by C. S. Wilde
The dragon lifted its head and peered into the orb with big blue eyes that easily matched Mera in height. Legend said these magnificent creatures were children of the moon and sea. This one resembled a star fallen from the sky, which wasn’t entirely far-off.
“Hi.” She smiled, hiding her fear. Wild beasts often picked up on that.
The dragon pushed its long neck forward, sniffing the offering using the gills under its jaw.
Belinda suddenly zinged closer, coming from behind the dragon. She carried the strap made of hermit crab shells Mera had packed.
Too soon!
Realization dawned in the dragon’s eyes, and it opened its gaping, sharp-toothed maw. A sapphire glow burned at the back of the beast’s throat, heating the water around Mera.
Waterblaze.
“Poseidon in the trenches,” she cursed, just as the creature’s long neck jerked to the side.
Belinda, that irresponsible maverick, had already launched herself onto the dragon’s long neck, quickly whipping the strap across its mouth, and fixing it into a makeshift bridle.
“Your timing was off!” Mera shouted.
“It was going to eat you!”
“It was sniffing the orb!”
Gritting her teeth, Belinda grumbled a curse as she pulled at the harness. “The damage is done! Jump on!”
The dragon shrieked, the sound rippling through the sea right before waterblaze burst from its throat, a burning plasma jet that destroyed half of its cave. The stones on the upper left of the rock crumbled to the sea floor.
Opening its mighty wings, the beast boosted forward, swimming right above Mera’s head.
She had to act fast.
Breaking water, she propelled herself forward, chasing after the dragon and her friend.
“This is incredible!” Belinda shouted ahead, while the creature writhed and twirled, trying to break free. Its spiky tail swung twice, nearly knocking over Mera.
“Hold it still!” she barked.
“I’m trying!”
Speeding up, she finally found an opening in the dragon’s frantic movements. Mera boosted one final time before wrapping her arms around Belinda. Tightening her legs around the dragon’s smooth neck, she settled atop the beast. “We have to let go.”
“No way. We’re taking it home!”
“You can’t tame a water dragon!” She pointed to the crab-shelled strap. “It’ll snap soon! The heat is too intense.”
As if on cue, the beast spewed forth its waterblaze once again.
Belinda struggled with the dragon’s harness, wrapping the strap tighter around her arms. “It’s the only way to defeat your mother!”
Mera appreciated the gesture, but she valued Belinda’s life more than the opportunity.
The dragon bolted faster, hovering high above the trenches. Mera glanced down at the endless chasms of darkness below them. Not even her sonar could unveil what lay inside those ancient cracks, which seemed to split the ocean floor in half.
Out of what had to be desperation, the creature swiveled down, dragging them toward the infinite darkness.
Oh, it was smart.
The dragon’s waterblaze hurled through the shadows as it plunged, shrieking and thrashing.
“We have to let go!” Mera yelled.
“Never!”
They reached the threshold, diving into a gloom so intense, they couldn’t see anything ahead. When the beast roared its blue blaze once again, the burst didn’t spread. Almost as if the darkness had swallowed it.
Warnings blared in Mera’s mind, but she couldn’t quite explain why. Other than a deep darkness, there was nothing to be feared in the trenches. Certainly, no ancient gods or mighty creatures from times of old.
Yet, the alarms still blared.
Hooking her arms under Belinda’s shoulder, she stared back to the distancing ocean above. Soon, the pitch-black would engulf their only way out.
Mera had swam in darkness before, but never in the inky void of the trenches. Finding the exit after light vanished completely would be difficult, if not impossible.
Taking a courageous gulp, she boosted up, pulling her friend along as she brought them to safety.
If only she could take the dragon as well… Watching as the darkness swallowed the beautiful creature, Mera felt a pang of regret.
“No!” her friend bellowed, thrashing against her grip, but Mera didn’t let go.
The moment they landed on the edge of the rift, close to a patch of towering seaweed, Belinda jerked away. “Godsdamn it! It was our chance to help you!”
