Dark King

by C. N. Crawford

  I forced myself to my feet, gasping—one ragged breath, one glorious lungful of air—when slimy seawater started choking me again, smothering my lungs.

  Gods, I need air. I slammed down to my knees again.

  “Stay on your knees where you belong, girl,” she spoke to me, even as she stared at the tendrils of magic spilling from her fingertips. “I need to ask the usurper a few questions. I’ve got him exactly where I need him.”

  The thick, heavy scent of the sea pressed down on us like rotten sand. I felt trapped deep in the abyss, unable to breathe.

  I kept my eyes on my mother, trying to stand again.

  She lifted her fingertips—her claws—in front of Lyr’s face. “I had my nails done. Iron doesn’t hurt me anymore, since I recovered from death. I’ll give you once chance to tell me how to get to my kingdom before I start carving into your flesh.”

  The magical bindings around Lyr were cutting into his skin, drawing blood. They’d immobilized him.

  I was still gripping the athame, but I couldn’t breathe.

  One breath—one glorious breath of air filled my lungs. Then, another wave of foul seawater rose in my throat.

  When I looked up again at Lyr, I saw that my mother had draped herself on him like a lover. Except she was digging an iron claw into his shoulder, opening his old wound. She wiggled her nail around, and I could see the pain etched on his features. The urge to save him burned through my body like wildfire. I wanted nothing more than to release him from his pain.

  “You brought me back to rule Ys,” my mother purred like a lover while dark blood ran down his body. “And now you won’t let me rule. I believe I can help you rethink the situation. Haven’t you always wanted to know how it felt for your dear old mum when she died?” She jabbed another nail into his chest—near his heart, but not in it. “Shall I strip you naked as well?”

  I wanted to tear her vile head off her body. This wasn’t my mother. She was a thing. An abomination that never should have existed.

  I just needed her to pull her attention off the magical ropes, long enough for Lyr to get control again. That’s all I needed. One moment of pure distraction from her, to stop her from hurting Lyr.

  No air.

  I coughed up another lungful of rancid seawater, then forced myself up, staggering, the athame in my hands. The Meriadoc power gave me strength. As it flowed through my muscles, I sucked in a sharp breath.

  “Egoriel glasgor lieroral banri mor!” I shouted, finally getting the entire spell out.

  Powerful sea magic burst down my arm, exploding from the end of the athame, slamming into her chest. She staggered back, shocked, her skin now ashen, eyes dark.

  She was still standing, but she’d pulled her attention off her magic. That was all I needed, just a moment of distraction so Lyr could get control—

  She shot forward fast as lightning and struck me in the chest.

  The blinding pain spreading through my ribs told me something was wrong.

  I thrust the athame into her body, stabbing her between the ribs. “Egoriel glasgor lieroral banri mor!” I rasped.

  Sea magic rippled all over my body, pure pleasure with the athame’s hilt in my hands. My mother’s murky eyes flew open.

  I read betrayal in them. My heart was breaking. Time slowed down as I stared into her watery eyes, flecked with phosphorescence. She’d once been like a home to me; she’d once stroked my hair while she told me about the apple orchards on the far side of Ys. She’d taught me to be careful, that men were wolves and a woman needed to look after herself. Mama.

  Then, before me, her body crumbled into wet ash. With my heart ripping in two, I stared down at her remains, her pearly crown resting on top of the ash.

  No, my heart was actually breaking…

  When I looked down at my own chest, I saw that she’d thrust her fingernails into my heart—and they remained jutting from my chest, even when the rest of my mother had crumbled.

  Time seemed to stretch on. All the breath left my lungs as I stared down at the iron spikes in my heart.

  Lyr shouted my name, catching me in his arms. He pulled me to him, but he seemed distant, and I couldn’t hear him anymore. I couldn’t see him.

  I wanted to reach for him, but my heart stopped, and my world went dark.

  Chapter 39

  I floated under the sea, in lifeless and dark water.

  I thought maybe I’d always been here.

  I’d always be here.

