Anger flashed in Esmeralda’s golden eyes. “You are not in control down here, warrior. This is not your world.”
“Everywhere I am is my world,” he snapped back.
Damn, Alice wanted to live life that confidently. It must be so cool! Not that it would be helpful if he catapulted them into a war with the Mageaan, of course. Admirable, but not helpful. He was a man in a woman’s world right now, and he wasn’t adjusting well.
Alice put her hand on his arm, trying to defuse the growing tension. Ian. We need their help. They’re the ones who could take us to Warwick, if they choose. Remember? Let me deal with them. They were once angels, which means I have a connection to them. They were actually so much more similar to her than anyone knew. Anyone but Catherine.
Her heart tightened at the thought of the woman who meant so much to her. She had to find a way out of this situation. Catherine was counting on her. Let me handle this, Ian. She couldn’t keep the urgency out of her voice. Please.
Ian looked at her sharply, and she saw his mind rapidly assessing the situation. He didn’t lower his weapon, but he gave her a slight nod, turning the negotiation over to her. I’ll cover you. Go.
Alice immediately moved up beside Ian, relieved when he didn’t try to shove his manly shoulder in front of her again. Not that she didn’t appreciate his shoulder, but this was a time for estrogen not testosterone. “My name is Alice Shaw. I brought you a pearl of Lycanth to exchange for your help. That is my offer. Not the warrior.”
Jada swam down toward her and held out her hand, the red sections in her hair looking like streaks of fresh blood. And maybe it was. Who knew where the leaders had been before showing up for the apparent town meeting? “Let me see the pearl.”
Alice grimaced. “I lost—”
Triumph flashed in the Mageaan’s eyes, and Ian’s voice breathed through her mind. They have it. I can feel their deception.
Alice narrowed her eyes at Ian’s revelation. Seriously? They’d had it the whole time? Of course they had. They owned the ocean, didn’t they? “You already have it,” she snapped. “You stole it from me with the wind, but you can do nothing with it unless I offer it to you.” She held out her hand. “Give it back to me. Now.”
For a long moment, neither of the women moved, then finally, Jada swam closer. She laughed softly, her voice a melodic beauty in the dark water. “Of course we have it. You foolishly lost it. Speak the words to offer it to us willingly, and we may allow you and the warrior to exit alive.”
Ian touched Alice’s hand. I can get us out alive. We don’t have to bargain for our safety. Negotiate for their help to find Warwick.
Alice glanced at him. There are hundreds of them now, and they’re really not that nice when they decide to murder you.
He raised his brows. I’m not that nice when someone tries to kill me, so it’ll be a fair fight.
Alice tried again, wanting him to understand the nature of the enemy. You’ve heard to beware of scorned women? Well, these women have been scorned, stripped of their identity and their femininity, and left to rot away beneath the sea. Trust me when I say that you’ve never run into the likes of them.
They’ve never run into the likes of me. Ian shrugged. I’m good.
His confidence was so evident that Alice almost believed him. He had, after all, fought for the Order for hundreds of years. A man didn’t survive that by luck. You’re sure?
His intense conviction rolled through her. If I die, I fail my family’s honor and leave you unprotected. Seeing as how I won’t allow that to happen under any circumstances, the answer is yeah, I’m sure. Get it done, and I’ll back you up.
She grinned, a foreign sensation of freedom filling her. She’d spent her life on the run, hiding from herself, avoiding any kind of conflict that would draw her into actions meant to destroy her. She’d always felt powerless…until now. Until this deadly warrior’s offer had given her the freedom to finally stand up for what she wanted.
She’d never had an ally before, but it certainly made things easier. She might be an all-powerful (hah!) angel, but that meant she had no offensive skills. Apparently, an angel wasn’t supposed to be murdered by an evil wizard and then chased by death until she ran out of lives. Angels weren’t supposed to need to defend themselves, and even if they did, they weren’t supposed to inflict harm. Taking one for the team wasn’t so appealing when you were actually facing death.
