Her eyes were on me. Not angry, just curious. Her magic beamed around her.
As I reached her, her brow furrowed. “I can’t leave here.”
Her morgen’s voice carried through the water. I had no such skill. I mouthed, “Why?”
“I have to seal the opening to the Fomorian world.” A few bubbles escaped her mouth.
A voice knelled around us, the somber, alien tone of a god. More than blood…
I glanced down at Aenor’s bleeding arm. She’d made a sacrifice, but it wasn’t enough. That was the thing with gods. It was never enough.
As I looked down at the swath of ice again, it seemed to be melting.
“Salem!” she shouted. “You can’t distract me. Can you go now, please? I can barely keep this magic going when I’m focusing.”
I watched her as she concentrated again, conjuring her magic. A burst of power beamed out from her body, slamming into my chest. My body absorbed it.
But I could feel it—the rumbling, the trembling of the ocean floor. Aenor’s magic was considerable, but it wasn’t a god’s magic. They’d needed someone with Shahar’s power to stop the Fomorians from ripping the ocean floor wide open.
Where could I take her, away from this place, where she’d be safe? Let the rest of the world burn. Aenor could live in a rocky cave in the arctic.
I watched her working her magic while I fantasized about things that made no sense. What sort of life would that be—alone in a cave, walls heating around her? Worse than death.
The roaring beneath the earth grew louder, reverberating over my taut muscles.
Beneath us, the hot ravine in the ocean’s floor was cracking open once more. Dread slid through my veins like venom. Before me, I could already see my destiny turning to ash…
A blast of heat exploded from the fissure, searing the water around us. I couldn’t burn, but she could.
Aenor’s scream pierced the water, and I watched her skin turning red, then blistering. Panic hit me like a bolt of lightning, driving all rational thought from my mind. It was like I was the one burning.
She’d die here, literally boil to death before me if I didn’t stop this. When the blast of heat died down, I grabbed her face in my hands.
Her eyes gleamed with pain, skin ravaged.
“Fix this,” I mouthed.
It was the same thing Shahar had said to me, minus any mention of cats.
Aenor wasn’t meeting my eyes, too lost in the pain. I turned to swim away from her.
The door of the driftwood cage swung in and out in the hot water, like an arm beckoning me close.
I didn’t give a fuck about the rest of the world, but I cared about Aenor like she was a part of me.
I swam into the driftwood cage—my prison—and closed the door. The lock sealed itself, gleaming with magic.
As I felt the cage’s magic rip all my power from my body, I had only one thought in my mind: Aenor is strong, and she will fix this.
Aenor
I stared into the driftwood cage. Salem’s body slumped against the side, and his pearly magic beamed around it. I looked down at my skin, burned from the hot blast of water. As his magic streamed over it, my skin began to heal. Although his magic was warm, it felt like a soothing balm on my skin.
From above, I could still hear a few croaking whispers drifting through the waves… We are the buried ones…
The driftwood cage was again closed, the lock gleaming with gold magic.
The shock of what he’d done had robbed me of all rational thought.
“Salem,” I said.
He lay there, his eyes closed, his dark lashes stark against his skin. His muscles still looked tense, but his eyes were closed. Was he in pain as his magic was pulled from his body?
I wrapped my fingers around the bars. It felt wrong—his body always radiated heat, but all the warmth was outside the cage now. When I reached for him through the bars, brushing my fingertips over his leg, he felt cold.
My heart twisted. This would not do.
Was it to save the world—or just to save me? Either way, I wanted him out of there.
I’d been so intent on Salem that I nearly forgot to look at the crevasse beneath me, or the threat of the Fomorians.
When I looked down at the seafloor, I found the crevasse sealing again.
I stared at Salem, my mind roiling.
So this was my mate. A man who delighted in telling everyone how evil he was, then sacrificed himself at the bottom of the sea.
He’d been talking about his destiny since I’d met him. And I still didn’t know what he’d had in mind, but surely he wasn’t meant for this. This was a living death.
Above, the sounds of battle faded completely, and the whispers of the Fomorians faded above us.
I stayed there with him for what seemed like ages, studying his face.
Fix this, he’d said.
I didn’t know how, but I wouldn’t get the answers down here.
I turned, swimming for the surface. So quiet now. I could hardly hear the music of any creature.
On the rocky island shore, Lyr stood by himself, silvered in the moonlight. Dark blood streaked his armor, and bodies lay strewn around him like broken toys.
His powerful body glowed with gold, and his pale eyes pierced the darkness. “How did you do it? You stopped the world from ripping open.”
I slumped down on the rocks, my body exhausted. “I stopped them for a little while. Then Salem did the rest. Right now, he’s locked himself in the Merrow’s cage at the bottom of the sea.”
Shadows leaked around Lyr’s body, staining the gold magic with darkness. “Why would he do that? What does he get out of it?”