  I belonged to the sea of nothing.

  In the distance, a star burned, and milky rays of light threaded through the water. It was beautiful, but it wasn’t supposed to be here. Pale, morning light strained for me. A morning star. A flicker of its power washed over me, then faded again, leaving my chest empty.

  I floated in darkness again, and the cold of the water seeped into my skin and bones. So this was what death was like. Maybe it was different for everyone.

  Pure sadness, iron-sharp, sliced into my chest—exquisite despair cut me in two. This was my death. And in my death, the cold, dead sea didn’t feel like home. I needed to breathe. The god of the depths wanted me to suffer. He was claiming a part of my soul.

  Briny seawater began to seep into my mouth, dripping down my throat.

  I’d always been here. I always would be. Pierced with iron, drowning in the sea hell. This was my eternity.

  I could feel the god of the depths pulling my soul from my body—

  Then, a warm hand clamped around my arm, ripping me from the sea.

  Sunlight and air bloomed around me.

  I landed hard on a grassy shore, and I rolled onto my back. Power flooded me now—divine, marine power that I once possessed. I felt the sea in my soul.

  I stared up at the Ankou, the sunlight haloed around him as he knelt over me. He leaned down and kissed me on the forehead, then lay down in the grass next to me. Wildflowers spread out around us, and I tried to remember their names from childhood—purple woundwort, sea carrot, creeping buttercups, scarlet pimpernel. Blackthorn, with white blossoms, climbed low stone walls around the field. Ahhhh, how had I gone from the sea hell into this heaven?

  I filled my lungs with beautiful air—air that smelled of Ys: water mint, salt, the wildflowers around me.

  Lyr reached for me, then pulled me toward him, lying back on the grass. He wrapped his arms around me protectively, and I rested my head on his chest, listening to his heart. It beat in time to the melodic music of Ys. Distantly, the bells of Ys chimed.

  “Are we in Ys?” I asked. “What’s happening?”

  He ran his hand down my hair, soothing me. I never wanted to move from here. I’d been so angry at him before, but it didn’t matter now, did it? Because he wanted to keep me safe, and I wanted to keep him safe, and nothing else mattered.

  Except—was I still dead?

  “I pulled your soul from hell.”

  “So where are we?” I asked.

  “This is your paradise. It’s very much like Ys, but you created it.”

  “Are you really here?” I wrapped my arms around Lyr’s waist.

  “Yes.”

  I should’ve been devastated that I was dead, but it was so beautiful here. It was so perfect. And Lyr was with me. I rested my head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. Vibrant life pounded in his chest.

  When I touched my own chest, I felt nothing. Stillness in my ribs, my heart poisoned with iron. A flicker of disturbing wrongness pulled me out of my joy for a moment.

  “What’s about to happen next will be unpleasant,” he said.

  Dizziness swarmed in my mind. “What do you mean?”

  Without another word, his body seemed to fall away beneath me, the earth ripped out from under us. I fell, and noise engulfed me. It was the sound of Lyr’s screaming, and the clanging of the bells of Ys, growing louder and louder.

  Why did Lyr sound like he was in so much pain?

  I landed hard on a stone floor, head cracking against the ground. Po
wer flooded my limbs—sea magic. My magic. Ahhhh. Sea-foam roiled in my blood.

  I pushed myself up onto my elbows. I was alive again—back in the rocky cavern.

  But Lyr wasn’t here anymore. Nor was my mother.

  To my horror, Salem was standing over me.

  My mind reeled, and I tried to figure out what the hells had just happened.

  I’d died… and Lyr had brought me back.

  Just like with Mama.

  But I didn’t feel like an abomination. In fact, I felt like I had my power back.

  My heart beat again.

  I looked down at my fingertips, which glowed with blue-green magic.

  “I got my magic back.” Death and the athame had returned it to me.

  Queen Aenor Dahut… the sea winds whispered my name. I could smell the power on me. I could feel the waves of marine power crashing in my chest. My mind filled with the noise of the ocean’s magic, the roar of waves.