“You mean help the resistance?”
Belinda blinked, her mouth opening and closing. “You shouldn’t speak about what you don’t understand. They’re trying to save you.”
“And what have they done so far? I’m still being tortured every day, and they’re still being squashed by the queen’s guard!” Mera swallowed, a scratchy sensation prickling the back of her throat. “That creature was so desperate to get rid of us, it plunged into the trenches. How does that help anyone?”
“I wouldn’t worry.” Belinda crossed her arms, yet avoided peeking at the trenches. “Water dragons are smart. There’s nothing in there to feed on, so it will follow the smell of food.”
“Oh, you mean us?”
Her friend gulped. “Hmm, I think we better go.”
A violent, beastly shriek suddenly burst from the chasm, making the ground shake. A shriek that carried a mix of pain and horror. The dragon roared once, twice, and though they heard the bursts of waterblaze, they couldn’t spot a single sapphire spark in the shadows.
Mera and Belinda exchanged a worried glance.
“I thought there was nothing down there,” Mera muttered.
“Maybe an ancient creature. Do you think we awakened… something?”
A sleeping predator? Not entirely impossible.
“We have to help the dragon. We’re the reason it went there in the first place.” Mera pointed to the patch of high gulfweed next to them. “We can use the stems as ropes to guide us back to the surface once we dive in.”
Without wasting time, she inched toward the patch, but a hand grabbed her shoulder, yanking her back. “Belinda, what—”
When she turned around, Mother was glaring at her.
Queen Ariella’s expression might be stern and cold, but fury pulsed in her green eyes. “What is the meaning of this?”
“We wanted to fetch a water dragon for you, my queen,” Belinda lied, but she was a terrible liar and couldn’t hide her hate for Mother, neither in her tone nor in the way she glared at her.
“Did you?” Twisting her hand up, Mother sent a whirlpool rushing around Belinda, pulling her in a thousand different directions.
Her friend’s screams tore at Mera’s soul; shrieks awfully similar to the dragon’s. The queen increased the flow, and Mera heard a bone in Belinda’s arm snap; a thick, cracking sound that stabbed her heart.
“Mother, stop!”
She arched one eyebrow at her. “Make me, weakling.”
Mera fisted her hands, trying to find ways to stop the queen, but it was futile. Mother was a grown-up, a sovereign who ruled with an iron fist and a thirst for violence. Mera, on the other hand, was only a merling.
How could she defeat the most cruel waterbreaker in Atlantea—no, the entire world?
“Punish me instead,” she offered.
The whirlpool dissipated into the water, and Belinda pulled in long gulps of air through her gills.
Without breaking eye contact with Mera, the queen ordered her friend to go. Belinda didn’t move, even with a broken arm.
Refusing to obey. Resisting.
“I won’t ask again,” Mother warned.
Mera nodded at her friend, a silent plea for her to go. Defying the queen meant a death sentence, either for Belinda or for them both.
Still, she didn’t move.
“Please, Bel,” Mera begged.
“I’ll tell Professor Curre
nter and your uncle Barrimond where we’ve been, princess. I’m sure they’ll be eager to hear about our adventure.” A threat to the queen, a silent message that said Mera better return to Atlantea in good health.
Ariella’s lips curled into a smile, as if she found Belinda amusing. In truth, so did Mera.
Her friend should know by now that the queen could do as the queen so wished. If that meant murdering Mera in cold blood… she could do that, too. She’d done it already with the brothers and sisters Mera would never get to meet.
Indeed, her friend’s ‘threat’ was hollow, but Mera appreciated her intent.
Begrudgingly, Belinda left.
Once they were alone, Mother went to the ridge, stopping on the edge to look down at the darkness. “Sacrificing for your friend? You’re too obvious in your ways, daughter.”
Odd that the queen hadn’t begun beating her to an inch of her life, but Mera wasn’t about to remind her.
“How did you find us?”
“A servant warned me you were missing. I followed your scent, but it was easy finding you from a distance.” She pointed to higher up. “I saw you flying on that water dragon’s back from miles away. I assume it’s down there?”