But now? Different rules. She had a warrior at her back, and she was going to take advantage. Rolling in a sense of confidence she’d never had the luxury of enjoying, Alice set her hands on her hips and eyed the Mageaan. “Thanks, but we’re going to leave alive anyway. The question is whether you get the pearl or not—”
Ian swore suddenly and whirled around, his mace slicing through the air. There was a furious hiss, like steam had been released from the bowels of the earth. Alice turned just as his mace made contact with a Mageaan who had snuck up behind them. His assailant screamed as his weapon cracked into her chest, and she went tumbling down into the ocean depths, her arms held out beseechingly as she fell. Deep purple blood poured from a wound in her chest as her head fell back in the agony of death.
“No!” Alice covered her mouth in horror as the woman’s tail faded to a deadly gray and then split, turning into deformed legs too human to ignore as she reverted back into the decayed human form that remained of who she’d once been. “You killed her!” Alice gaped in horror at Ian, the angel’s death feeling like a knife in her own heart. “You killed an angel?”
He stared at her, his brow furrowed in confusion even as he reached behind him, feeling his lower back. “Well, yeah, of course I did. She was trying to kill you. Wasn’t that what our entire conversation was about when you asked me if I could take them all on?”
God, yes, she knew it was, but it was different to see an angel die. It was too personal, too real, too close to home. “Yes, but—”
The dying Mageaan screamed, her ashen fingers stretching toward Alice. “Save me—”
“I can’t!” Tears filled Alice’s eyes, her entire soul burning with the need to save the woman. She felt her death in every fiber of her being, and it tore at her very soul.
Beside her, Ian suddenly went down to his knees, swearing violently. In the middle of his lower back, right where his kidney would be, the handle of a massive dagger was sticking out of his flesh. His fingers were splayed around it, as if he’d tried to pull it out and caused more damage instead.
“Ian!” Alice stared in horror as dark red blood flowed from his wound, mixing with the water around them. Suddenly, reality came crashing down around her. His fatal strike didn’t make him a monster. It had been self-defense against a creature who was so far from humanity that there could be no mercy. Not anymore. No matter what she’d been before.
“I’m fine. My fault for not assuming they’d strike before the negotiations were over.” He swore and jerked the blade out of his back in one swift move, swearing as the twelve-inch serrated blade slid out of his body, ripping organs and flesh as he removed it.
Alice’s stomach turned as she stared at it, horrified by what had happened to him. How could someone who had once been an angel do that to another living creature? Striking to kill in cold blood, against a man who had made no offensive move or threat? Was that her future? Was that what she would become?
He lunged to his feet, a mace clenched in each hand. “You just broke the rules of engagement,” he said with a snarl.
Esmeralda hissed, her golden eyes glowing. “You killed one of us!” she shrieked in outrage. With a swift movement, she slashed her hand through the sea, drawing a symbol in the water.
“No!” Jada shouted, lunging for Esmeralda, but before she could reach her, the ocean erupted as the Mageaan attacked, swarming in from all sides, claws bared, their faces contorted like they had become the very demons they once protected against.
Ian swore and shoved Alice into a crack in the coral reef, and then he
launched into a full-scale assault. For a moment, she was mesmerized as he fought, stunned by his sheer raw strength, by the way his body coiled and then released with lightning-fast speed. Even in the water, he was incredibly agile, thousands of times faster than the Mageaan.
And then the sea creatures changed.
There was a low rumble, like the ocean floor was rolling over in its sleep, and suddenly the Mageaan shifted from white to black and purple. They shrieked with murderous intent, darting in and out like assault weapons, attacking and retreating before Ian could strike them. Poison leaked from their bodies, staining the water like giant squid on a mission to kill.
Aghast at the carnage and the brutality of the sea creatures, Alice watched them fall to Ian’s mace, one by one, screaming as they returned to their human bodies at the moment of death. Only then, did they seem to regain their souls, reaching for Alice, begging her for help as they tumbled into the ocean’s depths.
