She broke through the oil at the surface of the waves. A mouthful of the glistening liquid pressed against her tongue and threatened to slide down her throat. Coughing, she tried to get as much of the slick substance off as she could while still scanning the waves.
An oil tanker listed to the side in a storm that cracked lightning over her head. Thunder rumbled almost immediately afterward. Oil spilled from the sides of the ship and into the water. Men screamed and shouted aboard, tiny shadows darting here and there as the humans tried their best to stop the flow of oil and barrels rolling into the sea.
They didn’t want to poison the sea. This wasn’t an attempt to destroy the world, or even careless people hunting each other. This was a genuine accident that could have been prevented and had never been planned.
Eyes burning and lungs aching, she twisted and called out, “Archer? Archer!”
No one responded to her frantic cries. All she could see were the white peaks of the waves and the glistening oil they carried away with them.
Diving back under the surface, she tried to swim closer to the ship. She fought the turbulent seas and the storm. She pushed with all her might, arms and legs working together to try to find him.
He had to be here. Somewhere.
As she struggled toward the boat, she saw shadows moving in the deep. Her heart thudded in fear, but she told herself not to focus on whatever her mind thought it saw. There weren’t dangerous creatures coming out of the depths to hunt her.
Her mind played tricks because it was afraid, that was all. She could do this. She could find him, stop him from using his power disastrously, and then hopefully there would still be enough time for them to help the creatures who were caught in the oil’s wake.
Except the shadows were real. Ominous forms burst into motion before her eyes. Mermaids, but not quite like the mermaids she’d seen before.
These creatures were weapons, not magical creatures. Their mouths were filled with razor-sharp teeth bared in excitement at the hunt. Their pale skin was almost grey, and claws tipped their fingers. They held spears, swords, and wicked looking daggers as they swam toward the ship. Their mermaid-like tails were closer to eels, ranging in all colors of darkness.
The beasts had been called from the depths. At their tails were sharks, larger than she’d ever seen before. Great whites with teeth bared and blank eyes staring toward the ship they planned on attacking.
River could feel their excitement for the hunt. She could hear their cruel thoughts and all the ways they dreamed of killing the humans.
Thankfully, none of them noticed her. She stayed close to the surface, covered in oil and barely breathing herself. At least she wasn’t in the way of the war party headed toward the humans.
The humans had no idea what was about to happen. She had to help them. Those men didn’t want to dump oil into the sea. They were all shouting and struggling to stop it from occurring. Why would the creatures of the sea harm them?
Diving deeper, she reached out to the sea once again. “I’m so sorry this is happening, but there doesn’t need to be blood in the water to solve this. Please, where is Archer?”
Once again, the ocean sighed and pushed her. This time it shoved her to the surface, up through the peak of a wave. There, at the highest crest rolling toward the ship, was Archer.
Too high. That wave would break on top of the ship and sweep too many of the humans into the waves. Lightning cracked overhead and the white caps rose to dangerous heights. Any man who fell into the water would drown, or worse, be captured by the waiting faeries below.
River couldn’t let it happen. But how was she to get there in time?
The deep hum of the ocean’s voice whispered in her mind, “Will it to happen, and it shall be.”
For the first time in her life, River didn’t question. She squeezed her eyes shut and wished for herself to be beside Archer. She wished for her hands to touch his shoulder, to be there in time to stop this madness.
When she opened her eyes, she rose through his wave. Her skin glowed like starlight and all she had to do was reach out her hand to grab his shoulder. All she had to do was beckon him, just to reach further, and she would grab onto his watery form.
She lunged. River’s hand sank through his elemental form but she wished again. Her skin glowed brighter this time. So bright it was almost blinding, and it stayed on his shoulder as though he were real and solid underneath her grasp.
“Archer,” she called out over the roaring rain and lighting. “Archer, stop!”
His glowing eyes turned toward her. Not a single drop of Archer remained in that body. Just the power of an elemental ready to enact his revenge. “I will not stop. The humans must pay for what they have done.”
“And they will. But that doesn’t mean you have to kill them.”
“It is the only way.” He lifted his hand and blue light thrummed through it. She knew she only had a split second to stop him, to stop all this.
She threw herself in front of him, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding on for dear life as the wave broke over the ship. Her back struck hard wooden planks and cracked ominously. She let out a long wheeze of pain, opened her mouth to scream, but not a single sound came out. At least Archer looked human again, though his eyes still crackled with power.
The pain in her spine overwhelmed any other plan she might have had. River tried to inhale but her ribs protested in such agony her vision went black for a few seconds. Had she broken her back? Had he harmed her beyond fixing?
Archer crouched above her, lips curled in a snarl as he stared at the surprised humans who had avoided the wave. Not many. Not nearly as many as she thought would be on board.
A man stepped toward them, raising his hands up in the air. “You alright mate?” At Archer’s answering snarl, the man backed off a few feet before pointing at her. “Your little lady isn’t looking so good. We can get her down to medical if you get off her.”