Mera nodded. “Can we help it?”
“The creature is gone. Poseidon has found it.”
Lies. The gods weren’t real.
Mother sensed Mera’s lack of faith in the same way a shark caught the scent of blood from miles away. “Poseidon found it, but worse, he has found you.” A strange tone weaved through her voice, but it couldn’t be fear. The queen feared nothing and no one. Turning in the direction Belinda had taken, Ariella’s mouth contorted into a downward curve. “He’s found you both.”
Chapter 11
Bast glared at a page he’d ripped from the history book, narrowing his eyes at Azinor’s sketch. He could swear the sarking shig was taunting him through his ink-lined stare.
“It can’t be done,” Corvus stated from his left, leaning over the outer porch’s marbled railing, both of them facing one of the Night Palace’s many gardens. “Even if I knew where Atlantea was, even if I could winnow us to the trenches, no special diving suit would handle the water pressure. We’d be smashed to a pulp. Unlike waterbreakers, our bodies can’t adapt to harsh environments.”
Folding the page, Bast tucked it in his pocket. “Atlantea isn’t located so deeply. For the trenches, I was thinking we should use a Nightbringer. We could lower ourselves into the crack using the iron bells attached to the ship.”
“I suppose our forefathers went the same route.” Corvus sighed. “This is a terrible idea. Say we do get to Atlantea. How would we go by unnoticed?”
“Cloaking spell.”
“I must interrupt, brothers.” Ben reclined on a chair, soaking up the sun with his eyes closed as if he didn’t have a worry in the world. “Tagrad invaded the sirens’ borough, took them from their homes, and banished them to Atlantea, which was completely destroyed by then. Surely, waterbreakers leave passing Nightbringers alone, but diving into their territory is something else entirely. One doesn’t have to be a genius to predict Atlanteans would attack you first and ask questions later. Also, if you’re caught, it will be a declaration of war.”
He was right. Going to Atlantea was nothing short of a suicide mission—and a diplomatic disaster.
Surely, the cloaking spell could work, but Mera had told Bast about Queen Ariella’s technology. Atlantea seemed to be some steps ahead of Tagrad in the matter, and if infra-reds could easily break through a cloaking spell while on land, he could only imagine what Atlantean technology might do.
Too high of a risk.
There had to be another way to prove Azinor had been imprisoned in the trenches, and that he’d escaped.
Setting his elbows on the white marble railing, Bast massaged his forehead with the heels of his hands.
Poseidon could break through the magic that protected Tagrad from waterbreakers, just like Mera. Not only that, but he’d impregnated Sara Hyland, a local drug dealer who held the Summer King’s heart.
Angered that she’d sought refuge with the Summer Court, Poseidon got rid of her by glamouring the king’s son into taking her life, and by default, the life of her unborn child.
Poseidon’s unborn child.
The cruel prick had a god complex, and clearly avoided getting his hands dirty. Impossible, really, that he and Azinor weren’t the same person.
An idea came to Bast in the same way lightning struck the ground—explosively and at once. He didn’t need to reach Atlantea. Actually, he didn’t need to leave the continent.
“If Azinor is indeed the criminal I’m chasing, he can cross the protection zone. That means we could lure him out.” A smile formed on his lips as he turned to Corvus. “Forget about going to Atlantea. Let’s set up a trap for him here, on land.”
His brother seemed to consider it. “It could work, but what does he want badly enough to come out of hiding?”
Halle. Bast couldn’t guess Azinor’s angle, nor his ultimate goal.
“Isn’t it obvious, brothers?” Ben taunted from the reclining chair, his eyes still closed as he enjoyed the sun. “He wants revenge. It’s written in the bloody book.”
“Our great-great-whatever-grandfather did imprison him in the trenches,” Corvus lifted his shoulders. “Maybe we can use ourselves as bait.”
Bast considered it, but… “If he wanted revenge against us, he would have exacted it already.”
“Unless he’s biding his time.”
