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I raised an eyebrow in challenge and snapped my wings hard, diving myself at its head, my knives aimed for its milky white eyes. Shit, it moved faster than I expected, raising onto its … actually I had no idea what that swirly fish tail even was. The sight of it connecting to a black horse front distracted me for a moment until hooves boxed dangerously close to my face.6
Something was happening in the other chamber because Emlyn growled suddenly, and pain lashed through my bond with Wynvail. But I was so close to the black hippocampus that I didn't dare turn my head. I had visions of my throat ripped out and dangling from the horse's mouth. I wanted the horse to release Kai, but preferablywithoutmy vocal chords between its teeth.
"Fuck," I gasped, driving my daggers down when a nasty hoof caught me in the gut, knocking all the air out of me. I snapped my wings out, catching myself before I could spiral through the air, and threw all my weight into driving my wavy daggers into the horse's eyes. I had no issue with hippocampi in general, but this one had stolen my mate, and made the fight personal, so it needed to lose its eyes.7
I shot Harvey a quick look.The second it releases Kai, grab him.He nodded, fixing his eyes on the beast's jaws. Another wingbeat carried me close enough for the tips of my knives to scratch its eyeballs, and I threw all my weight into the double blow—
Andscreamedwhen instead of the volcanic steel sinking into gooey eyes, the metal lit up deep, vivid red—the colour of blood and curses. The daggers didn't plunge into its eyes; they rebounded like I'd hit a solid wall, and a blast of power slammed into my body hard enough that my wings faltered and I dropped into the water hard enough to make a vicious wave.
Water filled my ears, bubbles tickling my nose as I frantically fought to find my way back up. Blind panic made me clumsy, and having knives as an extension of my hands wasn't helping. Magic coursed through me, as sharp and blistering as the bone pin that Cerny gave me—that Wynvailstolefrom me—and even kicking my legs didn't keep me afloat as my body struggled to contain it. It was too much power for one body to hold,too much.Oh gods, it was going to kill me.
I screamed underwater as the power built and seethed and filled every space of me, pressing against my skin with nowhere to go andstillswelling, boiling, howling.
Panic cut through my chest, as bright as a star but as dark and velvety as night. Wane.
Fuck. I couldn't die here. I needed to fight my way out of this cursed Labyrinth and find him. I was his mate; it was my job to take care of him, to keep himsafe.I had a damned job to do.
I slackened my grip on my knives as I sank through the water, ready to swim, but—bright white light split the murky water before I could drop them, and I exhaled a hard breath I should really have saved. Wynvail had me in his moonbeam magic or whatever the hell he called it. It was cold as fuck, icier even than the water, and I shuddered as it ripped me up through the ever-rising water in the Labyrinth and into the air.
My hands shook. No wait, that was my entire body trembling violently. I vomited water and then choked down air, instinct squeezing my body, taking over.
"Don't move!" Kai snarled in a voice so chilling that I froze.
Harvey caught me before I could sink again, the white beam of power flickering and then cutting out without warning. Like Wynvail was struggling to use his power. Like he was weak or in pain. Fuck, why did that fill me with so much panic?
"My rose?"
"I'm fine," I replied, my voice surprisingly hoarse. My chest was tight, my eyes scraped raw by the water. I resumed shaking twice as hard, my teeth chattering as I slumped in Harvey’s arms. "You?"
"Angry," he bit out, still slurring a little. Blood streaked his arm where the hippocampus bit him, and I inhaled sharply at the sight of it. I didn't know if Harvey had slept enough to rebuild his reserves. Actually, how long did Kai and I sleep? An hour? Two? We switched the watch with Harvey and Wynvail, and suddenly I woke up floating.
"I told you not to move!" Kai screamed at the hippocampus, his eyes wild and crazy. But the horse had turned to face me, and—lowered its head. Huh?
I exchanged a baffled look with Kai, then Harvey. It was … thanking me?
"Uh, what's happening?" I asked the horse itself when it lifted its head, water flowing down its mane of gills and trickling back into the water.
The creature blinked bright aqua eyes at me, strangely intelligent—and sad—and a bolt of understanding and unease tightened my stomach.
"Cronus was controlling you, wasn't he?"
The horse dipped its head again, not taking its eyes off me. My stomach flipped.
"And I broke that control," I murmured, glancing at my daggers. "Kai, where exactly did you get these made?"
"I met a guy in a pub," he replied defensively, cutting through the water to place himself in front of me.
"Fucking hell, Kai," I growled. A guy in a pub? All the world's ills could be bought from a guy in a pub.
The hippocampus turned in the water and—swam towards the end of the chamber.
"So it's over?" I breathed to my mates, twisting to look at Harvey. His face had lost its colour, his expression tight and scared, and he squeezed me a little too tightly, but he wasn't bleeding. Thank fuck.
I stared at the daggers in my hands, kicking my feet to stay afloat. The horse couldn't have taken the damn water with it?
A shout from the other chamber made my breath skip.
"No," Kai answered, already swimming back to the other side. "Definitely not over."