Only then did Archer look at her. Her eyes were wide and watering in pain. She couldn’t feel her hands or feet and she still struggled for breath.
All the light faded from his eyes until it was just him looking down at her. “River?” he asked, his hands coming up to touch her ribs.
She let out a tiny scream at the contact, too much, too painful. She couldn’t even tell him where she hurt because she couldn’t form words through chattering teeth.
“What have I done?” he murmured, his voice deep and low.
He gathered her up in his arms, ignoring her aching cry of protest and dove off the side of the ship. River lost consciousness before they hit the waves.
18
Archer couldn’t breathe with her laying limp and still in his arms. Her eyes were closed and her skin cold to the touch.
They were beautiful when she stared at something that surprised her. He realized her eyes were his favorite part about her. How they changed color when she was happy and glittered even when she wasn’t. And now, they were closed. Because of him.
He’d lost control. He didn’t even know how because he only remembered looking at her and hearing the ocean’s scream. Then, everything went blank.
There was nothing in his memory where there should have been at least something. The temperature of the water. The direction he went. Something, anything.
But there wasn’t a single thing in his mind at all. Just a giant blank cavern. A space where an elemental had controlled his body and made him thirst for blood in the water like some kind of ancient shark.
“What did you do?” he asked as he swam far away from the oil spill. “Why would you use me like that?”
The elemental grumbled, but didn’t respond. And he knew why it refused to respond. The creature wanted to do things whenever it wanted to do them. It didn’t matter if Archer wanted to do the same thing.
If the ocean hurt, the elemental responded. Like some kind of demented guard dog.
“You cannot do that again,” he ordered. “Not w
ithout my permission.”
Then the elemental responded, although not the way Archer wanted. “If you took the real throne, then you wouldn’t have to argue with me. You’d understand my desire to protect and serve.”
This again.
The elemental wanted him to become the true King of the Sea. The one who was nothing more than water itself. But he knew where that life would lead him.
And it wasn’t to the woman in his arms. It was to a life of pain, bloodshed, and swallowing the earth with waves of power.
Archer wasn’t ready for that future, although he knew it was barreling toward him with the speed of a lightning bolt. He would never, ever escape his fate. He hoped that this half-breed woman would be enough to get him through his horrific fate.
Memories of her smile might temper his hatred. Thoughts of her love might ease his torment on the nights when he felt guilt for killing all the humans.
If only he had more time with her. More time to love her, to hold her, to dream of her every single night.
And now she was wounded in his arms, his fault, and there was nothing he could do about it.
The elemental chuckled in his mind, the sound sinister and booming. “I could heal her, you know. All you have to do is promise to take the throne.”
His blood froze in his veins. The creature could heal her?
Archer could as well. His healers were known throughout the seven seas as the best in all the ocean. However, they had never treated a half-breed before.
What if they hurt her? Could she even take the magic they would use to patch her up? He could deliver her to Atlantis and all they might do was kill her. Accidentally, of course, but she still wouldn’t be in his arms at the end of the night.
His hesitation gave the elemental the opening it needed. “I can save her, and you can keep her no matter what deal we strike, Archer. She’s yours. Ours.”
Did he take the risk? He didn’t want to give the elemental anything. He could stall for a few more years, but not enough to give the creature pause. If he agreed to take the throne, then it would be sooner rather than later.
But could he risk losing her?
Archer already knew deep in his soul there was only one choice. He would throw himself into the darkest pits of the ocean if it meant he kept her alive. And a life without her in it would only send him to the throne faster than ever before. She was his rock. His reason for seeing the world as a beautiful place.
And yes, that was insane. His heart beat faster, thundering in his chest as the storm did above the waves. Archer knew how crazy it was to be this attached to someone a fraction of his age and who he’d only seen a few times. But all he could think was that his heart knew. His gut knew.
So what was he waiting for?
“All right,” he said. “Where do you want me to go so we can fix her?”
“The lighthouse.”
He felt the elemental disappear, and he headed for the place where this had all begun. The lighthouse at the center of the ocean. To the place where Archer was born.
It had changed many times over the years. It began as a craggy rock with a baby boy crying atop it. That’s where the elemental had found him. Then it was a small cottage where a fisherman had raised him. Years passed. The building changed on the island at the heart of the sea. Eventually, it became a lighthouse.
The last time Archer had gone there was when he was crowned king. He’d visited just to remind himself where he’d come from. Now, he was prepared to take his most treasured half-breed there. To save her life and his own.
Archer burst out of the waves and hauled them up onto the ancient dock. The wooden planks had seen better days, eaten away by the sea and changed into a rotting skeleton of what had once been there.
The lighthouse loomed in the night. Most of the white paint had already flaked off its surface, though he couldn’t imagine anyone would ever come out to fix it. This place was beyond human reach.
The light at the top never went out. It spun in a circle at the peak, guiding all lost faeries to its light and helping them should they need it. This place was a safe haven for many.
Except him.