For what?
“Maybe he wants revenge against all of Tagrad,” Ben noted. “Offering that to him is certainly impossible, though.”
Absolutely. Even if Bast could give Azinor his supposed revenge, he never would. Danu knew he had done his share of bad things in his life, but as a Hollowcliff detective the country’s security came first. Always.
He would never jeopardize that.
“Let’s work with the Nightling angle, then.” Rubbing the bridge of his nose, he couldn’t help but feel defeated.
Revenge against the Night Court.
How the fuck could he offer that to Azinor?
Chapter 12
Two days had passed since they handed the red pill to Dr. Stone, and still no word from her.
Mera tried calling, but her attempts always went to voicemail. “You’ve reached Doctor Jacinda Stone. Leave your message after the beep.”
The good doc wasn’t the only one missing, however.
Ruth hadn’t been back to the precinct since she’d sent Bast on his mission, but that wasn’t uncommon. Sometimes, the Cap went on missions of her own, which Mera guessed were related to national security. Ruth never admitted it, but the secrecy sounded like highly classified stuff.
Nevertheless, she called her moth… the Cap, to ensure she was okay.
“All good, cookie,” she told Mera. “I’m running some errands for the councilor.”
Ah, the councilor.
Ruth was good friends with Councilor Adams, the human representative in the council of five. The Cap had friends in high places, but one of the five who governed Tagrad? Not even Clifftown’s commissioner had that sort of access.
The councilor had often visited them while Mera was growing up, though he never stayed for long.
Councilor Adams, a tall man who wore pleated suits, had a light-gray beard and a head full of blond-going-white hair. His kind, hazel eyes always stared at Ruth with a certain care, like she was precious to him.
Mera had nagged the Cap for details, but Ruth never admitted to a relationship.
“Dating him would be unprofessional. The country comes first.” And that was all she ever said about that.
“You sent Bast after Poseidon,” Mera stated over the phone.
The line went quiet for a while. “How did you—”
“It doesn’t matter. Why are you treating me like a child?”
“Cookie, it’s not that simple.”
> Yeah. Nothing ever was.
Ruth gave her the excuse she’d expected, claiming she was only looking out for her girl’s safety. Mera didn’t doubt it, but she couldn’t understand why she’d kept her out of the loop. Ruth had never been the overprotective type. After all, her kid worked in the force.
After hanging up, she and Julian went on with their tasks, ignoring their last exchange completely. They had to talk at some point, but at least they seemed to be on the same page for now—the case came first.
‘This will blow up monumentally,’ her siren grumbled.
Yes, but Mera would cross that bridge when she came to it. So, on they went, chasing feeble clues that led them nowhere.
Frustrated didn’t even begin to cover how she felt. Morgan Schmid deserved better than that.
Talking to Bast helped, however.
Later that day, she told him about her case, but when she asked about his investigation on Poseidon, he changed the subject.
Well, she wasn’t having any of it, especially after her call with Ruth.
“Come on, partner. Tell me more.”
“Hmm, curiosity befits you, kitten.” A ghost of his thumb brushed against her chin. “Everything is fine. I hit a stalemate, so I’m trying to work a different angle.”
“Which is?”
“I’ll tell you when I find out.”
His soothing tone, the way he called her kitten, and his invisible caress on her skin; it all made her miss him more.
If Ruth had wanted to cool things between them by keeping them apart, the strategy had backfired. Spectacularly.
‘Next time, fuck his brains out,’ her siren cooed.
“I like that idea.” Bast’s tone sounded feral.
No, ravenous.
Great. She’d forgotten to block her thoughts again.
Mera couldn’t explain why, but she was certain sex with Bast would be a point of no return. Whatever bond they shared solidified with every passing day, and once she gave herself to him… It was a silly feeling, of course, especially since she didn’t believe in the entire soulmate argument.
“You might be right,” he countered, reading her mind once again. “In theory, a hart bond is built by both essence and body. Some say the connection is formally sealed once the parts physically align.”