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The water in the lake was dark and murky. As I looked into its reflectionless blackness, I felt a wave of unease wash over me.
I heard the sound of pebbles shifting on stone and looked up to see Vesper approaching. I tried to push myself to my feet, but it was no use. My head was still spinning.
“Good. You’re awake. This will be easier.” He crouched beside me, his face calm.
“What will be?” My voice was cold. “Where are we? Is this the lake Draven mentioned?”
“It is. I’m sure he’ll be here soon.” Vesper’s voice was calm and soothing, but I was not about to be fooled again.
He reached out a hand to touch my cheek and I flinched.
His expression changed to surprise. “What’s this now? I’m not going to hurt you.”
I stayed silent.
“I saved you, Morgan. I brought you here so you could get what you wanted, what you came all this way for. The sword.” His voice was almost reverent as he spoke the last two words.
“I’ve never met anyone like you before, Morgan. Don’t you know how I feel about you by now?” He leaned forward towards me, his lips inches from my face. “I love you.”
I stared back at him. Until a little while ago, they were the words I had been secretly hoping he would say.
Now I realized I didn’t believe a word that was coming from his lips.
“What did you do to me?” I whispered. I realized I wasn’t just talking about the eleusia. I meant all of it.
He reached his hand out again to brush my hair off my face, but I turned my head away, baring my teeth.
“Well, you have all the time in the world to say it back, Morgan,” he said lightly, ignoring the question. “But first you need that sword, don’t you?”
I heard a sound from the lake behind me, and turned my head. Ripples were forming on the surface of the glassy water.
“We’d better hurry,” Vesper muttered.
For the first time I saw the dagger laying beside him on the stones.
He picked it up, almost idly, then gestured for me to hold out my hand.
Behind me I could hear water lapping against the stone edge on which I lay, like gentle waves against a shore.
I hesitated and he smiled in a way that turned my skin to gooseflesh. “There’s nowhere to go. Do what needs to be done and I’ll be right here. Waiting for you.”
When I still would not hold out my hand, he lost patience and grabbed the one nearest him, stretching outwards.
“I’m sorry about this,” he said, sounding genuinely apologetic. But then, everything about Vesper had seemed sincere. On the surface.
He lifted the dagger and slashed it across my wrist just below where the swirling silver markings began as something broke through the surface of the water behind us.
Blood flowed from the thin cut.
Vesper leaped to his feet, grasping my wrist and pulling me roughly up beside him.
I had expected him to pull me away from the lake, but instead he tugged me forward.
The lake was churning. Black water bubbling.
I caught sight of something moving in the water. Something serpentine and tentacled. I shook my head, hoping it was the eleusia causing me to hallucinate and see what wasn’t there.
Then a tentacle lashed through the surface of the water, as thick as the arms of three strong men.
