Dead Sea

by Debbie Cassidy

  “I have a bad feeling about that meeting,” Mina says. “I think … I think my father may have been swayed into whatever scheme the Orville is cooking up. What if it’s some kind of trap?”

  “He won’t be going to the meeting alone.”

  “Finn.” She reaches for me. “You can’t be there. If it is a trap, then you risk crippling your pack.”

  She’s right. “I’ll warn my father.”

  The Lupinata want the council under their control that much is clear, but how they are going to achieve it isn’t. That’s what we need to find out, but if the alpha hadn’t given me a direct order to hold off, I’d be at the Protectorate chamber spilling my guts. They needed to know the Crescent pack is planning a coup.

  There is a knock at the door and then a wary, frightened Nora steps inside. Mina rushes to her side and wraps an arm around her shoulder.

  “Nora, how the heck did you get out?”

  “They all left. They just left, and I ran. I had to come here and tell you what I heard.”

  Mina helps Nora into a seat; she is shaking so bad I imagine I can hear her teeth rattling. The wolf within surges up protectively. This is one of his mates, and someone has hurt her.

  “Tell me what you heard.” I crouch and take her hands. “Take your time.”

  “They said … they said it was almost time, that the deal was almost struck. They said they just needed one more. They needed a human child.”

  Mina locks eyes with mine as her suspicions are confirmed. The missing humans are connected to the Crescent pack’s plan.

  “We need to go to the Protectorate. We need to alert them now.”

  “You will do no such thing,” my father says from the doorway to the study. “This is Lupinata business, and we will deal with it. If we go to the council with this, do you think they’ll thank us? No. They’ll stamp out the Crescent pack and evict us along with them just to be safe. If they discover the plan for a coup, no Lupinata will be looked at as innocent. Our only option is to deal with this in-house and deal with it quietly.”

  I don’t agree, and from the look on Mina’s face, neither does she. But he is the alpha, so we must obey.

  Chapter 14

  I’d spent the past week in Rydian’s company during the day and relaxing with the guys in the evening. We’d settled into a nice little routine, and I’d seen the palace and the surrounding sea grounds. Rydian had opened up to me. He smiled more, and when I’d told him about the incident of me getting stuck in the slender, he’d laughed out loud for the first time, a delicious gravelly sound that had made me smile too.

  He was so far removed from the terrifying creature I’d built up in my mind, and I was beginning to look forward to hanging out with him.

  I brushed back my hair and tied it into a braid, then left my room and headed for the lounge. Emory was crouched over the case with the generator in it, and Deacon was adjusting his cuffs in their bedroom doorway.

  “What are you two up to today?”

  Emory glanced up, his expression distracted. “Generators.”

  Deacon smoothed back his hair, which he’d pulled into a half pony. “I need to contact the Hive, so I’ll be headed to the control room in the first dome.” His gaze flicked over my sea-suited form, lingering on my breasts and hips before sliding away. “Stay with Rydian until I come and find you.”

  I nodded. “No worries. I think he’s going to show me the drop today.” Excitement bubbled in my stomach. We’d spent a lot of time in the water the past couple of days, and it was easy to forget that I wasn’t meant to be this far below the surface and that the suit was the only thing keeping me alive, especially as Rydian was such a formidable force in the water. He made me feel completely safe. It must be so liberating to be able to move through the water unrestricted by a suit like a sea dweller. The ones able to go onto land didn’t have gills; they were able to breathe underwater using their mouths and switching to a different set of organs inside their bodies. It was amazing how their bodies were able to adapt.

  There was a knock on the door, and I hurried to answer. Orlina waited for me with a smile on her face.

  “Are you ready?” she asked. “The king is waiting.”

  “Yep.”

  She led me to the airlock and out into the sea.

  Orlina led me through the palace and dropped me off outside another airlock; this one had double doors, and Rydian was visible through the portholes. He stood with his back to me, looking out onto the expanse beyond the glass that separated the airlock from the deep blue.