I rubbed my forehead. How did I explain this to Lyr? I didn’t want to tell him Salem was my mate, or that I planned to get him out. None of this fit with Beira’s vision, which meant Lyr would discard it. I supposed things had happened as she’d said—the Fomorians hadn’t boiled the sea, my magic had spread ice out over the horizon.
It just wasn’t quite as Lyr had imagined.
I let out a long sigh. “Why did he do it? I don’t know.” That, really, was the truth. “But he did, and the Fomorians are now trapped again. It’s all over, Lyr. We can get on with our lives.”
Lyr nodded, but his eyes had taken on a haunted expression, like he’d just drifted into the afterworld again.
I felt the air thin around us, and his wary eyes slid to me.
I had that feeling again—the one of not being quite right. I scared him.
“It’s all over,” I said again.
But it wasn’t. Not with Salem entombed in the sea.
“I’m returning to Acre,” Lyr said. “Gina is safe, returned to her hotel. She’d been living in a friend’s hovel.”
The distance between us was wide as an ocean, our conversation stiff.
And yet—he’d taken care of the person I cared about. “Thank you.”
“Will you return to London?” he asked.
I had no idea what I was doing, only that I felt tethered to Salem right now. “I need to figure that out, Lyr. For now, I’m just going to sit here among the carnage, breathing in the scent of death.”
He gazed out over the sea. “I may have been wrong about the collar. Beira’s predictions are not always direct. I saw the ice spread out over the landscape when I first arrived here, and I feared the worst. But I understand now.” He looked at me again. “If you can control your power, you can keep it.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. Like it’s your decision.
He nodded, then turned away from me, the key glowing at his neck. I watched him chant the words for opening the portal, his body glowing. When he jumped through, and the portal sealed up once more, it was just me and the sound of the cold, lapping sea.
I crossed back into the cool waters, breathing in the scent of brine. Then I dove under the waves. Even from here by the shore, I could see the faint shimmer of Salem’s light under the waves. It was bright
er than Shahar’s.
I hoped he was sleeping there, not conscious under a mask of sleep. Trapped.
If he could speak to me, he’d tell me to find Shahar, then get him out. And I would.
When I stepped out of the water again, I heard the rhythmic sound of oars splashing in the sea. On the gore-strewn rocks, I watched as a boat moved closer. The rower was lithe, with three birds flitting around his head.
Ossian?
As he drew closer, I saw his blond curls, threaded with flowers. A cloud of smoke bloomed around him.
I waded into the water to greet him, and the spray from the ocean washed over me.
He breathed out a cloud of smoke. “I felt shit going down through the waves. I felt Salem’s magic through the water.” His gaze slid over my shoulder to the carnage on the rocky island. “That your doing, was it?”
“Not entirely.” I heaved a sigh, then crawled into Ossian’s boat, and it rocked under me. “Salem took his sister’s place under the water, and I need to find a way to fix this.”
Ossian’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve got to be joking. Why would he do that?”
“To stop the world from burning.”
He leaned forward. “Since when has he cared about the world burning?”
Since he saw my skin blistering, I think. I shook my head. “Let’s not worry about his motives.”
“I’d say love would do that to a person, except I happen to know that Salem can’t love. It’s literally impossible.”
An empty feeling rose in me. “Whatever his motives, I need to figure this out, as fast as I can. I know he’s the devil and all that, but I want to get him out of his prison.”
“And why would that be, Aenor?”
I cleared my throat. “Just seems like the right thing to do.”
He started rowing, the water splashing over us. “Yeah. Better sort it out within days, ideally, or he misses his whole destiny thing. He’d get in a right mood about it. Start burning things again.”
I blinked. “What is his destiny, exactly? It wasn’t freeing his sister?”
Ossian leaned back in his boat as he rowed. “Oh, he didn’t tell you? I thought you two must’ve bonded, what with you being alive and all. And him in a cage.”
“We didn’t get around to the destiny discussion. We were busy thinking about killing each other.” And thinking about doing other things with each other, I supposed. “Where are we going, Ossian?”
“I have a house nearby. And I sense heartbreak.”
I nodded. “Oh, here we go again.”
“I owe you vodka and ice cream.”
I stared at the dull gleam of light beneath the sea, my heart twisting. “Well, that actually sounds very appealing. And very necessary right now.”
* * *
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Rising Queen: Book Three
Contents
1. Aenor
2. Aenor
3. Salem
4. Aenor
5. Aenor
6. Aenor
7. Salem
8. Aenor
9. Aenor
10. Salem
11. Aenor
12. Salem
13. Aenor
14. Aenor
15. Aenor
16. Aenor
17. Aenor
18. Salem
19. Salem
20. Aenor
21. Aenor
22. Aenor
23. Aenor
24. Aenor
25. Aenor
26. Aenor
27. Aenor
28. Aenor
29. Aenor
30. Salem
31. Salem
32. Salem
33. Salem
34. Aenor
35. Aenor
36. Aenor
37. Salem
38. Salem
39. Aenor
40. Salem
41. Aenor
42. Aenor
43. Aenor
44. Aenor
45. Aenor
46. Salem
47. Aenor
Aenor
It was nearly two p.m., and I still hadn’t quite woken up.