  Gods, I wanted to use it all at once. I had a violent urge to drown everyone who’d ever wronged me.

  I’d start with Salem, the man who ruined my life.

  “Well, well, well. What a time to be alive,” he said.

  I rose to my feet, staring at him. A smile curled my lips.

  He arched an eyebrow. “You look very pleased with yourself for someone who just died.”

  I beckoned to him, trying to draw water to me. I wanted to suck his body dry, leave him like the desiccated hearts on my wall.

  He breathed in deeply, looking disturbed. Ruffled. For just a moment, those beautiful twilight eyes looked unnerved. Then he regained his composure again, flashing me a languid smile, his posture at ease.

  My power wasn’t working like it should, and dizziness fogged my skull. The roaring sound of my magic was deafening me. It wasn’t working.

  I swayed on my feet, nearly falling, but Salem swept an arm around my waist to steady me.

  I stepped away from him, baring my teeth. “Don’t touch me.”

  He laughed softly. “A little ungrateful, isn’t it? I let you come back from the dead unharmed, and the first thing you do is try to kill me. I think I feel a little hurt.”

  I took another step back. My head was spinning. “How did you end up here in this cave?”

  The light in his twilight eyes dimmed for a moment, and he shrugged. “You tasted the fruit I gave you. I told you. It means I can always find you. And it means I felt your spirit die. I’ve spent a long time looking for you, and wouldn’t it be sad if the fun ended so soon? Sadly for you, it doesn’t seem that you got all your magic back. Just one little delicious taste.”

  I pressed my hand against my heart, feeling it beat beneath my palm. My chest was indented where the abomination had pierced my heart, but the skin had already healed over.

  I’m here. Alive.

  Lyr had brought me back. Just like he’d brought my mother back. Did that mean he’d been thrown into the hell worlds again?

  “I was here with Lyr.” I cast my gaze around the room. “I just heard him screaming like he was in agony. What did you do to him?”

  “What did I do to him? How about we talk about what I didn’t do to him. I didn’t shoot iron bullets into his chest or attack him with the athame.”

  Nausea turned my stomach, and I clutched it. The initial rush of power I’d felt when I’d emerged from the death realm had sputtered and died out. “Tell me exactly what happened.”

  “You know, you make a lot of demands for someone who was trying to kill me seconds ago.” He tapped his lips. “I felt you die. I felt your soul leave this world from this very spot.”

  My heart tightened. “How?” It took me a moment to realize the fruit I’d eaten might have something to do with it.

  “Because, Aenor. You’re linked to me now. Lyr was holding your wretched corpse when I came into the cave, then he simply disappeared, screaming.”

  Panic gripped my chest. Now, I remembered what Lyr had told me. When he’d brought my mother back from death, it felt like he’d spent an eternity bouncing through hells.

  My resurrection had sent him to the hell worlds—again.

  It smelled of burnt flesh in here. My muscles were tensed, ready to fight, but I didn’t have the energy.

  “I see you killed your mother, too.” Salem crossed to the wet pile of ashes. “There. Doesn’t she look nice like that? It suits her. It’s a bit sad, though. I’ve been looking for her for ages, and it’s a shame I didn’t get to kill her again.” He stepped on her ashes, then ground them into the floor with his shoe. “There were questions I wanted to ask her.” Anger tinged his last statement, his mask of composure slipping.

  Bile rose in my throat at the gesture. Maybe she’d become an abomination, but she’d once been a great queen, and Salem was stepping on her. That old hatred for the Nameless One burned in me like a star.

  My fingernails pierced the skin of my palms.

  I’d find a way to get all my power back from him. All of it.

  He turned back to me, his gaze piercing me. His strange beauty was like a dagger in my heart.

  Lyr had caused all this, with his crime against the gods. He never should have brought my mother back. He shouldn’t have hidden it from me. But I couldn’t be angry with him—not when he’d sacrificed part of his soul to revive me.

  Everyone made terrible decisions sometimes. I certainly had.

