Shadows darkened the air around him, but I turned away.
I rushed into the oncoming waves, feeling the cold crashing against my legs, my hips. I had only one thing on my mind now, and that was freeing Salem.
The wind whipped over me, and I dove into the salty water, rushing deeper. Rays of light pierced the surface, streaming over the rocky seafloor, the seaweed and broken shells.
Deeper and deeper I went under the waves, until the rays of sunlight grew dimmer. Still, the cage looked so far away from me now—a pinprick of light in the sea.
Salem, can you feel me coming for you?
I didn’t care if I hardly knew him; I wanted him in my arms. Heat burned in my chest as I swam. The radiant light around the soul cage grew brighter as I rushed for him through the icy currents. His starlight pierced the darkness, starting to warm me.
But before I reached him, my gaze snagged on something else—shiny and blue, a gleaming piece of sea glass at the bottom of the ocean floor. It was the one from Mag Mell. The one meant for me.
I can’t say exactly why I did it, but I rushed down, down, down.
A gift from the Merrow, the sea glass was the one thing that could kill Salem, and I was the one person who could wield it.
Clearly, I’d been unable to kill him before when I thought I needed to. But maybe someday I’d need it to pursue him. It could slow him down, and I wasn’t sure anything else could.
Did I have trust issues? Hell yes I did.
From above, the splendor of Salem’s magic spread out over the seafloor, sparking off the glass, bright with divine light. That little fleck of blue beamed like a star.
I snatched the glass off the rock, and it felt smooth and cold between my fingers. I shoved the shard into the pocket of my jeans, hoping not to stab myself with it.
From the floor, I looked up again at the driftwood cage, nearly blinded by Salem’s opalescent light. The primordial voice of a god echoed in my skull. Use my power, pay my price.
I swam for Salem, shielding my eyes from his radiance. By the time I reached the cage, I had to close my eyes against the light. My hands trembled as I ripped it open.
All the light around Salem slammed back into his body. His eyes snapped open, burning with the colors of a dusky sky. He was shirtless, his body divinely carved muscle. His sword rested by his side. He was fine now.
Tension uncoiled in my body.
But in the next heartbeat, I realized his fiery gaze didn’t appear relieved.
No, it was a look full of fury.
7
Salem
My blood pounded hot, fiery as I stared at the goddess before me. My heartbeat echoed like a drum. I wanted war and conquest and my tongue running over supple skin, fingers gripping flesh. A guttural growl reverberated off the inside of my skull. Everything around me was a fog of red.
She swam before me, and I wanted her clothes off, her body under mine, my hands gripping her tight as I claimed her.
The beast returns…
I wanted to feast on flesh, to leave a trail of burned cities in my wake. I’d paint my cave walls with blood.
But slowly, the heat searing my skin was replaced by the glacial cold of the goddess’s magic. Awesome—a word ruined by humans—had once meant the melding of terror and wonder. That was the power emanating from the goddess before me. And I ached for her.
Was I in heaven or hell?
Then it hit me again—the pain racking my body, the lack of air. I was underwater, by the soul cage.
My heart thrummed, a weak pulse in my chest. My mind swam with sludge, and I struggled to orient myself with my magic back in my body.
Not a goddess before me. She was beautiful as a goddess, but she was fae. Even through the water, I could smell her scent. Wildflowers. She was mine.
With her near me, memories started to return.
I remembered that her name was Aenor, and that she was my mate. Her blue hair danced around her head under the water. Dark eyelashes framed her glimmering green eyes. Her wet clothing clung to her curves, her chest rising and falling. My desire to fuck her senseless did not wane.
As I stared at her under the waves, I forgot all the pain of drowning. For this moment, there was only her and me, the beginning and the end. We were two moths dancing around each other, and our mating bond was the candle flame that would burn us alive.
She’d come for me, and it made my heart race faster.
But my time in the soul cage had changed me, I thought.
