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Light flares in my left hand, steady and waiting, while shadows play on my right, with black veins that track down that arm. “I did it,” I breathe.
“You always could,” the Masiren says in a joyous tone.
A question sticks to my mind, and I don’t hesitate to ask, “Why are you helping me? You say you are made from the Gods—my parents—but that also includes you being bound to Whiro.”
“I may have been created by them, but I was bound to neither. Your mother was unlike any other soul I had met. Your father hated how much she adored the Fae and showered them with kindness and affection. But her gentleness grew on me. So, I chose to remain loyal to her. And when you came into this world, I promised my life to watch over you for her.”
“Thank you,” I say with all the warmth blooming in my heart.
The Masiren gives a single dip of its head and holds it almost like a bow before wrapping its tail around my ankle and dragging me through the water. “It’s time for you to return.”
The bottoms of the ships come back into view, where they rock steady on the surface. The Masiren leads me up to the ship I was tossed from, but keeps me a few feet below. “You must embrace your darkness now,” it says with glowing white eyes that never leave me. I push my light back into myself, calling solely on the shadows. Letting them wrap around me, to fill my veins and pool in my eyes.
Once again, a monster dressed in finery. However, the fear of losing myself is…gone. I don’t feel the tantalizing claws of the whispers trying to take root. It’s as if, instead of the storm clouds clearing for me to see the light…I became the storm.
Its tail fully releases me, and then the Masiren takes in my appearance with a curt nod. As if content to see the pale skin with black veins and death-filled eyes. “Remember, you are a fallen, Emma. So, now, it’s time to rise.”
“Then you must rise, too,” I add quickly. “We were separated for so long.” I pause, thinking about how the Masiren had fallen into a kind of darkness, too. One of King Oren’s making and one it had to become to survive. “Maybe as we rise, we can do so together?” I ask this quietly, but the Masiren hears, pressing the top of its head to my forehead. A silent answer that together, we will embrace who we are and fucking live.
And with that, the Masiren pushes a wave towards me that surges me above the water. The moment I break free from the surface, the pocket of air covering my mouth disappears and I feel the sun rain down on my face for a brief moment.
Determination ignites inside me, steeling my spine as a queen on the board who, if given the power, can be a protector or seek to destroy. All I need to do is bide my time and wait to strike.
PART II
CHAPTER TWELVE
Emma
The moment my head breaks free above the surface, an arrow whizzes past my ear, piercing into the water behind me. I snap my attention to the ships scattered across the way as more iron-tipped arrows launch across a hazy orange sky. But I’m not the target; it’s the ship that carries the newly crowned king. Thick smoke billows through the air and burns my throat with every inhale.
Screaming and shouting filters over the sea. The waves begin to smash into the wooden vessels with such power, almost like the water is reacting to the war of chaos unleashing above. But it’s because those who wield water guide the sea’s current to slam into the ship again, disturbing the peace of its beauty.
I glance up the side of the ship, knowing I’m going to need to use my shadows to portal me back aboard because it’s too high and unsteady for me to scale up. I close my eyes to focus on the dark power humming within, and I call on it. The moment I feel it surging to my command, a wave crashes into me, pulling me under. I strain my arms and push against the water until I’m back to the surface, my insides constricting like I might cough up a lung from the water that snuck down my throat.
In between hacking up water, I manage to suck in short, deep breaths. Without a second thought, I let my shadows veil over my body right as an arm snakes around my waist. Before I can glance behind me, my power flares to transport me out of the sea, and the soles of my sodden shoes meet a wooden floor deep in the belly of the ship.
I’m immediately pushed against the door that leads to one of the rooms beneath the deck. The bond in my chest begins to hum as pine and maple swirl around me.
“What are you doing?” I sound breathless as he pushes in closer, his hands molding into my body beneath my ribcage. The faintly lit lantern swings above us like a pendulum with every sway of the ship.
His chest rises and falls deeply, brushing against mine as his icy blues frantically scan over every inch of me. “Saving you.”
Two words, yet they triple the beat of my heart.
“I had it handled.” My molars gnash together as I sharply turn my head away from him, feigning stubbornness even though the firm hold of his fingers digging into me has my knees weakening.
His chest shakes with silent laughter, causing me to snap my gaze back to him. “I can see that. Either way, I told you I will always come for you…and I meant it.”
My breath threatens to catch in my throat from his words. With the darkness inside me free from invading my psyche, I can truly look at him. The hard glint of a promise in his eyes. The firm dip of his brows as he stares deeply into my eyes. The way his lips part as if he’s holding his breath for my response. My eyes continue to scan over his features, while I can finally allow myself to feel the truth of his words. Even though he still believes I’m lost to the demons inside me.
An explosion blasts somewhere above the ship, vibrating every inch of wood I’m pressed against, and reminding me of what I saw before I brought us here. My head tilts back to look up at the ceiling as if I can see through it to the outside.
Prince Draven turns his head to look out the small circular window that’s blocked by the dense smoke. Water drips from the raven strands of hair that have fallen in front of his eyes, and my fingers itch to touch them.
He drops his head back to me, answering an unsought question he seems to think I’m silently asking. “The attack is a rebellion against the new king.” His voice is edged with disdain.
I scrunch my face with a nod, not saying a word. If I could, I would join the rebels to end Calloway’s rule to the throne in a heartbeat. But if I go after Calloway, then Whiro will know something is amiss. And I can’t let that happen, especially being this close to the male who has always seen me to my core. The one who deserves to see the sun rise for centuries to come.