  I pressed my hand on my heart again. “How come I’m not an abomination?”

  I was asking the question to myself, but Salem turned to me. He snorted with laughter. “What makes you think you’re not?”

  I breathed in, glorious air filling my lungs—even if it smelled a bit of burning bodies and sulfur.

  “I don’t feel any different,” I said. “I don’t feel evil.”

  “Nobody feels evil.” His dark laugh echoed off the walls.

  Salem’s attention was rapt on me. I don’t know why, but it made me feel like the center of the universe.

  “In any case, I’m not done with you. I came here because I felt you die, and I was relieved to find you recovered. You work for me now, Aenor, and I don’t want to lose an asset.”

  My heart started beating faster. “Bullshit. What do you need me for? Why aren’t you trying to chain me up or torture me or something?”

  “I don’t need to chain you up. I’ll be seeing you again in the future.”

  “Where is Lyr?” I asked again.

  “Let’s see… he journeyed with you to the hell worlds to get you and then disappeared. I imagine he’s being tortured somewhere. Probably still screaming. You really are a terrible girlfriend.”

  Anger simmered. “Where?”

  “Fuck knows. Death is his world, not mine. Also, I don’t care. I hope that clears things up.”

  I glanced at the shattered wooden door, then at the athame on the floor. He didn’t particularly seem to care about the athame, which was just about as baffling as everything else about him.

  I turned away from Salem, looking for signs of Lyr, my hand on my beating heart. An evil presence hung in the cavern, a sense that terrible things had happened here. It was probably Salem himself, exuding menace.

  “My mother said this was your home.” My voice echoed. “This foul hell hole is a fitting place for you.”

  When I turned back to him, I found he was gone.

  How did that happen?

  I snatched the athame off the floor, and I broke into a run. I fought past the dizziness, propelled by desperation to find out what happened to Lyr. I needed him, and I needed Gina.

  I had the athame now.

  At the mouth of the cave, a figure loomed in the light. By the tall, spiked crown and the golden light emanating from him, I knew it was Lyr. I practically slammed into his chest.

  He loomed above me in his Ankou form, and the World Key gleamed on his chest.

  “Lyr! Are you okay?”

  Golden eyes gleamed in the darkness, a haunted look in his eyes. “Yes.”


  “What happened to you?”

  “It doesn’t matter. I’m back now. Your mother sent you to the sea hell. I had to bring you back.”

  I gripped his arms. “But you turned her into a monster when you brought her back. Will I turn evil?”

  “You were only dead for moments. She’d been dead decades before I brought her back, losing parts of her soul. When I found her in the death realm, she already seemed demented. When I found you in the death realm, you seemed the same. I took a chance, and I was right.”

  It was still a crime against the gods, and Lyr would have to pay for that.

  “And what happened to you?” I asked.

  “I flew from one hell to another, until finally, I ended up in the realm of the Winter Witch.” He lifted the key. “She returned the World Key to me, and I opened the portal.”

  I slid my arms around his neck, and I pressed my body against his. His clothes and hair were soaked with freezing water, but heat from his body warmed me.

  Slowly, the blue was returning to his eyes. I wanted Lyr now, not the Ankou.

  I pressed my hand against his cheek, looking up into his eyes. “Are you okay?”

  His eyes seemed to search mine. “I should have told you about your mother. I felt ashamed of the mistake I’d made. I thought that once I killed her again, it was all over. I had no idea she could come back. I only knew her soul wasn’t in the sea hell anymore.”

  “We all do dumb crap, Lyr. Even divine death gods like you.”

  His wild magic skimmed my skin, and I felt like I was melting into him. He’d literally traveled into the hell worlds to save me. “Why did you bring me back?” I asked.

  “Because I’d do anything for the true queen of Nova Ys.”

  “And you weren’t worried that I’d come back monstrous like my mother?”

  “Maybe a little worried, but you don’t seem any worse than you did before.”

  “You’re such a charmer.” I took a deep breath. “Salem came into the cave when you were holding me.”