Long ago, I’d been cursed. I’d spent forever trying to defeat that curse, and now it was roaring and crackling louder than ever before. I reached for Lightbringer, relieved to find I still had my sword with me.
Aenor touched my face, and the coolness of her magic calmed me. With her, maybe I could gain control again, force the fires down within me. But I would only be with her a few days more, because my destiny awaited me.
My freedom—after all these years.
I frowned at Aenor, and dread slid its fingers over my chest.
Something was just a little bit wrong with her. The faintest hint of dark magic flowed under the surface of her skin. And something behind her eyes didn’t quite seem like her…
It was at that point that the question rose in my mind: how had she opened the soul cage? Where had she gotten the magic to seal the fissure without my magic stopping it?
As her gaze darted down to the ground, I saw the answer. She hadn’t yet sealed the Fomorians in. The world rumbled around us, and I slipped out of the driftwood cage. I watched as the dark seafloor cracked open, like a bright red scar splitting open in the earth’s skin. In that crack, molten lava burned.
It looked, frankly, like the sort of place I would live.
The first Fomorian flames blazed in the dark waters beneath me as they started to crawl from the crack. Aenor was moving away from me, rushing for the gaping crevasse. It seemed she did have a plan in place.
But from the depths of the sea, I heard a distant voice rushing through the waves. Use my power, pay my price.
My muscles tightened. What had she done?
I had a terrible feeling that I wasn’t the only one with a curse now.
Had she really done this for me? I wanted to burn myself all over again.
She didn’t even know the truth about me. I couldn’t love her, not truly. Because my love would mean her death.
8
Aenor
The sunlight slanted in from high above, rays of peach and umber tinging the water.
Life bloomed in me: algae, coral, barnacles sprouting over my bones. I was divinity.
But my mind was dark—murky, primeval. God of the first living sludge.
It was just as I’d hoped, the sea god working through me. Danger lurked beneath me, but it would be over soon.
Flames from the Fomorians’ heads sprouted from the cracks. This time, I felt no fear, only the darkness coursing through the chambers of my heart.
I swam toward the fiery crack and let the ancient source of life spiral from my body. Words dimmed in my mind now, only the sea pounding in my veins. Ice flowed through my skull.
It was a dark sort of ecstasy as life rushed out of my body, green and silver tendrils, the shadowy creatures beneath the waves. And the cold went down to my bones. It shook me, the force of the god’s power.
Maybe… maybe this was more than I was meant to handle. My body trembled, and a strange, haunting music rose in the water. It grew louder, wilder, drowning out my own thoughts and words. Divine music was too much for me, driving my thoughts mad.
Slowly, my euphoria blended with dread. Shadows of terror crawled up my chest as the magic exploded from me. Life reverberated through my bones, my limbs. This was it, the end of the Fomorian threat. And I was an instrument of the gods. I wasn’t Aenor anymore, but a vessel for power.
As my body trembled, I felt like my veins were opening up, leaking cold blood.
Use my power, pay my price.
&
nbsp; Glaciers slid along my bones, carving ravines, opening my ribs with their slow descent. God of the deep, carving me open.
Shadows unfurled in me, and fear along with them. The god was claiming his due…
As terror started to climb up my throat, an image slammed into my mind, like a powerful fist against my skull.
It was that man I’d executed, smashed against the rocks. I could still see his blue eyes, wide and staring after the sea had battered all the life out of him. Mama had whispered in my ear—You killed him, Aenor. For Ys.
Some of us did what we had to, even it meant getting our hands dirty. But…
What sort of a person liked killing?
Here by the seafloor, I could see that man as if he were lying right below. His shattered body spread out, limbs bent at odd angles. Pain shone in his eyes.
The image was as vivid as it had been all those years ago, his chest ripped open by a jagged rock. Ribs jutted through the tear in his skin. Blood ran across his chest and shoulders, down his arms in rivulets that formed a delicate pattern, spiraling around his wrists. The blood streamed; claret glistened in the sunrays. A grimace contorted his features, and he was reaching for me, eyes pleading.
