I pressed the dagger flat against her chest, over her heart, and spread my hand. Her head lolled, but with a little help from the push of the waves, I shifted her in the crook of my arm, bringing her back against me. Maybe her Mother Ocean wanted this too.
I smiled at the thought and closed my eyes. “Heal her like you healed me.”
Nothing happened.
A knot formed in my throat. No, her song could not end like this.
“Heal her…” I said again through gritted teeth. “Dammit, if anything makes any sense in this world, heal her.” I didn’t know if anyone heard, or if the words were meant just for me.
Warmth sizzled against my lower back. The tingling spread outward, reaching, searching, coming alive. Blood, life, power. Yes, heal her.
Magic was a breathing thing. Wicked, deadly, hungry. I’d never wanted it. Half my life I’d shunned it, denied it even existed, until it had swallowed me whole and altered my fate. Mage. Monster. Maybe. But I’d be damned if I left another death behind me.
Power filled me up with a buzzing, beating heat too big for me to contain and forever watchful, like it saw me, knew me, and could crush me in its grasp. I pushed it all into Blue until it became almost too much to bear.
She gasped and jolted awake. I almost dropped her in the surf.
Her eyes searched my face, and then her hand settled over mine on her chest.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
I swallowed, afraid my voice would fail me, and lowered her into the water. She twisted out of my arms and slipped beneath the surface, tail flashing its pearlescent colors. She reappeared a short distance away and called, “Remember me in your song?”
“How could I forget?”
She smiled and bowed her head but kept her eyes on me. Then, inch by inch, she sank out of sight, leaving the silvery unbroken ocean surface behind like she’d never existed.
I waded back to shore and up to where the waves almost lapped at the Lady Jane’s hull. Tassen waved me on board while several crewmembers waited on the beach to shove the ship back out to sea.
Molly stood on the tilted deck, watching the tide creep closer.
I drew up next to her and tossed a pebble in the air, catching her eye. “Hold out your hand.”
She scowled, naturally, and reluctantly offered her hand. I dropped a new pebble into her palm and closed her fingers around it.
Heavy suspicion further darkened her eyes. “Why are you giving me this?”
“Because if I gave one to Tassen he’d get the wrong idea.”
She opened her fingers and poked the pebble like it might bite. She looked like she might ask something, but deciding against it, she dropped the pebble into her pocket.
The Lady Jane groaned beneath my feet, and Tassen let out a rallying yell. We’d soon be off this island and on our way to another life in another land. Tendrils of power settled low on my back where the mark hummed, sleeping but ready to wake again.
Molly slipped her hand into mine and squeezed.
Whatever awaited us over that horizon, I was ready for it. After all, my song was just beginning.
The End
If you enjoyed this short tale, why not check out where it all began with Pippa DaCosta’s DragonCon Awards Finalist, The Heartstone Thief.
https://www.pippadacosta.com/heartstone-thief
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Heartstone Thief snippet
Had I not been drunk, I would have run from the woman who appeared in the alley like a phantom. It would have been the wise thing to do, but as I couldn’t claim to be wise, and I was most definitely intoxicated, I laughed instead. My sharp bark rattled down the narrow gap between overhanging houses and deep into the Brea City night. She didn’t smile, the woman. Didn’t even blink. Only her fingers twitched, hovering over the jeweled daggers sheathed against her thighs.
“Did Lyn send you?” My voice carried far, until the slumbering city noises devoured that too.
Dressed like she was, in dark leathers as though the night itself embraced her curves, she had to be an assassin. Her eyes absorbed the light. No sparkle, just hard, penetrating darkness. The city guards had daggers like hers, but she was no guard, not here among the stench of the docks and the shit-soaked alleys.
“I said I’d pay him. I’ve just been down on my luck lately.” The alley tilted, and I reached out a hand to steady myself against the wall. That last draft of beer had been a bad idea.
There were two ways this could go. She could kill me, which wouldn’t be difficult considering I could barely stand. Or I could hand over my bag as payment to whomever had paid her to track me down. Scratch that—three ways. She could kill me and take the bag. It’s what I would do.
I slumped a shoulder against the wall, dislodging red-brick dust that settled like ashes around my boots. I probably should have started begging for my life. I lifted my gaze and found her several steps closer, or perhaps she’d always been standing close enough to touch and I was too drunk to notice. A jewel—no bigger than a tear and inset high on her cheek—captured the subdued Brean light. Emerald, I assumed, such was the greenish color. I’d never seen anyone wear a jewel this way, as though it was part of her.
Her fingers twitched again. I groped inside my coat, reaching for a blade that wasn’t there. Ah, yes. I’d used it as payment for entertainment of the female variety. Tonight really hadn’t been the night to give away my dagger, worthless as it was.
The assassin dipped her gaze to where my coat hid my hand.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” I slurred and tacked on a smile. If I couldn’t use a dagger, I’d have to use my wits. I’d been told they were just as sharp.
Slowly and methodically, her gaze crawled back up to my face. “Remove your bag.”
Shit. With a crisp, clean accent like that, she had to be highborn. Not from Brea, but close enough to speak the language. What in the Halls of Arach was a highborn doing stalking alleys, dressed like death on legs? Some very fine legs, they went all the way up to parts designed to distract even the most honest of men, of which I wasn’t.
“Are you a simpleton, sir?”
