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“Oh, I love secret confessions.”
“When I saw Erik at the masquerade, there was an indescribable pull toward him. I was terrified when he took me, but I couldn’t shake that before he removed that mask, the draw to him was something else, something folk always searched for, yet few found. It, well, I think it chased away the fear; I think it helped me trust him much more swiftly than I would’ve otherwise.”
My mother considered the confession for a few moments. “Do you think the draw was the heartbond?”
“Even if it was,” I said, “the love never left. It is only stronger.”
“It is what I’ve always wanted for you,” she said, voice soft. “That you would find your fire and a love that will fan your flames, not douse them.”
A commotion in the tides drew us back to the sea. Narza urged Erik and the others to return to the shore. Discontent tugged at Erik’s brows when he came to my side.
“What’s happening?” I hooked my hand around his arm.
“The sea witches and your witch folk—”
“Elixists,” my mother corrected, grinning. “They would not appreciate being called a witch.”
“Whatever their title, the lot of them are warding the shore between us and the elven should she choose to attack instead of living in peace.”
I doubted Skadi would turn on an entire shore of magics. She hidbeneath a stony exterior, but she cared for Eldirard. She wouldn’t risk his life, nor Natthaven, by attacking those who’d offered refuge.
“Do you think she’ll succeed?” My voice was heavy with a burden. I almost wished I hadn’t been told there was a possibility. Disappointment should it fail would be a dreary weight. “I told you, she tried to pull away her grandfather and wasn’t able to without fatiguing.”
Erik nodded. “But hadn’t she been battling before? And Arion was there. Wasn’t he fighting against her?”
True enough. Skadi had been weary.
“Tavish is aiding her,” Erik told me, pointing to the far side of the shore. Tavish was crouched at the end of a long dock, one palm hovered over the sea. “He’s been unthreading bits of the spell cast.”
“He believes it was cast by a sea witch?”
Erik nodded. “An intricate spell, but if it is unraveled, the hope is the remnants will be simpler for the elven to hide away in her damn mist abyss.”
The sound of a deep groan—like a horn blared through a ravine—echoed over the water. Ripples bloomed away from the dark skein that wove over the surface of the water. Below was the wall of thrashing tides.
Some folk backed away from the shoreline when another boom shocked new ripples and gentle waves across the streak of the barrier.
Skadi held out her arms. Like black petals blooming, skeins of misty ink peeled away from her body. It was unlike a shadow, more diaphanous and damp, like a true mist. Water bubbled around her waist. Darkness grew, thickening like sea spray during a monsoon and plunged into the sea.
On the dock, Tavish flattened onto his belly, cursing and holding his palms over the water. I dug my fingers into Erik’s arm, unable to look away, unable to move the longer Skadi’s magic dug at the Chasm walls.
Then, Tavish shouted, rising to his knees. “That was the final thread. It’s free, woman. Pull it back. Now! Before it resettles!”
Skadi closed her eyes. Another pulse of her iridescent darkness skittered over the surface of the water, diving through the shadowed surface line of the Chasm. Her arms trembled. She doubled over. A soft cry followed.
“It’s too much for her,” I said.
“A little more,” Erik replied, low and like he was in his own thoughts.
Skadi stumbled. The coils of mists gathered around her, thrashing and spinning. She cried out again, slowly bringing her palms to the center of her heart, as though she were encapsulating her darkness.
Another guttural echo moaned across the sea. Then, the misty billows shot out from her middle, a sunburst of darkness. In the next breath, they were gone. As was Skadi. She’d fallen back into the water. Jonas and Aleksi rushed to her, dragging her out of the surf. She slumped against Jonas’s shoulder, hardly able to walk to the shore.
My pulse had gone still, my blood cold. I still clung to Erik’s arm, like it was the only solid thing.
“Well? Did it work?” Thank the gods for Celine. She was not one to wait long in heady silence.
Erik did not give the command before Gavyn took the liberty to look. The bone lord faded into the sea. Gentle circles coated the top of my hand from Erik’s thumb. Much like me, the Ever King seemed unwilling to blink, to even breathe, while we waited.