I’d done this.
I am Death.
And was this man even guilty? I wasn’t so sure anymore. Mama said he was.
But… Mama didn’t always tell the truth, did she? And what if I’d gotten it wrong? Another sacrifice for power, like Shahar.
The blood shone brighter on his fractured body, a web, and his mouth was open in a rictus grin now. It was like he was saying, I see you. I know what you are. You are as rotten as my corpse.
My own thoughts warred with the music of the sea.
Sacrifice to me… the god chanted in my mind. Give me your life, your breath, your blood, and I’ll do what you want.
My blood roared like thunder over the horizon.
Beneath me, the broken man seemed to dissolve in the water, his skin and teeth pale particles washing away.
At any moment, I was sure my heart would burst right out of my chest.
A sharp pain pierced my wrists, like acid was moving through my veins. I looked down at them, shocked to find that dark magic undulated under the surface of my skin. A spiral pattern around my wrists. A toxin.
When trails of magic complete their path, death will find you. Use my magic, pay my price.
Give your life to me, Aenor…
The god’s voice sang. I couldn’t hear my own thoughts anymore, couldn’t make sense of anything. Just fragments of phrases, booming in my mind: executed… guilty… sacrifice… the sludge of life… rivers flowing from Ur-magic… life requires death…
I needed to channel this, but it was overwhelming.
I felt his warmth moving for me, that sense of safety.
Salem wrapped his arms around me, pulling my body against his. My spine straightened as he helped me channel the magic out of my body, and it flowed from my chest, down to my hips and legs, and out through my toes. Streaming from my fingertips, the god’s power rushed over the seafloor.
As the magic worked its way from my system, I looked down at the crevasse. Already, the red magma flowing beneath it looked duller, colder. Then, slowly, the crimson rupture in the rock began to seal over. The fires snuffed out, flames smothered by the cold sea.
With a great groan, the chasm in the ocean’s floor began to close, the world shaking and rumbling around us. Icy, dank life rushed across the bottom of the sea.
My chest unclenched, and tiredness started to seep into my muscles. Bone-deep exhaustion. Primitive thoughts oozed in my skull, images of mortality. Thoughts of bodies rotting, being buried under the soil.
But I was in Salem’s arms, and he was swimming with me, heading up to the sea’s surface.
I knew something was wrong—but also that I’d done it. I’d saved my mate, and I’d stopped the Fomorians for good. I’d completed the task Anat had set out for me. And that was what mattered, right?
When we reached the surface, the sun blinded me for a moment. I was vaguely aware that Salem had dragged me up from the bottom of the sea, and that the light beamed bright. It had been a bit better under the waves, in the darkness and quiet. It took me a moment to orient myself—to realize I was in Salem’s lap, and that he was cradling me.
When my eyes adjusted to the sunlight, I saw Lyr standing above me, looking like he wanted to murder Salem.
But Salem’s eyes were on me, staring at me with an intensity that made my pulse race. Seawater beaded on his golden skin, and his eyes burned with a ghostly fire. “You look like you’re dying.”
Was that fear in his velvety voice?
“I wouldn’t have let her take that risk for me,” said Lyr.
I could feel the heat pouring off Salem, and I needed it, and his eyes twinkled with malice. “I was unable to stop her, considering I was in the soul cage. You were here, though, weren’t you, Lyr?” He exuded a quiet threat, and his lips slowly curled in a menacing smile. “Do you know, I’m very much in the mood to light someone on fire, and I’m rather hoping you’ll give me an excuse.”
“I was in Acre when she made the bargain,” said Lyr. He pointed at Ossian. “But your servant, here, helped her.”
Ossian wrinkled his nose. “I wouldn’t say servant, and this was Aenor’s choice.”
“The sea god did this.” Salem’s silky murmur had that violent edge that reminded me of Anat. Darkness seemed to spill around him.
