by G. Bailey
Save the Sea
Saved by Pirates series
G. Bailey
Contents
Description
Prologue
1. Chapter One
2. Chapter Two
3. Chapter Three
4. Chapter Four
5. Chapter Five
6. Chapter Six
7. Chapter Seven
8. Chapter Eight
9. Chapter Nine
10. Chapter Ten
11. Chapter Eleven
12. Chapter Twelve
13. Chapter Thirteen
14. Chapter Fourteen
15. Chapter Fifteen
16. Chapter Sixteen
17. Chapter Seventeen
18. Chapter Eighteen
19. Chapter Nineteen
20. Chapter Twenty
21. Chapter Twenty-One
22. Chapter Twenty-Two
23. Chapter Twenty-Three
24. Chapter Twenty-Four
25. Chapter Twenty-Five
26. Chapter Twenty-Six
Epilogue
Afterword
Heir Spin off
-
Excerpt from Runes of Truth by G. Bailey-
Links
Also by G. Bailey
Save the Sea © Copyright 2018 by G. Bailey.
All rights reserved.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademark owners of various products, brands, and/or stores referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners. For permission requests, email [email protected].
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Love. Death. Power. When all these words are marked on Cassandra’s soul, can she really save anyone?
Cassandra has finally escaped the king, only to find herself in the middle of the rebels and a war that she is meant to be the leader of. When the changed ones of the mountains go to war, Cassandra and her pirates have to travel across the seas to the mermaids who are the only ones that can help.
But what is the price of the mermaids’ help?
War is whispered, much like the Sea god whispers to Cassandra, but no one speaks the ending.
Can death be the only winner?
18+
**Reverse Harem series and book 3 of 3. **
For those that belong to the sea.
Prologue
Cassandra
“I-I can’t do it,” I say, dropping the crown and dagger onto the floor, staying still as they bounce on the wood before settling. The sounds of dragons roaring, swords smashing against each other, and screams can be heard outside. Yet, the room is eerily silent in a way. Queen Riah keeps her eyes locked with mine, not blinking, not moving. She is like a doll, no fear showing in her eyes as I face her with a dagger. Not even when it is clear that I came here to kill her. Her lips mumble something, but it’s nothing that I can make out as actual words. I watch her lean down and picking up the crown, a glow floating up her arms.
“You must let me die. You have to save the future, you have to save the sea, Cassandra,” she insists. It’s the most I’ve ever heard her speak. Maybe the crown is giving her some power that she is able to use to speak to me normally. To be able to get past the damage that has been done to her by a man she once loved and trusted.
“You’re their mother, and I love them. I can’t do this to them,” I say, taking a deep breath. While I need to be strong, to be emotionless, I'm not. I can’t do this, and it will cost me everything.
“You love my sons. They are your chosen,” she says, and looks down at the crown for a long while. I don’t answer her, she knows the answer, anyway.
“They are fighting the king now, with my other chosen and my army. They don’t know I’m here, or what I came to do,” I explain to her, hating that I had to make this decision without them. And I still couldn’t do it.
“They wouldn’t stop you. It’s time that I died, and you will be able to send my evil chosen after me. I will make sure he pays in death. His soul will burn with the god of souls in hell,” she exclaims, and I believe her completely. I can see the determination in her eyes. She looks up, her eyes so much like Ryland’s as she smiles when her mouth parts in shock. She coughs, blood trickling out of her mouth, and I look down to see the end of a long dagger jutting through her stomach.
“Finally, I get to be with my chosen,” she murmurs as the dagger is pulled out. “Not that they ever really left me,” she whispers as the light in her eyes fades, and her soul leaves her body. She falls suddenly, and I catch her, holding her to me as I look up and see who has killed the queen.
“You . . . . How could it be you?”
1
Chapter One
Cassandra
“Yes, of course I will marry you. You never even had to ask. I’ve belonged to each one of you from the moment you saved me,” I say, watching as each of their faces light up. Hunter slides the ring onto my finger before he pulls me into his arms. I bury my face in his neck, sliding my arms around him as he holds me close. I breathe in his familiar scent, loving how I feel so safe in his arms, so right. He holds me tightly, almost like he never wants to let me go, and to be honest, I don’t want him to either. Hunter pulls back a little, smoothing his hands over my scar-free arms, with enough emotion swirling in his dark eyes that I never want to look away. I do, though, only for a second to take in his appearance, and how much one year has changed him. His hair is longer than before, hitting his chest. It’s smooth and dark, with the familiar feather back in its rightful place. Hunter has grown a slight beard, which makes him look older and meaner, but the love in his eyes reminds me that the most important thing hasn’t changed. I can feel my bond with all of them spark up inside of me, feeling alive with happiness at being so close to them all. I glance around quickly at my other chosen, seeing each of them watching me with content and happy looks. There’s a longing between us, but more for them as so much time has passed for them. It doesn’t feel like we have left the castle, and all its nightmares, all that long ago for me. How did they make it a whole year without knowing where I was? If it was the other way around, I don’t think I could do it. I would lose my mind, I would drown the world to find them. They are my loves, my chosen, my pirates, and soon will be my husbands.
