Page 121 of A Sea of Fate and Starfire

My hands hit first, slicing into the sea’s flesh, and I pulsed down into the depths.

He wasn’t far. Long arms and legs stroked for daylight, and though he was likely a skilled enough swimmer on his own, relief bloomed behind his eyes as he locked on to me, cutting through the current for him.

His hand reached for mine, and I turned as my fingers tightened around it, ready to dash back to open air. But he tugged me down like I once had, solid hands enveloping the sides of my jaw, our fingers still linked as his mouth crashed with mine.

Heartbeats battered against his ribs, and when I pulled away to guide him up, he barely moved, eyes closed against my cheek.

Come on, Kye. You need to rise.

I told you to stay. He didn’t sound upset that I hadn’t. His thumb scraped roughly over mine, his opposite hand slipping behind my nape. He’s afraid of you.

At least someone is. You’re welcome, by the way.

He took Selena.

I stared at him, open-mouthed in wordless horror.

And Aren—fucking suns, Aren. Terror fell through his eyes, panic crowding his thoughts until they were too thick and fast to read. I knotted my hand in his and turned, kicking for the sun. Rain poured over our heads, fresh and clean and rife with cold. I grasped at the nearest ledge, scrambling up to make room for Kye to follow.

My father peered down from above, a hand over his heart as soon as he spotted me below. Hadrian and Diara appeared at his sides, legs swinging over rock as they scrambled down to reach us.

“Dimas and Leal went to find Aren,” Diara said, pulling me up beside her. Cuts and scrapes littered her arms, though Hadrian looked twice as beaten, the slant of his cheekbone quickly darkening to black, polished to a sheen by the rain.

In fact, they all looked terrible. Swollen lips and limping walks, ripped clothes and blood-smeared skin, cradling their winces as they breathed. Hadrian held his arm close to his body, teeth clenched as if it pained him to move it.

A needle seared a scorching thread between my ribs. I shouldn’t have let them leave without me.

Hadrian batted rain from his lashes, angling a finger at my pocket. “We were right. He came for you.”

But he’d left with Selena.

“He called Selena daughter,” Diara said, blinking back the rain.

It had all seemed to happen so fast, their words like a waterfall I'd stepped under, armed with a small bucket to catch the deluge. But at that I halted, unable to shift my widened eyes from her. “Daughter?”

That meant…

In my periphery, Cebrinne had clamped down on Pheolix’s shoulders, trying to convince him of something while he stared blankly back at her. She finally closed her mouth, her line of sight crossing with mine. Unlike the others, burns covered her body, raw and peeling patches beginning to blister.

Nori, I called, already crossing to Cebrinne, we need Aitne.

On our way. We recognized your star-wielding in the sky.

Where were you? I asked you to stay with the humans.

She paused, a stitch of frustration in her voice. I’m sorry, my Queen.

I ground my molars, forcing calm into my thoughts. I shouldn’t have expected my Naiads to do anything but complete a given task and return to me. They hadn’t sworn their loyalty to Kye. Still, a flare of heat licked along my bones, firing them red and bright like a blade left in a forge.

Seeing me coming, Cebrinne stepped away from Pheolix, walking at a slant to meet me where he couldn’t hear us.

“How did he burn you?” I asked, reaching for her arm to inspect the burns up close.

“Shield weed ash. Thaan threw it on the floor of Ano’s room. I was fine with my boots on, but as soon as he knocked me down…” Her mouth quirked in a hardened oh well kind of way. Not something water-calling could heal, then. “He knows you wear your bare feet everywhere. He didn’t want to meet you out in the open.”

“I was a fool to stay behind, whether I avoided walking into a trap or not.” Hands over the sides of my waist, I tapped the corner of my hip bone impatiently.

Daughter.