Guilt and horror filled Alice as she stood there, doing nothing to save them, like some cruel, heartless bitch. Unable to save them. Unable to do a single thing to save these women who had once been angels.
More and more cuts appeared on Ian’s flesh, and as many Mageaan as he took out, more seemed to come. Hundreds? Thousands? The attack was so violent the water began to foam, filled with purple and red bubbles tainted by the blood of all those who were fighting, until Alice couldn’t even see Ian anymore. Ian!
Stay where you are, sweetheart. I got this covered— A grunt of pain from him interrupted his response, and she felt searing pain erupt from him before he blocked their connection.
Frantic, she looked around for something, anything to help him.
“How long do you really think he can last?”
Alice looked up to see the two leaders peering down at her, hovering just outside the entrance to her hiding place. “As long as he needs to,” she retorted, praying she was right.
“Will he?” They moved closer. “And what do you think will happen to him if you start getting attacked? How can he save you and himself? Not so easy.”
Alice frantically looked past them, but she couldn’t see anything except the bubbly foam.
“Offer us the pearl,” Jada spoke, but once again, both of their voices were in the air. “Then you may live—”
A loud scream rent the ocean, and both leaders spun around, shrieking simultaneously as another wraith fell to Ian’s blade, a clamshell dagger still clenched in her hand. “No!” The leaders rushed toward her, sweeping her up in their arms as the black specter began to transition back into a person.
It was a woman. A young woman. Maybe twenty, at best. Her body was flesh-colored, her curves real and womanly, indicating that she was a new arrival. Hours? Days? Not much longer than that. Not someone who should be in a battle. Not someone who should be condemned to a life of exile and disintegration. She was a girl who should have been dancing on the earth with flowers in her hair.
“Oh, no.” Alice held her hand to her mouth as the leaders scooped the woman up, cradling her against their chests as they rushed back toward Alice.
“Save her,” they screamed as they laid her at Alice’s feet. “Save her now!”
The young woman looked up at Alice, her magenta eyes glazed with pain. There was so much pain in her face, and so much anguish. “I didn’t want to fight him,” she gasped. “I’m sorry.”
“You were forced to fight him?” When the woman nodded, Alice realized that the young woman had somehow retained her humanity when she’d become a Mageaan. She had a living, breathing soul. She had empathy. She had emotions. She had the ability to think for herself.
Alice turned to the leaders, disgusted by what they’d done to the girl. “How could you send her into battle? How could you force her to try to kill another living creature?”
“Save her,” Esmeralda shouted. She grabbed Alice by the hair, yanked her out of the crevice, and threw her to the ground. “Save her now!”
Alice fell to her knees besides the young woman, horrified by the spreading stain across her chest. “I’m so sorry—”
The injured Mageaan took her hand, her fingers cold as they began to turn gray. It wasn’t the decayed gray of a soul long dead. It was the onset of death, true death. “Save me,” she whispered. “I’m not ready to die.”
Guilt burned through Alice. “I can’t help you—”
Esmeralda grabbed Alice’s hair, twisting violently. “You’re an angel of life! You can save anyone! Save her!”
“I can’t!” Alice lunged to her feet, shoving the golden-eyed woman back. “I can’t save anyone!”
“You lie! You’re all the same! You can save her if you want to, you just won’t!”
“That’s not true—” Alice stopped when the young woman’s hand closed around her ankle in a silent plea. Alice immediately dropped to her knees. “What’s your name?” she asked gently, wishing there was some way to give her comfort.
“My name is Chloe,” the young woman whispered, her voice growing fainter. “I’m not supposed to be here. This isn’t my fate. Don’t let me die here.” She reached out, brushing her fingers over Alice’s cheek. “Angel of life, grant me this wish to live another day.”
Alice bit her lip, fighting the swell of despair and guilt. The memory of a moment too much like this one. “I’m so sorry, Chloe. I wish I could—”
“Try. Please try,” Chloe begged. “An angel’s kiss is all I need.”
Alice stared at her in disbelief as the woman’s words registered. “An angel’s kiss will save your life? So you’re a—”
“Yes,” Chloe said, cutting her off before she could say it aloud. “Please.”