“I make my own decisions,” I said weakly. “Look, Salem, your mom—she was going to start winnowing us if we didn’t get you out. And it worked, didn’t it? Except for the fact that I might die in a couple of days.”
“What do you mean?” There it was again… that faint whisper of fear under his calm tone.
I lifted my wrists, showing off the rivulets of dark magic spiraling around them. They followed the same pattern as the streams of blood I’d seen on the executed man.
Death moved beneath my skin. This was the sea god forcing me to reckon with my past.
“It’s a pattern.” I leaned against Salem’s warm chest. “When I used the sea god’s power, he showed me a vision of the first man I killed. I’d executed him for treason, attempted regicide. The traitor’s blood ran from his chest, in rivulets down his arms, around his wrists. And the sea god said that when the paths are complete, I will die. It’s moving, slowly, in reverse. When it reaches my heart, I’m screwed.”
Salem’s hold on me was surprisingly gentle as he pulled me closer. “Well, we will just have to stop it, won’t we?”
He said it with such conviction that I believed him. With his arms around me, he lifted me off the ground. Then his dark, feathered wings erupted behind him.
“We’ll be needing a moment alone.”
Lyr was shouting something in protest, but Salem’s wings beat the air, drowning him out. My stomach lurched as we lifted into the skies, the wind rushing over us.
My mouth felt watery, like that excess of saliva before you puke. I really didn’t want to vomit on him. “Why are we flying right now?”
“I’ll bring you back down in a moment. I needed to take you away from the others.” He glanced at the sun. “How many days was I in there?”
“Just one.”
He let out a long breath. “Ah, then there’s still time.”
I swallowed hard, fighting nausea. “Time for what?”
We swooped lower, under the shadows of an oak tree. Salem laid me down on the mossy earth—so gently, like he thought he would break me. He cradled my head in his arm, but I turned away from him. I rolled over onto my hands and knees, onto the rocks.
I retched, then threw up. Luckily, I hadn’t eaten much that morning. It was mostly just the tea, but it left a bitter taste. I wiped my hand across my mouth and shifted away, back onto the moss.
“I wish you hadn’t made that sacrifice for me, Aenor.” Salem’s hand was soft on my back, but there was a steely edge t
o his voice. “Your life for mine. And for what? You made a sacrifice for someone who can’t love you at all.”
Ouch.
And maybe he was right. Had I just given my life up for someone who could barely feel emotions?
9
Aenor
Someone who can’t love you at all. The words sank into my bones like poison, a corrosive substance. They twined with the dark magic in my body—two toxins. I turned and retched again, but this time nothing came up.
“Your mom,” I began, “is very effective at conjuring horrifying imagery. I did what she told me to do.”
“I suppose I’m not surprised.” His hand was soft on my back, a contrast to his words. “Besides slaughtering, horrifying imagery is probably her greatest skill.”
Fighting the nausea, I closed my eyes. A dark voice whispered in the hollows of my skull. Faint as the wind rushing through sea grass, a forlorn, low whistle: Not good enough… Can’t love you…
Still on all fours, I opened my eyes again. I sat back on the mossy earth, then looked up at Salem. “I did what I had to do.” My new mantra. It was quickly becoming clear to me that those words might be engraved on my tombstone in the near future.
Salem leaned in closer, and his delicious scent wrapped around me—smoke and pomegranates. “Lie down on the moss, Aenor. Let me see if I can heal you.”
I reclined on the soft earth, feeling a little better on my back.
As soon as his hand was on my chest, and his magic was trembling over my skin, I understood why he’d taken me to this private spot. This was the strange way that mates healed each other. He didn’t want the others to know. He had no clue that our secret was already out.
In fact, he didn’t know that I’d figured it out, and he didn’t seem keen on telling me.
Salem’s magic heated my chest, a tingling sensation that danced along my skin, making my heart race. Warmth beamed from his hand, and it felt soothing—but I could still feel something corrosive beneath my skin.
Rising Queen Page 4