“How are you healed? It doesn’t make sense. I saw my father throw a fireball at you. You shouldn’t look like this,” Hunter asks, snapping me back from my thoughts and back to my pirates. I look at my pale arms, scar-less and perfect, and part of me hates to see my skin like this. It makes it seem like my life has been perfect, flawless, and it’s not been. If anything, I love the flaws in my life, they've shown what I have survived. Reminded me what I need to fight for. There was a beauty to the scars I had, a beauty that shows I survived.
“The sea god healed me, but I don’t know how. I woke up like this,” I admit as he pulls me back to him, surrounding me with his warm scent. I feel him slide his hands through my long hair, just as I bury my face near his neck. I see his purple feather out of the corner of my eye, and it reminds me of home. Our home, my pirates, and everything we will have to fight for now. The king wouldn’t have been sitting around doing nothing for this l
ast year, and that means he will have been planning this whole time. He could be better prepared than us. Even thinking of the king sends shivers through me.
“Then I have him to thank, not that the scars changed a thing about you, but you never should have had them. I missed you, little bird,” he says quietly, but every word is filled with emotion, his voice cracking as he calls me by the nickname he always has. How funny it is that the nickname I hated–that I never understood why he called me it–makes me so happy now.
“Why do you call me little bird?” I ask quietly. It’s strange; I know there are so many people in the room, but it is so quiet. So peaceful and silent.
“When I first saw you, you looked like a little bird that wanted to fly away, but I didn’t want to let you go,” he says, and I feel a hand on my shoulder.
“We all agree with never wanting to let her go, brother,” Ryland says, and Hunter reluctantly releases his hold on me. I turn to see Chaz and Ryland right next to me, both watching with equal looks of relief and of love. Zack and Jacob move to their sides, and I don’t know who to run to first. I feel pulled to all of them, and don't want to choose. Jacob’s eye gets my attention, and I walk to him, lifting a hand, placing it on his cheek over the long scar. The scar makes me so angry, knowing the king or his guards must have had something to with it. Another cost of this war with the king.
“What happened?” I ask carefully, and he leans his head into my hand.
“It’s a long story, maybe we should sit as I tell it?” he asks me, and I nod, moving my hand away, but he grabs it and links our fingers.
“Good idea, we have a lot to discuss. Like where exactly you have been for the last year,” Ryland says.
“And what exactly the Sea God wants from our little fighter,” Zack says with a grin, and the guys all nod. I look around at them, taking in the fact they are all much more muscular than I have ever seen them. They look like they are ready for a fight, and in some ways, it makes it easier to tell them that a fight is what we have coming. If we want a future, we are going to have to fight for it. I keep my thoughts to myself as we all slide into the seats in the small kitchen to sit down. The kitchen is simple, small with wooden cabinets that have seen better days. There’s a fireplace for cooking in the corner, with several pans and a kettle resting on it. My eyes instantly go to the boxes and jars of food I can see, knowing that the mountain must have access to a lot of food. The world is starving, but the changed ones are clearly not. I move to sit next to Jacob as he sits down, but he pulls me onto his lap, clearly not willing to part with me, even to just the next seat.
“Why don’t you explain what happened when you escaped, and then I will explain what happened with the sea god,” I say, wanting my answers first, and Ryland chuckles.
“Still as stubborn as ever, I see,” he says, and they all laugh as I roll my eyes at Ryland’s reply. He grins at me; the seriousness of his usual expression is nowhere to be seen for a second, until he seems to remember everything we have to overcome.
“Are Everly and Laura here? What about Roger and Tyrion? Even Salty Sam?” I ask, naming them off quickly, and Chaz answers me.
“All safe and alive, don’t worry about them for now.”
“What about the ship?” I ask.
“Our ship is hidden behind the waterfall with the others.” Chaz replies. Relief flitters through me, everyone is safe . . . for now. I have no doubt, it won’t be that way for long. War is coming, and the king won’t stop until I’m dead. Along with all of my chosen also.