Alice closed her eyes, agony welling through her. It was just like before, just like when her mother had died: a soul so precious, and yet Alice still couldn’t save her. Chloe was so rare, a gift to the very earth. How had she ended up here? How had she found herself at the end of Ian’s mace?
“Please,” whispered Chloe, her voice growing fainter.
Dammit. She couldn’t let Chloe die. Her death would reverberate across the earth. She had to live. This time, please, this time, it had to be different. Please let me save her. Fear beating at her, she grabbed the girl’s wrist and lifted her hand so her palm was facing up. Alice bent her head, and she felt Chloe suck in her breath in anticipation. One kiss. That was all she needed to do. One kiss.
When her lips were an inch from Chloe’s hand, Alice’s body froze. Her muscles locked up, completely immobilizing her. She couldn’t move. She screamed inside, willing her body to close that last inch so she could press her lips to Chloe’s palm, but her muscles were rigid, her body beyond her command. Pain screamed through her cells, and still she fought it, struggling to move that extra inch.
“Oh, come on!” Esmeralda grabbed Chloe’s wrist and lifted her hand to Alice’s face. A split second before it made contact with Alice’s lips, a violent invisible force repelled Alice backward, slamming her against the coral reef. Pain shot through her head, and she knew she’d cut it open.
The leaders refused to give up, hoisting Chloe in their arms and dragging her toward Alice. As they neared, more pain seared through Alice’s body, and she screamed in agony. But she couldn’t move. She could do nothing but wait as they approached. A third attempt to save Chloe’s life would have severe repercussions for Alice. It would be enough to kill her again.
She begged them to stop, even as Chloe looked at her beseechingly. “Why won’t you help me?” she asked. “Why?”
“I can’t,” Alice said. “I can’t save any life. Not anyone’s.”
“You’re an angel of life!”
“I know that!” Alice braced herself as the empresses thrust Chloe at her. She tried to grab her, but her arms were locked down, her muscles rigid. A split second before Chloe reached Alice, a rush of water threw the injured Mageaan aside and slammed her into the coral. The young woman bounced off it and landed on the coral shelf. Immobile. Inches
from death.
“You bitch!” Esmeralda lunged at Alice, her eyes blazing with loathing and hate so vile that Alice knew death was her only goal.
Alice struggled to get off the coral, but she was still immobilized, locked down until Chloe was dead, banned from trying to save her again. “I have the pearl!” Alice shouted in a last attempt to draw her attention, but Esmeralda didn’t even slow. She simply tore a piece of coral off the reef and sliced it at Alice—
There was a loud crack and Ian’s mace appeared in Alice’s hand, the cold steel fitting her palm as if it had been made for her. Her hand moving as if it had a will of its own, Alice thrust the mace into Esmeralda’s chest just as the Mageaan swung the sharp edge of the coral at Alice’s head. Esmeralda screamed, lost her balance, and her piece of coral thudded harmlessly against the coral beside Alice’s head.
Horrified, Alice stared in shock as the woman fell, her face contorted in the depths of agony as death took her, the mace in her heart an instant death blow.
Dear God, she’d killed her. How was that possible? What had happened? Shock taking over, Alice looked up and saw the battle had stopped.
The Mageaan were gaping at their fallen leader, their bodies morphing back into white mist one by one. In the midst of them stood Ian. His body was covered in wounds, his chest was heaving, and he was holding a mace in one hand.
His other hand was empty…because she had his second weapon.
Stunned, Alice held up the mace. “How?” she asked, her voice shaking.
“She was going to kill you.” His voice was soft, and yet ruthlessly triumphant as he strode across the coral shelf toward her. “You called my weapon. Only a sheva can do that. It’s one of the stages of the bond.”
“I killed her. I killed a living creature.” Alice’s legs began to give away, and she slithered to her knees just as Ian caught her.
He grabbed her around the waist, holding her up as he gently took the mace from her hand. “It was self-defense,” he said. “It’s okay.”
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