“No,” I grunted. “And I ain’t a sir either.”
“Then remove your bag.” She had ice in her voice, and her eyes too. Cold, bitter, unforgiving ice.
Clearly, she didn’t believe I was armed or that I could hurt her. I shrugged the large leather bag off my shoulder and set it down on the cobbles between us. If I could keep her talking, there was a chance someone might come by and distract her so I could run.
“Open it.”
I scratched at my cheek. “There’s very little here worth your time—”
She cocked her head, the gesture as sharp as her voice. “Do you know what I seek?”
“Well, no.”
“Then do as I command, thief.”
Command. Definitely highborn. And she’d pegged me as a thief. To know that, she must have followed me or asked after my name in certain circles. This was personal.
I slid my back down the wall, keeping her firmly in my sights, and pulled open the bag. I didn’t need to look to know there was only one item inside: a tarnished bronze cup. It wasn’t much, and it certainly didn’t look to be worth anywhere near the thousand rubies my client had promised in exchange for its procurement. “See … nothing of worth.”
She leaned forward, careful not to get too close in case she caught poor off me. She peered inside the bag. Only the smallest flicker slipped into her gaze, but I caught it. This cup meant something to her.
“Maybe we can do a deal?” I asked.
She straightened and narrowed her eyes. Given how quickly and silently she moved, she could likely pluck one of those bejeweled daggers free and fling it at my chest before I could plead my innocence.
“You don’t kill me, and I’ll tell you who hired me to steal it?”
The smile that
slid across her lips was a wicked, hungry thing, and all the uglier against the smooth beauty of her face. “Do you carry water?”
“Yes?”
“Pour some in the cup.”
“I er … I’m—”
Her hand settled on the hilt of her dagger. She was clearly mentally unsound, but at least she wasn’t gutting me—yet. I untied my water pouch from my belt and poured a little water into the cup, spilling most of it on the cobblestones. I’d done some odd things since escaping the workhouse—the night I dressed as a whore to gain entry into a well-to-doer’s house came to mind—but crouching in a back alley, pouring water for some noblewoman who thought she could play assassin to stave off boredom was an entirely new experience.
“Drink from the cup,” she drawled, rolling the words around her tongue as though savoring a fine wine.
I took a breath to ask why but already knew she wouldn’t let me leave this alley until it was done. I picked up the cup.
“Stand.”
“Please?”
She looked down at me as if she’d prefer to grind me into the cobbles beneath her boot heel.
Fine. Get it done and chalk this up to life experience. With a sigh, I got to my feet and gave her a short bow. “Is this to your liking, your princessness?”
“Drink, thief.”
“Your wish is my command.” I lifted the filthy cup, tipped it to acknowledge her haughtiness, then drank the contents down in one gulp—and immediately retched it back up. Not water!
The cup slipped from my hand as what felt like acid bubbled up my insides. Fire and ice burned and numbed my guts, my chest, my throat, doubling me over in agony. My insides heaved, and I vomited a night’s worth of drinking at the assassin’s feet.
The bitch poisoned me! I grabbed for her arm, but my fingers sailed right through her as though she were nothing but shadow. What in the Halls of Arach?
She blurred out of focus, all of her in motion yet standing still. Her smile, though, was clear, and bright, and knowing.
I staggered—forward, backward, anywhere—and reached for the wall, but instead I fell to my knees in my own vomit. After that, I didn’t care where or who she was. I didn’t care about the cup or the meeting I was due to attend to collect my rubies. I just cared about the raging pain turning me inside out and if—as I closed my eyes and collapsed—I would wake again.
* * *
Purchase The Heartstone Thief from Amazon, Kobo, Google, Apple Books, or ask your library to stock a copy.
Also by Pippa DaCosta
The Veil Series
Wings of Hope ~ The Veil Series Prequel Novella
Beyond The Veil (#1)
Devil May Care (#2)
Darkest Before Dawn (#3)
Drowning In The Dark (#4)
Ties That Bind (#5)
Get your free e-copy of ‘Wings Of Hope’ by signing up to Pippa’s mailing list, here.
* * *
Chaos Rises
Chaos Rises (#1)
Chaos Unleashed (#2)
Chaos Falls (#3)
* * *
Soul Eater
Hidden Blade (#1)
Witches’ Bane (#2)
See No Evil (#3)
Scorpion Trap (#4)
Serpent’s Game (#5)
Edge of Forever (#6)
* * *
The 1000 Revolution
#1: Betrayal
#2: Escape
#3: Trapped
#4: Trust
#5: Deliverance (coming in 2019)
* * *
New Adult Urban Fantasy
City Of Fae, London Fae #1
City of Shadows, London Fae #2
* * *
Writing dark LGBT fantasy as Ariana Nash
Sealed with a Kiss, 0.5 Silk & Steel
(free to Ariana Nash subscribers)
Silk & Steel, Silk & Steel #1
What to read next by Pippa DaCosta
More demons?
Read the Veil Series
More fantasy action?
Read the Soul Eater series
More gritty sci-fi?
Read the 1000 Revolution series
More dark fantasy?
Read The Heartstone Thief
More fae?
Read The London Fae series
More dragons?
Read the Silk & Steel series
by Ariana Nash (Pippa DaCosta)
(LGBT)
(Dark fantasy. Adults only).
Deep Blue Sea: Heartstone Thief 1.5 Page 5