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Until, at last, a figure emerged, and with the last shred of energy left in me, I plowed through the water toward him as fast as I could. Even in the dark, I could make out three deep gashes across his neck and shoulder. The agony twisting his face told me it was painful, but he pulled me toward him anyway.
“What was that thing?” I asked, noticing the temperature of the water had changed to tepid.
“Dzilagion,” he said in a hoarse voice. “It’s a sea serpent whose ass I’d have easily kicked a few months ago.” He touched a finger to his wound and groaned. “It should not have even gotten a hit in.”
Not a minute later, a bubbly sound drew my attention toward a monstrous vortex behind him, where an enormous black beast bobbed up to the surface. A scream escaped me, and I dug my nails into Jericho, until I realized it wasn’t moving but curled into itself, as if it’d died that way. As Jericho described, its long serpent-like body, with spiked fins along the spine, gave it the appearance of a creepy dragon snake, about the size of a whale shark.
With one arm wrapped around me, Jericho dragged me through the water as he swam toward the cliff, and though it was significantly faster than I’d have managed to swim, I felt compelled to help him and shoulder some of the burden with my heavy, useless arms as a weak paddle.
“I thought it was … going to drag me … into the depths … of Hell.” The toil of swimming, even in warmer water, left me struggling to hold conversation.
“Close enough. It would’ve consumed you slowly. Kept you alive inside a pocket in its mouth, where its saliva would’ve basically broken you down over time.”
That horrific image slowed my stride, and a shiver raced down my spine. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
I glanced over my shoulder. “Youdidkill it … right?”
“I did. At the expense of my energy.” An air of frustration clung to his tone, and I could tell he wasn’t interested in talking about it anymore. It didn’t take a psychiatrist to see his lack of power troubled him. Forget that he saved me from what I was certain was the most horrific way to die. Ever.
It wasn’t long before we reached the shore of Blackwater Cliff, and I stumbled to my feet, the wintry wind stealing my breath as, hands crossed over as much of my nakedness as I could cover, I followed him toward a cave. Once inside, he pulled me after him, into the dark depths, where I felt twice as vulnerable as when we were in the water. He stopped to lift a lamp from a bracket on the stone wall and lit it with an attached flint striker. Once illuminated, the cave proved to be an entryway of some sort, and it was in the light that I could see the depth of Jericho’s injury, glistening with deep crimson blood.
“Your w-w-wound,” I managed through chattering teeth.
“I’ll worry about it later. We need to get you warm.”
It was only the scratchy sensation of fabric against my fingers that prompted me to look down at myself to find a signature gray Blackwater dress covering me. Yet, the cold still nipped at my skin as if I were naked. Frowning, I glanced up at him and back to the dress. “How?”
“It’s only an illusion.”
“You mean, I’m not really wearing this?”
“No. But don’t worry.” Lips curved to a grin, he gave a squeeze of my ass, and I let out a squeal. “Only I know.” A quick kiss, and he led me toward a heavy steel door, where he pressed his palm to its surface and muttered something in a language I didn’t understand.
The door clicked and opened, and a chamber on the other side held what appeared to be an elevator, though like the gate on the very first night that I’d arrived, there weren’t any buttons to press. Jericho threw back an iron door and stepped inside the small box. I followed in after, and the moment I turned, the door closed on its own and the clank of metal signaled the cart’s upward ascent with a jerk that caught me off balance.
“Does anything make sense here?” I asked, scanning over the walls for any sign of how the thing moved.
“Rarely.” Backing me into the wall behind me, he gripped my face and hiked my leg up onto his hip. With his body pressed against me, I noticed a slight tremble in his muscles, before fervent lips devoured my next breath in a kiss. The elevator stopped, as if he’d willed it. “I could’ve lost you back there, Farryn. Fuck!”
Stroking a hand down his hair, I shook my head. “No. I knew you’d come for me. I had no doubt of that.”
“I’m weak. Practically mortal.”
“Now you’re just being mean. Besides, that wasn’t a small insect you crushed back there. That thing was huge.”
“That thing is apuppycompared to our real threats.”
That was the scariest freaking puppy I’d ever seen.
“You’re going to restore your powers. You’ll have your wings again. I’m not all that religious, but I have faith in that.”
He ran his thumb across my cheek, his eye locked on my lips. “What I wouldn’t give to see the world as you do. Such illuminating hope must be blinding at times.”
An echo of memory struck me with the sarcasm in his tone. The biting snip of the boy from long ago. Memories of my former life had begun to arrive more frequently as of late. More so during the weeks when he was imprisoned in Ex Nihilo and my days had been consumed with thoughts of him. “It wasn’t long ago that my world was as dark as yours.”
His jaw twitched, his grip tighter on my jaw. “While I know those few months you suffered placed an unbearable weight on you, that time was a mere blink in thecenturiesI waited for you to be reborn. You may have damned your soul, but I have committed unthinkable crimes and sunk to unfathomable depths. I do not wish that pain on you. Ever.”