“Why don’t I start the story off?” Chaz asks, leaning back in his seat as I look him over, and my eyes lock on his green ones. He looks older, more serious than the last time I saw him. My playful healer, the sweet and kind man I first met is still somewhere deep inside him. Thankfully, he looks better than what he looked like at the castle. I don’t think I will ever get the memory of seeing him beat up on that floor, covered in bruises and hanging onto life, out of my head. He never deserved that, not for one second. I try to push the memory of how he looked out of my mind, and focus on his face now, how not one bruise mars it. I nod my head, leaning back against Jacob, who slides an arm around my waist, his thumb rubbing circles on my hip in a soothing motion.
“Once we saw you fall, we knew we had to escape. Hunter and Jacob tried to run into the fire after you, but it exploded. It sent them flying backwards into the cave, which collapsed on top of half of us,” I widen my eyes in shock, but Chaz continues with his explanation. “We all wanted to come after you, to save you from the sea, but we couldn’t. It wasn’t something we could do, even though we desperately wanted to. The cave was blocked, Everly and Laura were stuck under rocks, and most of us were hurt from the collapse,” he says.
“We knew you were still alive, our bond told us that much. It's what made it possible for us to pick ourselves up, and get out of the cave,” Ryland says.
“I’m so sorry you all had to wait so long for me to come back. I would never have left you intentionally."
“Where were you, Cassandra?” Ryland asks in a lost voice.
“With the sea god; he saved me. For me, it was an hour or less that I was gone, while I was awake anyway," I say, still not believing that the sea god took so much of my life with my chosen away from me. I am thankful he saved me, but he could have warned me that so much time had passed. I watch as my pirates look between each other, none of them look impressed or disbelieving. I know they believe me, without question.
“What else happened when you escaped?” I ask into the silence, and Chaz clears his throat before he starts speaking.
“Everly and Laura weren’t harmed too badly when we got them out, and with our help they could stand. Laura is still struggling with the stress and some of her injuries from the collapse, but Everly is fine. We had to carry Jacob and Hunter through the caves, as they were knocked out when they hit the cave. It was difficult, to say the least, until they woke up and could walk for themselves. That’s where things really went wrong,” Chaz says, drifting off as he looks at Jacob. I look up at him, holding my hand out to his face.
“I’m just so happy you’re alive, nothing else matters to me,” I whisper to him, but I doubt the others have missed what I said. Jacob’s lips turn up in a small smile before he leans down and presses them gently against my forehead. Words aren’t needed in this moment, the feelings shown on our faces says it all.
“There were at least thirty guards at the end of the cave, standing in between us and the ship,” Ryland cuts into our moment to explain to me, and then shakes his head.
“It was a bloodbath. Thank the gods that we had weapons on us, but we still had serious injuries . . .” Zack says, looking towards Jacob, and then his eyes drift over to Ryland. Ryland stands up, lifting his white shirt and showing me the five scars littered across his stomach. It’s like someone slashed him repeatedly with a sword, over and over again. No one should have been able to survive an attack like that. My heart pounds wildly as Ryland stares at me in silence. I want to go back, make sure none of them are hurt like this. My chosen carry so many scars, scars none of them ever deserved to receive.
“I never believed much in the power of soul mates, of the bond between chosen and changed ones. Well, I didn’t until I had five deadly holes in my body that healed themselves, and I lived,” Ryland says as he pulls his shirt back down, sitting back in his seat. I turn on Jacob’s lap and look up at his eye.
“Then, why didn’t this heal? Why are you blind in one eye?” I ask, wanting to fix it, fix him. I can’t stand the thought of him in any pain, of being blind in one eye while I’m scar free. He has this because of me.
“Not all things can be fixed, but I survived when it was touch and go for a long time. I have you to thank for that Cass,” he says, then kisses my forehead. I almost wish he didn’t thank me, but I don’t want to take away what he believes.
“Don’t thank me. I wasn’t there, fighting by your side like I should have been,” I
say, sliding off of Jacob’s lap, and standing up. I look around at them all and down to my hand, where the ring reflects the light in the room. I look back up, my words coming out stronger and more confident than I feel.
“I won’t leave your side, never again. I will always be there to protect you from now on. Nothing will separate us, not even the sea god,” I declare.
“Not even a god could keep you from us,” Ryland says, the challenge in his voice is clear, and I’m glad he feels the same way as I do. That they all feel that way.
“What happened while you were with the sea god?” Hunter asks me, well, more like demands of me.
“I made a deal, an in-depth deal that requires we find a queen, and some other things,” I say vaguely.
“Tell us the deal, little fighter,” Zack asks.
“A deal is sought after; a deal will be made.
The price is clear, the truth will not be forbidding. The true heir of both water and land must take the throne. The fire-touched king must fall at the hands of the water-touched pirate.
Changed ones must never have the throne and only a changed one can give the crown to the new queen.