He curled his arms tightly around River’s limp form and made his way up the carved stone steps. The door wasn’t locked, but it never had been. Even when he was just a boy.
The door opened on screaming hinges, revealing a plain room beyond. A small cast iron wood stove would heat the room in a moment’s notice with the dry wood next to it. A small cot and a cute window looking out over the raging bay should have soothed any wandering traveler. Even the window curtains were white with pink flowers on them. So unassuming.
Sighing, he laid River down on the cot. He brushed a strand of her wet hair out of her face and monitored her breathing. She was still alive, although she didn’t shiver even though her lips were blue.
Not good. Not good signs at all.
He turned around and tossed wood into the stove, forcing it to rage with a fire that warmed him to his core. Only then did he finally sigh and turn back to her. “All right, elemental. You said you could save her.”
The being inside him awakened and stretched its watery wings. In his mind, he could sense the beast breathing in a great inhalation. “I’ll need to take control,” it said.
He didn’t want it taking over his body again. The feeling was wrong, like losing a piece of himself.
“I want to remember everything,” he snarled.
“Don’t you trust me?”
“No.” He didn’t have to spit the word for it to be boiling with anger. “I don’t trust you at all.”
The elemental chuckled and power surged inside him. It bubbled to the surface and he could see his skin becoming transparent. He’d always hated this form. It was too different, too unlike everything he knew for Archer to ever find it comfortable.
Water wasn’t meant to walk on land. And it certainly wasn’t meant to hold together into a humanoid form. Even he, King of the Sea, had his limits.
Every part of him crackled with energy. It was as if the elemental had shoved him aside in his own mind, but he could still see everything his body was doing without permission.
He strode toward the bed where she lay. If Archer was in control, he knew his muscles would tense. He didn’t want the elemental to touch her, let alone stare at her as though it had a right to do so.
River lay prone on the cot, her breathing weak and her clothing plastered to her body. And though he should be worried about her, he couldn’t help but stare at the form the material revealed. He’d always known she was beautiful. Hell, he’d seen her in a human bathing suit and there was very little left to the imagination in those outfits.
But never had he seen her so relaxed. So calm even as her body struggled for breath.
Damn, she took his heart with every moment of her life. She was perfection incarnate, and he was nothing more than a lowly beast who desired to worship at her feet.
The elemental reached a watery hand forward and let magic mist down upon her.
At first, the magic did nothing. Archer watched for even the tiniest detail that might suggest she was getting better. But her skin remained pale, her breathing labored, and her brow wrinkled in pain she likely couldn’t control on her own.
“Work faster,” he snarled.
“You can’t rush healing magic, boy.”
He hated it when the elemental called him boy, as if he were nothing more than a child. He was more than a boy who was only good for listening and training, but never good enough to count on.
Then, the magic started glowing beneath her skin. She became a moonbeam laying there as if the night sky itself danced beneath her flesh. And it did, as far as he was concerned.
Her fingers spread, the webs shining in the rosy light of the fire. She took a deep breath and sighed where before it had only been a struggle to even keep air in her lungs.
The elemental retreated in his mind and Archer lurched forward. He pressed a hand
against her forehead, gently smoothing his fingers over her warm skin. “River?” he asked, keeping his voice quiet, so he didn’t hurt her head. “River, honey, are you all right?”
She breathed out the tiniest of sighs again. She turned into his palm as if seeking the touch, and he was all too happy to give it to her. Archer resumed stroking her forehead and temples until she could finally speak.
“I had the strangest dream,” she murmured. “There was a storm out to sea and a... an...”
“Oil spill?” The darkness inside him had burned the moment he heard the sea scream was still inside him. Just hearing her say the words made him want to race back to the ship and destroy everyone on it. “There was an oil spill. It wasn’t a dream.”
Her eyes snapped open. Archer just barely caught her before she jerked upright and hurt herself again.
“Easy,” he said. He placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back down. “Don’t move too fast yet.”
“I’m fine,” she grumbled. Then her eyes popped open in shock. “But, how am I fine? I remember hitting the deck and my back.”
She reached behind herself and touched the small of her back. He remembered the twisted feeling beneath his own hands. The tortured expression on her face and the moment she passed out as they struck the sea with surprising force.
Maybe he should have left her with the humans. Maybe he shouldn’t have ever talked to her. But he couldn’t feel regret when this relief made his knees weak and his hands shake as he touched her.
He scooped his hand at the back of her neck and drew her tight against him. Forehead to forehead, he breathed her in. Knowing she was alive eased the tormented soul within him. If only for a few hours before he must do what he’d promised.
“I was so scared,” he whispered. His voice carried in the lighthouse. “When I thought I lost you, and that it was my own damn fault, I didn’t know what to do. It was as if my soul left its body and raced to you.”
Gently, ever so gently, he let her lay back down, then placed his head on her chest. He felt her body rise and fall with every breath and listened to her heartbeat thundering strong and true. He felt his own magic surging through her veins and fixing the last, smallest injuries.
King of the Sea Page 14
