air as he reared, and I bellowed a war cry down our connection as the force of our bond morphed back into that strange energy. He shoved theTranscindiel power alongside the darkness, and as his shield dropped, the darkness shifted.
Ti’s long, crimped tail merged into a whip of his own as his hooves crashed into the dirt. He spun, the tip of the death whip sharper than any iron blade, and it snapped through the space between them.
Silence stretched for an invisible moment before a blast shook the clearing and sent Tiberius and the queen flying away from each other. Ti’s ears hollowed out as air whipped from his lungs, searing pain slicing a line down the center of his chest.
My chest.
What?
Dread squeezed me like a vice, and nausea rose as my cast with Tiberius shattered, dragging me away from my caeluma and back into my body. My lungs gasped in the frigid air surrounding me, and I let out a scream as I looked into Vulcan’s panicked eyes.
They held firm, as did his hands, and he growled through breaths, “Do not let go.”
Vulcan’s hands gripped my wrists as I hung over the edge of the upturnedCenturion. Fifty feet below, icy waves crashed against floating debris. The screams of men were drowned out by the baying of the ancient beast, and I caught a glimpse of a white fin as it surged toward a group of men huddled on a stack of crates floating in the surf.
I snapped my attention back to Vulcan, covered in blood, and I twisted my hands to grip his wrists. He narrowed his blonde eyebrows at me. I clung to Vulcan, trying my best to squirm my way up the sinking ship, but the golden hull was smooth and slippery. If the beast patrolling the waters didn’t feast on us, we’d fall to hypothermia unless we got out of the water and into the shelter of a shield.
TheKrakensailed north in the distance, retreating to a shallow cove on the shores of the Death Dunes. An explosion blasted from behind, rocking what remained of our ship and tipping the upturned hull. Vulcan swore as the momentum shoved him over the edge, and I lost my grip on his left hand. I swung outwards, still clinging one-handed to his other arm as I slammed into the rudder. A scream ripped from my lips as my back hit its sharp edge. Vulcan scrambled, reaching for me as I swung back and forth, a blazing pain ripping through my arm. He caught hold of my other as the warm wind propelling theHydraengulfed us.
The ship cut through the burning wreckage and slowed fifty yards from where we hung. Lord Astraeus rushed to the ship's edge and waved his arms.
“He’s signaling us to swim,” Vulcan called to me over the chaos.
I glanced back at theHydra, shield still intact.
Vulcan read the wariness in my face, and he said, “We don’t have a choice. Don’t let go.”
I squeezed his wrist in response as he released his legs from the rail he clung to, and we fell into the icy surf.
The shock of the glacial water sucked the air from my lungs. I floated below the surface for a moment, the icy water soothing the sharp line of pain on my chest. My lungs screamed before my brain finally commanded my legs to kick. My head broke through the surface. The icy wind against my face was worse than the frigid waves.
Flames and smoke clouded the air above the surface. Vulcan kicked, and I followed.
We surged forward, swimming as fast as we could, putting distance between our upturned ship and nearing theHydrawhen Aquila called to us in warning. My stomach turned toliquid as the current of the approaching sea beast rushed beneath our legs.