  I hit the button and joined him, my mask clutched in my hand. He turned to me with a smile, and I was struck again how much that one action transformed his severe face. He’d pulled his hair back today, and the clean lines of his cheekbones and brow were revealed.

  “It’s been a while since I went as far as the drop,” he said. “We’ve been scouting the eastern waters beyond our borders, but the drop is to the west.”

  “What are you scouting for exactly?”

  “Danger.” The corner of his mouth turned up. “Kelpies.”

  “You mentioned those the other day.”

  “They were a bane to us for a long time. They wanted the royal waters. The two rival clans even united to wage war against us, but they lost. We beat them back, and then the war on the land found us. Several of my people were killed on land by Genesis. It was why we agreed to become involved and help. After all, the threat may have been localized to land, but what was to say it wouldn’t move undersea if not checked.”

  “And the kelpies.”

  “They just vanished. I don’t think there have been any sightings in decades.”

  “They’re able to live on land too, aren’t they?”

  He nodded. “But like any sea dweller, they must return to the sea at regular intervals.”

  “You think they’re still out there?”

  “They must be. Where else could they have gone? They’re biding their time, waiting for us to become complacent, and then they’ll attack.”

  Something tapped on the glass behind us, and I turned to see two women waving at us. Okay, they weren’t waving at me, they were waving at Rydian.

  I touched his arm lightly with my gloved fingers. “Your fan group is here.”

  He sighed and then turned to glare at the women. Their smiles trembled, and then they backed away.

  “Maybe if you just picked a wife, they’d all leave you alone.”

  He made a small sound of amusement in his throat. “Yes, I suppose that would help, except I’m not willing to settle.”

  He looked down on me, locking gazes, something which he seemed to love to do. “I’m not settling for anything less than what my parents had. I want love, Echo. I want that intense connection.”

  How could I argue with that? I nudged him with my shoulder. “Well, I hope you find it before the female population of the dwelling devour you like a bunch of piranhas.”

  He threw back his head and laughed, and the sound warmed me to my very toes.

  “Well, come on then. Show me this amazing drop you’ve been going on about.” I pulled on my mask, and the material melted into the collar of the torso section, bonding seamlessly. I was locked in. “I’m ready.”

  He took my hand and then opened the doors to let the sea in.

  The water closed around us, and we were off. Rydian’s body moved like a wave, sinuous and powerful as he propelled us through the blue, past schools of fish and swaying, multicolored sea flora, across a seabed that glittered as if it was embedded with jewels. This was the twilight zone, and it was beautiful. We zipped around rock structures and through arches made of coral, and my eyes couldn’t take it all in fast enough. Large shrimp floated below us, and a swordfish swam beside us as if along for the ride, and then Rydian was slowing down; he came to a halt floating vertically, his hand still in mine.

  I looked at him with a question in my eyes. He nodded, and then we began to swim forward. Flora rose up be
fore us in a curtain of green, blue, and red. It swayed in the water as if waving hello to us.

  Rydian parted the weeds and pulled me through onto the other side. For a moment, my mind was blank, overloaded by what I was seeing, and then the vastness of the ocean hit me like a sledgehammer. Here it was laid out before me, endless and achingly empty. It was both beautiful in its purity and terrifyingly lonely in its limitlessness.

  I swam closer to Rydian, so my arm pressed to his, and gripped onto his bicep to hold myself there. His laughter was swallowed by the ocean, but it gleamed in his eyes. He jerked his head toward the expanse.

  My heart stalled. What? He wanted to swim out there.

  I shook my head as panic gripped me, because where the heck was the bottom? I guess that was why they called it the drop. He touched my cheek through the mask and squeezed my hand reassuringly.

  Shit. Fuck it. I was with the king of the sea dwellers, what could go wrong? I nodded, and then we were falling into the drop. My heart leapt into my mouth as the darkness below reached up to grab me, but Rydian pulled us up, back into the light. His arm wound around my waist, holding me firm, and some of the anxiety melted away. This wasn’t so bad. It was like being the only two people in the world. He spun me and kicked out, so we were vertical again and treading water face to face, hands clasped.