Across from me, Ossian slumped over the wood table, shirtless. Blue and yellow wildflowers dangled from his blond curls, and he stared into the winding tendrils of steam that rose off his tea.
I took a long sip of mine, my mouth like cotton. Sunlight streamed in through a window, clear rays bathing Ossian’s house in gold. It was a cozy space—a combined kitchen and living room in one, with a little bedroom off to the side. A salty breeze floated in through one of the open windows, and sunlight slanted in, beaming over his walls of bookshelves. Everything in his place was made of a dark wood, and his house had an earthy smell. I liked it here.
He rubbed his eyes. “I’m feeling confused about what happened last night. I remember suggesting that we have vodka to get over our heartbreak. To feel better about losing our mates, what with yours locked in a cage.”
“That’s right.”
He nodded, staring into the slanting sunlight. “But I don’t think I envisioned getting blackout drunk, sailing to London, and returning with a human. What exactly was the sequence of events there?”
I glanced at Gina, who was slumbering on the floor before a stone hearth. Firelight danced over her sleeping body, and she snored loud enough to drown out Ossian’s reggae.
“Gina called at one a.m., remember?” I said. “She was sobbing and hysterical, and I thought she was in mortal danger. I was certain she was about to die. But it turned out her best friend shagged the guy she fancied in the parking lot of a Nando’s.”
“Right.” Ossian blinked, then looked down at his pants, running his hand along the leather. “But Aenor. Why am I in leather trousers? These aren’t mine. I don’t want to be alarmist, but I find that concerning.”
I cleared my throat. “I had the idea that we needed new clothes, so we snuck into a Spitalfields Market and… we procured new clothes.”
Ossian frowned. “So, we went to London, stole a child—”
“She’s eighteen now.”
“And then we did burglary.” He sipped his tea, narrowing his eyes at me. “I’m not sure you’re a good influence, Aenor.”
“It wasn’t my finest moment,” I said quietly. “We can pay them back.”
Ossian’s three colorful birds swooped in and fluttered around his head, chirping. He turned to nod at Gina. “Should I find that human male who broke her heart and fuck him up?”
I shook my head. “No, let’s avoid committing more crimes right now. And we have a more important task, remember? We need to get Salem out of the soul cage. What if he actually feels like he’s drowning under the water? He’s not a sea fae like us.” The thought made me nauseated.
“Okay. Let’s see what we can learn.” Ossian rose and crossed to one of the bookshelves—a tall one nestled between his windows.
I blinked, trying to think clearly through my hangover, but it felt like a goddess was trying to carve her way out of my head with a sword. “I think getting him out of the cage isn’t a problem. He used his sword to open it, and we could do the same. The problem is, the Fomorians will be freed again as soon as he’s out. Then the world burns, and that is something we want to avoid. So, we need a way to kill them for good.”
Ossian plucked a book from the shelf. “And we only have a few days to do it, I think, before he misses the deadline on his destiny and all that.”
My eyebrows crept up. So many things I didn’t know about my mate. “And what exactly is his destiny?”
Ossian plopped down at the table again and slid a large book over to me. He opened another one before him. “Oh, I’m not telling you that. I assume he had a reason not to tell you.”
“But it has a deadline?” I asked.
“He has until Samhain, which i
s in a few days.”
It had been a warm start to autumn, and I’d forgotten Samhain was approaching. “Okay. I knew he had a destiny, but not what it was. And I know it’s the only thing that matters to him, which is why I’m baffled that he locked himself up in that soul cage. He’s a force of nature, and he seems to get what he wants.” I drummed my fingertips on the table. “He is flame and stone and blood and ash, and I’m not sure I want to see what happens when he’s disappointed.”
Ossian licked his finger to turn the page in his book “Well, he would light the world on fire.”
I shivered. Now, the breeze felt a little cooler. “Like in the old days? When he used to burn people alive in his cave for fun?”
“Ah, the Salem of old.” He turned another page. “I think he tried to leave that beast behind, but I’m not sure he managed it. You ask me, that’s why he’s so—” He stopped himself, then flipped another page. “It’s why he wants to achieve his destiny so badly.”
A chill rippled over my skin. My mate was a beautiful monster, and we hardly knew each other. And yet I was desperate to set him free again.
Whatever he was, I felt connected to him as if by a cord of fire that burned between us. He’d made a sacrifice for me, hadn’t he?
I rubbed my eyes, trying to focus on the book. As I turned the pages, I saw it was all about the magical creatures of the sea, but I wasn’t sure I’d find the right answers in it. “So far, the only solution I know of is that a god could take his place. With another deity or fallen god in the soul cage, the chasm will stay shut. But I don’t imagine we’d have any volunteers. And he wouldn’t be very happy if I threw Shahar in there a second time.”
Sea Fae Trilogy Page 45