The wave crashes somewhere behind her with the violence of a collapsing mountain, spray exploding across the rocks, but she barely notices.
Kael.
They have Kael.
Seren gasps, trying to open her mouth to speak, but realizing her words are futile.
She tries to push her will through the amulet…
But The Perils surge.
The sea screams.
Magic here belongs to older things than bound trinkets.
Seren lunges forward to keep moving, and her boot catches on a jagged lip of stone.
She stumbles.
She rips her hand forward to steady herself, but the sudden jolt tugs on her neck, snapping the clasp of the amulet.
Fuck!
A sharp metallic crack rings out.
Seren feels the tension vanish from her neck.
“No—”
The necklace slips free.
The amulet drops.
It hits the stone once, skidding across the slick surface before tumbling toward the edge of the rock shelf.
Seren dives for it.
Her fingers scrape against wet stone, reaching—too slow.
The amulet disappears over the edge.Gone.
The sea swallows it without ceremony. Seren scrambles to the lip, staring into the churning black water below.
“El!” she screams, but the words only disappear into the chaos of The Perils.
Elyssara does not hear. Does not answer. The connection is gone. The ocean roars. The Perils rage. Seren is alone again. And for one horrible heartbeat, she feels exactly like the girl she used to be, waiting for someone stronger to save her.
Her chest tightens. Sharp and furious.
Kael.
They have Kael.
Her jaw sets.
Seren pushes to her feet and runs.
The ocean continues spewing its endless waves, cresting into peaks that jut like bony fingers, and sprawling into swells that crash beyond her. She is too close to the wall of cresting water to be crushed by the wave, the arc not tight enough to reach her.