  Okay, this was good. This was—

  Rydian’s face contorted into one of horror just before something slammed into him, tearing his hands from my grasp and knocking me back; the water churned around me as I went arse over tit. I kicked out to stabilize, heart in my mouth as the frothing sea cleared. Rydian? Where was Rydian? There was only the roar of water in my ears and the rush of my blood in my veins.

  Something moved below me. Something was falling.

  Rydian?

  Without thinking it through, I dove after the figure. Yes, it was him, and there was a stream of dark stuff billowing up in his wake. It took a moment to register, but then the gash on his head became visible. He was bleeding.

  The light was getting less. I had to get him before we hit the midnight layer. Injecting a burst of speed, I reached for his hand and managed to nab his wrist. Time to pull up. I turned my body so that my head was pointed up and began to kick to pull him with me. He wasn’t heavy at all. In fact, his body felt as if it weighed nothing. We were back in the light again, but I’d been turned around so many times, and the expanse all looked the same. Which way did we need to go?

  Wait, the flora. I needed to look for the curtain of weeds. Rydian’s blood tainted the water in front of me as I swam, holding him by the waist to keep him close. Shit, this was hard. There it was. Hope pushed away the fear as I made for the curtain. We were almost there when a dark shape rushed up to block our path. Silver, long, and thick with teeth that protruded from a wide mouth and eyes covered in a white film; it was some kind of eel.

  It lashed its tail, coming straight for us. Shit. I swerved and dove, so its body skimmed above us in the opposite direction, then I came up and made a break for the flora. But it was right at our backs, and it wanted to hurt us. No. Not us, it wanted to hurt Rydian. I didn’t understand why it was attacking, but I knew in my gut it was the same creature that had attacked Rydian in the first place. I had to slow it down. The flora loomed up ahead. I couldn’t allow it to follow us through the curtain. I forced arcana into my fingertips, but even though I could feel it tingling up my arm, it remained trapped in the suit. Shit. There was only one thing to do, only one way to save the king.

  My gaze locked onto the curtain of weeds while my brain made the necessary plan, and then the flora was right in front of me, and I was shoving Rydian through it. As soon as his body vanished onto the other side, I twisted my body and tugged off one of my gloves. It stuck for a moment, not wanting to release me, probably a failsafe because we were in the water, but I yanked hard, and it came away from my skin with a needle-like prickle. My hand was free and lit up with arcana. Arcana which shot out and hit the eel in the face. The fish froze and then sank.

  I had to get to Rydian and stop his bleeding.

  He was slumped on the rocks beyond the curtain, blood curling out of his wound, face too pale. My hand ached, and my body began to tremble, and was that wetness against my skin? I needed to be quick. I ran my hand over his head, pushing arcana into his skin. The wound knit, but I pushed more in, needing him to wake. Pain lanced up my arm.

  I needed to get the glove back on. But even though the damn thing slid on, it wouldn’t lock in to create a water-tight seal. There was water in my suit. Oh, shit. Oh, fuck.

  I yanked at Rydian, lifting him off the ground, and began to swim with him, but the water was at my neck now, and my lungs were struggling for oxygen. The suit was malfunctioning.

  Echo? Lyrian’s voice filled my head.

  Not now. I couldn’t focus to project right now.

  There was no way I was making it back to the airlock in time. The realization was a vise around my chest. Just keep swimming, just try. Just … The water covered my mouth, and I held my breath, held onto Rydian and swam with aching lungs.

  Echo!

  Rydian stirred in my arms, but I couldn’t think because I needed to breathe, I needed to—

  His face loomed in my vision, and then I took the involuntary breath that would kill me.

  Chapter 15

  Drowning. I was drowning! I came up for air gasping and clutching at whatever I could gain purchase on. Arms circled my waist, and a hard chest pressed to my cheek.

  “Hush. It’s all right. You’re safe,” Rydian said.

  Safe…

  Echo? Fucksake. Where are you? Lyrian’s agitation thrummed in my mind.

  I’m okay. I’m fine. Just a glitch, nothing to worry about. I was alive. God I was alive. I’ll check in later. I pushed the door closed, enough to mute the signal but not enough to block it and focused my surroundings.

  There was a mattress under me, marble-like floors to the left of me, and elaborate golden-edged furniture up against the wall … I was back in the palace. But how?

  I pushed him away to study his face. “You’re okay … I’m okay …” I looked down at myself, still in the sea suit but alive. The memory of the desperation, the burn in my lungs, and that moment when I’d succumbed tore through me. I clutched at his arm. “How am I okay?”

  “In order to save you, I had to do something you may not like.” He used the crook of his finger to lift my chin up and force me to look into his eyes. “That eel should never have attacked. We did nothing to spook it; you shouldn’t have had to go through what you did.”

  “You almost died too, and then I was drowning. I don’t get how I’m alive. What did you do?”

  He closed his eyes briefly. “I’m sorry. I had no choice.”

  There was anxiety in his voice, which had my pulse racing. “You saved my life. I don’t care what you had to do.”

  His smile was wary. “You may change your mind when you hear what I have to say.”

  My scalp prickled with foreboding, but my logic told me to suck it up. I was alive, dammit. “Tell me.”

  He studied me as he spoke, watching my face for reactions. “The king chooses an Eternal to be bound to, to share his power and his life, and to do this he gives her his ring.” He lifted my hand, and I saw the rock that had been on his finger was now nestled on mine. It fit perfectly, how was that possible? “It fits,” he said. “Because I gave it to you willingly.”

  Did this mean … Wait, did this actually mean … No. “But you can take it back, right?”

  He shook his head. “No.”

  My voice trembled. “What does this mean?”

  Even though I knew exactly what it meant, I needed to hear him say it.

  “It means you’re my queen.” There was sadness in his eyes and in the downturn of his mouth.

  His queen? Oh, God. That wasn’t what he’d wanted either. He’d told me about his dreams, of a love like his parents had shared. He’d been wai
ting to find it, and now it had been taken from him.

  I cupped his face. “I’m sorry, so sorry.”

  “No.” He covered my hands with his. “You saved my life, Echo. I couldn’t let you die.”

  We remained like that for a long beat, our foreheads touching, breath mingling. There was no way out of this bond, this connection he’d been forced to forge between us. But I was alive because he’d given up his dream, and I was so grateful for that.

  What were the implications of this union? What would he expect of me? The questions fluttered through my mind, but I pushed them away. I needed a minute, we both did. A minute of sanity, of normality, before we dove into the specifics.

  I rolled my forehead against his. “If only your sea suits actually allowed guardians to use arcana.” I leaned back slightly. “Did you know that regular guardians need to have skin contact with their staffs. I don’t need a staff to use arcana, but I couldn’t push the arcana past the sea suit material.”

  His expression was grave. “The sea suits were designed for land dwellers who visited the sea realm. We were unable to design a suit for guardians.”

  “So, how would you have coped if you were attacked? The guardians would be useless.”

  The answer was simple—they hadn’t expected an attack, but once again, I wanted him to confirm it.

  “Attack was always a small possibility,” he said. “The guardians were never called upon for that reason. I demanded them because the people want what they are owed. They want to see that their king and queen didn’t die for nothing. That we got something for their efforts.”

  The pieces of the puzzle of what he’d been telling me the past few days clicked into place. “Your parents died retrieving the crystal?”

  He blew out a breath and leaned back on his hand. “My father and many more were killed. The crystal was in the midnight layer, and there are creatures down there that belong in nightmares. My mother died soon after of a broken heart.” He traced the ring on my finger. “I can’t take this back, and I don’t expect you to remain here with me, but I feel that with time our tentative friendship could develop into more.” He sighed, as if to say it would have to do, and my heart ached for him. “In the meantime, I won’t be holding you back from your guardian duties or the men already in your life. Maybe if the people see a union between sea and land, it will kill the divide between us. There are still many who blame your council, Harker in particular, for the deaths of our monarchy. She was the ambassador that convinced them to make the journey.”